What are the best JRPGs? This genre is, nowadays, at least, subtly different from Western RPGs, and while the genre as a whole has evolved since the early days, it tends to keep the emphasis on its two key tropes: long stories with memorable characters, and lots of grinding.
Some of the newer games on this list abandon traditional fantasy in favor of a more realistic setting. However, the classic style, at least when we think of JRPGs, conjures up images of mages, ferocious monsters, and a top-down perspective. Either way, these JRPGs bring a different flavor than what you can expect from the best RPGs in the West and could be considered some of the best PC games to fans of the genre.
The best JRPGs on PC in 2024 are:
Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact is probably the closest game to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that we’ll see on PC, with a vast open world to explore and various dungeons and quests to complete. Over time, the game has grown much larger, with each new update introducing new mechanics like gardening, houses, and character hangout quests – as well as a slew of new Genshin Impact characters.
With regular updates, it’s unlikely that Mihoyo’s RPG will slow down anytime soon. This free game uses a gacha system for unlocking new characters, so you may want a bunch of Genshin Impact codes to get yourself some free primogems to spend on wishes.
Final Fantasy 14
MMORPG games rarely make as much of an impact as World of Warcraft, but perhaps the most successful one after that is Final Fantasy 14 (FF14). With over a decade’s worth of expansions to complete, lots of FF14 classes to master, places to explore, and big bad monsters to fight, there’s something new to do around every corner.
A Realm Reborn, the main FF14 campaign, is just the start of your grand adventure. The best part is that you can play a huge chunk of the game for free, but the real meat and potatoes come from the many paid-for expansions. Take it from us: they’re absolutely worth your time, as you can see in our Endwalker review. We have some tips on FF14 leveling if you want to get to the good stuff as quickly as possible.
Persona 3 Reload
The Persona series is renowned for being some of the best JRPGs on the planet, and it appears Atlus felt like it could improve on its previous work even further with the release of Persona 3 Reload. This version of Persona 3 has been rebuilt for the modern era with several quality-of-life tweaks borrowed from Persona 5, making it easy for P5 fans to enjoy this classic game. Take a look at our Persona 3 Reload review to see what makes this title stand out from the rest of the excellent games in the series.
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Taking place high above in the Sky Realm, you play as the captain of a skyfaring crew as you search for the fabled island of Estalucia. While your journey begins with Vyrn, a dragon, and Lyria, a powerful girl with mysterious abilities, you never quite know who you’ll meet. If you love JRPGs but hate turn-based combat, Granblue Fantasy Relink’s combat features a ‘Full Assist’ mode to give players of all skill levels a helping hand.
You’re going to have to search for the best Granblue Fantasy Relink weapons to strengthen your party on this adventure. The path ahead is filled with dangerous mythical creatures and evil humans who want nothing but to take you down. Speaking of mythical creatures, we also have a Granblue Fantasy Relink feathers guide if you’re fighting against griffins and you want to get your quests done quickly.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Take a trip with Kazuma Kiryu and Ichiban Kasuga to the series’ first outing outside of Japan, as they visit Hawaii. Ichiban is on a journey to find his birth mother, whereas Kiryu has received a mysterious mission from the Daidoji faction, a group made up of highly important Japanese politicians. Here’s what Harry Schofield had to say about the game in our Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth review: “Sprawling but never bloated, it remains captivating from beginning to end across both its main narrative and bountiful side adventures, almost never missing a beat.”
Small Saga
JRPGs come in all different sizes, and Small Saga centers its story around rodents getting by in the bowels of the city of London, across its many supermarkets, and even in rat-infested towns in the city’s sewer system. All the while, enemies include moles, squirrels, and so much more.
It is a rather short game, but when JRPGs can reach upward of 30+ hours to complete these days, playing one that doesn’t outstay its welcome can be refreshing. That said, for those looking for an RPG that focuses on telling a decent story over introducing overly complex mechanics, this might be one for you. If you’re not entirely convinced, a free demo is available for you to try via the Small Saga Steam page.
Sea of Stars
Now that you’ve seen two classic JRPGs on this list, it’s time to include a modern game that heavily borrows from them. It may have been overshadowed by another big RPG this year, but according to our Sea of Stars review, it improves on what makes those games special “by modernizing their magic through balanced and engaging turn-based combat wrapped up in an enthralling world to explore.”
This 30-hour adventure is one where you’ll want to visit every town, spelunk through every dungeon, and brawl against every monster just so you can look at its gorgeous pixel art. It helps that the story is one of the better ones in recent JRPG history, with relatable characters, even if their destinies don’t always align. Combat uses mechanics similar to those of Chrono Trigger and Paper Mario games, allowing you to interrupt enemy attacks. They’re all familiar concepts but work well together. This game was among the nominations for the best RPG at the Game Awards 2023, and it deserves to be here.
Octopath Traveler 2
Octopath Traveler 2 took what made the original great and improved on it in nearly every way. Beautiful visuals, ingenious pixel artwork, a deep and rewarding combat system, and great writing. Not one story but a mesh of a few, you can approach Octopath Traveler 2 from many directions. Take the helm with your favorite character and pick up strays along the way, you’ll soon find yourself in a party full of nuanced and lovable characters.
You’ll find redemption around every corner as you fight for your character’s causes, and ultimately, your characters will fight together for friendship. The combat system rewards planning and a little bit of grind, but this isn’t the focus of Octopath Traveler 2; you’ll spend just as much time conversing with village people (not those), making ends meet, and having a bloody good time. Do yourself a favor and play this game.
Tales of Arise
Arise makes the classic JRPG series feel genuinely new again with revamped visuals, a more fluid and intuitive combat system, and a mature story that carries you to its conclusion.
It’s made to embrace new players, and if you’ve ever been curious about the Tales games, then this is the best one to start with. However, that doesn’t mean that series veterans have been sidelined at all – it’s refined rather than dumbed down. And if you’re at all curious, then there’s a free demo on Steam, so you can try it before you buy.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade
What was anticipated to be the long-awaited remake of the most fondly revered JRPG of all time turned out to be a rather dramatic departure from the 1997 polygonal original. Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is just the first third of the experience, with the entire saga now split into three different full-priced games. While those playing on PlayStation 5 have moved onto Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, PC fans must wait a tad longer for the second part to grace our rigs.
That said, there’s no better time than now to catch up, completing the entire Midgar section that is at times familiar but, more often than not, will surprise you with its revamped battle system, additional characters, and other secrets hidden within. Coming with the Intergrade expansion, which gives Yuffie a proper introduction rather than the haphazardly executed one in the original games. If you were a fan of Final Fantasy 7, you owe it to yourself to try the Remake.
Nier Automata
It can be difficult to determine exactly what Nier Automata is. It’s sometimes an open-world action RPG, but sometimes it delves into twin-stick shooter territory. However, this apocalypse game has more cooking beneath the surface, with its spectacular combat that has lots in common with more action-orientated games such as Devil May Cry.
However, Nier Automata’s main selling point is its general bleakness, fantastic world-building, and interactions between the android characters. We also recommend that you have a box of tissues to hand. Many of its sad moments are smaller in scope in that they don’t involve sacrificing oneself for the greater good but instead opt for interpersonal tragedies. It won many Game of the Year awards on its release, and rightfully so.
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch remastered
If you are looking for a JRPG with the visual quality of a Studio Ghibli film, why not play the game that the renowned Japanese animation studio worked on? You take on the role of Oliver, a young boy transported to an alternative world that’s linked with our own via the idea of soulmates – how every person in one world has a counterpart in the other.
This JRPG has a mixture of various tried and tested battle mechanics; the active time battle system from some Final Fantasy games, real-time movement from more modern RPGs, and familiars you can send out to aid you in battle, in a remarkably similar nod to the Pokémon games. It all works together well, and even though this JRPG can be rather difficult at times, it’s worth persevering. The story is whimsical and well told, with capturing and managing your familiars scratching the same itch that the aforementioned Pokémon games do so well. It’s a hugely satisfying game that’ll keep you occupied for hours on end. Fair warning: When you begin Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, we highly recommend having a box of tissues to hand.
Grandia HD Remastered
Grandia is a hero’s tale about a young lad who answers the call to adventure after discovering a mysterious stone. Probably magical. Before long, he meets fellow adventurers, and they all plow on to find out what the world has to offer. While the story is the hook, it’s the surprisingly well-thought-out combat that reels you in.
In a similar vein to Final Fantasy games of the era, Grandia has its take on an active battle system that’s a lot of fun to play. Depending on where the pips representing your characters are at any time, it’s possible to use certain attacks like the single-hit criticals to interrupt an enemy that’s about to use a high-damaging skill or heal themselves. Compared to other RPGs made in the era of 90s polygon backgrounds and 2D sprites, Grandia doesn’t age anywhere near as badly, and there is some rather laughably bad voice acting to enjoy. The second Grandia game is also on PC, but we think the first is still the best.
Chrono Trigger
What begins with the disappearance of a young girl at a fairground soon becomes a saga about traveling through time to stop a monster from the future from ending the world. With the help of a wide variety of allies, from tech-savvy friends to robots and a frog knight, your job is to prevent the world from turning into a post-apocalyptic nightmare.
Combat is not dissimilar from other Square Enix games of the same era, but it sets itself apart by linking up special moves with other allies. When two compatible characters have their active time battle bar filled, you’ll get the option to combine their techniques for entirely different effects. For example, while Crono’s cyclone tech is primarily for hitting all enemies with regular damage, if Marle is in your party and has her bar filled, she can imbue him with healing magic to turn the cyclone into a powerful healing skill.
Part of the fun is discovering these powerful combinations to aid you in battle, all the while hopping through rifts in time. If you want the quintessential JRPG experience, we can’t think of a better game than this. If you’re looking for more retro greatness like Chrono Trigger, our list of the best classic PC games should be your next stop, if you haven’t played the game below that is.
Final Fantasy 6 Pixel Remaster
Of all the 2D Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy 6 (FF6) is, by far, the best. While those early games have some semblance of charm, It has one of the more memorable stories in the series. Set in a steampunk world where the reliance on technology has turned it into a dystopian nightmare ever since the War of the Magi caused magic to disappear. However, upon the discovery of a young woman born with mysterious powers, the status quo is altered forever, with the rebellion making their move as a scheming lackey of the empire begins moving the pieces toward world domination.
At this point, the Final Fantasy series was finding its footing. Each game has entirely different mechanics that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The active time battle (ATB) system for determining turn order more dynamically was relatively innovative at the time and still works wonderfully to this day. Characters in FF6 have their specialties, much like in Final Fantasy 4, but can equip relics and Magicite to access more abilities later on. It’s the best of the 2D Final Fantasy games to play today from a gameplay perspective. With a phenomenal story and possibly the most devious bad guy in the series, this is perhaps one of the best 2D RPGs ever made.
We hope you enjoyed this list of the best JRPGs. If you did, how about browsing some of the best free MMORPGs on PC, which can offer a JRPG experience on a macro scale? We also have a list of the best story games if you’re looking to unspool an epic yarn, plus we’ve got all the most promising new JRPGs in our upcoming PC games list.