Styx: Shards of Darkness is everything you could expect this game to be and more. It offers hardcore stealth gameplay for those who are interested in it while simultaneously lowering the skill cap for those who just want to finish the game and do not shy away from a messy slaughter or alarm or two. It is hard to resist Styx’s wits and cockiness even in the middle of situation he gets into. If you were waiting for a sign that Styx: Shards of Darkness is an amazing game worthy of your time, consider this to be just it.
To sum it all up, Torment: Tides of Numenera is an amazing game set in a unique and easily recognizable setting. It has a very steep learning curve and a lot of complexity to the systems. Adding the sheer amount of information thrown at the Castoff, the game might be overwhelming for a new player. The companions are well written and varied in their behavior and reactions. Many NPCs are memorable and quest text quality is befitting of a book. In short, Numenera is a decent successor to Planescape: Torment and pays respects to the classic games of the genre.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is a very solid game. BioWare had obviously taken their lessons both from original Mass Effect trilogy as well as Dragon Age series and mixed it with fair dose of experience of other AAA titles of late. It is not Inquisition in space, although the influence of it is clearly seen.
Dungeons 4 marks the triumphant return of the series, offering a spectacular Dungeon manager/RTS that will keep players invested for hours. It never felt so good to be bad.
Expeditions: Rome is a masterpiece of a turn-based RPG, featuring an impressive web of interconnected systems and features.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is a bold, dark, epic saga, featuring an astonishing replayability value. The developers have experimented with Kingmaker, and have gone all-in with Wrath of the Righteous, creating one of the best story-driven CRPGs of late.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is one of the best story-driven CRPGs of late and the year has not been shy of them. For me, it hit certain marks that Tyranny or Tides of Numenera might have missed.
Recent cRPG releases have revitalized the genre and proven that a great single-player game can gather a huge passionate playerbase, no microtransactions or live service elements needed. If you enjoy narrative-driven RPGs that feature deep roleplaying systems and a cast of great characters, you owe it to yourself to give Baldur’s Gate 3 a chance. I have not felt such a rush of emotions since Dragon Age: Origins.
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire has taken Obsidian's formula of success and brought it to the new heights.