Role-playing games, or RPGs, were first regularly played on computers, like the computer-assisted instruction system, PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations), as far back as the 1970s, right around the same time TSR's legendary pen and paper-based fantasy RPG, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), was first gaining popularity. By the mid-1980s, console gamers were regularly joining in on the fun, with games like Dragon Quest (aka, Dragon Warrior) and Final Fantasy for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) getting tens of hours of playtime. 
 
Whether turn-based, with an emphasis on strategy and plot, or action-based, with an emphasis on a fast-pace and combat, role-playing video games have considerable appeal because they let you take control of the actions of a character or characters in a well-defined, immersive game world. Thanks to the power and popularity of Sony's PlayStation 4 (PS4) console, a staggering array of RPGs are available on the platform, with action RPGs taking particular advantage of the platform's strengths. 
 
We compiled a list of the best RPG PS4 games, each of which offers a unique game world to explore, as well as appealing play mechanics. What follows in this list is a selection of great RPG PS4 games that not only represent some of the newest entries in the genre, but also definitive versions of some of the best RPG games, regardless of platform.

Deceived by the forces of evil into prematurely bringing about the end of the world, the first Horseman of the Apocalypse, War, stands accused of breaking the sacred law by inciting a war between Heaven and Hell. In the slaughter that ensued, the demonic forces defeated the heavenly hosts and laid claim to the Earth. Brought before the sacred Charred Council, War is indicted for his crimes and stripped of his powers. Dishonored and facing his own death, War is given the opportunity to return to Earth to search for the truth and punish those responsible, while fending off a vengeful group of Angels.

In this graphically remastered version of the original game, you'll take control of War from a third-person perspective. The center of the game world functions as a hub where War is given new objectives and paths to unlock additional areas to explore, as well as make use of new skills. Darksiders: Warmastered Edition, takes over 20 action-packed hours to complete.

Key Features
  • Updated graphics
  • Classic, action-packed gameplay
  • Extreme Arsenals
Pros
  • Updated graphics shine
  • Story still holds up
  • Extreme Arsenals
Cons
  • No new content or game modes
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Darksiders: Warmastered Edition

The Elder Scrolls series has been making waves with RPG gamers since The Elder Scrolls: Arena first hit back in 1994. Each game since has upped the ante on gameplay options and audio-visual splendor.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was first released for PC Windows, Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), and Microsoft Xbox 360 back in 2011 to wide acclaim. This updated edition, which includes the main game and various add-ons with remastered audio-visuals, came out in 2016, with a free VR for PlayStation VR (PSVR) update hitting in 2017. Despite The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim being an older game, its ambitions were such that with even more modest updates than these, it would still stand as one of the greatest action RPGs of all-time.

Freely roam the land of Skyrim's open-world environment consisting of wilderness expanses, dungeons, cities, towns, fortresses, and villages. Ride a horse or use a fast-travel system to get to locations faster as you try to complete side and main quests, or simply ignore those options and explore the world at your leisure. You can interact with non-player characters in all kinds of ways, including trade and combat, and can even get married. There's a lot to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which can be played for many hundreds of hours.

Key Features
  • Includes the award-winning main game and various add-ons
  • Remastered art and effects
  • Virtual Reality (VR) option
Pros
  • An enhanced version of the all-time classic
  • Can make use of mods
  • Supports PSVR
Cons
  • Story is not as intricate as other RPGs
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

In Victor Vran: Overkill Edition, you become Victor, hunter of demons, as you forge your own hero on a quest to liberate the cursed city of Zagoravia. You can change how you play at any moment, even during battle. Modify your demon-slaying loadout as you dodge deadly attacks, leap from towering locations, and take on hordes of hideous beasts and cunning boss monsters.

In an interesting twist from the other action RPGs in our round-up, Victor Vran: Overkill Edition lets up to four players play online, or up to two players locally on the same PS4 console. As another plus, Victor Vran: Overkill Edition, will take even speedy, skilled players well over 30 hours to complete. With that said, unless you enjoy getting beaten down, try to avoid the hardest difficulty level and its balance issues versus the other, still-challenging difficulty levels.

Key Features
  • Includes the complete original game and two add-ons
  • Dynamic combat
  • Online and local multiplayer
Pros
  • Dynamic gameplay that can be modified even during battle
  • Online multiplayer for up to 4
  • Local multiplayer for up to 2
Cons
  • Hardest difficulty can be overly unforgiving
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Victor Vran: Overkill Edition

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition takes the popular 2014 action RPG game and bundles it with all available downloadable content. That extra content amounts to seven additional missions, four additional modes, four additional runes, and two additional skins, making an already large and expansive core game even larger.

In this third-person open-world action RPG, take control of a range named Talion who seeks revenge on the forces of Sauron after the murder of his wife and son. Travel across the game world through parkour, riding monsters, and fast travel points found at Forge Towers. Engage in melee, ranged combat, and stealth to overcome enemies and complete missions in the best possible manner. With more than 40 hours of playtime in this Game of the Year Edition, it's easy to overlook the loose and fast take on existing Middle Earth mythology and the incorporation of random loot boxes.

Key Features
  • Popular main game with additional missions, modes, skins, and runes
  • Exploit the individual fears, weaknesses, and memories of your enemies
  • Inflict brutal combos and master powerful new skills and weaponry
Pros
  • Packed with content
  • Lovely visuals
  • Lots of action
Cons
  • Plays a bit loose with Middle Earth mythology
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Middle-earth:Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition

Described as a hack-and-slash, field-roaming action RPG, Dragon Quest Heroes II: Explorer's Edition sends you on an adventure to restore order in a once peaceful world filled with hordes of monsters and battles of epic proportions. Up to four players can band together in cooperative multiplayer to conquer swarms of enemies and to defeat epic boss monsters. There's a large cast of characters with unique moves and abilities as you strive to defeat an unknown threat looming over the Seven Realms.

The one negative with the online multiplayer is that there are so many options to set up that it's difficult to find other players to enjoy the game with, and there's no local multiplayer. However, even if you're looking at this solely as a single-player experience, you'll likely still enjoy the more than 40 hours of play.

Key Features
  • Online multiplayer for up to 4 players
  • Transform into a monster and battle as one of them
  • Numerous playable characters with unique abilities
Pros
  • Online multiplayer
  • Transform into and battle as a monster
  • Numerous playable characters, vocations, and fighting styles
Cons
  • Combat can be as much about button mashing as strategy
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Dragon Quest Heroes II: Explorer's Edition

Although the typography in the title makes it look a bit like a ransom note, you shouldn't need to be forced to play NieR Automata: Game of the YoRHa Edition. In the game, invaders from another world attack without warning, unleashing machine-based lifeforms. To break the deadlock, a new breed of infantry is sent into the fray: the YoRHa squad. With a graceful blend of action RPG and captivating story, NieR Automata provides an intriguing play experience quite unlike anything else out there.

For the Game of the YoRHa Edition, developer PlantinumGames packed in a bunch of DLC and bonus content, into PS4 avatars, a PS4 dynamic theme, and various skins, among other items. With so much content from the main game alone, NieR Automata can take well over 40 hours to complete.

Key Features
  • Hack and slash combat with strategic elements
  • Previous player characters can be respawned and made a temporary ally
  • Multiple playthroughs through the perspective of different characters
Pros
  • Memorable gameplay
  • Excellent story
  • Skillfully blends play concepts from multiple genres
Cons
  • Requires multiple playthroughs to reach additional endings
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NieR Automata: Game of the YoRHa Edition

In this single-player, first-person perspective RPG, you're tasked with blasting, negotiating, and stumbling your way through the galaxy's most far-flung colony. The story goes that while you're lost in transit on a colonist ship bound for the furthest edge of the galaxy, you awake decades later than you expected. You then find yourself in the midst of a deep conspiracy threatening to destroy the Halcyon colony. As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter a host of factions vying for power, who you decide to become will determine the fate of everyone in Halcyon. In the corporate equation for the colony, you are the unknown variable.

A driving force behind The Outer Worlds is choice. You're often faced with hard, life-and-death decisions, where there's no way to have a wholly satisfying outcome free of casualties. These choices, combined with a strong emphasis on relationship development, give The Outer Worlds an emotional impact that few other games even attempt to elicit. Although its combat gets repetitive and the menus can prove a chore to navigate, The Outer Worlds is worth investing the greater than 30 hours it takes to complete it.

Key Features
  • Build any character you want
  • Lead a crew of companions armed with unique abilities and motivations
  • Find your ship and explore the diverse locations in the Halcyon colony
Pros
  • Lots of choices to make
  • Thoughtful game world
  • Has good replayability
  • Build any character you want
Cons
  • Mediocre visuals
  • Combat gets repetitive
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The Outer Worlds

Originally released in Japan as Seien Densetsu 2, Secret of Mana was a 1993 RPG release for the Super Famicom, known as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in the US. The game was actually a sequel to Seiken Densetsu, aka Final Fantasy Adventure (US) and Mystic Quest (Europe), but was released to the type of sales and acclaim its predecessor could only dream of and with regard that has only grown over time. With that in mind, it's no surprise that a 3D remake of the 2D top-down perspective original has been made available for the PS4, so a whole new generation of gamers can get to see what all the fuss is about.

The original's most compelling features have come along for the update. One to three players, two of which who can drop in or out of play at any time, can take the roles of Randi, Primm, and Popoi in real-time battles with a power bar mechanic. A Ring Command menu system lets you pause the action to make decisions in the middle of battle. With its bright graphics, expansive plot elements, and old school charm, most gamers will find it a joy playing through Secret of Mana's more than 50 hours of content.

Key Features
  • Faithful retelling of original with modern 3D graphics and controls
  • Newly arranged musical score and voiced characters
  • Upgraded gameplay
Pros
  • 3D graphics update look while remaining faithful to source
  • Thoughtful improvements for modern gamers
  • New music score and voiced characters
Cons
  • Retains some legacy gameplay elements that may not be appealing to modern gamers
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Secret of Mana

In a unique 17th century-inspired setting, GreedFall tasks you with exploring uncharted lands as you set foot on a remote island seeping with magic, riches, lost secrets, and fantastic creatures. You need to forge this new world's destiny as you befriend or betray companions and entire factions. With diplomacy, deception, and force, you become part of a living, evolving world, one where you can influence its course and shape your story.

You can play as a male or female, customize your appearance, and freely choose your abilities, spells, and skills. Your character is viewed from a third-person perspective, and you engage in the game's combat-, diplomacy-, and stealth-based actions. While GreedFall suffers from some technical limitations, it more than makes up for its lack of big-budget production values with a clever setting and compelling gameplay over at least 40 hours of play.

Key Features
  • Core roleplaying experience to achieve quests and objectives in different ways
  • Freedom in character progression
  • Unique 17th-century-style fantasy setting
Pros
  • Flexible character building and development
  • Attractive environments
  • Interesting story and companions
Cons
  • Limited scope of game world
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In The Sinking City, take the role of a private investigator exploring an open world inspired by the horror of H.P. Lovecraft. You need to uncover the truth about what has possessed the city and the minds of its inhabitants in this unusual mix of RPG, action-adventure, and survival game.

You can make your own conclusions based on the clues and testimonies you collect during your investigation and can use persuasion, stealth, or brute force to solve each case. Every choice has an impact on the outcome. If you can handle the emotional impact of its well-designed horror themes and don't mind a slower-paced game experience, The Sinking City can provide more than 30 hours of intense, thoughtful play between its main story and side quests.

Key Features
  • Game world inspired by horror master, H.P. Lovecraft
  • RPG with adventure and survival horror gameplay elements
  • Solve each case multiple ways with different endings
Specifications
  • Publisher: Bigben
  • Genre: Action RPG
  • Mode: Third-person perspective
  • Platform: PS4
  • Rating: M
Pros
  • Unique setting and gameplay elements
  • Cases can be solved a number of ways with different endings
  • Game world inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
Cons
  • Slow pace
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The Sinking City

A good RPG can be a particularly satisfying play experience. It's a way to more directly inhabit a role or persona versus other game types. Some games let you role-play to make decisions on how the character you're playing would, while others let you use your in-game avatar's skin and capabilities and make decisions exactly how you would in real life. Each approach can be fun in its own way and also provide some interesting insights into your own personality and ethical code.

It used to be that computer-based RPGs were primarily of the turn-based variety where only one character or set of characters would act at one time before another character or set of characters could act. In that way, turn-based RPGs played out a bit like a board game, in which each player or non-player character waiting for their turn. Early console RPGs introduced more action-based elements, which found their way back to computer-based RPGs. Today, the action RPG is a particularly popular form of the genre because it has many of the best elements from traditional turn-based RPGs, but adds more immediacy to the happenings.

Action RPGs

With today's powerful smartphone, tablets, computers, and consoles, there's no limit to the types of games that can be played. Consoles like the PS4, are especially well-suited to action-based games because developers know that every player has access to the same type of controller, a gamepad. That's perhaps one of the reasons, among many, that action RPGs are so prevalent on the platform.

Typical action RPGs feature direct control of a single character at one time, with a strong focus on combat and quick reactions. Of course, setting, story, and character development are still important, but the heart of any good action RPG remains how smoothly the combat plays out and how interesting the situations unfold in real-time. The best action RPGs rarely give short shrift to character progression or the story, even if it's just a pretense to set up the next big battle.

Single-Player Versus Multiplayer

RPGs, action-based or otherwise, are still generally a single-player only experience. One reason for this is the length of a typical RPG game, which can take tens of hours or more to beat. While other game types can be enjoyed in short bursts and don't necessarily have complicated stories or endings to keep track of, an RPG wouldn't necessarily be an RPG without those types of elements in place. On the plus side, this means that the most immersive RPGs can focus on the best possible single-player experience without having to potentially compromise by needing to accommodate the needs of additional players. Of course, some RPGs, especially action RPGs, do quite well when they find ways to accommodate multiple players at the same time, and playing with others does offer its own benefits and sense of immersion.

Selecting the best PS4 RPG game for you doesn't have to be as difficult as some of the in-game decisions you'll have to make. If you pick a premise, graphical style, or feature-set that interests you as a starting point, you'll be able to narrow down the options. Of course, picking a PS4 RPG game that might not immediately strike you as your type of experience may also prove a good approach. After all, some of the best ways to discover new favorites is to try something you've never tried before. That's also the perfect mindset as you undertake your next great RPG adventure.