My Five Least Favorite CRPGs 

I really liked the story of Shadowrun returns. Being asked to track down a killer, by the victim with a deadman switch, is a cool concept. If it was longer, had more side content, and had the other improvements of the sequels, It would be my favorite one of the trilogy. More games need to be made in the Shadowrun universe. Cyberpunk with magic, and fantasy races is an awesome combination. With how popular Cyberpunk was, and how popular RPGs at the moment I'm surprised nobody else is making games in the universe.

This is something small, but thank you for naming your video "least favorite RPGs" instead of "RPGs I HATE." I appreciate the less negative language, love hearing your opinions, and I'm a huge fan. Keep up the amazing work

Watching this video made me realize that Tides of Numenera would work AMAZING if it was done in a style similar to Disco Elysium. Unfortunately “combat-less” RPG’s weren’t a known concept at the time.

I get that Shadowrun Returns is a bit limited, but its still a game very dear to me, part of it because we used to play the pen annd paper Shadowrun rpg in my youth, so when this game came out, it had a huge nostalgic bonus for me.

Shadowrun Returns is very well written and brings the PnP atmosphere niceley to the PC. I was very impressed back then and it was a good start for a phenomenal series.

Numenera's greatest is that you actually get to play Numenera, which is a very specific setting to find enough players to buy in on the concept for at tabletop.

Looking at the comments. I’m glad to see there were more people who really liked Tides of Numera. Wish it was fully voiced though.

Tides of Numenara is an exceptional game for a wisdom/dialogue oriented character. The artstyle and world is really interesting and the plot, while it wobbles, remains interesting and philosophical

Tides of Numenera's decision to have 'crises' rather than 'combats' was one of the *best* parts of the game. Frankly it made it a lot more like an actual tabletop-RPG, where you're not just testing your-numbers-vs-their-numbers over and over again, but rather tend to simply have some objective-of-the-moment and a lot of tools with which to contribute to that objective -- be they talking, or running away, or sabotaging-and-getting-out, or just surviving. The "guided-tour heist" (Covetous Hearts quest) is one of the coolest encounters I've played in a CRPG. I think Rhin is unironically one of the strongest companions and it's *not* due to ciphers or due to the spoilerthing she can do (which I personally avoided), but rather due to the humble *Running* skill being incredibly good (in particular, combined with Quick Fingers and the various Lores, in order to accomplish tasks, and Stealth). If anything, the problem with the crisis system is that too many of them *were* basically just combats, but with objective-buttons/bonus-objective-buttons.

I actually really enjoyed Tides Of Numenera, I think if it wasn't pitched as a sequel to Planescape Torment, and people came in knowing that combat in this game is more of an afterthought, it would have mych better reviews

Btw the best way to play Returns is to play it's remake in Shadowrun Hong Kong

I would be over the moon if Owlcat or Larian did a Shadowrun game next, that universe is amazing but as you said the Shadowrun trilogy is really limited in scope. Even Vampire the masquerade had Bloodlines even if it was buggy as hell at launch. I enjoyed Torment decently as I treated it more as a point and click adventure and pretty much ignored/avoided combat in my playthrough. I like to build pacifist builds in games that allow it just to see how far they go.

Shadowrun Returns is limited but it's still one of my favorite CRPGs, I've beaten it about a dozen times. Tides of Nimenera I do love the setting but I don't love the gameplay the same, it's the same issue I have with Planescape Torment though. Still fair points.

I remember enjoying Torment. But then again if you asked me to play any of my collection of CRPGs again, I'd probably have it last. So, you have a point...

I fully recognize that Atom RPG is fundamentally a deeply flawed game, but as a classic Fallout and Stalker fan, a combination of those 2 really scratched that niche itch for me and I couldn't helped but really enjoyed the game despite all its shortcomings.

Everytime people bring up Tyranny I remember my time with it: having to do choices at the start with lore and such and as soon as gameplay starts I forgot everything instantly

People asked Atom team to bring some good changes from Trudograd (standalone expansion for the game) to the base game and make it better. They rejected that one and that make me sad cuz the base game would be much better with them. And they could add more scarfs... or let you use other rags to craft healing items cause that part was not great either - made the first few hours even harder. Speaking of easterneuropean post-apo - Tunguska Visitation got "Enhanced Edition" and dev is STILL popping updated for (check date) more than 3 years since original release.

The good thing about Returns is that you can just get Hong Kong and play the Returns modul campaign in that game, and then play Hong Kong as well.

Shadowrun Returns was very cool to see at the time since it was right at the start of the CRPG renaissance, but nowadays it's a lot less impressive by comparison.

I loved Torment Tides of Numenera, but there was A LOT of text and the game **felt** somewhat long (well, I mean, I read every single cell in the giant Necropolis Tomb that has 625 of them). I found the combat system pretty good, ironically, for a game that has about 10+ fights. :P (only 3 cannot be avoided I am told) But I loved reading the lore and the original story.

Shadowrun Returns is like Neverwinter Nights. You don't buy it for the base game. You buy it for the toolset and modules.

I think Shadowrun Returns was a solid game and especially for the time it came out; it's just that Dragonfall and Hong Kong are such fantastic sequels that it gets first installment syndrome in comparison. I must also ashamedly admit I never beat the game, because I found I just could not figure out how to overcome the last battle. Embarrassing I admit, as I've had other RPGs I never beat because I just kind of fizzled out on continuing, but never one I just got hard stuck on in the same manner.

Love those Shadowrun games - my first taste of the setting.

Whaaat. Lionheart is one of my fav games from my childhood. Loved the crazy mix of history and fantasy. I guess it didn't age that well, but I had so much fun with it.

The main campaign for Shadowrun Returns was a bit sparse, but the game itself was supposed to be a template for people to make their own stories, and the main campaign was essentially a showcase of the mechanics to give people ideas.

Any chance of Top 5 CRPGS for people with very little free time lol

would you say the most important factor for you are the combat mechanics and class building? When I got into CRPGs, I remember never caring about those and until this days I rarely understand fully whaat happens in battles. I mostly enjoy the world and story, combat was always the most boring aspect. That's why games like Disco Elysium are an enlightment by showing its not necessary to stick to combat no matter what.

Try playing "Space Rangers HD: A war apart". It's a bit old at this point, but till this day this is one of my favourite and replayed rpgs, alongside pathfinder. I do think you may enjoy it

I seriously Loved Lionheart. Its base fantasy is fabulous, a sorta steampunk mechanical revolution with magic in Spain with a shitton of famous people from its history i got hooked a lot and played it a lot of times during my life. I know it's mechanics and animations are hard to digest but i love the magic evolution but the art is delicios.

A totally respectable list. About Numera, I’ll say it is very, very disappointing. It has its moments, like that timed quest (of which I’ll say nothing for spoiler reason), but in order to homage Torment it’s too afraid to be its own thing. It starts horribly with 20 minutes of black screen and white text interspersed with gusts of wind, and recicles too many elements from its predecessor. As an example, at a certain point of which I remember nothing, in a location of which I recall a little, through the words of a character (what was her name, again?), the game asks his iconic question: “What does one life matter?”. In Torment that corresponding moment stands out, brightly, as a pinnacle of RPG writing.

As much as I love Shadowrun Returns, it's hard to disagree with you that the game is more like a demo than a full game. Still, it's a really great demo for two even more awesome games. I'm so eager to play another Shadowrun game, I absolutely love this universe!

I might have to agree on Shadowrun returns, on the one hand: I bought Dragonfall and HongKong, so it must have done *something* right. On the other hand... I don't remember a damn thing about it plot wise... maybe the "story" was just the self contained missions and the world building did it for me? hard to say, might have to revisit it.

All the jazz of RU-vid

My main pick for the game that I loved despite its flaws is actually the Planescape: Torment. Boy, the gameplay is so clunky and so bad at times, so, so bad! Especially prior to the enhanced edition, as pathfinding was originally terrible (similarly to BG1). However, the narrative, as we all know, is a masterpiece. To this day, it's my favorite story & collection of characters, perhaps in all the fiction. For sure the most philosophical game I have ever played. I also like its weird aesthetics. I couldn't help but loving the whole experience in the end, despite the game's obvious issues and shortcomings.

Ice Wind Dale 2 is probably my favorite "bad" cRPG, a linear dungeon crawler with a forgetable dungeons and an even worse story. But it was the best 3.0 party based dungeon crawler we had, and I loved the Infinity engine.

Lionheart is actually one of my favourite games of all time despite all its faults. Just due to the setting and some interesting ideas it has, and I loved meeting Shakespeare, Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci (Expeditions: Rome scratched that itch a bit too lol). I think it's the only game to do mage oppression right and I kind of suspect this is where Dragon Age got that idea from (I know it happened in Baldur's Gate 2 as well but Dragon Age's approach to this is very similar to Lionheart to me). Great video, you were right on all accounts. I love CRPGs as well! Subscribed ^-^ My guilty pleasure CRPGs are the Pathfinder games, they have awful writing and are buggy as hell but I just can't get enough of them, I love a good power fantasy. The Angel ending for WOTR is my favourite videogame ending of all time, it's a paladin player's wet dream lol

Honestly Planescape Torment and Tides of Numenara both baffle me in that they seem more interested in telling their stories than actually having engaging tactical combat--which raises the question why they're CRPGs to begin with rather than visual novels or adventure games, which I think are way more conducive to a philosophically and emotionally involving story. Edit: To be clear, I think CRPGs can have great, well-told stories, but the presentation lends itself to a very different gameplay style and mindset. Disco Elysium and Baldur's Gate 3 are exceptions that prove the rule.

Torment Tides of Numenera is a game I want to like so much....I just can't. I get bored so fast with it all, even though no doubt the story will be great to follow. It's just....I don't play games to read. Great for those who love it, I just wish I could as well cause the setting sounds great to me.

I liked Shadowrun Retruns for its simplicity because it was the first revival-era crpg I could actually finish. It was only after that game taught me how to think like a crpg player could I move onto BG:EE, D:OS, and other revival-era crpgs I had sitting in my Steam account. Now crpgs are my favorite genre when 10 years ago I thought they were inaccessible I agree with Beyond Divinity being garbage, it's crazy that Larian managed to become my favorite studio after 15 years of being mid at best

My issue with Tides of Numenera was the writing. For me it felt like whomever was doing the writing thought to himself: "You know why people loved P:T? Writing! So you know what that means? WE NEED MORE OF IT! MORE! MORE WORDS! SAY LESS WITH MORE! ADD MORE WORDS IN THIS SENTENCE!" forgetting that more words doesn't mean "better writing". You have to know how to do it, if you want to pull off flowery language. Whomever was writing this did not in fact know how to do it.

man, I haven't thought about Lionheart in decades. I was so hyped for it too, the whole premise was super interesting to me, but you're absolutely right about it.

I think I was among those who requested reviews for 2 or 3 of the list's titles ("Shadowrun Returns", "Torment Tides of Numenera" and/or "ATOM RPG"). In an attempt to keep up the "winning" streak, here I am asking for you to give a look at another title I'd like your opinion on: "The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos" (currently on sale on GOG, for example, at less then 9,00€). Jokes aside, when a review points out negative aspects of a game that are worth evaluating by the players before spending their money, I think that's a successful review. Meaning: these were very useful reviews/impressions, for me. Thanks for your videos!

That I like three out of five games here shows just how good and consistent the genre is. If Tides of Numenera makes sense for a bottom five list, that's a really good genre.

I loved the Shadowrun games as something to play in the evenings after work, when I was too tired to focus on heavier crpgs. Shadowrun had simpler mechanics and it focused on its story and roleplaying. I could play an hour and make progress. Having to write to-do lists on these heavier and more open "figure it out yourself" type crpgs can get a bit tiring after juggling to-dos at the office for a full work-day first. That said, "Returns" was a bit too simple compared to the other two games they released.

I need to give Torment: Tides of Numenera a full playthrough.

Hmmm never played Atom RPG, interesting to see it on this list. I do plan to play Atom's next game and I hope it will be better.

Lionheart Legady of the Crusader is a huge nostalgia trip for me, loved that game, never finished it after Act 3

I'm still hoping we get another Shadowrun game. I'd actually love to maybe see Owlcat take a shot at it

The first half of Lionheart is actually one of my favorite CRPG's but they really dropped the ball after you head to the monastery. This could have been up there with Fallout 2 for fame if they hadn't rushed it out.

I beat Torment Tides of Numenera on my PS4, but man, it was rough. I kept thinking how much better it would have been on my PC

My biggest issue with the Shadowrun cRPG's is they make me yearn for other, more complete & modern feeling cRPG set in the Shadowrun universe that just don't exist.

I would have to add Solasta to my list sadly, it's not a bad game but it felt more like a platform for modders and community creation rather than a complete CRPG.

I made it 25 minutes into Atom RPG, and at the point where I had to open my inventory, remove my gun, equip a grenade, close the inventory, and THEN throw the grenade, I decided that I would rather be in range of the grenade when it went off, and spare me the misery of the rest of the game. I love inventory management games, but even I have a limit.

I really wish Obsidian, which rose out of the ashes of Black Isle, could pick up the Lionheart IP and give the setting its due. I remember being fascinated by the game's setting when it first came out--for better or worse, I never got too far in the game and didn't learn for years how it went downhill in the later stages.

I tried multiple games in this genre over the years, but never felt like I enjoyed them (those that I did) for what they were trying to do. Role-playing as a whole is an incomprehensible concept to me. (so, I ended up enjoying Wasteland 2 - with its tactical combat and option to face every encounter through it - far more than Fallout 1-2, which are considered to be great) An element I like the least, is mandatory character creation. Games that feature it, essentially remove the player's avatar from the story itself - you are like a detective in a detective story. There to solve the murder, but not within the story itself. Is there a good starting point for understanding what this genre is about? Like, a game that forces you to interact with elements that are important for it, instead of letting it descend into a boring dungeon crawl. Edit: sorry, ignore the last question. I just noticed your video about CRPGs for beginners right next to it.

Shadowrun Returns was a glass of water when you were in the desert for years without a good Shadowrun RPG. It was a fairly mid game but all we had before it were the SNES/Genesis games in the 90s and a competitive FPS on Xbox 360. I still appreciate it as a crowd-funded proof of concept. Dragonfall had good characters and Hong Kong the best gameplay so the Trilogy is still worth playing if you haven't tried it.

I've always considered Shadowrun Returns an adventure editor with small sample campaign attached

I liked Tides of Numenera (although the character creation options are thin) and Shadowrun Returns, but I agree about Atom RPG. I'm not a fan.

I love ATOM RPG, I think it is one of those games that is best played with mods which offer a bunch of QOL improvements to at least reduce the jankiness, currently playing through Trudograd and having a blast.

Mine would be the OG Icewind Dale. As you mentioned of several titles in your video, just a linear dungeon crawl, through some less than fascinating dungeons. IWD2 was leagues ahead tho.

I've been interested in Numenera since they did a Thunderstone crossover many years ago

Lionheart had so much potential😥

I liked Shadowrun, but I played it in sequence with sequel, so two of them together were not short. :)

I played Beyond Divinity when it released and I remember it being one of my faves just cause of the interactions with the death knight. All hilarious!

Torment: Tides of Numenera has one major flaw. It literally discloses the complete plot at the very beginnning. Planescape: Torment was totally opposite. You know nothing at the beginning and whole game is about discovering what is going on, up untill jaw drop at the end.

I honestly I don't mind when cRPG isn't like 60+ hours long slog and I genuinely appreciate when devs go for more condensed experience. If I finish the game in like 10-20h I will still have need to play it again with different build and choices. After 60h playthrough I end up tired of it and just want to try different game.

Was about to be offended that Shadowrun is on the list, but then you were absolutely right. Shadowrun was the first "real game" I played, and it was perfect for beginners cause it was small. Now that I'm much more experienced in RPG, I don't bother with the original anymore. I play it rather in the HK engine through mods. I really wish someone buys the rights out of Microsoft though cause the IP is just too good to be shelved.

I was always hoping as much as I love Cyberpunk Shadowrun is such a cooler world would have loved to see a cyberdeck Orc Samurai in Cp2077 graphics and depths.

I'm not that big on crpg's, but Torment I'll def have to give a try. I like the art and I like that it's more story oriented rather than combat. Combat heavy crpg's literally make me fall asleep. Had to use mods to get through BG3's combat to experience that amazing game.

As a Fallout fan I really enjoyed ATOM. Altohugh, yeah, it was hard. But you know. ppl complain rats in Fallout 1 were hard.

Of these I played Shadowrun and Tides of Numenera. I agree with you, not terrible but not great games. The rest are on my backlog. Atom RPG and Trudograd are the next I plan on playing, I hope I find them better than you did.

Lionheart has so much potential, it's sad that Black Isle didn't get to finish the game properly.

I was always disappointed that Beyond Divinity was not nearly as well done as Divine Divinity. It would be interesting to see a video like this that consisted of your least favorite CRPGs that you considered to be complete, fully competent, and generally well-received.

It's wondering in wisdom bro. Love your continued growth, it was just a matter of time; top 10 favorite RU-vid people. On my top 10 least favorite things, #1 is probably Dark Souls 2 followed by Elden Ring. I just get this feeling of it wanting to be more of an Action RPG and I would rather play Diablo when it comes to actually making builds.

I'm bummed Tides of Numenera wasn't... great. Such a cool setting.

I know that people are usually not very fond of NWN 1 main campaign, but as a kid I had a lot of fun

I hate that Shadowrun Returns isn't super good because it's one of the few video games set in my hometown.

It's wild that your taste in games is actually very close to mine so I often rely on it to try new CRPGs but... my least favorite CRPG I ever played was Pathfinder, lol.

OMG! That's exactly how I felt about Torment. Too many dialogues, too few combat situations. While I like story in these games, combat is always very important to me and that's why I loved Divinity and Baldurs Gate

Atom rpg here surprised me, I really enjoyed the game. Great writing and fun quests

i loved Lionheart in my childhood, but mostly for its act1

Aw come one, Torment is awesome. I will Remember Erritis forever.

Nice video. Keep up posting about Crpgs. Thanks

I remember Lionheart. I played the demo and I was super hyped for it. But when I actually got it, it wasn't really good 😢

I know I played Lionheart but man... I have no memory of that game. don't know if I ever finished it...

It's a shame you don't like torment, as the pen & paper Numenera setting is brilliant.

I won't stand for Atom RPG slander. 😤

Shadowrun returns had a bug while playing on PS4 in which a door wouldn't open to a new area. It was awful, and I didn't finish the game because of that.

Not gonna lie - I watched this entirely to see if Kingmaker was on here as a "I hate how much i love this game" sort of entry. These make sense too, i guess.

Never finished Lionheart, I remember that at some point enemies became much much stronger and I couldn't go past them.

Was wondering if you ever played dofus or if you plan on testing the final version coming out around the end of the year

Torment is carried by the world and setting

I'm a pretty big Fallout fan, as can be guessed by my pfp, and I was so excited about Atom. Too bad it felt like the devs took everything from Fallout, and made it.... kinda lame lol.

Shadowrun returns? Sometimes it's about the world. And the sequels?

I rather enjoyed Tides of Numera and Shadowrun Returns. Shadowrun was fun and fast paced, it was a nice time killer for my thesis relax (i will always treasure the hours spent) but yeah it was more like a one-shot that a GM runs to get a feel of the party and system. It was good and was money well spent but man it was super simple short and had clear holes in design (not game breaking but you know certain choices were not really end-game friendly how the heck was i supposed to know that shotgun proficiency was needed?) Torment on the other hand, it has a strange place in my heart. It was the last gift my grandma made me. She asked one of my friends (yes a 80 years old lady asked a friend of mine what to buy me on steam) and I rather enjoyed it, but on a second replay i realized that it was more narrative than anything else. I get the point but I was hoping for more variety or 'Punishing' the player with though combat if they were a tad too trigger happy. I literally did the bare minimum and ended the run at core rule settings, without too much of a problem. The story, setting and writing were great but it was a disappointment the combat especially since the game system it's based on its rather fun on the combat.

Thanks. Havent touched my copies of the games mentioned. Might never now lol

Numenera is by no means a bad game, although I would agree it could have more combat

Gotta agree, but, Beyond Divinity doesn't deserve the hate imo, once it was patched it was pretty good, it was unfortunate it was a sequel to the great DivDiv a hard act to follow.

Planescape: Torment is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, but Numenera felt like such a huge let down. I tried playing it, but nothing in it really grabbed me, it didn't have any of the charm of Torment (for lack of a better term) and I ended up discarding it after just a couple of hours.

I love Tides of Numenera