Fallout's co-creator picks 5 RPGs everyone should learn from, including Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, and Skyrim
Fallout's co-creator has named his personal pick of the five modern RPGs that everyone designing a game could and should learn from.
Tim Cain is no stranger to grand RPGs - he's been making them for over 30 years at this point, beginning with the very first Fallout, and stretching all the way to helping Obsidian make The Outer Worlds 2 in 2024. Bringing all those decades of expertize to bear, Cain has announced his pick of the five modern RPGs that he thinks everyone designing games can learn something from.
It's important to note that, as Cain himself highlights in the video below, these are five games that the developer believes can teach "certain aspects" of RPG development. This isn't a list of the five best RPGs ever - this is a list of five RPGs that you should be paying attention to, "whether you like them or not," Cain says.
Cain leads with World of Warcraft as his first pick. Why? Because even if it isn't the best RPG or even the best MMORPG, it proved that "making things easier makes them more fun," Cain says. Whereas Everquest offers "all stick and no carrot" in its difficulty design, Cain says WoW is "all carrot," in its approach to difficulty, and it's fun as a result. "Fun trumps just about anything," Cain adds.
Elden Ring, Cain's second pick, proves "harder is more fun." Cain loved Elden Ring's lore being there, but "you had to dig for it," and likewise loves the RPG's use of status gauges to show the player character accruing poison or other status effects over time. The player could stop the build-up of status effects with a variety of skills and items, and Cain loves that.
"Skyrim is an absolute masterclass in exploration," Cain says for his third pick. The veteran developer absolutely adores Skyrim for
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