The 17 Best Free RPG Games Ever Made

best free rpgs
Updated:
19 Apr 2018

What’s better than an RPG? A free RPG

17. Neverwinter

Neverwinter Gameplay

Neverwinter will sound familiar to many gamers, and for good reason. While it is not technically part of the Neverwinter Nights series, it is set in the eponymous city of Neverwinter. While Neverwinter does suffer from many of the problems of MMO’s, there are a lot of things it does do very well. While a lot of MMO’s focus very heavily on the PVP angle, Neverwinter tries to be more story oriented and consequently more worthy of its Dungeons and Dragons brand.

You’ll start your journey as your ship is sunk, leaving you unconscious on the shore. You will make your way to Neverwinter, which has plunged into chaos following the disappearance of the last Lord of Neverwinter. As one would expect, a great many villains and problems raise their heads, and it falls to you to become the hero that Neverwinter so badly needs.

It has most everything you’d expect form an MMO, but with a well done Dungeons and Dragons vibe.

Gameplay is pretty much what you’d expect from a game in this genre, you choose a race for your character, choose a class for your character, and set out on your adventure. Basically if you enjoyed all those Dungeons & Dragons PC games, like Baldur’s Gate, and Neverwinter Nights, you’ll probably get some fun out of Neverwinter.

Between it being free to play, having some decent DLC, and being currently on consoles as well; there’s essentially no reason for any RPG or D&D fan not to give this one a shot.

Download Nevewinter Here

I do like RPGs that allow you to actually look and feel like a badass, Neverwinter does this well

Doing dungeons with friends is definitely a major strength Neverwinter has over similar single player D&D games

16.Vindictus

Vindictus has a special place in my heart. There are hands-down almost no MMO’s on the market currently with a better combat system. When you are slicing through enemies in Vindictus, it really feels like you are playing a single-player action RPG. It just flows that beautifully.

In Vindictus, you don’t pick a class in the traditional MMO sense; instead you choose a character. Characters are class and gender locked. There are currently ten options. Each character has an entirely different combat style allowing for you to approach the game in multiple different gameplay styles.

The storyline is broken up into different “seasons”, which will be familiar to players of Mabinogi. In fact a great many things about this game will likely be familiar to Mabinogi players, as it is set in the same universe (several hundred years before Mabinogi though).

So if you like fast paced action RPGs and you like free things, definitely go and download this one.

Download Vindictus Here

Extreme Tug of War

Any RPG that doesn’t have dragons in it barely counts as an RPG

15.Rift

Rift Gameplay

In Rift you enter the world of Telara, a world under siege. Telara is the focal point of the various elemental planes (Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Life, and Death), each of which is governed by a dragon personification of their element.

These Dragon gods have turned their eyes towards Telara, and have begun an assault upon the world.

With the world in the balance, it falls to you as one of the “Ascended”, long dead super-human warriors resurrected to face this threat. There are six races split between two factions; the Guardians, and the Defiant. The Guardians are religious and spiritual, and players in this faction will be resurrected after dying in battle against the evil that is attacking the world, and sent back to the beginning of the rift. The Defiant, on the other hand place their faith in science and go against the religion of the Guardians. Players in the Defiant faction will be brought back to life with advanced science as the world nears destruction, and are sent back in time to the beginning of the rift.

It has been called one of the best MMOs in years, and has raised over a $100 million in revenue. If you are interested in a more traditional MMO adventure, with a very solid player base then this one is certainly worth checking out.

Download Rift here

­­­­­­­

All else aside, you should play this game because it has shark mounts with legs!

“Welcome to Innsmouth little man.”

14.Mabinogi

Ah, Mabinogi … Mabi is one of those games that I play for a few hundred hours, delete, and then after a few months re-download and play for another few hundred hours. I never truly get bored of it, and they are constantly improving it with new content so every time I come back the game is just different enough to really grab my attention.

Earlier I said that Vindictus was without a doubt the best MMO action rpg on the market today, well Mabinogi is also the best at something. Made by the same team, and taking place in the same universe, Mabi is one of the most wide-open and free MMOs out there. You really can do just about anything you want in Mabi. Do you want to be a gallant hero and save the world? Go for it. Do you want to be a tailor and sew amazing outfits that you can then sell to other players? Great! Do you want to make powerful weapons worthy of legend and sell them to those gallant heroes? We’ve got you covered.

There is a storyline in Mabi, divided into seasons and chapters just like Vindictus, but you can (as I imagine many players do) completely ignore this and go out to do your own thing. Add to that that there are no class restrictions to speak of (I made a jack of all trades character that was strong with a sword and magic, but also a tailor and a shape shifter) so long as you invest the time and effort your character can learn just about any mixture of skills that appeal to your vision for your character.

I keep coming back to Mabi and I suspect that will remain a fact for a long time to come. However no MMO is online forever, and missing out on this one would be a true loss. So don’t miss out, go check it out and see if it’s for you.

Download Mabinogi Here

Style is a big part of Mabi for a lot of players

There are so many mounts to get too, though the flying ones are by far the best

13.Age of Wushu

Age of Wushu is not your typical MMO RPG. It’s a martial arts MMORPG.

There’s a description I never thought I’d have occasion to use.

In Age of Wushu, you pick a faction to join (Shaolin, Wudang, Emei, Beggar’s Sect, Tang Clan, Scholars academy, Royal Guard, or Blissful Valley) and set out on your adventure. Factions take the place of more traditional classes, though the only skills that are specific to each faction is their internal skill. This lack of traditional classes also comes with the added bonus that there are no level caps either.

There are three types of skill that can be utilized in combat, and there is a rock, paper, scissors-like system in place.

The plotline is set in the early Ming Dynasty, as the Emperor has died and created a massive power vacuum. The perfect place for an adventurer to get his start!

Download Age of Wushu here

You do not know the power, of the dark side

You don’t really get much in the way of martial arts games in general.

12. Lord of the Rings Online

Lord of the Rings Online Gameplay

Alright so this one is exactly what it sounds like, and that is very far from a bad thing.

In LotR Online you start off on your journey at the same time as Frodo leaves the Shire. You can play one of five races (Dwarf, Elf, Human, Beorning, or Hobbit) and play as either gender in all races other than Dwarf for whom no gender option is provided. There is seven classes in the base game with more added via expansion packs.

There’s too much great about this game to cover easily here, so I’ll just cover some of the things that really make it unique.

For starters there’s music. Music is a big part of the LotR universe and LotR Online doesn’t disappoint in this regard. Starting at level 5 you can play instruments, of which there are many throughout the game. This allows you to play actual music written or transcribed by the community, as the instruments are fully playable (not just useful for playing scripted songs like in most RPGs). This gives way to music concerts and festivals in-game organized by players and makes the world feel that much more real.

Then there is the notable lack of magic. There are skills that work in a similar fashion to magic, and items that are enchanted; but there’s no option to be a mage/wizard in this game. In keeping with the lore, there are only five wizards in middle-earth and none of them are your character.

The storyline is broken up into chapters, with more being added via free updates and DLC. There are five DLC packs for LotR Online at present.

For a time this was the third most played mmo on the internet. Whilst not as strong as it once was, it’s still every bit the amazing game that it was. So if you like epic fantasy, or are just a LotR nut like I am; then you simply have to go out and download this one.

Download Lord of the Rings Online Here

Riders of Rohan vs Uruks of Isengard

“Smooooke on the waaaater …”

11.Dungeons and Dragons Online

Dungeons and Dragons Online Gameplay

Alright, so I talked about Neverwinter a little while ago and how if you liked those older PC RPGs you’d probably like it. This is firmly in that category too, in fact I would definitely say it’s a much stronger entry. Dungeons and Dragons Online is the undisputed king of online D&D. Much like Neverwinter, your adventures will be primarily centered around one city. Instead of the city of Neverwinter, you will be focusing your efforts of protecting the city of Stormreach.

The dangers you will save the city from are varied and legion, with more being added with every additional story update.

Unlike typical D&D, DDO uses real-time combat instead of turn-based combat, helping keep the flow and pacing of combat a lot more lively.

There are 9 playable races, and 14 classes open to all races. Also, as anyone familiar with D&D will likely expect, you can multi-class your character with no penalty or restrictions (other than your characters alignment) on what multi-class combination you choose to go with.

This is a very pure D&D experience and if that sounds at all interesting to you, then this one should bring you a great deal of fun. It certainly did for me.

Download Dungeons and Dragons Online here

 And yes guys, there are in fact dungeons and dragons to be found here

You know what they say, *snicker* beauty is in the eye of the … yeah okay, I’ll just see myself out

10. DC Universe Online

Now, full disclosure; I am not a huge DC fan. I’m a Marvel fan through and through … so it’s worth keeping that in mind when I tell you that this game is very close to being exactly the kind of superhero game I always wanted to play. It’s not perfect, it has its faults but it is a very strong entry on this list.

DC Universe Online takes place as Brainiac is preparing to invade earth. In the future he manages this by causing the majority of the heroes and villains to wipe each other out, whilst slowly downloading their powers so that when they are all gone he can create an army of meta-humans that will do his bidding. After his successful conquest of earth, Lex Luther (one of the only survivors of the fighting) manages to steal these downloaded powers and load them into tiny robots that can bond with human beings, called “Exobytes”. Lex then travels back in time before the invasion and releases the Exobytes into the atmosphere so that they will bond with people and create hundreds of new meta-humans that can then be trained to repel Brainiac’s incoming invasion. You are one of these new meta-humans.

You have a huge amount of freedom creating your character with a great many different powers to choose form, different methods of movement (Super speed, agility, flight) and costume options (which you get more of through the game) to name a few things. Then of course you get the biggest choice of the game, to be a hero or a villain. Which you choose will decide the entire storyline for you as well as your starting point in the game world.

Some of the missions are very hard, and after you beat the main storyline the game does a massive difficulty jump … but it’s a very fun romp through the DC universe, and probably far more so if you are solidly into that universe. I just hope Marvel does something similar someday.

Download DC Universe Online here

I don’t often have my own screenshots kicking around, but in this rare occasion I shall share with you guys what my villain looked like.

Also can someone get Trigon some pants?

9.Star Trek Online:

Star Trek Online Gameplay

MMO’s generally cover all the big fandoms. You’ve got Marvel, DC, Lord of the Rings, and of course; Star Trek.

Star Trek Online is … well … big. Instead of being stuck one island or world, you have a ship and can explore space. Because Star Trek wouldn’t really Star Trek if you weren’t … well, Treking through space.

The game takes place thirty years after Star Trek: Nemesis. Relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire have fallen apart and war has broken out between the two factions. The Dominion is rebuilding, the Borg have returned and the Romulans are trying to come to terms with the loss of their planet twenty years prior.

Into this war torn universe, you start your journey. You can choose to join the Federation, Klingons, or Romulans; and from there your story begins. You will get a ship (and there is plenty of room to improve and replace that ship) and from there you are free to forge your own adventure through the galaxy.

Like most of the other entries on this list, there are DLC and frequent updates that add more and more content to this game, and there likely will be for years still to come.

Download Star Trek Online here 

There aren’t that many games that really manage to blend space combat/exploration and ground combat/exploration; but Star Trek Online does it well

You of course have a great deal of freedom in what your character looks like as well, on top of ship customization and such

8.Star Wars: The Old Republic Online

The Old Republic Online Gameplay

Alright, so it’s only fair that I mention ahead of time that Star Wars is one of my favourite things out there. I have at this point, I think played nearly every Star Wars game out there on any platform. So it’s from that position that I say that this is one of the best out there.

The Old Republic takes place in the same era as the Knights of the Old Republic games, though it is set a few hundred years after Knights of the Old Republic 2. The galaxy is divided between the Republic and the Sith Empire, who are at an uneasy peace after a ceasefire was signed between the two powers. With war an inevitability, it is just a question of which side will shoot first.

You have multiple races to choose from, and eight classes (four for each side). Each class has its own multiple chapter storyline, which (along with all other interactions in the game) is fully voiced with dialogue options and a morality system just like the Knights of the Old Republic games that spawned it; you even have companion characters that you can build relationships with and even romance, in a few cases.

There have been very few MMORPGs that have come even close to the level of depth that The Old Republic manages. While there are still the occasional fetch and carry sort of missions you tend to expect from an MMO, it usually does a very good job of keeping things interesting and varied.

Downoad The Old Republic Online here

If you like dark side characters, there’s a lot of options to play with in that regard. Say hello to Darth Highgate, the wrath of the Emperor.

­

Also, if you are a fan of Knights of the Old Republic you might be excited that there is a DLC in which Revan returns

7.Wildstar

If you’re looking for something a little bit more bright and colourful, then this one is the one for you.

Long ago, an advanced alien race called the Eldan created what they hoped was a perfect being. However as is so often the case with these sorts of stories, their creation was not as perfect as they had hoped. It developed a malicious secondary personality that the Eldan tried to eradicate. However all they managed to do was anger this personality, and it used its great power to wipe out every Eldan on the planet. It’s more benevolent half was horrified by this and sealed them both away.

In Wildstar you take on the role of a member of one of two factions; The Exiles, and the Dominion. The Dominion is a powerful human empire that encapsulates multiple galaxies. Their empire was built with the help of the Eldan, and when their benefactors vanished they slowly elevated to god-status in the Dominion. The Exiles, on the other hand, rejected this notion and left Dominion space; slowly making friends with all those that the Dominion had rubbed the wrong way.

Now at long last, the homeworld of the Eldan, Nexus, has been re-discovered. The Exiles want it to finally give their people a home, and the Dominion sees it as a holy site that they must claim and protect. As the two sides fight over Nexus, little do they know that the “perfect” last creation of the Eldan is still imprisoned on Nexus, just waiting to be let lose upon the galaxy.

Wildstar has an open world that the player is free to explore, taking on quests and doing dungeons as one would tend to expect from an MMO.

With an art style similar to that of Overwatch or Borderlands, and an interesting and unique plot line; this one is definitely worth a look-see.

Download Wildstar here

…Hellboy?

With a name like Wildstar, you knew there had to be at least something remotely cowboy-ish, let’s be honest

6.Blade and Soul

Blade and Soul is another game with very strong combat. It uses a real time combat system that relies heavily on your ability to string attacks together into combos, much like you would do in any single player combat game. Combat in Blade and Soul is a mixture of martial arts and acrobatics.

In Blade and Soul you can choose between four races to play, each based upon on of the “four benevolent animals” of Chinese folklore (Dragon, Turtle, Phoenix, Kirin), and then between nine classes.

The game is designed to be very fast paced with fluid combat that feels very much like a single player game. It achieves this quiet well, making for one of the better combat experiences out there at the moment.

So, begin your journey of vengeance today with Blade and Soul, this is one title you’re not going to want to miss out on.

Download Blade and Soul here

PVP action in this game really feels like a duel rather than your typical running around button mashing action you get in most PVP

Phoenixes, Turtles, and Chimera-things are cool and all, but Dragons are where it’s at

5.Marvel Heroes

Marvel Heroes Gameplay

Marvel Heroes is one game I’m sort of eternally on the fence about. It’s Marvel, which I love and it has a huge amount of characters that I love in it available to unlock and play (I have Loki and Ghost Rider on my one account) … but then it has an isometric camera and is focused more on combat than story.

Marvel Heroes can basically be summed up by saying, if Diablo and Marvel Ultimate Alliance had a baby, it would be this game.

You will quickly get at least one character you really want, and begin your quest to save the world by fighting your way through hordes of enemies. One catastrophe after another will raise its ugly head to threaten the world, but it wouldn’t really be a Marvel game if that wasn’t the case.

The game has around 60 playable characters at the moment, but more are being added all the time. With the game having just made the transition to being on consoles as well, we can only expect more updates.

Download Marvel Heroes here

Of course, when movies come out they tend to release skins for characters to make them look like their cinematic counter-parts, so that can be nice if you really like the movies

The Isometric camera really lets you negotiate large scale fights more easily

4.Wakfu

Wafku Gameplay

Wakfu is an odd one. I hadn’t heard much about it before starting on this article, but it’s really an interesting game that’s pretty unique.

The game is a tactical turn-based rpg, where you explore a massive world doing … well more or less what you want to do. The possibilities are near endless here. Though the game boasts that it has no standard classes, it’s still interesting that what it does offer allows you to make a playstyle that suits you. Do you want to focus on combat? Perhaps you’d like to go into politics?

I know what you’re thinking, “Politics? What does he mean?” Well, one of the really cool things about Wakfu is that you can go into politics and be elected as Governor, or a minister to the Governor and actually shape how politics work in the world for a time. You can also actually shape a part of the world via guild’s haven worlds. There’s even an ecosystem that can be impacted if you kill to much of one thing.

This game is just so intricate and alive, I’m really rather sad that it doesn’t get anywhere near the publicity it deserves. Hopefully this list helps a little with that though, because this game really deserves some love.

So if you want to try something in a class all of its own, or maybe are just looking for something to sink a few hours into; check this one out. Not only is it free, but it’s download size is tiny (a real rare thing in MMOs) so you can probably download it and have it installed in less than ten minutes with a reasonable internet connection.

It also has a very upbeat art style that’s kind of infectiously positive

Just look at that colour pallet

3.Aion

In Aion you fight to reclaim what remains of a world that has literally split in two. The Balaur, the descendants of dragons that were created as guardians by the god Aion, broke the world. Now it’s up to you, as a member of either the Asmodian or Elyos faction, to reclaim what is left of the world and vanquish the Balaur once and for all.

Aion has a unique focus on flight in its gameplay. At level ten you become a Daeva, a powerful demi-god devoted to the protection of the realm. This comes with a fair few perks but arguably the coolest of them is that you get a set of wings out of it. It’s not uncommon for MMO’s to allow you to fly on a mount or in a vehicle, but it’s a special kind of feeling flying on your own wings. To start you won’t be able to fly that long, and you can only fly in specific areas … but gliding is something you can nearly always do and that is essential to getting around.

This is a particularly beautiful game, so it’s definitely one to try especially if you have a relatively powerful gaming set up.

Download Aion here

Did I mention that they weren’t just wings, but pretty impressive wings?

Flight really is the best way to see a world

2.Archeage

Archeage is set in a zoneless open-world sandbox that can be played from the first or third-person perspective.

The plot line is pretty uninspiring but don’t let that turn you off of this, because the sheer wealth of things to do more than makes up for it.

For starters, you can build buildings just about anywhere, which can be really nice if you see a place that just screams “this is where you want to live”. Branching off of that, you are able to plant gardens that you can then farm. There’s also an intricate trading system complete with trade routes if you’d prefer just to take goods from city to another for profit.

Mounts are handled a little differently in Archeage as well, as you get them as a baby and have to raise and train them. This is an interesting mechanic and it serves to make you feel a lot more connected to that starter horse or pet.

Another interesting system at work here, is the criminal justice system that runs on player-run courts. Players are served jury summons and if they agree to be a juror they will help decide the sentencing of players that have committed theft or murder. The guilty party is then expected to either work off their bounty, or potentially try and escape by tunnelling out.

Basically you can just ignore the plotline and delve into the world and you will likely not be bored for quite some time.

Another thing you can do is build yourself a ship and become a pirate!

Or instead of building yourself a house, you could also build yourself a castle

1.TERA 

TERA is a very well loved game, and that is for good reason. It manages to be both everything you’d usually expect from an MMO, but doing it all so well that you don’t care how much of a stereotype it is.

All the details are there, the hot bar for attacks, the questing and crafting systems, raids; it is every inch a typical MMO in what it has on offer, but while many of the games on this list went in a different direction from MMORPGs of the past, TERA instead goes back and does those well-worn concepts better and polishes them up into something that really shines.

With Seven races to choose from, each with its own racial skills, it really satisfies my need for a decent character creation system. From there, you have a further 12 classes to choose from as well.

This game is beautiful too, it might well be the best looking game on this entire list. The characters are beautiful, the environments are breathtaking and the world design really just feels like a living, breathing fantasy world. If you’ve enjoyed other MMO’s like WoW, then this one you are absolutely sure to love.

I mean look how pretty this character is

The city design makes me think of Minas Tirith, but that’s not a bad thing

There is an amazing amount of really good free games out there right now. With so many subscription games making their way over to free to play, it’s a great time to be playing MMOs if you’d rather spend your money on things that matter … like cosmetic items inside the games that you are no longer paying to play.

If you liked this article, you may also enjoy:

image
Gamer Since:
1998
Favorite Genre:
RPG
Currently Playing:
We Happy Few, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Jedi: Fallen Order
Top 3 Favorite Games:
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine , The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Dragon Age II