First-Person CRPGs

[RustySK]

I find it difficult to differentiate first-person cRPGs from DRPGs/blobbers from first-person open world action RPGs (Oblivion, Skyrim) personally - one subgenre flows into another fairly easily there in my mind.

Anyone here play Dread Delusion or Lunacid? Both should overall fit into this category quite well. Good games.

 

[Raggs]

Eye of the Beholder AGA I+II is a great way to play the first 2 EoB games. They use the Lands of Lore I updated engine that lets you pull up the minimap with TAB. And you can set the controls in an Ini file to move with WASD (QE strafing).

@RustySK Dread Delusion is amazing. It keeps gets compared to Morrowind, but it's so much its own experience.

 

[Raziya The Seeker]

I think Wizardry 8 first caught my attention, and got me into the subgenre. Just like with looking into AD&D from later editions of D&D, I wanted to look into the origins of some of my favorite games. So, that got me to dabble in other first-person CRPGs. The Dark Spire, the recent remake of the original Wizardry, The Bard's Tale, Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, Etrian Odyssey 3 and 4, an obscure browser-based one called Murkon's Refuge... all fun times.

I have this love-hate relationship with these sorts of games. Much as it can be kinda zen to just go down into the dungeon and explore, it can get a bit too grindy in some ways. Especially if I have to muck through a bunch of floors just to get to where I was earlier, shortcuts or not. I've yet to complete any of the games I've mentioned, but hopefully I shall someday.

 

[fmsynthetic]

I find it difficult to differentiate first-person cRPGs from DRPGs/blobbers from first-person open world action RPGs (Oblivion, Skyrim) personally - one subgenre flows into another fairly easily there in my mind.

Anyone here play Dread Delusion or Lunacid? Both should overall fit into this category quite well. Good games.

Dread Delusion is on my list. I've gotten a lot of joy out of Lunacid, but there are things about it that bug me. Games without turn-based combat, or at least the option for it, are kind of automatically making themselves less attractive to me.

Post automatically merged: Mar 2, 2025

I think Wizardry 8 first caught my attention, and got me into the subgenre. Just like with looking into AD&D from later editions of D&D, I wanted to look into the origins of some of my favorite games. So, that got me to dabble in other first-person CRPGs. The Dark Spire, the recent remake of the original Wizardry, The Bard's Tale, Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, Etrian Odyssey 3 and 4, an obscure browser-based one called Murkon's Refuge... all fun times.

I have this love-hate relationship with these sorts of games. Much as it can be kinda zen to just go down into the dungeon and explore, it can get a bit too grindy in some ways. Especially if I have to muck through a bunch of floors just to get to where I was earlier, shortcuts or not. I've yet to complete any of the games I've mentioned, but hopefully I shall someday.

Wizardry 8 may well be the most kino of FPCRPGs

I kind of personally like Might and Magic better, but it's mostly the graphics that I prefer. I love those SGI sprites against early 3D worlds.

 

[rocking3]

Have you played Dark & Darker? it's free on Steam. Very cool take on CRPG's.

 

[Mr. Daddy]

When I was a kid I played a ton of this, and I would highly recommend. It's The Bard's Tale, from 1985

Can get a little hard though, just as fair warning. It got a couple of sequels, and a remake from 2018 that got an xbone port, but I'm not familiar with those.

 

[99nereids]

might & magic 6 is goodddddd

wizardry 8 i feel like is an underrated classic. last of the mainline wizardry games, kinda ugly but i love what it does with the world & the plot was pretty interesting. Has a sort of morrowind feel to it & is fully voice acted?? character creation is also really fun to play around with

for any touhouheads i recommend checking out Artificial Dreams in Arcadia, plays like an old SMT game & recently released a level builder iirc

Touhou Artificial Dream in Arcadia on Steam

Explore Gensokyo from an outsider's perspective in this old-school Touhou DRPG!

store.steampowered.com

 

[fmsynthetic]

Have you played Dark & Darker? it's free on Steam. Very cool take on CRPG's.

It's on the list. But it's also multiplayer and I don't normally associate with 3DPD

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

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These games still look quite good. I've only played A Mage's Tale from the series. I guess Bard's Tale was more popular in US/UK and M&M more popular in Europe. I'll play them in full one day, already got PUAE running them but didnt take the time to go further.

 

[DorfleFlorp]

The Lands of Lore series is pretty cool.

 

[Neopolitan]

Some of my faves from the Amiga were EoB I&II, Black Crypt, Dungeon Master (and Chaos Strikes Back), Captive, and Hired Guns (sorta?). Amberstar was pretty awesome and ambitious as well, but that was more like an early Final Fantasy.

 

[fmsynthetic]

I think I've played about 40-50 hours of MM6 since I made this post.

I also forgot to mention Stonekeep. I know it's kind of a mess and is blamed for the end of old Interplay, but I honestly find it pretty charming.

 

[Raziya The Seeker]

@RustySK reminded me with his post from the other day. I almost forgot about a game that I liked, now that we're not talking just blobbers. The Quest by Redshift!

Generic name, I know. But the game plays like a turn-based, grid-based Daggerfall, and feels legitimately medieval. For a game that started off on mobile, it's surprisingly good. They even have a dedicated undead race that plays differently from the other human cultures. Even the six omnipresent songs in the game never get tired for me.

I've beaten it a few times on GOG, though that means I've been chipping away at yet another playthrough slowly on Steam.

 

[RageBurner]

@RustySK reminded me with his post from the other day. I almost forgot about a game that I liked, now that we're not talking just blobbers. The Quest by Redshift!

Generic name, I know. But the game plays like a turn-based, grid-based Daggerfall, and feels legitimately medieval. For a game that started off on mobile, it's surprisingly good. They even have a dedicated undead race that plays differently from the other human cultures. Even the six omnipresent songs in the game never get tired for me.

I've beaten it a few times on GOG, though that means I've been chipping away at yet another playthrough slowly on Steam.

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looks pretty good!

 

[sysuah]

Stuff like early Might and Magic games are good, wish TES Arena had the same support like Daggerfall did

 

[DorfleFlorp]

Stonekeep was great.

I think I've played about 40-50 hours of MM6 since I made this post.

I also forgot to mention Stonekeep. I know it's kind of a mess and is blamed for the end of old Interplay, but I honestly find it pretty charming.

 

[Koreandr]

Spoiler

 

[ThatOneLum]

Personally my top game in this genre is Thor's Hammer from the DOS VGA era. I always got the title mixed up with God of Thunder, which is like a classic Zelda clone.

I've also had fun with Legend of Grimrock in terms of modern games, but it's hard to beat the classics IMO. That said, I'm sure that there's a bunch of modern indie games in the space that have got lost in the huge deluge of games that now come out basically every day.

 

[fmsynthetic]

@RustySK reminded me with his post from the other day. I almost forgot about a game that I liked, now that we're not talking just blobbers. The Quest by Redshift!

Generic name, I know. But the game plays like a turn-based, grid-based Daggerfall, and feels legitimately medieval. For a game that started off on mobile, it's surprisingly good. They even have a dedicated undead race that plays differently from the other human cultures. Even the six omnipresent songs in the game never get tired for me.

I've beaten it a few times on GOG, though that means I've been chipping away at yet another playthrough slowly on Steam.

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People are hard on The Quest for its mobile roots and weird Slavjankiness, but I like it too

It's really not necessary to be seriously-minded about these things, all the time

 

[lil_thang]

this mightn't be quite the right pace but i really got into this lil game few years back https://store.steampowered.com/app/598060/Slashers_Keep/

the combat is very slow and methodical, and there are some first person platforming things in it that people don't like but otherwise i highly recommend this stylish lil game, very cool imo

 

[fmsynthetic]

this mightn't be quite the right pace but i really got into this lil game few years back https://store.steampowered.com/app/598060/Slashers_Keep/

the combat is very slow and methodical, and there are some first person platforming things in it that people don't like but otherwise i highly recommend this stylish lil game, very cool imo

No it fits. I've played it before, I like it pretty well. Need to get further.

The art style is weirdly reminiscent of the show Frisky Dingo, and I guess Archer after that

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

Wizardry: Tale of the forsaken land, good atmosphere and a battle system in where you need to employ different strategies, like scattering your party to minimize damage from dragons breath attacks or rush a caster from the back, etc.

 

[lil_thang]

another more recent little indie example i played only a small amount of is Devil Spire https://store.steampowered.com/app/1861290/Devil_Spire/ more on the Lunaciddy side of things

it certainly looks the part, a bit janky all round the edges and i didn't really get into it but i do like it. default controls are insane but are fully rebindable

 

[Raziya The Seeker]

another more recent little indie example i played only a small amount of is Devil Spire https://store.steampowered.com/app/1861290/Devil_Spire/ more on the Lunaciddy side of things

Ooh dang, a King's Field clone? They had me at quarterstaff; not nearly enough RPGs where staves are actual weapons and not just oversized wands. Plus the graphic style looks cool. :o

 

[fmsynthetic]

another more recent little indie example i played only a small amount of is Devil Spire https://store.steampowered.com/app/1861290/Devil_Spire/ more on the Lunaciddy side of things

it certainly looks the part, a bit janky all round the edges and i didn't really get into it but i do like it. default controls are insane but are fully rebindable

It's on my wishlist, but they lose me a little at procedural generation