Weirdest Role-Playing Games Of All Time

Weirdest Role-Playing Games Of All Time

• RPGs can often feel formulaic, but some games have embraced unique settings and mechanics, helping them stand out by being weird.
• Games like Earthbound, Undertale, and West of Loathing have subverted RPG mechanics and feature bizarre humor, creating memorable experiences.
• Other unusual RPGs like Deltarune and Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden offer strange storytelling and gameplay experiences, making them the weirdest of all.

Role-playing games can often feel very formulaic. 1990s and 2000s CRPGs blend in much more than action games or platformers of the same era. Any given screenshot from one of Square’s Super Nintendo turn-based RPGs might be confused with any of its sibling products.

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It’s easier to feel fatigued from this specific genre, perhaps more than any other. Thankfully, some games have given a good spin to the genre by embracing unique settings, unheard mechanics, or a bizarre presentation. In short, they decided to be weird. There are countless strange RPGs out there for gamers to dive into, and many come from different eras and developers.

Earthbound

The Classic Weird Adventure

Earthbound

Platform(s)Game Boy Advance, SNESReleased1995-06-05Genre(s)RPGDeveloper(s)Ape Inc., HAL Laboratory

Earthbound is a classic SNES title by HAL Laboratory, a then-newcomer that would end up developing the original Super Smash Bros. and a slew of Kirby games. While Earthbound wasn’t their first success (it’s not even the first game in the series), it is one of their few early titles to stand the test of time.

Earthbound is a collage of unconventional and experimental techniques. It’s one of the very few games on SNES to feature sampled music and use it effectively. It’s certainly playable by kids and children, but it prominently features themes of body horror and evils hidden behind the mundane.

Undertale

An Unusual Fan Favorite

Undertale

Platform(s)PS Vita, Switch, PS4, PC, Xbox OneReleased2015-09-15Genre(s)RPGDeveloper(s)Toby Fox

Undertale needs no introduction, but it’s hard to mention how impactful it is. This 2015 phenomenon might be the most popular indie game ever made, perhaps second only to Minecraft. In it, the player navigates a world of anthropomorphic animals and talking flowers where nothing is as it seems.

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Two things make Undertale truly weird. One is its subversive approach to RPG mechanics and what space they occupy in the story. Fighting is the only way to get through the game, and it’s the least desirable option for anyone who likes the game’s characters even a tiny bit. The second is the humor. Though it is rarely outright funny, the barrage of comedic attempts the game throws at the player often ends up being very enduring.

Deltarune

A Fantastic & Odd Sequel

Deltarune

Platform(s)Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC, macOSReleased2018-10-31Genre(s)RPGDeveloper(s)Toby Fox

Deltarune is more or less the indirect sequel to the worldwide phenomenon that is Undertale, and fans are happy to say that the game has been doing its predecessor justice. Deltarune is coming out in chapters, with only the first two currently available, both of which are free.

Deltarune follows the adventures of protagonist Kris and bully-turned-friend Susie as they travel the Dark World. Like its predecessor, the game’s quirkiness is found in the unique humor and the bizarre ramblings of some characters. This is also where the game shows its humanity, another series highlight. The weirdness of Deltarune isn’t to be scoffed at or made fun of; it allows players to get to know the game’s characters on a deeper level.

OFF

A Bizarre & Overlooked Classic

OFF

Platform(s)PCReleased2008-00-00Developer(s)Mortis GhostGenre(s)RPG

OFF is a confusing, sometimes intimidating, often disturbing game. It’s probably most famous for being an inspiration for Undertale’s genocide route, among other things. But OFF is worth getting into on its own merits, too.

For one, OFF’s pervasive creepiness is still unmatched by any modern game. It’s in the track, the excellent soundtrack, and especially the story. Accompanying the Batter, players travel through the world to purify all that it contains. The mission begins onions enough, but it soon becomes clear that the game is about more than a foolish mission to wipe the world clean.

Hylics

An Unusual Hidden Gem

Hylics

Platform(s)PCReleased2015-10-02Developer(s)Mason LindrothGenre(s)RPG

Hylics is a classic RPG Maker game set in a strange and beautiful world of stop-motion animation. The Claymation gives the game a unique look, but it’s the story – or rather, its lack of cohesion – that really cements it as a unique RPG for any fan of weirdness.

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Some highlights of Hylics include the wild use of (often nonsensical) text generation, implied to be one of the hills that have befallen the world. This doesn’t mean the game itself is just weird for the sake of it. In forgoing some internal logic, it begs the player to interpret what little the game does say into a cohesive meaning.

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure

The Original Subversive RPG

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure

Platform(s)Switch, PS4, PC, PS1Released2020-08-27Developer(s)Love-de-LicGenre(s)RPG

Compared to many weird RPGs, Moon: Remix RPG Adventure is a lot easier to get into. This is in part because the game has no traditional RPG combat mechanics, and as a result, it plays more like a really bizarre adventure game. Just make sure to give the manual a read beforehand.

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure’s standout feature is that it was built as an “anti-RPG.” This means that the protagonist isn’t the hero of the story but an unfortunate player who has been sucked into the game and must make things right after the hero has foolishly wrecked the world.

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden

One Of The Weirdest RPGs Of All

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden

Platform(s)PCReleased2008-01-22Developer(s)Tales of Game’s StudiosGenre(s)RPG

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden is truly one of the weirdest video games of all time, though, to be fair, that seems to be its objective. The free fangame is presented as a sequel to Barkley, Shut Up and Jam, a classic basketball game from the early 90s with nothing especially weird going on.

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden mixes its namesake’s basketball star protagonists with Final Fantasy-inspired enemies and combat mechanics inspired by the Super Mario RPG series. Meanwhile, its plot is a parody of various science fiction stories, from Akira to Space Jam.

Lisa: The Painful

Taking Weird Seriously

LISA: The Painful

Platform(s)Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Switch, PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox OneReleased2014-12-15DeveloperDingalingGenre(s)RPG

Lisa: The Painful is certainly a weird game, but this description risks undermining some of the strengths of its story. For one, it is, at times, an extremely crude game. And while some encounters are definitely wacky, they err more towards disturbing rather than funny.

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Lisa: The Painful is an RPG through and through. It was made in the VX Ace version of RPG Maker, a popular engine but one that rarely produces extremely successful games. The first Lisa game was also made in RPG Maker.

West of Loathing

An Incredibly Funny & Strange RPG

West Of Loathing

Platform(s)Switch, PCReleased2017-08-10DeveloperAsymmetricGenre(s)RPG

West of Loathing is a comedy RPG set in the Far West, or at least that’s the premise. In reality, everything, including the setting, is an excuse to write some weird jokes. Fortunately, jokes are where the game shines. Combat would be forgettable, too, if it wasn’t also one of the places where jokes take place.

West of Loathing is a sequel of sorts to browser game sensation Kingdom of Loathing. While some character storylines and, more importantly, some jokes require knowledge of both games, each game in the unofficial Loathing series is a standalone installment.

Anachronox

The Most ‘How Did This Get Made?’ Game

Anachronox

Platform(s)PCReleased2001-06-27Developer(s)Ion StormGenre(s)Third-Person Shooter, RPG

Anachronox is a weird beast in RPGs. It was produced in 2001 by Square Enix but made at Ion Storm, the studio founded by John Romero and Tom Hall, best known for their work on Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. The studio produced Anachronox and made sure to create one of the most unique entries in the genre to date.

Anachronox is weird under any circumstance, with a sense of humor reminiscent of Hall’s Commander Keen series and a healthy dose of adventure game elements sprinkled in. But it’s especially unique considering this is a 2001, PC-exclusive, turn-based RPG from an American studio that is much more reminiscent of Final Fantasy than any CRPG of the time.

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