The Best RPGs Set In Medieval Times

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home March 30, 2025 8 Views 22 Min Read
The Best RPGs Set In Medieval Times



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Summary

  • The Elder Scrolls Online offers a unique MMORPG experience set in a medieval world full of strife and tension.
  • Darkest Dungeon 2 brings back the difficulty and grind of its predecessor with a revamped art style and cosmic horror elements.
  • Medieval Dynasty focuses on realism and survival in a European countryside, offering a simulation of ordinary life in the Middle Ages.

The medieval genre has always been the most fun and fulfilling when it comes to a good video game. Maybe it’s something to do with our brains being hardwired to enjoy sword fights and country politics with fantastical elements included in the mix sometimes too. Some of the best video games of all time have explored the medieval era of humanity, so it’s a great foundation to lay a good game on.

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To make it a great RPG, there has to be a unique story, some fun gameplay elements and a publisher that will put their heart and soul into the game for us to enjoy. The games here do exactly that, with many of them even winning multiple awards, and they just happen to be in the medieval category.

Updated March 29, 2025, by Zackary Wiggs: While it may not have been the most fun time to have lived, with all the diseases and toiling, the medieval period is a fan favorite for RPGs. It’s easy to see why, with stories of valiant knights, dreadful rulers, and beautiful nature. Whether it’s in a fantasy version, or die-hard historical accuracy; medieval RPGs don’t seem to be going anywhere. Recently there has even been ones that have you fighting bloodthirsty ratmen, starting a lineage of your own, and turning a humble blacksmith into a hero. What more could you want?

18

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

Chores, Battles, And Everything In-Between

Building on the successes of the first game, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 puts you in an incredibly accurate historical world. There is plenty to do, so much so that you probably won’t have seen everything until after multiple playthroughs. But what else would you expect from an in-depth medieval RPG like this?

Blacksmith, romance, fight, shoot blackpowder weaponry, ride horses, and plenty more tasks await you as you don the clothes of Henry, recently orphaned as he comes of age. It’s an emotional tale, and one that has plenty of twists, turns, and antics to boot.

17

Warhammer: Vermintide 2

Rats, Rats, And More Rats

Medieval games that try to be historically accurate can be a lot of fun, but games that take the medieval timeframe and use that as the foundation for a fantasy world can be quite impressive. Warhammer’s Old World setting does just that, with plenty of horrors and magic thrown your way to keep things interesting.

Ratmen, chaos barbarians, and darker things still are all coming to destroy the empire of humanity, and its up to your quartet of adventurers to save the world. Or just survive for as long as you can. It’s an adventure full of swordplay, black powder, and pure chaos that never seems to get old.

The Warhammer lore is decades old, but you don’t need to know much of it at all to hop into Vermintide 2, or the lore of the first game for that matter.

16

Crusader Kings 3

Family Matters

Playing as a single protagonist is the usual for most games, but the medieval world is quite deadly. This makes games like Crusader Kings 3 that much more accurate, because you aren’t controlling a single person – you’re in charge of an entire dynasty.

Sure, it starts with one character, destined for greatness of course, but as time goes on, you’ll make allegiances, romance others, and maybe even start a family of your own. From there, you can continue your playthrough in a historic world full of treachery, toil, and exciting adventures.

Get Medieval, With Friends

Unlike most other medieval RPGs, The Elder Scrolls Online is an MMORPG, but that’s not to deny the great RPG elements that it has. Despite the game being multiplayer, you can enjoy the game thoroughly by playing by yourself.

It’s set in a world before any other Elder Scrolls game. Tamriel during this time had a lot of strife and tension going on everywhere, and this game manages to pack a lot of content with updates continuing to this day. Bethesda has been notoriously good with its medieval setting in The Elder Scrolls, and hopefully that will keep being the case well into the future.

14

Darkest Dungeon 2

Twice As Dark

The Medieval times were tough, but why not make them tougher with monsters, chaos, and a heaping dose of cosmic horror fueled insanity? Well, Darkest Dungeon 2 seeks to answer that questions, and the answers aren’t for the faint of heart.

With a revamped art style in comparison to the first game, it brings back the same difficulty and grind that brought it so many fans. Here you take on the various creatures that inhabit the world with Medieval characters such as the Plague Doctor, Highwayman, and Leper. Just don’t get attached to them.

The Darkest Dungeon games are unforgiving, so beware if you aren’t used to roguelikes. It doesn’t pull punches, and luck plays a big part in it.

13

Medieval Dynasty

Start A Lineage

Medieval Dynasty is set against the backdrop of a medieval European countryside, where your purpose in life is to build, survive, and thrive in the Middle Ages. As a medieval villager, you start with absolutely nothing and have to navigate the challenges of survival just like how they used to do in the olden days.

The game has a strong focus on realism and immersion, a far cry from the grand narratives that have always been preferred by studios, and instead offers you a simulation of an ordinary person in those days. When it comes to medieval RPGs, this game is a diamond in the rough.

12

Warhammer: Vermintide

Waves And Waves Of Enemies

The Warhammer fantasy universe has been around for decades now, and it was only a matter of time before the in-depth lore of the board games and books brought forth a video game that wasn’t strategy-focused.

Warhammer Vermintide 2 is the hack-and-slash adventure game that brought the Warhammer fantasy world to new audiences. Chaos-fueled barbarians, evil rat men, and darker things to boot all hunt you and your squad from mission to mission as you struggle to stay alive, let alone accomplish your goals.

11

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord

Lead The Charge

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is one of the best medieval sandbox games ever made, combining the intricacies of strategic warfare and immersive role-playing that creates a world that you’ll love playing through.

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You start off with nothing, living the life of a peasant while slowly rising to the ranks of kings and emperors. The vanilla game in itself is worth the money, but if you want even more reason to buy this game, you should know it’ll stay fresh for a long time because of the very active modding community.

10

Dark & Darker

Deep Underground

Coming off the success of games like Escape From Tarkov, Dark & Darker throws you into the middle of an inhospitable dungeon and not only asks you to survive monsters and traps, but other players as well.

It’s a tense game that pulls away from some of the more grand RPG elements, but the character archetypes and setting are everything a fan of medieval RPGs will know and love. No match plays quite the same as you dodge all the dangers this game has to offer.

9

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

The Wolf Kissed

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is set in the Viking Age, where you assume the role of Eivor, a legendary Norse warrior leading a clan of Vikings in search of a new home in England. Though Assassin’s Creed games haven’t done well since Black Flag, Valhalla breaks that cycle and introduces a brand-new medieval world to explore.

Valhalla has everything, from a sprawling open world filled with stunning landscapes to busy cities littered with things to do. You can go on raids, forge alliances and battle anyone who is a threat to you, all while you play through the very entertaining story.

The balance of Assassin’s Creed’s staple mechanics and the new push for RPG facets found in Valhalla make the game a great choice for those who aren’t as versed in the RPG genre as other players.

8

Fable 3

A Tall Tale

The Fable series was one of the games that stood out from the rest of the pack when it comes to RPGs. While Fable 3 does lean towards the fantastical pretty hard, it has enough of the medieval era in its setting to make fans of other games on this list feel welcome.

It’s a grand plot as any RPG out there, with you as the leader of a nation that is falling under attack from an ominous and deadly force. Loot, dungeons, and difficult choices are around every corner in this third installment.

7

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

From Peasant To Lord

Perhaps the most accurate simulation of what life was like in medieval times comes out of Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Where Kingdom Come truly distinguishes itself in the medieval RPG genre is its commitment to realism, offering an intensely immersive experience unlike any other.

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With its painstaking attention to historical detail, Kingdom Come: Deliverance offers the sights, sounds, and struggles of a bygone era through the eyes of Henry, the son of a blacksmith. Against the backdrop of a kingdom plagued by civil war and foreign invasion, Henry goes on a quest that will keep you entertained for a long time.

6

Baldur’s Gate 3

Save The World

The Baldur’s Gate series has been one of the most well-respected game series ever, and for good reason. The games’ stories and combat, as well as the medieval fantasy setting that Baldur’s Gate 3 employs, are all ingredients to its recipe for success.

The quality of Baldur’s Gate 3 is incomparable to many modern games. The attention to detail, the choices and the characters are all so well fleshed out that BG3 feels ahead of its time.

5

Dragon Age: Inquisition

No One Expects You

When people think about fantasy RPGs, it doesn’t take long for the Dragon Age series to come up, and while Dragon Age: Inquisition may not have been the most hyped game, it still has plenty to keep you entertained with.

The lore is complex, but not so much that you need to be a die-hard of the series to enjoy it. Combine that with plenty of character customization, some memorable dialogue, and plenty of combat (and some romance) and you have quite the journey.

4

Dark Souls Series

Get Good

Perhaps one of the most well-known game series of all time, notorious for its difficulty, is Dark Souls. Dark Souls is also set in a medieval period with a completely different history and some intense fantasy elements, but it’s one of the most fun combat systems in a video game ever and has stood the test of time.

Everything about Dark Souls, from the bosses to the lore, to even the basic enemies hiding behind a corner, all serve a purpose in the story in the most subtle of ways, and for this reason, all three games will forever be considered classics.

The Souls games are another series that doesn’t pull punches, taking timing and RPG elements to the extreme.

The Dragonborn Cometh

Not mentioning Skyrim in a ranking of the best medieval RPGs is a cardinal sin. Skyrim thrusts you into the shoes of the Dragonborn, and in a land that’s teeming with fantasy, magic, and also massive Dragons, it’s your job to end the Dragon threat.

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2

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Fight Monsters, And Worse

The Witcher series captures the essence of a medieval setting with fantasy elements by fusing surprisingly relatable moral dilemmas with intricate political intrigue. It explores player freedom and narrative complexity through three games, with the third game being the best of the bunch.

You get the freedom of choice that’s rivaled only by Baldur’s Gate 3, so your decisions in the story have repercussions that affect the destiny of entire kingdoms and the lives of their inhabitants. You must play the game several times to fully understand the complexity of each choice, making The Witcher 3 one of the more replayable medieval RPGs available.

1

Elden Ring

Become The Tarnished Of Legend

FromSoftware manages to combine the best elements of all its past games into an entirely new and unique setting in Elden Ring, essentially converting Dark Souls into an open world and adding combat elements from the famed Sekiro to give us an award-winning medieval title.

With his reputation as the creator of Game of Thrones, arguably the most famous medieval setting ever, George RR Martin’s involvement in this massive endeavor was the icing on the cake. Elden Ring is the pinnacle of FromSoftware video games and one of the greatest medieval video games of all time that has to be played by everyone at least once.

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