The 5 Best JRPGs of 2024
Remember 2024? Last year might have felt like an eternity ago, but at least an eternity is enough time for me to actually write up my top five list for the year. 2024 saw far too many JRPGs for one person to cover, with elaborate remakes of classic titles, eagerly awaited entries in long-running franchises like Ys and the Mana series and even a Level-5 game! Here are my picks for the best Japanese Role-Playing Games of the Year, which shall henceforth be known as the JRPGOTYs.
#5 – SaGa Emerald Beyond
2024 was almost a great year for the SaGa series, with Final Fantasy’s weird cousin getting both a critically-acclaimed remake of Romancing Saga 2 and a brand new entry: SaGa Emerald Beyond. Unfortunately, but not exactly unexpectedly, Emerald Beyond ended up becoming one of the biggest JRPG flops of the year, but it’s my personal pick of the two (no of course I haven’t played the remake yet). This is SaGa back in sci-fi territory, with a collection of stories that take your character of choice (a vampire, a robotic songstress or magical girl, among others) across numerous worlds.
Although their paths cross, each character’s scenario feels distinct and introduces bizarre new gameplay ideas, from tricking out your robot companions with different weapons to mastering magic spells. Rather than the story, it’s the systems that really shine, particularly the game’s phenomenal take on turn-based combat. Smartly planning out sequences of actions and then watching as your party manage to delay and counter the opposing side is immensely satisfying, as is every time that little lightbulb pops up and you “glimmer” a new technique. Visually it might not look like much and I was admittedly a bit underwhelmed coming off the spectacular SaGa Scarlet Grace, but Emerald Beyond is a wonderful experience for all those freaks who really like to dive into unconventional game mechanics. The Kenji Eno jams definitely help too.
#4 – Persona 3 Reload
In 2024 we got an arguably definitive version of one of the most iconic and influential RPGs of the last 20 years and it only took me most of the year to play through it. Persona 3 was a title that immediately got my attention back in the late 2000s for its relatable teenage cast and unique anime-style presentation (to say nothing of all the shocking suicide imagery). This is the Persona where Atlus introduced the much-imitated “social link” system, with players spending their time after school with classmates and alcoholic monks to learn more about them and unlock more powerful “Persona” to use in battle. The social links are largely presented as they were in 2007, for better or worse; some characters are still utterly insufferable, but storylines like a student contemplating their future after graduating or a man grappling with a terminal illness help to tie into the game’s broader look at life and death.
The social links are just one side of Persona 3: Reload, though. As members of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, your team of teens spend their nights exploring the massive tower known as Tartarus. This was the most tedious part of the original game and while the random layouts still can’t match the dungeon designs of Persona 5, it’s definitely an improvement here. Traversing Tartarus now has an addictive quality to it, with players picking up various card bonuses as they fight through waves of freakish shadows. The focus on exploiting opponents’ weaknesses for extra turns is still fun and some of the more frustrating fights are much easier, thanks in part to overpowered but visually spectacular special attacks. And while it’s not exactly a substitute for the absent female protagonist, I also appreciated some welcome story additions that help to flesh out the supporting cast. The visual glow-up and gameplay refinements help ensure that Persona 3 is still a memorable journey (don’t worry about The Answer, though).
#3 – Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a wonderful entry in Sega’s sprawling crime saga, even if the story never hits the same highs as previous entries. Infinite Wealth gets off to a great start, with returning protagonist Ichiban going on a date so tragically awful that I had to stop playing for a few days to compose myself. This tale kind of falls apart as it continues, though, with too much going on between Japan and Hawaii. Although they sometimes hit the right emotional notes, the central storylines have never been the big draw of the series for me. I’m just not that interested in finding out which crime lord is secretly Korean. Thankfully Infinite Wealth has no shortage of things to distract from the main storyline.
Seriously, no other game on this list can match the sheer amount of stuff to do as Infinite Wealth. There’s countless silly sub stories and enjoyable mini games that have Ichiban taking snaps of weirdos or collecting and battling “monsters”, Pokémon-style. There’s even a fully-fledged island building simulation game that’s much like Animal Crossing, only with the adorable islanders replaced by loathsome freaks Gachapin and Mukku (is their presence keeping Infinite Wealth from the top of the list? Who can say).
The game’s goofy adaptation of Dragon Quest’s game mechanics in a modern setting are even more enjoyable than Ichiban’s last adventure; new jobs like hitmen and housekeepers are entertaining and the turn-based combat has enough depth to make the previous game’s battle system feel like a rough draft. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a thoroughly entertaining Hawaiian vacation – one where you can safely ignore the story to ride a Segway along the shoreline and throw shaka signs at everyone.
#2 Granblue Fantasy: Relink
Granblue Fantasy: Relink sure took its sweet time coming out, but this big-budget adaptation of the somehow still popular gacha game was shockingly good after almost a decade in development hell. I came into Relink as a lapsed Granblue fan with low expectations and I was absolutely blown away by the way it took the repetitive turn-based combat from the original and transformed it into a tremendously enjoyable action RPG. Given that Platinum Games was attached at one point, the formula feels close to their stylish action style, but the developers went above and beyond in giving every character a unique way of fighting with a ton of different skills to combo together. Teaming up with your allies to unleash bursts of consecutive special moves is a lot of fun and there some epic encounters that need to be seen to be believed. There were several boss fights where I went “well this might be the best the genre has to offer”, only to have it immediately be topped in the following chapter.
From looking at the game’s cast I had assumed that Relink was a retelling of Granblue’s first few story arcs, but that isn’t the case at all. Instead it’s something of an interquel, coming off like a movie tie-in to a long running anime that can’t introduce recurring characters or plot points at all. This makes Granblue Fantasy Relink an odd outlier in the genre; it’s an RPG with virtually no character development. What little story there is in the game’s brief 10-hour duration is more a means of ushering the Grandcypher crew between spectacular set pieces. There are at least some short stories that provide some background and characterisation to the cast as they level up, something that makes the Monster Hunter-esque post-game grind even more addictive. Considering I already enjoyed everything about Granblue Fantasy except the act of actually playing the mobile game, this action-packed gacha-free adaptation was an absolute joy.
#1 – Metaphor ReFantazio
Developer Atlus has been making RPGs for almost forty years now, but Metaphor ReFantazio is straight up one of the best they’ve ever released. Part of that is that it feels like a compilation of all the best bits from previous Atlus games. There’s the brilliant “press turn” battle system ripped straight out of Digital Devil Saga, the social links and stat building from Persona, dungeon designs and enemy encounters from Etrian Odyssey, a sassy fairy companion like in Growlanser… even the giant demonic baby from Catherine is along for the ride!
But perhaps comparing Metaphor ReFantazio to its many influences does it a disservice. Atlus have crafted a unique take on fantasy RPGs here, one with a setting and narrative that contemplates the nature of escapist fantasy itself. It’s one of the more explicitly political JRPGs in recent memory too, taking place in former monarchy that’s trying its hand at democracy, as decreed by the former king’s giant floating head. What follows is a perilous election year that pits your aspiring leader against creatively grotesque “human” creatures and rival candidates, including a pretty boy politician who ends up being a JRPG villain all-timer.
Metaphor draws heavily from Thomas More’s “Utopia” (to the point where the author himself appears in the game) with the characters presenting different ideas of what an ideal society should be like, how it should be governed and if we should even trust someone who promises a utopia. The character writing is one of Metaphor’s greatest assets; there’s a great cast of well-developed, memorable (and moe) companions to adventure alongside. It helps that it’s one of the rare JRPGs with superb English voice acting, too. Metaphor might not have been the biggest budget RPG released last year, but it has a visually arresting style and one of composer Shoji Meguro’s best soundtracks (or at least best battle themes). There are plenty of fantasy RPGs out there, but none that look or sound quite like this.
Ultimately Metaphor ReFantazio just feels like the most “2024” RPG. Even without the modern setting of Persona 5, it’s still a title very much concerns itself with present-day politics by presenting a fantasy world that reflects our own and driving players to resist the global trend towards populist strongmen. At times it feels a little on the nose in a year where the media was dominated by the US election (Trump wishes he were half as charismatic as Louis), but I suppose media literacy is at the point where we need games like Metaphor to scream at audiences to fight against fascism. Metaphor isn’t perfect – I wouldn’t be surprised if Atlus do their usual thing of making the whole game redundant with a refined version somewhere down the line – but it’s absolutely a must play in a year that was filled with terrific RPGs.
