HQ RPG 2023 Awards in 2025!

[rusty_shackleford]

The moment you've all been waiting for!

For those that haven't been keeping up, we have a year lag in our RPGOTY to give people at least a year to play and digest the games that have been released. All votes cast were made by members of the community who actively post on the forum.

The Little Game That Could Award

Caves of Lore

Coming in just a couple votes behind second place is still impressive for a small title made by one guy. An excellent little game with a lot of love and care put into it, go check out our full review written by @Kalarion!

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Sixteen Times The Disappointment Award

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First Place Losers Award

Tied for second place, we have the two first place losers. Both games are flawed, but decent.

Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader

Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader is a semi-adaptation & inspired by the tabletop RPG 40k rulesystem, and unlike Owlcat's prior adaptations, an entirely new campaign written by them. Poorly designed mechanics, long loading times, and uneven quality of the acts fail to undermine the solid foundation. Check out our thread on it!
Rogue Trader also boasts an excellent soundtrack composed by Pavel Lipski.

► Show Spoiler

Jagged Alliance 3

Jagged Alliance 3 is, despite its name, the 27th entry in the Jagged Alliance series. It retroactively received the 3 because it's considered the third game in the series worth playing. Considered a good game by fans of the originals, probably worth playing if you like combat-heavy tacticool RPGs or just dream of operating a PMC in third world failed states. Check out our thread on it!

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People's Poor Choice Award:

Baldur's Gate 3

Many of us agree that the first act is excellent going by the vote total, and a good first impression leaves a strong impact. The game is still unfinished with many features cut weeks prior to release, Larian seemingly severed ties with Wizard of the Coast and there will be no definitive version. Despite this, the game featured strong reactivity, interactivity, and developer foresight. Check out our thread on it!

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HQ RPG 2023 Award

Hero's Adventure: Road to Passion

What did you think this is, a democracy?
A small Chinese studio made an amazing RPG with heavy reactivity & freedom of choice. A charming artstyle and excellent soundtrack, this title has very few flaws worth mentioning. Check out our thread on it!

[1998]

Could have posted at least no. of votes here as well

[rusty_shackleford]

Could have posted at least no. of votes here as well

You can see the results here: viewtopic.php?t=3307-official-2023-hq-rpg-voting

I should have linked to it, you're right.

[Valter]

TIL Jagged Alliance is still alive

[Tweed]

Oh look, a bunch of **** I didn't play.

[Gunnar]

2023

[maidenhaver]

I'd like to ignore every forum but Tabletop, RPG, and Garbage Dump. Thank you.

[rusty_shackleford]

I'd like to ignore every forum but Tabletop, RPG, and Garbage Dump. Thank you.

viewtopic.php?t=131-ignoring-a-forum

[maidenhaver]

I'd like to ignore every forum but Tabletop, RPG, and Garbage Dump. Thank you.

viewtopic.php?t=131-ignoring-a-forum

Which of the opt outs do pick to do that?

[rusty_shackleford]

I'd like to ignore every forum but Tabletop, RPG, and Garbage Dump. Thank you.

viewtopic.php?t=131-ignoring-a-forum

Which of the opt outs do pick to do that?

All of them except tabletop?

[maidenhaver]

Nevermind.

[Vergil]

Chinese game maybe 4 people have played.

[mrquincy]

Chinese game maybe 4 people have played.

I found this game by accident and put a 120 hours in it.

Here’s my review. People are missing out.

“TL/DR: This is PEAK cultivation Manhua (Chinese web comic) in game form.

Positives:

- So many choices.

- So much nuance.

- Catchy music.

- Good artwork (the new DLC art changes)

- It amazes me to see a small studio develop something this good. A little world that acts independently of your character.

- Day and night cycles that actually work.

- REAL choices and consequences.

- So many diff weapon styles/martial arts/gear

- 21 or so different waifu

Neutral:

- This is a complex game that doesn't give you a lot of help. I'm learning things I neglected or didn't understand 60 hours into it.

Negatives:

- A lot of translation issues. Need someone to clean up the text properly. Lots of "Me am good" instead of saying "I am good."

- Some jank here and there.

Summary:

So much content for less than 20$

It's an amazing feat IMO. I'm 80 hours in and still feel like I am not close to beating it.

Larger studios should play this game and take notes.”

[Vergil]

Can you kiss guys?

[fork]

Why not become more up to date and vote for the HQ RPG 2024 Awards as well in 2025?

[Acrux]

Because people might not have had time to play stuff that came out late in the year.

► Show Spoiler

It's a moot point because there are no games released worth playing.

[lucky-SVLLa]

HQ RPG 2024 Award when?

[Oyster Sauce]

HQ RPG 2024 Award when?

2026 to eliminate recency bias and give slowpokes time to play games.

[lucky-SVLLa]

HQ RPG 2024 Award when?

2026 to eliminate recency bias and give slowpokes time to play games.

This method is better than the one used by Kodex, too bad

[michaelhaydon]

Great sharing.