The 11 best JRPGs on PC in 2024

The party line

Image credit:Square Enix / Atlus / Sega

Can you believe we didn’t have a best JRPG list until now? Baffling. To be fair we did once tackle this topic with a preliminary blast of recommendations for those completely new to the genre. We also have a few familiar fantasys in our list of the 50 best RPGs on PC . But until now we haven’t addressed the genre in its own right. In an act of contrition, we offer you this: our list of the best JRPGs you can play on PC this year, according to our own tastes.

Our interpretation of the JRPG is fairly open-ended. On this list you’ll find games not made in Japan, and others that stretch the conventions to fit the modern world, far from the fantasy battlers of yore. But that’s okay, even the genre’s own label is not beyond interrogation .

In other words, we make up the rules here! And for now those rules go as follows: only one game per franchise. For example, you’ll only find one Final Fantasy on the list (what!) despite it being the most dominant name in the genre (besides, we have those covered ). Another rule I’ve decided to follow is not to include the game you love the most. I am sorry. It is number 12.

The best JRPGs on PC

Here’s our list in short. The links summarised here are in alphabetical order, but the list itself is ranked because we suspect you love the suspense of scrolling to see what’s number 1. If you truly can’t stand to wait, no worries. Just click a title below to be directed straight to that game.

• Chrono Trigger
• Disgaea 5
• Dragon Quest XI: Echoes Of An Elusive Age
• Final Fantasy VII Remake
• Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
• Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
• Octopath Traveler 2
• Persona 5 Royal
• Sea Of Stars
• Tales Of Arise
• Undertale

11. Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

What else should I play if I like this? The Kingdom Hearts series has some similar wistfulness

You know how it is. One minute you’re being chauffeured along the highway as President of your country, reflecting on your many years of civil wisdom, when - BAM! The nuke hits your motorcade and all your particles dissolve across dimensions, seeping into a fantasy realm where you inhabit the body of a dapper, younger version of yourself. Yes, Ni No Kuni II begins with a traditionally daft isekai moment, but soon that whole setup is thrown away in favour of ushering in a new kingdom. It’s a colourful mash-up of gamey ingredients: part role-playing game, part city management, part real-time-strategy. The story of Evan, the cat-eared boy king, is ultimately a little forgettable. But the moment-to-moment dialogue is excellently localised, with lots of Geordie and Welsh accents appearing to add variety to the animal folk of its fairytale world.

10. Octopath Traveler 2

What else should I play if I like this? Live A Live is the inspiration for the Octopath Traveler series, and has seen a modern re-release

Both this and the first Octopath Traveler are equally viable go-to moderno-JRPGs. The gimmick is that you won’t be following a single story, but rather eight smaller tales that eventually coalesce into one greater strand. You can start the game as a thief seeking an escape from their oppressive and shadowy crime syndicate. Or as a struggling but gifted dancer who wants to leave their rural hometown and hit the big time in a nearby city. Or a cleric with a touch of Columbo, out to uncover the truth about his own church. In terms of storytelling, there are more captivating entries on this list, but in terms of presentation, battle mechanics, boss fights, and set pieces, it’s hard not to recommend to anyone seeking a great-looking example of JRPG revivalism.

9. Tales Of Arise

What else should I play if I like this? Anything else in the series, including the previous games, Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Berseria

Tales Of games have a habit of starting on the wrong foot. They throw you into their fantasy worlds with brisk and unflattering introductions to their characters and it’s usually only after a couple of hours that it dawns on you: oh no, I like this idiot. Tales Of Arise is no exception. One of your heroes is an ancient maiden with a rail gun, a both literally and figuratively thorny person (she has a hereditary curse that covers her body in spikes). The other is a classic do-gooding amnesiac with a sword and a curse of his own - he cannot feel pain. They are both unapproachable dorks. And yet… and yet… Tales Of Arise is simply the best-looking and best-feeling of these slash-first-ask-questions-later misadventures. Its world is more interesting to explore than that of Tales of Beseria , and its character-swapping combo-biffing is more involved than Tales of Vesperia , which makes it a good entry point for anybody desirous of the series’ popcorn-munching anime silliness.

8. Disgaea 5

Image credit:NIS America

What else should I play if I like this? All the other Disgaeas, I guess?

How much do you really care about storytelling in a JRPG? Not much? Good! Here’s something for you - a chaotic pick ’n’ mix of a turn-based tactics game that has more menus than a Byzantine restaurant. The Disgaea games are known for their labyrinthine and anarchic approach to number crunching and character customising. Partly, this is so you can get a giggle out of the manic joy of getting a character to level 9999, only to reset them to level 1, give them a new class, and do the whole thing again while presumably chewing the inside of your own gums to shreds. There are systems and sub-systems and sub-sub-systems, all of them coalescing into an absurd hub of machinery that eventually just invites you to cheat at the game, because it’s funny and it will kill a lot of monsters. Becoming “OP” in Disgaea 5 is only the beginning.

7. Sea Of Stars

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sabotage Studio

What else should I play if I like this? Eastward and Chained Echoes are two other western homages to JRPGs of old

People sometimes use the term “homage” with an implied sneer. As if the artwork that shows its inspirations openly has not earned its own identity. Sea Of Stars is a pleasant reminder that a respectful love for the tropes of a genre can inspire something that happily stands apart. This is a clean, concise, and lip-pursingly handsome pixel art recreation of a JRPG from the era of Chrono Trigger, with many of yesteryear’s bugbears surgically removed. There’s no grind, for example, no random battles. It is so frictionless even the characters glide gracefully off the walls when they walk too close - a simple touch that will make you realise how clunky and grid-locked those old games often were. This is a JRPG for those who want to venture back to a simpler time, but don’t want to surrender the quality-of-life luxuries that modern gaming affords.

6. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes Of An Elusive Age

What else should I play if I like this? Other Dragon Quests are available, but maybe try Granblue Fantasy: Relink

Some like it slow. The pace of adult life demands that many of us are afraid to invest in a large-scale, long term beast of a JRPG. Especially if it sticks unbendingly to the traditions of turn-taking and tiki-taka levelling up. Yet for anyone with the patience and time to re-establish the peaceful days of trekking over thundering landscapes in Final Fantasy X , or exploring every possible side story in Chrono Trigger , this current generation game is perfect. Dragon Quest is something of a tentpole in the genre, and the PC has been neglected when it comes to this staunchly conservative series of fantasy walkabout. But now you can see what all the fuss is about. Take your time. The rest of these games aren’t going anywhere.

5. Undertale

Image credit:tobyfox

What else should I play if I like this? A wealth of similar games - Omori, Space Funeral, Rakuen, Lisa: The Painful

An old-school RPG with a weird Simpsons-looking dweeb as the protagonist has no right to be this moving. But it is. Undertale is about a human child who grows up around monsters. It is like Where The Wild Things Are , if that children’s book grew pixels, told a joke, and then punched you in the gut while you were laughing. Some might nitpick and complain that Undertale doesn’t count as a JRPG, but that seems unfair when you observe how much jestering love it shows the genre. It has a deep understanding of JRPG rhythm and tone, from the musically memorable way it introduces its friends and foes, to its whimsical battle menus. It is dense with gags. There are laugh-out-loud ones, little wry smilers, punchy bark-provokers, snorters, guffaw-eliciters, nose-exhalers, every small subset of human comedy (and tragicomedy) is covered in the 10 hours or so it’ll take you to get through the story. This is a game full of humour and feeling, and it understands equally the foibles and fun of JRPG games like a child understands and forgives the overbearing quirks of a loving mum.

4. Chrono Trigger

What else should I play if I like this? Final Fantasy VI came out the year before this, so it’d be fun to compare notes

Chrono Trigger is a monster of influence. By today’s standards it looks like a familiar piece of work - a (mostly) turn-based battler with rich pixel art and a party of characters out to save the world. But if Chrono Trigger looks by-the-numbers, that is because it invented the numbers. It at least set a bunch of precedents embraced today by so many JRPGS (not to mention other genres). It had branching storylines and multiple endings long before it became normal. It popularised the New Game + feature, granting players the ability to run through the game again with all your stats and powers carrying over into a fresh playthrough. It hid a huge amount of its most emotionally powerful storytelling in sidequests and non-essential areas. Modern games often don’t have the confidence to pull off this last trick. But it’s one of the reasons a love for Chrono Trigger still reverberates among JRPG fans today. To those who explore every nook and cranny of time itself, it feels like a personal journey. Also, its music is good enough to warp the mind of a master pianist .

3. Final Fantasy VII: Remake

What else should I play if I like this? Go back and play the original Final Fantasy VII? I don’t know, it’s your life, buddy.

A conundrum: do we recommend the blocky and time-honoured Final Fantasy VII of 1997, or the flashy and significantly altered Remake of 2020? To recommend the former is to stick to conventional wisdom. To recommend the latter is to introduce a new conventional wisdom with better graphics. Either way, we are going to upset everyone on planet earth. I’ve decided to go with the modern Remake, since it allows us to embrace both recency bias and our rose-tinted glasses at the same time. Remarkable! The story of Cloud Strife and his merry band of environmentalist freedom fighters is probably one of the most written-about tales in video game history. Here we’re seeing that tale adapted and built-upon, morphing in sometimes unpredictable ways. The re-telling of a story long carved in immovable JRPG stone. In many ways, Final Fantasy VII is a story about loss, and Square Enix are threatening to upend that bucket of grief into a pool of safe and fizzy nostalgia. This alone makes the ongoing modernisation of Cloud’s strife worth following. In 1997, gamers were forced to process the loss of a character to the point of acceptance. Over twenty years later, we are being handed a chance to dive head-first back into denial. That’s kinda neat!

2. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega

What else should I play if I like this? Other Yakuza games, in the right order

With Yakuza: Life A Dragon the series not only shifted focus from its beloved protagonist Kiryu Kazuma, it also dove off the bridge of third-person fighting and into the crashing waves of turn-based battling. Loyal Yakuza likers will probably want to faithfully play that first off-shoot to establish themselves in the wacky world of Ichiban Kasuga, but this Hawaii-bound sequel is the better instalment. It pushes the new role-play systems in the right direction, smoothing out any growing pains that emerged in the studio’s transition to full JRPG. And it doesn’t shy away from the absurdity that the series has become well-known for. You can debuff enemies by spritzing them with perfume. You can level up legally-distinct Pokémon in a fully-realised side game. You can join a dating app and embarrass yourself by getting badly cat-fished. And in the midst of all this silliness, you will find yourself caring about yet more criminally adjacent doofuses.

1. Persona 5 Royal

Image credit:Sega

What else should I play if I like this? Persona 4 Golden or the series’ demonic cousin Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance

Much of Persona 5 is spent battering the psychological manifestation of a sleazeball’s lust, or delving into a subterranean traumaworld to help the beleaguered citizens of a deeply unwell Tokyo. But between the turn-based battles lies the game’s real heart. You go to school, you eat fast food with your friends, you go shopping with that girl you like, you drink coffee with your foster dad, you go see a fortune teller for kicks, you cram for end-of-term exams, you dodge chalk thrown by impatient teachers, you do pull-ups in the attic while a talking cat shouts at you… Persona 5 is a happy holiday into a slightly warped reality. For those who click with it, the game can last over 100 hours, each day of scholastic life piling up to become an entire year of hijinks, head invasions, and hastily eaten buffet food. It’s a nostalgic visitation to the best days of your life. Although, now that I think about it, I never two-timed my teacher with the disgraced doctor from down the street who experiments on teenagers. But that’s probably just me, very sheltered.

Chrono Trigger

Android , iOS , PS3 , Nintendo Wii , PC , Nintendo DS

Disgaea 5 Complete

Nintendo Switch

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

PS4

Final Fantasy VII Remake

PS4 , PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC , Nintendo Switch 2

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Video Game

Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

Video Game

Octopath Traveler 2

Video Game

Persona 5 Royal

PS4 , PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC , Nintendo Switch

Sea of Stars

PC

Tales Of Arise

PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , PC , Nintendo Switch 2

Undertale

PS4 , Xbox One , PlayStation Vita , PC , Nintendo Switch

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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