Summary
There’s something endlessly fascinating about RPGs that look ahead. Maybe it’s the weird tech, the alien landscapes, or the way these games grapple with what humanity might become centuries from now.
Whether it’s a galaxy-wide power struggle, corporate dystopia, or the last glimmer of hope in a dying star system, future-set RPGs offer a canvas for some of the boldest storytelling in the medium. The best ones don’t just dress up swords as lasers — theybuild entire cultures, systems, and moral gray areas that make players question who they are and what kind of world they want to live in.
Set in the year 2330,Starfieldputs players in the boots of Constellation explorers charting the Settled Systems, a stretch of colonized space where humanity’s biggest issues didn’t get left behind on Earth — they just got packed into the cargo bay. From UC’s bureaucratic militarism to Freestar’s space-cowboy freedom, the game paints a fractured future that feels both ambitious and eerily plausible.
Bethesda leanshard into its RPG rootshere, with dialogue choices that matter and factions that have their own tangled motives. It’s not about saving the universe; it’s about navigating it, carving out meaning in a galaxy that’s mostly indifferent to anyone not holding a plasma rifle. And while the procedural planets didn’t blow every player away, New Atlantis, Akila City, and Neon offer rich hubs packed with political intrigue, moral dilemmas, and a worrying amount of fish-based narcotics. The game might not be flawless, but when it works, it nails that quiet, rare feeling of looking up at alien stars and wondering what else is out there.
Obsidian’sThe Outer Worldscould have just been another dystopia, but instead it slapped a sarcastic grin on corporate-run space colonization and leaned into its absurdity. Set in an alternate future where megacorporations bought out the stars, the Halcyon system is less a frontier and more a brand showroom, where even death is a marketing opportunity.
The RPG mechanics arepure Obsidian: branching quests, companions with baggage, and choices that spiral into consequences five hours later. But what sellsThe Outer Worldsis how it weaponizes charm. Every conversation drips with dark humor, especially if players spec into the Dumb stat and go full himbo captain. And it’s all backed by punchy writing and world-building that skewers late-stage capitalism with every vending machine slogan and HR-sanctioned funeral service. It’s not a galaxy-spanning epic, but that’s the point. This is a future where dreams are smaller, sold in bulk, and come with a 30-day warranty.
Released in 1993 but set over a thousand years after the original,Phantasy Star 4is one of thoserare JRPGsthat didn’t just go sci-fi for flavor; it committed to the aesthetic and the lore. Spaceports, android party members, laser claws, and planetary travel sit side-by-side with spellcasting and ancient evils, making it feel likeStar WarsandFinal Fantasydecided to co-parent a 16-bit masterpiece.
Set on the planet Motavia, part of the Algol star system, the game throws players into a world that’s visibly scarred by past collapses. Sandworms roam the wastelands, bioweapons leak from old research labs, and civilizations are built on the ruins of forgotten tech. Despite the game’s age, the turn-based combat and manga-style cutscenes hold up surprisingly well. The story delivers emotional gut punches that feel earned, not forced. For players who like their futures with a little mysticism and their dungeons with satellites,Phantasy Star 4is a lost classic worth rediscovering.
After a rocky 2020 launch,Cyberpunk 2077eventually did what very few games manage to do: it came back from the dead, chrome implants and all. Set in the glimmering decay of Night City in the year 2077, where everyone’s got more trauma than insurance, this RPG asks what happens when technology grows faster than morality.
Players step into the role of V, a merc caught in a no-win situation with a mind slowly being overwritten by Johnny Silverhand, a digital ghost voiced with simmering rage by Keanu Reeves. What unfolds is a deeply personal story wrapped in thick layers of neon-soaked corruption, corporate warfare, and haunting side quests.Phantom Liberty— the 2023 expansion — elevated it even further, adding a spy-thriller thread that’s arguably one ofCD Projekt Red’stightest stories to date.
By 2.0, the combat finally felt responsive, the perks actually mattered, and the world lived up to the promise. Night City isn’t just a setting — it’s a trap, a symbol, and a warning. And still, people keep chasing its broken dreams.
There’s something about the year 2027 that makesHuman Revolutionfeel close enough to sting. In a world on the cusp of transhumanism, where augmentation isn’t just possible but fashionable, the lines between enhancement and exploitation start to blur fast. That’s where Adam Jensen comes in: half man, half machine, all gravel.
Eidos Montreal’s vision of the future is slick, gold-tinted, and teetering on the edge of collapse. Every level, whether it’s Detroit’s neon gutters or Hengsha’s double-decker cityscape, reinforces a world where the haves have tech, and the have-nots get left behind. What makesHuman Revolutionso compelling isn’t just the cyberpunk flavor, it’s the structure. Players can sneak, hack, talk, or blast their way through most situations, and theconsequences stick. While the boss fights were infamously awkward at launch, the Director’s Cut fixed that misstep, letting players stay true to their build. Rvery locked door, every terminal, every optional side room feels like a thread waiting to be pulled — and the tapestry behind it is worth unraveling.
Set in the year 2281, in a post-apocalyptic Mojave that somehow made room for both mutated geckos and a functioning casino economy,Fallout: New Vegasis the gold standard for roleplaying freedom in a scorched future. It starts simply: a courier is shot in the head and left for dead. What follows is one of the most open-ended RPG narratives ever made. Factions like Caesar’s Legion and the New California Republic vie for control, and players can side with any of them, or torch the whole lot and go it alone.
The world feels genuinely lived-in, with stories hiding behind every shack and soda machine. Characters like Yes Man, Veronica, and Arcade Gannon offer moral counterpoints and emotional layers that elevate the journey from a revenge quest to a meditation on power, loyalty, and what rebuilding should look like. And let’s not forget: this is a future where Hoover Dam is the most important piece of infrastructure in the American wasteland. That’s not just worldbuilding; that’s world commitment.
There’s a reason people still argue about their Shepard builds like it’s a personality test.Mass Effect 2feels like the future. Interstellar travel, AI ethics, extinct species with god complexes — the whole galaxy is a mess of politics, ancient threats, and strained alliances. But it’s also full of heart.
After a cold open that kills Commander Shepard in the first five minutes, the game becomes a suicide mission in the making. Players recruit a ragtag crew across space, including a biotic war criminal, a justicar, a genetically engineered tank-born soldier. Every loyalty mission, every choice builds toward the final push. Whether the Normandy crew lives or dies is about more than stats. It’s about leadership, empathy, and doing the work.
The game’s tone strikes the perfect balance betweenemotional weightand high-stakes action. No RPG has captured the “assemble the crew and hope to hell this works” vibe quite likeMass Effect 2. It’s science fiction at its most personal, and even now, years later, the weight of those final decisions still hits like a plasma round to the chest.
