As developers of WRPGs once more found their stride, the worlds they created became more complex and well realised. The additional power of home computers and a new generation of consoles afforded them the chance to make increasingly large, visually splendid worlds rendered with 3D engines.

Furthermore, elements of RPG design began finding their way into other genres as developers started to experiment with their mechanics, adding depth and variety usually reserved for RPGs to a host of other game types. Deus Ex is a perfect example of what can be achieved with this approach, although the difficulty of seamlessly blending one genre with another is exemplified by how few titles get it spot on, and how well respected Ion Storm’s shooter remains to this day.

As RPG development became increasingly complex, the development time and team sizes increased alongside the number of hours of entertainment their output provided. Starting with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in 2002, Bethesda significantly ramped up the scale of its operations. The Elder Scrolls series was already popular for its large, free-form worlds that represented scores of hours of questing and exploration but with Morrowind, Bethesda went a step further. The introduction of disparate guilds offered a structured but flexible alternative to pursuing optional quests without relying on stumbling across them while out in the world. The ability to ally yourself with an organised faction and pursue twisting storylines alongside – or even instead of – the thread of the main story is what The Elder Scrolls series has some to be defined by and why players today spend hundreds of hours in its worlds.

Morrowind also introduced a new generation of console gamers to the expansive, freeform delights of the sprawling Western RPG as The Elder Scrolls series made its debut on console thanks to an exclusivity deal with Microsoft. This helped cement the idea that the genre could straddle platforms without compromising its depth and complexity. The following year, BioWare reaffirmed this. Having followed up the success of the introduction of its PC-only Neverwinter Nights series with two further expansions, it also launched a fully-fledged RPG experience for both PC and console. One that carried the classic story tropes of good versus evil and that was set in galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic is one of the best titles ever to be set in George Lucas’ much-loved universe. Alongside its cast of memorable characters and fast-paced combat mechanics came a morality system that was wonderfully balanced and expertly implemented. Rarely has a game mechanic so perfectly complemented the narrative. Our forays into the Light and Dark Sides of The Force were used to devastating effect in defining both the personality of the player and acting as a guiding principle for the development of other characters and the fate of entire worlds.

The launch of World of Warcraft the following year and its subsequent enduring popularity cemented the reputation Blizzard had been building with the Diablo, Starcraft and Warcraft franchises. It also gave players weaned on single-player RPG experiences the chance to team-up with friends and adventure through a comprehensively realised world.

Never one to be outshone, BioWare’s swansong for the original Xbox ranks among its best but perhaps least well-known of its impressive catalogue. Jade Empire’s exotic Wuxia fiction complements its beautifully lit, comprehensively detailed environments. Its mix of a streamlined levelling system with deep combat mechanics is a wonderfully balanced relationship and it boasts an alignment system that builds upon that of Knights of the Old Republic’s. The mystique of its storyline is overshadowed only by the mystery of why BioWare is yet to grace us with a sequel.

In the mid-2000s, further innovations were being made on the world-building front. Bethesda’s follow-up to 2003’s Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, used a procedural generation toolset to enable developers to create varied and expansive environments. Oblivion scored very highly with critics, although it has since been overshadowed by its own offspring and one of the few titles to challenge World of Warcraft for the sheer length of time that players spend roaming its environments - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Skyrim’s legacy is that it borders on a lifestyle rather than a mere game. Its enduring popularity can be attributed to the highly active modding community, who have adopted Bethesda’s behemoth and made it their own. Indeed, the degree of freedom afforded to its players facilitates the creation of a host of new experiences and its ‘go anywhere, be anything’ ethos manifests itself in the manner in which its blank slate avatar is unconstrained by a tightly structured narrative.

While this approach to character design has proved popular in both the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series, it has a highly successful counterpoint in BioWare’s Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises, where players choose the background and personality of their character and share authorship of their story. There’s is one franchise that goes further still, to offer players a clearly defined character with a focused purpose and a deliberately structured story.

First introduced in 2007, CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher features a defined protagonist with a strong sense of personality and characterisation. While players were given the freedom to determine Geralt’s responses to conversations and situations, the more linear story elements required a degree of role-play that asked us to assume a pre-defined role and moved towards telling an authored story rather than a wholly open-ended one. The advantage to this approach is that The Witcher’s morality system is one of the finest examples of this popular mechanic, with the consequences of your actions carrying weight and, tellingly, only making themselves known many hours after taking the choice, ensuring the knock-on effects are all the more poignant for not being able to reload a save file and easily choose another path.

With The Witcher, CD Projekt had arrived. Over the course of its lifespan and the subsequent release of The Witcher 2 in 2011, the Polish developer went on to prove it was not only capable of learning a huge amount on the job, but that it understood the hopes and fears of gamers too. The studio has not only belied its status as the new kid on the block but the fact the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is being talked about in the same breath as Skyrim speaks volumes for how far the developer has come.