5 Switch 2 RPGS that'll swallow your time for weeks, with hours of content
The Switch 2 is a veritable RPG machine at this point
The Nintendo Switch 2 is a little beast – and with a price rise coming at the start of September, right now it remains a total steal compared to any new PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S console you could care to buy. If you're a big fan of RPGs, you might not realise that the Switch 2 has almost immediately become a powerhouse for the genre.
Thanks to total backwards-compatibility with original Switch software, it already has hundreds of games to explore, but this summer has also been absolutely massive for native Switch 2 RPGs. Some are ports, and some are new launches, but all of them play more smoothly and responsively on the newer hardware.
So, if you're looking to pick up a massive game that offers up dozens and dozens of hours of playtime, the Switch 2 is a perfect console at the moment. I've brought together this list of five huge RPGs that launched this summer, all of which I've played, to give me the experience to vouch for them. Each one includes a trailer so you can get a taste of the game, but also an indication of how many hours it might take to complete, based on stats from Howlongtobeat, one of my favourite gaming resources.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition
- How long to beat: 96 hours
The second mainline Xenoblade Chronicles game just got its long-awaited Switch 2 upgrade (with the third one arriving later this year), and it makes a simply massive difference to how it looks. This gargantuan game always had really excellent art direction (if you're on board with its more anime-inflected character designs), but never had the sharpness to really come across well on Switch 1.
Now that's finally fixed, and the game that many people feel has the best version of Xenoblade's real-time combat ever can finally be enjoyed without squinting to see shimmering distant objects or environmental details. Its story, meanwhile, is slightly more of an acquired taste.
I'm not saying it's a pure positive that the game is so massive, either, but with most people taking dozens upon dozens of hours to beat the game and a chunk of its side content, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 undoubtedly offers a massive amount of value.
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster
- How long to beat: 78 hours
I didn't play many Final Fantasy games growing up, thanks to the consoles I owned, but I've been slowly putting that right in my adulthood, thanks in no small part to ports and remasters. Final Fantasy X came out all the way back in 2001, staggeringly, but this re-release has itself now been ported many times.
It was available on Switch 1 and perfectly serviceable, but this new Switch 2 version is a marked improvement when it comes to clarity. The biggest upgrade, really, is in the quality of character models, which are much sharper, but because the foundations of this game are so old, don't expect a total remaster.
One great tweak compared to the previous version is the addition of Turbo mode, letting you massively speed up the game so that you can grind without as much of a time sacrifice. Given there are two games to enjoy here, that's a boon to let you experience their excellent stories a bit more briskly.
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
- How long to beat: 107 hours
One of the Switch 2's secret weapons is its mouse mode, letting you use one of your Joy-Cons as a mouse on any surface. Fewer games support it than I'd like, but it's always nice when they do, and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is a great example of how it could be huge for isometric RPGs.
Plenty of these have shown how controllers can work in the genre, but they're never quite as good as a mouse, and being able to use it in Rogue Trader is now a real pleasure after some patches to make it smoother and more performant. The game launched in a bad state last year, but Owlcat has finally got it more stable recently, making this the first point when I'd actually recommend it.
The game's huge, like every Owlcat RPG I've sampled, and I don't know if I'll ever have time to actually complete it, but this dark and humorous story set in the grim future is a must-try if you like the world of 40K and enjoy tactical battles.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger
- How long to beat: 60 hours
While you wait for Pokémon Winds and Waves, you might have an itch for more monster-collecting action, and the franchise's long-time rival Digimon is actually well-positioned right now. This game is very different to a Pokémon title, but it shares the sense of fun when you discover new monsters and evolve them into even more fun and fantastic shapes.
With a mystery story at its heart that involves a heaped serving of both time travel and cyberspace, the storytelling in Time Stranger is far more grown-up and mature than most Pokémon fare, and its mechanics have more in common with a Persona game. You'll pursue questlines and train up a massive roster of monsters, breeding and combining them to discover whole new genealogies.
The game looks lovely thanks to a Switch 2 version that has a smooth 60fps-targetting performance mode, and is a great pick if you want a family-friendly RPG that has loads of content to get through.
Xenoblade Chronicles – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition
- How long to beat: 77 hours
We already tackled the second game in the series at the top of this piece, but given it only came out a couple of months ago, it feels fair to also include the first Xenoblade Chronicles here. This game launched what's now a huge franchise for Nintendo, and it's hard to argue that it's ever looked better than it now does on Switch 2.
I played the whole game through when it came out, and while I didn't quite get as high as the 77-hour average painted by Howlongtobeat, I wasn't far off. This is a massive RPG that tells a sprawling story about the enduring power of bitterness, and the restorative potential of reconciliation.
Its world is really fun to explore, and the core conceit of continents that are actually themselves giant monsters doesn't really get old. If you want to see the roots of a modern-day mega-franchise, this is a great place to start on your Switch 2.
