(Pocket-lint) – A good role-playing game is like no other genre, letting you slip into a new identity like a new set of clothes and offering up a world to explore and embed yourself in.

• Best overall games on Nintendo Switch: The best across all genres

The Nintendo Switch might not be the most powerful console on the market, but it has a huge back catalogue of great RPGs that you can play on it, including some really special titles. We’ve gathered the cream of the crop for you to check out, right here.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

There couldn’t have been a better launch game to sell Switch consoles than Breath of the Wild. A long time in the making and more than a year delayed, it was well worth the wait as it’s one of the best role-playing games ever made.

The massive, open-world RPG has many facets. Every nook and cranny of the marvellous game world is filled with adventure and puzzles. And while it adds crafting to the well-trodden themes, it’s not obtrusive and fits in beautifully.

• The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild review: One of the best RPGs ever

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Disco Elysium – The Final Cut

Quite possibly the best and most ambitious RPG of modern times, Disco Elysium tells the story of a single crime that you, a drunken detective, must solve. Its script is quite simply on another level, and the freedom it gives you to approach matters in your own way is unparalleled.

It won’t be to everyone’s tastes, wordy as it is, but the Switch is a perfect place to play it, letting you drop in for quick sessions as you try to piece together just what is going on in the decaying docks of Revachol.

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The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Link’s Awakening fills the gap nicely as we wait for the sequel to Breath of the Wild, with its isometric action-RPG charm and fiendish puzzles. It’s a from-the-ground-up remake of the GameBoy classic that everyone over a certain age will remember. But, even if you do, it is well-worth a revisit as it feels completely fresh in its own right.

• The Legend of Zelda Link’s Awakening review: Nintendo at its very best

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition

Informally dubbed The Switcher, the Switch version of The Witcher 3 is nothing short of a technical wonder. The enormous open-world RPG was a major feat on Xbox One and PS4, let alone on a portable games console. And while it has been cut back a little graphically, everything that makes it one of the best games of all time is there on Switch too.

• The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt review: The best role-player since Skyrim

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons

If you want a change of pace while living an escapist fantasy, the newest Animal Crossing might just be the perfect game for you. It’s relaxing, delightful and sweet, and will never threaten you with the stress of some more “mature” games on this list. We’ve loved every minute of our time with it, and know that it’s going to capture hearts and minds as time goes by. 

• Animal Crossing: New Horizon review: Another Switch classic 

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Fire Emblem: Three Houses

The latest instalment in the storied Fire Emblem franchise is an absolute doozy, with replayability coming out its ears. You play as a professor at an officers’ academy, and quickly choose one of three houses to teach. That choice will see you pursue drastically different storylines, but all the strands share its two gameplay pillars. Those are brutal strategic battles with turn-based combat, and leisure time that you can spend getting to know a huge cast of memorable characters. This is a game to fall into for hours at a time.

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Diablo III: Eternal Collectio

The classic top-down dungeon slayer is great as a special edition for Switch, feeling surprisingly fresh and playable despite arriving years after its original release. That it’s playable in portable format takes the game to a whole other level and gives the Switch something that’s often been absent from previous Nintendo consoles: adult content.

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim is one of the largest, most highly revered role-playing games of all time. To release the entire game, DLC and more, on a portable platform is nothing short of a miracle.

What’s more, it is the remastered version that appeared on the latest-gen consoles so you get so much more for your bucks. It is a true technological marvel and something you will find yourself still playing many months on.

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Writing by Max Freeman-Mills. Originally published on 27 November 2021.