"Euro jank" RPGs are my favorite "genre."

While it certainly originally was meant as a derogatory term, I liken "Euro jank" to "Spaghetti Western," a name that has evolved into a term of endearment.

Personally, I'm fascinated by European RPGs and how they evolved separately from the post-1990's NA RPG industry.

I have so many "Euro jank" games that I enjoy that's it's hard to make decide a favorite. I'd just say that recently I went through my PS4 collection and pulled games that I didn't care to keep. Dragon Age Inquisition made that list... but Technomancer, Bound by Flame, Vampyr, and Outward (ok, technically not "Euro jank") stayed.

Ha! Raven's Cry. I still need to pick that up. Need some pirate games to play alongside Sea Dogs.

I completely forgot about one more game: The Fall: Last Days Of Gaia.

Too bad it never recieved an official English version (but surprisingly it has official Russian localization), which means that we are unlikely to see it on sale in digital stores.

This reminds me a lot of Planet Alcatraz.

My favorite one is Divinity: Original Sin, but I've never finished it. My backlog is longer than mankind's stupidity.

Than again, I've never really played many Euro RPG-s beside the Witcher(s), and those are pretty weak RPG-s.

Well, Vampyr's combat system certainly evolved from Dark Souls. :P

Thanks for reminding me of that great game, btw. I totally forgot that dontnod is from Europe.

Not adding this for "best" but certainly should be added to the list...

Hard to be a God

trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUpPEK18G-s

This game can often feel broken, but it has charm and takes a crazy turn -- especially if you don't know the source material.

And yes -- if you can stomach it -- see the movie! You may hate it, but you won't easily forget it.

I'll put votes in for:

7 Mages

and

Konung: Legend of the North

Is Russia considered Europe? In that case, Allods/Rage of Mages/Evil Islands games should be added.

In most discussions I've had elsewhere regarding Euro-jank, Russian games have been included. I certainly think 1C has a long history of the "Euro jank" ethos... across a lot of genres.

Just came back to say that I didn't really want to argue regarding anything related to Gothic 3. I just like the game and I don't think that the shit it gets is deserving only because its different than the other Gothic games (sans Gothic 4, which isn't even made by the Piranha Bytes nor does it share similar design philosophies as the other Gothic games such as freedom to basically progress with the game as long as you follow a loose narrative or some non-linear quest structures).

Unrelated to anything, just wanted to say that I love lists like these <3!

Anyway, I feel that Albion is also a undeserving of beeing called janky (if its merely not just a meme). Its almost like calling Ultima 6/7 and Ultima Underworld a janky game and I feel very dirty saying such things.

Its very difficult though. One of the few games I've felt inclined in looking up a guide.

I really need to play that game as well. Has it been patched? I heard that its actually really janky, almost unplayable even. At least the Sea Dog games have tons of patches and fixes and play perfectly fine if you don't mind the UI.

They're about a decade old at this point, but you might be interested in checking out Drakensang: The Dark Eye and Drakensang: The River of Time.

The Dark Eye is the most popular tabletop RPG in Germany, bigger than even D&D. There were some old school RPGs in the '90s called Realms of Arkania (on GOG) based in this universe, then the above two games released in 2008 and 2010.

They're not perfect, and they lack a lot of in-game info for people unfamiliar with the system (eg, character creation with a dozen classes you've never heard of), but they're pretty enjoyable overall.

Oh yes! And I would be very interested in getting them here!

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/the_dark_eye_drakensang

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/drakensang_the_river_of_time

It´s ok, you´re not the only person who like Gothic 3. In fact there are people who like it much more than previous games. I´m just saying, as someone who finished 1&2 dozens of times, that Gothic 3 it´s not necessarily bad game, but very bad Gothic not only because its so different in concept of RPG, but also because is contradicted with lore of previous game. If Gothic 3 gets a lot of shit - personally I think got much less shit than deserves - is because people expected better and bigger Gothic, and get TES in Gothic universe with contradicted lore.

Ok, cool. I obviously have no objection here. It's just sometimes people consider Russia a Europe and sometimes not.

Btw, recently released ATOM and upcoming Encased are from Russia too. ATOM is particularly faithful recreation of Fallout experience.

Insomnia The Ark is an intriguing Russian "Euro-jank" entry... but unfortunately ATM seems to be pretty broken. Hope this gets fixed because I love the aesthetic (same feeling I got from Mars War Logs and Technomancer)

Insomnia The Ark trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY_X3K6wCik