MMORPG
Old School RuneScape
A 2007 MMORPG that the players themselves refuse to let die.
9.4/107 games · updated July 2026
Best MMORPGs
Persistent worlds you keep coming back to for years.
An MMORPG asks for something no other genre does: that you keep showing up. The world carries on whether you log in or not, your character accrues history, and the people you play with become the reason you stay. That makes picking one a bigger decision than picking a shooter, you are choosing where to spend a few hundred hours.
The games below split roughly into three camps. Theme-park MMOs hand you a designed sequence of content and do it well. Sandbox MMOs hand you other players and a set of rules, then get out of the way. And a couple of them are simply too strange to categorise, which is usually a good sign.
What to expect
- A meaningful time commitment, most of these reward months, not weekends.
- Subscription, free-to-play and buy-to-play models sit side by side here.
- Server populations matter more than review scores. Check before you commit.
Start here
Where to begin with MMORPGs
The entries we would hand someone new to the genre.
MMORPG
Final Fantasy XIV
The MMORPG that was cancelled, rebuilt, and became the genre's high point.
9.3/10The ranking
All 7 MMORPGs
Ordered by our editors' score across the whole library, so positions here match the main ranking.
Old School RuneScape
9.4/10MMORPGPCMobileFree to play2013
A restored 2007 build of RuneScape where every meaningful change is put to a player vote. Twenty-three skills, no classes, and the most open progression in the genre.
MMORPGRPGMultiplayer
Final Fantasy XIV
9.3/10MMORPGPCConsoleSubscription2013
A subscription MMORPG where one character can hold every class in the game. Best-in-class story, and a free trial that runs to level 70.
MMORPGRPGAdventure
EVE Online
8.9/10Space sandbox MMOPCFree to play2003
A single-shard space sandbox where players build the industry, run the markets and fight the wars. Famous for the wrong reasons and right about most of them.
MMORPGSimulationStrategy
Guild Wars 2
8.7/10MMORPGPCBuy to play2012
Buy it once, own it forever, and never worry about gear again.
Albion Online
8.2/10Sandbox MMORPGPCMobileFree to play2017
A classless sandbox MMO where the gear you lose was made by someone.
World of Warcraft
8.2/10MMORPGPCSubscription2004
The genre's centre of gravity, twenty years on and still setting the standard for raids.
RuneScape
7.9/10MMORPGPCMobileFree to play2001
The modern branch of the same world, with the systems the old one voted down.
You can also work down the full ranking of the best online games, which covers every category at once.