RPG Syndrome

RPG Syndrome is the scope creep that comes with designing RPG games as a game developer.
Your first game should never be an RPG game.

When you design an RPG game or an adventure puzzle game you will quickly realize that when allowing the player to complete the game in a non-linear way, the amount of dialog, cutscenes, actions and scripted moments in the game that needs to be added exponentially increases.

Games that have many side-quests and multiple endings have RPG Syndrome.
Often requiring massive amounts of content, writing and challenges to keep the game interesting.

Some RPG games may never be finished because of this, especially if the team of people working on it is too small.

Undertale is one example of a game with RPG Syndrome, the game can be completed in about an hour but you're able to go back, talk to characters again, do things differently, see every bit of available dialog, every secret.

The developer had to account for every possible player action and outcome, even the unexpected ones.
And so a small and short RPG game quickly became very complicated.

RPG Syndrome by C_Corpze August 9, 2026