As role-playing games tend to focus a lot on sending the player into deadlybattles and conflicts, it’s perhaps the genre most consumed with the prospect of staying healthy. And, any good RPG worth its salt has a good healing system, as this expansive genre often features just as many ways to heal as it does to fight. Healing in RPGs is crucial, but a few games go the extra mile in adding a fun and interesting way to go about it.
While a lot of RPGs rely on more straightforward healing systems, other games are built around more intriguing concepts. Whether it’s battling back to regain lost health inBloodborneor feeding on the helpless citizens of California inVampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, the best healing systems in RPGs have been ones that contextualize the process in a fun way. When the healing systems are tied intrinsically to both the characters and the world, it makes all of these fun systems even more compelling.
In theapocalyptic wasteland ofFallout, staying alive to survive the hordes of raiders, ghouls, and super mutants is a rather difficult task. Thankfully, the franchise has consistently offered a way to stay alive in the form of Stimpaks. These iconic healing items are appropriately grimy syringes, filled with all sorts of nutrients and stimulants.
It takes a traditional healing item, one that players may find in both RPGs and other genres, and adds a bit of nastiness to it. Stimpaks have been a staple of this apocalyptic RPG since its inception, introducing variants like the Super Stimpak and basing entire quest lines around it.
The Materia system inFinal Fantasy 7is still one of the JRPG’s greatest creations, as it grants the player the ability to upgrade their spells in a more immediate way. Battles give out Ability Points, which are transferred to Materia in order to level them up. The Restore Materia can be leveled up 5 times into a Master Cure, which makes battles feel more important, and even smaller fights seem consequential as a result.
Slotting Materia into linked slots can also improve them, as putting an All Materia together with Restore allows the player to cure the entire party in battle. But what really makes the system fun is what weapons you slot these Materia into, as each weapon gives out different growth. Something like the Apocalypse sword for Cloud, for example, offers triple Materia growth and is crucial in farming. It’s adeceptively complex system, one that made a return in the enormousFinal Fantasy 7 Remaketrilogy.
While the long-awaited sequel ison track for release(at least at the time of writing), the originalVampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlinesis still one of the best examples of a cult-classic one can find and features the ability to feed on the blood of humans for health. But, what makes this even more interesting is how it’s contextualized, as one of the core tenants of the game is protecting the titular masquerade — the existence of vampires.
Anyone witnessing the player feeding on someone will result in a violation of the masquerade, and doing so five times will result in the player’s beheading. It’s a fascinating system, one that plays directly into the lore of the world and offers some challenging hurdles to keeping safe.
Continuing on from the tradition started withKing’s Fieldin the 1990s andDemon’s Soulsin 2009, FromSoftware continued their efforts to createobtuse, challenging RPGswith unique systems with 2011’sDark Souls. Built around similar systems and concepts,Dark Soulsalso introduced a new way for the player to heal their character in the form of Estus Flasks.
Upon resting at a bonfire, another of the franchise’s distinct systems, the number of Estus Flasks the player has is restored and offers a few more chances to survive. By using the Humanity item to kindle a bonfire, it can increase the overall number of Estus Flasks available. This limited number creates a sense of perpetual risk, as stopping to rest at a bonfire refills the Estus, but it also respawns all the enemies. It is a wonderfully unique system, one that has become a staple in the franchise — even extending out into FromSoftware’s newest game,Elden Ring.
With 2015’sBloodborne, FromSoftware wanted to challenge the passive nature of previous games. Prior entries allowed the player to hide behind shields and strike enemies safely, but withBloodborne, the team removed shields (almost) entirely and created enemies that were hyper aggressive,challenging the playerto do the same. to accommodate this, they introduced the beloved rally mechanic.
When the player takes damage, they can immediately go on the offensive, and each successful counter-attack will refill their health meter for a short time. This risk/reward offers up some truly thrilling interactions, as the decision to go all in could go poorly, or the player could get all of their health back. It’s a spectacular system, one that encourages aggressive play and is still one ofBloodborne’sgreatest mechanics.
