6 Best Medieval Open-World Games, Ranked

Summary

Some medieval games immerse players in lived-in worlds filled with mud, blood, and politics.
Features like AI companions, cryptic lore, and realistic combat set these medieval open-world games apart.
Medieval games like Dragon’s Dogma, Valhalla, and Skyrim offer vast, challenging, and detailed open worlds.

There’s something magnetic about medieval settings. Maybe it’s the clank of steel on steel, the sight of weather-beaten castles, or the idea of carving out your destiny with nothing but a sword, a horse, and some wildly unreliable armor. But not every game with swords and dragons hits the mark. Some truly immerse players in worlds that feel lived-in—mud, blood, politics, and all. And when those worlds are open to explore at will, that’s where the magic really happens.

8 Best Games That Let You Manage a Medieval Kingdom, Ranked

Sit on a throne and dictate the lives of hundreds, thousands, or even millions in these games that let you manage a medieval kingdom.

These six medieval open-world games don’t just toss players into a vague “ye olde” sandbox and call it a day. They offer sprawling, believable landscapes filled with danger, discovery, and the occasional talking tree. Some lean into fantasy, others cling to gritty realism, but all of them manage to capture something timeless about the era where plague and prophecy went hand-in-hand.

6

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

Chimeras In The Forest, Death By Physics

Dragon’s Dogma doesn’t get nearly enough credit for how bold and weird it is. Set in a high-fantasy world steeped in medieval aesthetics, the game leans into danger in a way that most RPGs actively avoid. Nightfall isn’t just a lighting change—it’s a death sentence if players don’t come prepared. Lanterns become lifelines, roads turn into traps, and random encounters get downright Biblical in difficulty.

Where the world really shines is in its topography. Everything feels tactile and climbable, from mossy cliffs to the backs of ogres mid-fight. And while the setting might seem like standard fantasy at first glance—stone cities, cloistered mages, oversized swords—the game’s pawn system makes exploration feel unpredictable. These AI companions learn from player behavior, comment on surroundings, and even share knowledge between playthroughs.

Dark Arisen expanded on the base game with Bitterblack Isle, a hauntingly claustrophobic labyrinth that feels like it was designed by someone who thought regular dungeons were too merciful. Players who survive its depths aren’t just strong—they’re patient, stubborn, and probably out of healing herbs. There’s a reason Dragon’s Dogma 2 has so much hype behind it.

5

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Axes, Ale, And A Whole Lot Of England

By the time Assassin’s Creed Valhalla came around, the series had fully embraced its open-world RPG identity—but what’s impressive is how convincingly it recreates medieval Anglo-Saxon life. Set during the Viking invasion of England, the game lets players step into the fur-lined boots of Eivor, a Norse raider with a penchant for settlement-building and poetic executions.

13 Games To Play After You Finish Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla looks to be a lengthy title, so after players are done with it, here are a few game recommendations to try out next.

This version of England is raw and sprawling, broken into regions ruled by fragile alliances and even more fragile egos. Castles, abbeys, longhouses, and Roman ruins dot the landscape, with side content often feeling like slice-of-life stories from a brutal age. One mission might involve brokering a truce between warlords, another might have players solving pagan murder mysteries.

Raids and conquest battles lean heavily into the Viking fantasy, but there’s still plenty of subtle, slow-burn storytelling here. The animosity between faiths, the lingering power of the old gods, and the murky politics of kingship all play out across a world that feels both mythic and strangely familiar. Valhalla doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it sharpens every spoke.

4

Elden Ring

Praise The Moonlight, Die To A Tree

With Elden Ring, FromSoftware took their signature brand of despair and launched it into an open world so vast and cryptic it feels like a medieval myth spun out across a fever dream. The Lands Between isn’t just massive—it’s dense with forgotten history, buried kingdoms, shattered gods, and weirdly hostile plant life.

What separates Elden Ring from other medieval open-worlds is how it ditches traditional quest markers and hand-holding in favor of curiosity-driven exploration. That ruined church over the hill? Might hold sacred ashes or an NPC sobbing about cosmic betrayal. That innocent-looking field? It might be a disguised battlefield covered in invisible poison. Everything here is designed to challenge assumptions.

The medieval flair comes baked into every armor set, weapon design, and boss arena. Think Gothic cathedrals cracked by time, ghost-haunted castles surrounded by fog, and ancient cities built vertically to scrape the sky. And because lore is doled out in cryptic item descriptions and vague, poetic phrasing, unraveling it all feels like uncovering a lost epic—one death at a time.

3

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Roach Is The Real MVP, No Notes

There are fantasy RPGs, and then there’s The Witcher 3, which somehow made “grim medieval monster hunter with commitment issues” into one of the most emotionally resonant journeys in gaming. Geralt’s world is dripping with Eastern European folklore, political rot, and hard choices that rarely lead to clean resolutions. But beyond the narrative depth, the game’s open world is a marvel.

8:13

Grim Dawn, The Witcher's Geralt, GreedFall

Best Games To Play If You Like The Witcher 3

Players who have completed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt can try out these similar games if they want to go through another action-packed experience.

Velen feels like a war-torn countryside that’s actively trying to forget its gods. Skellige gives off windswept Norse vibes where clan loyalty runs thicker than blood. Novigrad is a crooked, brilliant mess of a city, where power plays out in both the cathedral and the sewers. Each zone doesn’t just look different—it plays differently, with factions, monsters, and social norms shaping how players engage.

And the monsters? They aren’t just loot piñatas. Every contract, every creature is rooted in real-world myth with enough context to make research feel like a part of the hunt. The game treats its medieval world seriously but knows when to wink. Whether it’s getting involved in a cursed wedding or just trying to keep Ciri safe from apocalyptic horsemen, The Witcher 3 turns its world into a living, aching place worth saving.

Fus Ro Dah, And Then Immediately Steal Their Cheese

By now, Skyrim has basically become gaming’s version of comfort food, but there’s still no denying how well it captures the spirit of a medieval fantasy epic. With its snow-choked mountains, towering fortresses, and cities run by Jarls with political grudges older than some of the dragons, the game wraps its high fantasy in a Nordic aesthetic that’s surprisingly grounded.

And sure, it’s got magic, dragons, and talking Daedric princes, but it also lets players experience medieval life from every angle. One playthrough might have someone rising through the ranks of a guild, another might involve clearing out bandit hideouts just to earn enough gold for a house in Whiterun. The economy, politics, architecture, and even clothing styles borrow heavily from real-world medieval Europe, then amplify it all through the lens of myth.

Despite being over a decade old, Skyrim still feels like a massive, living world. Its cities have their own cultures, its dungeons tell stories through their design, and its endless side quests pull players deeper into the realm of Tamriel. Few games have made wandering into the wilderness feel this much like opening a door to your own legend.

1

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Sir, The Peasants Are Questioning The Concept Of Fast Travel

It’s hard to overstate just how committed Kingdom Come: Deliverance is to historical accuracy. Set in 15th-century Bohemia during a period of civil war, this game does away with fantasy entirely—no dragons, no magic, just mud, monks, and a very real risk of bleeding out because someone hit you in the ribs with a mace. The protagonist, Henry, isn’t a chosen one or a noble warrior, just a blacksmith’s son trying to survive after his village is torched.

What makes this world shine is how it treats medieval life as a system rather than a setting. Players can’t just swing a sword and expect results—combat is grounded in real European martial arts, with stamina, angles, and armor weight all factoring in. Even reading is a skill that has to be learned. And the world itself? It’s a patchwork of forests, rivers, manors, and battle-scarred villages that feel eerily authentic, down to the way locals gossip about current events.

Every mechanic here, from alchemy to sleep deprivation, reinforces the idea that survival in this world isn’t just about who has the sharpest blade—it’s about who can work, talk, and fight smart. For players who want their medieval experience unfiltered, Deliverance is as real as it gets.