When developing an open-world game, it can be hard to keep the pace of a story up. For some, the story isn’t as important as the full experience itself. For example, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the best and most influential open-world games of the past decade, but its core story is weak.
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So, what open-world games, specifically RPGs, since they typically have the best gaming stories, rank up there as the best of the best? The ranking will take into consideration the core narrative along with the world the characters inhabit. There will be no spoilers as the stories will only be lightly touched on.
Diablo 4
Lilith Bringing Peace
Diablo 4 has one of the better stories in the Diablo series because the main villain is omnipresent: Lilith. As the central villain, she does not lurk below the surface like so many main antagonists in the series.
Instead, each location players visit has been touched by Lilith’s “love” in different ways, thus corrupting the minds of full populations or just important NPCs. With a well-acted cast, including the ever-amazing Ralph Ineson, players will keep the grind on just to see what happens next.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Rags To Riches
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 does not start as exciting as some other RPG plots, nor does it take place in a rich fantasy world. Instead, the story focuses on players having to rise through the ranks of society to become a better man in a relatively historically accurate depiction of the Middle Ages.
While it lacks magic, the drama is on par with something out of Game of Thrones, with realistic characters that players will be compelled to love or hate. It’s the RPG equivalent of Red Dead Redemption 2, and that’s saying something.
Fallout: New Vegas
A Debt Paid
Fallout: New Vegas has a great opening with a mysterious gang shooting players dead, only for them to wake up in a hospital later on. Who they are and who shot them is a mystery, so players embark on a quest for some old-school post-apocalyptic justice.
For the Fallout series, the writing is superb between the Factions and individual NPCs players will meet on their journey. The graphics may not be the best when it comes to the character models, but they are certainly a unique bunch. For example, who would expect a gang of Elvis impersonators to exist in a post-apocalyptic desert?
Cyberpunk 2077
Electric Dreams
Cyberpunk 2077 is a great game to go through at least twice, just to see how missions can change not just with the story, but with the gameplay. Players can start with three different scenarios, all of which will eventually lead them to a big heist within Night City, which will kick off the major story involving the now-dead Johnny Silverhand.
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As an AI construct now haunting the heads of players, they will have to do all they can to get him out, and whether players decide to help or purge him in the end is up to them. It’s a gritty, dark narrative that is the culmination of greed in the future, and there’s really nothing else like it as a cyberpunk game.
Horizon Forbidden West
A Heightened Apocalypse
Horizon Zero Dawn had a typically slow narrative as a first game in a series, wherein the protagonist, Aloy, was rough. She distrusted most and most equally distrusted her, which made for a dour narrative. Horizon Forbidden West thankfully refreshes her character to be more open to others, and the NPCs she meets along the way are more charismatic.
Also, the core narrative is more exciting this time around as it involves mysterious suited foes who have powers akin to gods. Who are these futuristic antagonists? It’s a question that has a wild answer, leaving things open for an exciting conclusion if this series becomes a trilogy.
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Getting Wild Overseas
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth takes some weird turns, but the overall story has a lot of heart, mystery, and action that never lets up. It begins with Ichiban traveling to Hawaii by mysterious means on a mission to find his mom, but along the way, he gets accosted by Yakuza members and a homeless empire running the city from the shadows.
Then there’s a cult introduced, and while these all seem like they cannot connect, the game does a good job weaving the web like a fine detective novel. Every character matters, and most importantly, Ichiban is at the heart of it all as the hero we need but don’t deserve.
Disco Elysium
A Painterly Dystopian Story
For anyone who wants nothing but story, Disco Elysium is it. It’s a text-heavy adventure game starring an amnesiac detective who begins trying to solve a murder case but then gets roped into many political leanings around the city.
Everything is handled with dice rolls, which are visually represented, and players can increase their success rate by leveling up stats or equipping gear. The story is brilliant, dark, and not for everyone, as the format is challenging. That said, there aren’t many games like it that lean so heavily on dialogue choices.
Xenoblade Chronicles
Robots In Disguise
Most of the Xenoblade games have great stories, so it’s hard to choose, but it all began with a bang in Xenoblade Chronicles. For years, humans and machines fought each other, and after a peaceful human village is attacked, the hero, Shulk, goes on a quest to seek revenge and answers for the machine invaders.
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Move over, Master Chief. While the Halo series has told its fair share of excellent stories, these other FPS narratives have it beat.
What starts as a fairly common fantasy plot of man vs machine evolves into something much more complicated and surprising that players won’t see coming. It’s a mighty world to explore in both the Wii and Switch remasters, but somehow, the pacing never lets up. Today, the 2020 remaster is definitely the best way to experience this gripping sci-fi narrative.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Father Seeking Daughter
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is ultimately about a father trying to reunite with his daughter while also avoiding a powerful group of enemies. Geralt finds his beloved Yennifer at the start, and together they seek help in finding Ciri.
Geralt’s brooding and matter-of-fact knowledge make him out to be a fantasy-like Batman character, while Ciri, who is playable occasionally, is more free-spirited. The juxtaposed characters and how they approach missions, all while seeking each other out, coalesce in a satisfying ending, provided it’s the good one, that will melt the heart of any icy player.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Adaptation Perfection
The number one spot can go to any of these games, but for RPG fans who grew up in the 90s and played Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1, thus changing their lives forever, they will absolutely college Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth as a triumph. It recreates the things players wanted to see again perfectly while also evolving and reinterpreting things to make them feel new and full of life.
For example, in the original Junon section, Cloud infiltrated Shinra alone and met up with his disguised crew later, but this section is a lot more whimsical in the remake. While silly, it’s also full of drama and touching scenes between characters, but overall, no one can walk away from this game without brimming with energy, as this game exudes fun from the plot to the gameplay.
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