It’s obvious that open-world RPGs are mainstream commodities. AAA smash-hits like Elden Ring and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth remind us that this corner of the gaming medium still has a lot of potential, and deserves to be invested in despite the occasional blunder or bad business practice.
But the open-world-RPG is far from a new concept. Many have argued that the first The Legend of Zelda game, released all the way back in 1986, is an open-world RPG, and there’s definitely merit to such arguments. In any case, by the time games like Dragon Quest 3 rolled around, the idea of a free-roam role-playing video game was well-established, and had already undergone a few permutations.
Many of these older role-playing games have only improved and flourished with age. Here are just a few that can be counted among that number.
Fable 2
Charm Beats Breadth
- Fable 2 original release date: October 21, 2008
I wouldn’t describe myself as being overtly gung-ho about classic video games; many of my favorite games have been released in the last decade. Still, I find myself dusting off my Xbox 360 every few years specifically to replay Fable 2, which, for my money, is the best entry in the series. Like Mass Effect 2, Fable 2 splits the difference between the complexity of its predecessor and the streamlined design of its successor. It’s a Goldilocks situation.
This careful balance only feels more magical with age. Fable 2‘s open-world, while relatively small, is diverse, cozy, and believable, with surprisingly involved social sim and management systems. Other gameplay pillars, like combat and leveling, are straightforward and tactile in a way that their modern counterparts usually aren’t, and smaller details, like how your moral choices and combat style alter your character’s appearance, make Fable 2 feel distinctly playful rather than finely tuned for maximum engagement.
Gothic 2
Niche Game Design Decades Ahead Of Its Time
- Gothic 2 original release date: November 29, 2002
Audiences are much more comfortable with punishing, steep-learning-curve RPGs these days, but in the early 2000s, such conventions were more niche and off-putting. There certainly was no Kingdom Come: Deliverance-style RPG to push such trends into the mainstream. Perhaps this is why Gothic 2 never quite reached the same heights as some of its contemporaries, like The Witcher or The Elder Scrolls. This is a shame.
Going back to Gothic 2 in 2026, it’s surprising to see just how compelling its central gameplay loop remains. Exploring the game’s lonely, treacherous open world, gathering Learning Points to upgrade stats with teacher NPCs, and delving into side activities like alchemy and trading are all reliably satisfying. Gothic 2 confers the same zero-to-hero feeling as the best modern RPGs, and its old-school Eurojank charm makes it even easier to love in retrospect.
Dragon’s Dogma
Focus Pocus
- Dragon’s Dogma original release date: May 22, 2012
Dragon’s Dogma may not be for everyone—it wasn’t for me when I first played it in 2012—but it succeeds at almost everything it attempts. Namely, Dragon‘s Dogma presents a striking combat and progression sandbox that’s hard to put down and easy to pick back up, even after dozens (or hundreds) of hours. For this reason, it’s evolved into something of a guilty pleasure of mine in recent years, a game that I jump into for a few hours whenever I have a spare moment or am contemplating my ever-growing backlog.
When Dragon’s Dogma first launched, it was often compared to another iconic open-world RPG: The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Bethesda’s massive open-world, high production value, and then-impressive visuals made the more stripped-back and graphically archaic Dragon’s Dogma look quaint by comparison. It didn’t do the game any favors, that’s for sure. While I’m not sure that I’d call Dragon’s Dogma outright “better” than Skyrim, it’s definitely more mechanically complex and creative, and you can still feel that when you play it today.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
Bold Writing And World Design That You Just Don’t See Anymore
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines original release date: November 16, 2004
While I enjoyed Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, I walked away feeling a bit disappointed as well. This is because, for all its faults, the first Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is an incredibly special gaming experience that deserved a more impactful modern reimagining. More than this, Bloodlines boasts a particular flavor of writing, tone, and worldbuilding that is rarely seen in today’s increasingly sanitized gaming landscape. It’s a nasty, punk-rock urban fantasy adventure that hypnotizes you despite its technical shortcomings.
Many of the games on this list are defined by their risky, inventive, or otherwise unusual design choices, and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is no different. The gloomy streets of Y2K-era, vamp-infested Los Angeles are full of easy-to-miss secrets and surprises which translate to the occasional bit of immersive sim-style gameplay. Quests can be tackled with a welcome degree of freedom, and the replay value offered via the radical differences between playable vampire Clans makes the game uniquely attractive to the right kind of player.
Never Been Better
- The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion original release date: March 20, 2006
Perhaps this is partially the result of recency bias—we did just get the great Oblivion Remastered, after all—but I’m not sure that The Elder Scrolls has ever quite surpassed The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion in terms of overall consistency of experience. What I mean by this is, while Skyrim might be more user-friendly, and Morrowind might be more complex, Oblivion is both easy to play and rewarding to learn. There’s clear depth and experimentation in its gameplay that, for better or worse, hasn’t been replicated to the same extent in Bethesda’s subsequent RPGs.
Set in the country of Cyrodiil, just south of Skyrim, Oblivion presents players with a lush, verdant wonderland to explore, with Roman-inspired cities, magical ruins, and esoteric magic guilds that feel more unique than Skyrim‘s Nordic locales. Also worth noting is the game’s magic and alchemy systems, which are deeper and more customizable than Skyrim‘s, further buttressing Oblivion‘s sense of player agency and control. If you can accept some classic Bethesda-isms, Oblivion is just as replayable today as it was 20 years ago.
