5 Open-World Games With Hidden Factions That Completely Change The Story

Open-world games are made up of several different components, from gameplay to level design, but arguably the most important aspect is the story that ties everything together. While it is nice to have a series of intense action sequences, a strong narrative is incredibly important, as it gives players a reason to keep going and motivation for their presence in the world in the first place. Alongside the plot, many open-world games place a heavy focus on factions and groups of characters. Whether they’re good, evil, or somewhere in between, they often become major focal points for large sections of a playthrough. However, sometimes these factions can actually be a bit more obscure and under the radar, tucked away in hidden areas or behind long, elaborate quest lines, while still having a big impact on the overarching narrative at hand.

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Finding these groups is a real treat, as they almost always offer a completely new perspective on a theme or an opinion within the world that players may never have stumbled upon otherwise. Some are out for blood, and others seek vengeance, but the core thread that ties these hidden groups together is the ability to make real waves within the world, without needing to step too far into the light. In a lot of cases, primary factions take center stage, drawing players in one direction or another and showing them one side of the story that they may choose to follow over the course of their adventure. Yet for many players, side factions and underground organizations can actually prove to be more interesting and compelling, offering a long list of peculiar and fascinating characters with enough ambition and power to make a real difference, despite their seemingly small scale.

Fallout: New Vegas

A Whole World Dictated By Alliances

Stories of the past are reframed by different factions.
Groups like the Boomers can play huge roles in later quests.

Fallout: New Vegas hides some of its most important thematic material within factions that are never positioned as major powers on the surface. The Enclave Remnants, for instance, can be found scattered across the Mojave as broken veterans, quietly reframing the entire history of the land on the surface. Their existence confirms that the old world’s most powerful figures didn’t just vanish; they simply failed, aged, and were forgotten with the passage of time. Their presence in the world also makes the central conflict feel more like another chapter in a much larger story, one that will continue long after the credits roll.

Other groups, like the Boomers, are presented in a completely different way and thus serve their own unique purpose. Isolated, paranoid, and technologically dangerous, they represent how different groups managed to survive in the wasteland, some forming larger civilizations, or in this case, isolating themselves away from the main crowd. These factions are pretty easy to miss, yet once uncovered, they transform New Vegas from a political standoff into a much more meditative experience that explores ideas of legacy and the inescapable nature of history, presenting players with a narrative that stretches far into the past and one that will almost certainly continue into the future.

Underground Nations And Societies Galore

Several underground groups are hidden away from prying eyes.
They have a huge influence on politics and the governance of the world.

Skyrim has plenty of surface-level factions that are pretty straightforward to come across, but its hidden ones tell a far more complex story about power and manipulation and the consequences that come with each. The Nightingales, revealed deep into the Thieves Guild storyline, introduce Daedric influence into what initially seems like a grounded criminal narrative. Their existence reframes the Guild as pawns in a divine contract rather than simple outlaws, adding a mythological weight that completely uproots the impression that players are given early on.

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If thievery isn’t to the player’s tastes, then the Blades might be the right fit for them. Once legendary Dragon Slayers, they now exist as relics clinging to outdated ideologies, forcing players to confront the cost that comes with blindly following tradition. Meanwhile, non-joinable factions like the Psijic Order quietly imply that Skyrim’s political struggles are insignificant compared to forces operating from outside time itself. These subtle extra elements turn an otherwise traditional fantasy narrative into a much more complex one, centered around divinity, presenting some much deeper questions at the end that players will have to answer for themselves.

Elden Ring

Dictating The Fate Of The World

Entire endings are dictated by faction allegiance.
No markers to guide players to the next step in a quest.

Elden Ring is already an ambiguous game in basically every way imaginable. Even when characters are placed on the beaten path, their storylines can often take several Google searches to even start, but the most transformative questlines of the bunch are tucked even further behind veils and shadows. The Frenzied Flame is discovered through deliberate transgression, requiring players to descend into forbidden spaces and reject guidance entirely. Aligning with this faction doesn’t just unlock an ending; it also paints a completely different picture of the entire world as a cosmic mistake that deserves annihilation.

Those Who Live in Death offer an even quieter but equally disruptive perspective. Through Fia’s questline, undeath is revealed not as a corruptive force but as a persecuted state of existence. This faction exposes the Golden Order’s hypocrisy, turning the Erdtree from a symbol of life into an instrument used to exclude those who do not align with its values. Rather than adding flavor or expanding on the main plot, these factions actually rewrite the story in major ways, revealing a world built on much darker themes of fear and repression than those outlined by the ones in power. In a sense, the tying of these groups to specific endings is actually a secondary reward for their discovery, the first being the revelations that come from following characters across The Lands Between and learning more about the dark history that is tucked just below the mainland.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Rival Clans Of All Shapes And Sizes

Darker elements are otherwise missed in the main story.
Different kinds of societies are hidden behind closed doors.

Red Dead Redemption 2 hides its most disturbing factions far from its cinematic main story. The Night Folk, encountered only through exploration in a few select locations like the Bayou, introduce a horror element that strips away the romanticism of the frontier. Ritualistic and far from any natural exploration, they pose questions regarding civilization and its integration with the wilderness, something which is otherwise completely absent from the main narrative.

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There are more examples of groups on the outskirts of society, like the Murfree Brood, who serve a similar purpose out in the Grizzlies. Unlike Dutch’s group, the Murfrees have fully abandoned any pretense of ideology, becoming a group that perfectly emulates what unchecked isolation and violence can create given enough time. There might not be any major questlines or alliances within these groups, but what they do offer is a fundamental tonal shift that reminds players that the West isn’t dying because of progress alone, but also from the weight of those lingering in the shadows.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Full Storylines Hidden Underneath

Large groups spanning several different eras.
Implications about the story before and after the game.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt rarely places its most influential factions front and center, yet there are a few examples of camps and tribes that manage to do just as much heavy-lifting as any other group in the game. The Scoia’tael exist mostly on the fringes, spoken about in hushed tones or encountered through morally ambiguous side quests, yet despite a mostly surface-level presence in the world, their war against humanity remains a major talking point that delves deep into a conflict that’s not about good versus evil, but about systemic oppression and broken treaties.

The Eternal Fire operates even more subtly, talked about far more than they are explicitly seen. Their presence is felt through witch hunts, public executions, and fearful NPC dialogue rather than direct confrontations, and the lack of frontal engagements adds a mystique to a group that is pulling far more strings than even Geralt can imagine. They demonstrate how belief systems can become weapons, and how large groups of people can be controlled through ideology alone, turning a story about heroic destiny into something far more elaborate.