By Connor Hogg
Thread
Your changes have been saved
Email Is sent
Please verify your email address.
You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.
Manage Your List
Follow
Followed
Follow with Notifications
Follow
Unfollow
Link copied to clipboard
RPG
Related
8 Best Sandbox Battle Games
Kenshi: 20 Great Mods You Need To Try
The Best RPGs On The SNES, Ranked
![The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (5) The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (5)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mixcollage-29-may-2024-12-55-pm-8800.jpg)
Highlights
- Step into fantastical worlds and be the master of your own fate with these immersive open-world RPGs.
- From Skyrim to Elden Ring, explore unique landscapes and make choices that shape your journey.
- Dive into complex narratives, tackle challenging dungeons, and forge your own path in these expansive games.
Open-world RPGs can be incredible and immersive. Letting players loose in sandbox worlds full of detail, danger, and tough decisions makes players feel like anything is possible. Some games go further, letting players explore and conquer parts of the setting at their own pace and in their own way. In these games, it can truly feel like players are the masters of their own fates.
Related
Best Games That Make You Into A Character, Ranked
These video games do an extraordinary job of making the players themselves feel engaged and part of the story more than any other title.
These RPGs encapsulate what makes games 'open' and allow for player choice and freedom to take center stage. Be it wide-open landscapes, detailed fantasy worlds, or responsive character actions, these games put place agency at the forefront.
A Tumultuous Trek In Tamriel
![The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (7) The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (7)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/skyrim-wait-menu-mod.jpg)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Platform(s)
- PC , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Nintendo Switch , Xbox 360 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
- Released
- November 11, 2011
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Genre(s)
- RPG , Action , Adventure
One of the most game-changing open worlds of all time, Skyrim invites players to explore the region in the north of Tamriel. The setting is magical and wild, with creatures of all kinds wandering the frost-capped mountains. Fans can hunt down the quest lines that they are most interested in, becoming a lethal assassin, a cunning thief or a recognized mage.
Random encounters with bandits, wolves, or dragons while on the road make the whole game feel more player-led. When players have escaped a dragon attack in the introduction, they are free to go wherever they choose across the cloudy map, tackling the game's seemingly-endless dungeons and side quests in any order they choose.
7 Outer Wilds
Cosmic Calamity In A Time Loop
![The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (8) The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (8)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/outer-wilds.jpg)
Outer Wilds
- Platform(s)
- PS4 , Xbox One , PC
- Released
- May 28, 2019
- Developer(s)
- Mobius Digital
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
In Outer Wilds, players are free to roam a solar system that is doomed to be destroyed by a supernova after 22 minutes of gameplay. When that time runs out, players will discover that they are stuck in a time loop, and must investigate what happened to the extinct species that inhabited the planets around their dying star within the time constraint.
The only progression that carries over between runs is the data that players collect, so they will be leading themselves on their journey, managing their oxygen and fuel supplies and choosing whichever planet interests them to explore, and try to discover a way to stop the sun's destruction. Leading their own exploration lets players become a stronger focus in the narrative, and they are in complete control of where they go and who they meet on their adventure.
6 RimWorld
Procedurally-Generated Progress
![The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (9) The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (9)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/animals-cropped.jpg)
RimWorld
- Platform(s)
- PC , PS4 , Xbox One
- Released
- October 17, 2018
- Developer(s)
- Ludeon Studios
- Genre(s)
- Simulation
Stranded on a planet at the edge of the known universe, RimWorld sees players struggling to establish a new planetary colony. They can make allies or enemies, and build structures to make their followers more comfortable. Each follower must be fed, and their mental well-being must also be looked after.
Related
8 Best Sandbox Battle Games
If you're interested in some sandbox warfare action and tactical strategy, this list breaks down the best Sandbox battle games out there.
Players have complete freedom to explore their new surroundings, and must develop technology to eventually escape the planet despite the wild creatures, pirate attacks, and the possibility of starvation and mental or social breakdowns that will plague them at every turn. As an RPG that offers unlimited options to the player, the possibilities feel expansive and all-encompassing.
5 Fallout: New Vegas
Wasteland Wanderers Of All Kinds
Fallout: New Vegas
- Platform(s)
- PS3 , Xbox 360 , PC
- Released
- October 19, 2010
- Developer(s)
- Obsidian Entertainment
- Genre(s)
- RPG
Of all the games in the Fallout series, New Vegas puts the most power in the hands of the player. Waking up after a near-fatal shot to the head in a rag-tag town of scavengers, the player can choose their direction and take to the wasteland in whatever way they please.
Varied dialogue options mean that players can roleplay as whatever kind of character they choose, and even the deadliest environments in New Vegas, littered with Deathclaws, can be attempted by any player bold enough to try it. The central conflict in the story will have players decide on a faction to ally themselves with, letting their actions have real consequences, and giving players much more control from the outset.
4 Red Dead Redemption 2
The Honor System And Strangers
![The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (12) The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (12)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/red-dead-redemption-2-sadie-and-arthur.jpeg)
Red Dead Redemption 2
- Platform(s)
- PS4 , Xbox One , PC , Stadia
- Released
- October 26, 2018
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Genre(s)
- Action , Adventure
The sprawling vistas of Red Dead Redemption 2 are captivating. Players will constantly be bombarded with picturesque landscapes as they decide who they want Arthur Morgan to be on his journey across the West. While not a typically thought of as an RPG, as soon as players are free to roam across the country, the game opens up a number of RPG mechanics that will affect each playthrough. Players can start to interact with strangers, choosing how kind or villainous to be and affecting the way that Arthur interacts with the world in the conversations that follow. The differences in characterization between a high-honor playthrough and a low-honor playthrough are obvious and shocking, and culminate in different endings. Players can choose to scavenge the wilderness for trinkets and talismans that will improve their statistics, or go on a robbery spree to get extra money at the expense of their reputation, while also leveling up their shooting skills by practicing them on innocent bystanders. They can even craft clothes at the Trapper and get haircuts at the Barber to customize their version of Arthur however they wish, while purchasing, upgrading, and customizing Arthur's guns at a Gunsmith.
Players can go hunting or fishing, play card games or Five Finger Fillet, and can choose when to undertake the more grounded story missions, as well as when to help out the denizens of the West and how kind to be to the people around them. Player choice and morality are central themes in the narrative, making the whole piece feel intelligent and purposeful.
3 Divinity: Original Sin II
Endless Possibility And Opportunity
Divinity: Original Sin 2
- Platform(s)
- Switch , PS4 , Xbox One , PC
- Released
- September 14, 2017
- Developer(s)
- Larian Studios
- Genre(s)
- RPG
With one of the most thoroughly realized settings in video gaming, Divinity: Original Sin 2 puts the player in control of a number of stories. Alongside a character progression system that lets players become any kind of warrior they wish, and a whole host of backstory options, or 'Origin' characters, with detailed arcs, the isometric maps that stretch out for miles, filled with possibilities for the player, mean that fans are completely free.
With countless options of how to approach any scenario, and hundreds of unique characters who can be befriended, assisted, bartered with, or battled, players will lose themselves in Larian's masterpiece.
2 Elden Ring
Conquering The Lands Between
![The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (14) The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (14)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2-37.jpg)
Elden Ring
- Platform(s)
- PS5 , Xbox One , PS4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PC
- Released
- February 25, 2022
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Genre(s)
- RPG , Action
Rising as the Tarnished in a dusty crypt, players of Elden Ring are immediately faced with decisions. The map stretches out before them, allowing them to wander freely in any direction searching for lore, Sites of Grace, equipment, or difficult bosses to fight against. While the main storyline directs players to defeat Shardbearers and become the new Elden Lord, players will find hundreds of optional areas, challenging dungeons, puzzles, and secrets all over the map to distract from that quest.
Whole areas of the map can be ignored when pushing through the main story, and those who explore are likely to indulge in the mesmerizing side quests, meet more of the lovable and eerie NPCs, and collect more weapons, armor, and summons.
1 Kenshi
Be Anything
![The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (15) The 8 Most Open RPGs Of All Time (15)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/kenshi.jpg)
Kenshi
- Platform(s)
- PC
- Released
- December 6, 2018
- Developer
- Lo-Fi Games
- Genre(s)
- RPG
For those players who want to lose themselves completely in an immersive world where anything is possible, Kenshi gives them complete freedom. There is little to no linear storytelling, and the objective of play can be elusive at first. Players will have to survive in a hostile world that is ever-changing and evolving, with different political powers gaining and losing ground and important figures' deaths affecting whole regions.
Related
Kenshi: 20 Great Mods You Need To Try
The best Kenshimods bring the game even closer to being the ultimate go-to in post-apocalyptic sandbox roleplaying and are well worth checking out.
In the post-apocalypse, players can level up whichever skills they choose, and can forge their character accordingly. Putting together a party will eventually lead players to being able to establish outposts and towns of their own. With countless approaches to the game's real-time strategy combat, and opportunities for roleplaying throughout, Kenshi is a one-of-a-kind game that any player can be engrossed by.
More
The Best RPGs On The SNES, Ranked
The Super Nintendo has some of the greatest RPGs of all time, with these being the 15 best role-playing games on the SNES.
- Games
- RPG
Your changes have been saved
Email Is sent
Please verify your email address.
You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.
Manage Your List
Follow
Followed
Follow with Notifications
Follow
Unfollow
We hope you like the items we recommend and discuss! Game Rant has affiliate and sponsored partnerships, so we receive a share of the revenue from some of your purchases. This won’t affect the price you pay and helps us offer the best product recommendations.