8 RPGs with small-scale quests

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that most major RPGs played by people today are pretty high stakes. There will always be RPGs with lower stakes, but generally games in this genre involve escaping mortal danger or saving the world from some great evil. This emphasis on the big picture has worked in favor of many titles, giving players some of the best narrative games ever to hit the shelves.

But part of what makes these higher-stakes games so interesting is how they stack up against other missions in the game. If every single side quest is also about saving the world, it diminishes the whole experience, saving the world becomes a chore like running to the store for milk. In vast open worlds or more linear narrative affairs, these RPGs all have small-scale missions that focus on adding realism to the world and making the player's desire to save it that much stronger.

8 Red Dead Redemption 2

An immersive world filled with amazing side quests

Backtracking on the intro a bit, part of what has been done Red Dead Redemption 2 Such a great title is its emphasis on the smaller scale and more intimate story of Arthur Morgan and the Van Der Linde gang.

There are plenty of random encounters along the wilderness in this game that are either standalone moments in their own right or seeds that will eventually blossom into a longer side quest. These give character and flavor to the environment in a simple but effective way.

7 Morrowind

Side quests add flavor to places, people, and factions

If that's a thing Morrowind do better than Oblivion and Skyrim…that's actually almost everything. Please play this game. In terms of side quests, however, the game does an excellent job of making the character feel like a living, breathing part of the world, not just “The Protagonist” cruising through the environment in a blaze of glory.

The lower tier of guilds gives players real busy work or smaller contracts to do, and it's fun because it feels like you're actually a participant in the guild's business and not a savior to the guild given the claim of two smaller quests before any big ones the crisis threatens the entire faction and the real story begins.

6 Cyberpunk

Exploring Night City helps V feel like a mercenary

For many players, Night City is a great setting for an open world title. Cyberpunk 2077 may have its flaws, but V feels like an integral part of the world from the very beginning, and that's in no small part due to side quests.

Whether found in the environment through exploration or by contacting a Handler, the fact that V can even have Handlers helps to tell the player “hey, this person is actually a mercenary, both in name and deed”. The game offers plenty of moments for V to engage in a real profession.

5 Fallout: New Vegas

A variety of comical and compelling side quests

With an incredible story and some RPG elements that really set it apart from its contemporaries, Fallout: New Vegas is a truly iconic post-apocalyptic RPG. One of the ways this game excels is through the side quest content that gives each area more depth.

Players can take on odd jobs to earn some caps, or ingratiate themselves with a minor faction by helping them out, and it all feels like a real, fleshed-out part of the world.

4 Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance

Deal with demons and gods in any capacity

A JRPG that is equal parts difficult and engaging, Atlus truly created one of the best games in its catalog with Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. The side quests in this game may not always seem small-scale, as they usually involve, well, creation gods, but this often makes them more entertaining than anything else.

Helping a Spider-God trick his father, or chasing Turbo Granny across Tokyo, or any of the other low-stakes missions in this game each has something special about it, and more than often a great reward for players.

3 Dragon Age Origins

The Gray Warden can do many interesting missions

Potentially BioWare's magnum opus, Dragon Age: Origins makes every side mission feel exciting and comprehensive. Beyond the most paltry quests from job boards, almost every quest has branching options to take.

In addition to this, each quest will also attract reactions from the player's companions, so side quests are not only a way for the player to explore the world, but also to explore the mindset of their companions.

2 Outer worlds

Halcyon Colony has many engaging, small-scale quests

The hype is steadily building for Obsidians Avowedand while it does, there's a wealth of great titles in this developer's catalog to look back on. Outer worlds is often overlooked by players, but it has some of the most entertaining side quests of any Obsidian title.

Similar Origineach of the companions in this game has unique insights into which of the major factions are being aided in each side quest, and it really helps develop them as characters.

1 Mass effect

The game has many opportunities for interesting missions

The beginning of a masterpiece among RPGs, Mass effect was the game that introduced players to a story of galactic proportions, with an excellent space opera narrative that helped cement Shepard as an incredibly iconic protagonist.

Whether you're along the citadel or exploring many of the distant planets of the galaxy, there are a variety of small-scale side quests that help give this world personality. Yes, it's a world about stopping world-ending robots (or biosynthetic beings or whatever the Reapers are) but it's also a world about a widower trying to bring his dead wife's body back to Earth, or helping a Hanar trader to get a trading license.