Open-World Games More alive than Elder Scrolls games

Open world games have had a huge boom in the last two decades. At first it was all about how big a world could be, and all the places you could go that were previously locked behind an invisible barrier. It was revolutionary for exploration, because we finally got games where we could decide how to interact with the world and its history. Players were no longer trapped in just following a linear quest line; if there was a mountain you wanted to climb, you could.

The Elder Scrolls games were some of the biggest titles to popularize the format, and while their influence cannot be denied, as they are absolutely fantastic games, much of the focus has been on the amount of content in those worlds rather than how vivid and immersive the worlds are. Considering Skyrim came out about fifteen years ago, it is safe to expect that Bethesda will probably innovate a lot too The Elder Scrolls 6 and deliver something astounding, given the pretty stiff competition from other open-world games. But for now, here are some games that manage to come out on top The Elder Scrolls series with how incredibly alive their worlds feel.

That's not to say that these games are better than all of them The Elder Scrolls titles necessarily, but they excel at creating worlds that feel dynamic. We'll be using Skyrim as the main benchmark because it's the newest and arguably most technologically advanced title in the series.

Honorable Mention: Cyberpunk 2077

An honorable mention is awarded Cyberpunk 2077. There's no doubt that the game has come a long way since its release and is easily one of the best, most atmospheric open-world RPGs to date. That said, a lot of Night City still feels a little stagnant at times, and there are large areas that could have been given a little more love to make the city really feel crowded and alive.

It's nice to see NPCs with unique looks and walking styles, but so much of it can't be interacted with in any meaningful way, nor does it change much as the story progresses, so it loses a bit in that regard. Where it excels is in telling excellent, deep stories and creating wonderful environments.

Gothic 2

You can't be everyone's bestie, and the world lets you know it

In most of them The Elder Scrolls game you can join factions in a fairly unlimited way. There are some choices you have to make, of course, such as either choosing the Imperial Legion or the Stormcloaks, or just choosing one of the three great houses found in Morrowind. Other than that, it's a free world, unlike Gothic 2where simply wearing the wrong type of armor can make certain characters hostile, and your credibility and standing as a character actually matters.

Characters will react to you based on how they perceive you and based on the type of clothing you are wearing. Although this happens a little in Skyrimwith guards commenting on what kind of armor you're wearing or what weapon you're carrying, it's dialed up to 200% Gothic 2 and have more tangible game consequences. It really shows that a lot of thought was put into the game.

The world and combat is also quite challenging, and you have to be ready and approach it with a strategic mind to memorize attack patterns before you encounter challenging, even something as small as a wolf. It's a far cry from the comparatively relaxed combat The Elder Scrolls game, but high difficulty melee i Skyrim is definitely not easy either.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Learn the zone or it will plague you

Skill progression i The Elder Scrolls games will eventually make many of them feel like a cakewalk, unless you play on very hard difficulty and with mods. Leveling up gives you points that significantly perk you up, which is something completely absent STALKER 2.

The developers were very committed to making the gritty survival of the Zone feel rewarding and immersive in the sense that you as the player have to teach yourself how to become a better survivor rather than relying on buffs granted through XP. There's an ever-present, terrifying atmosphere as you fight for resources against the very world built to be hostile and look down on you. Not only that, the NPCs and creatures, despite all the swagger the franchise is known for, also feel very dynamic. You can join two factions fighting each other or see mutated creatures roaming the wilderness hunting.

An important game feature that further enhances how alive the world feels is the reputation system. As long as you're in a group's good graces, you can find shelter with them, but if not, they'll turn hostile the moment they see you. Conversely, i Skyrimyou can join the Imperial Legion and still enter Windhelm fairly freely. It is only when you start progressing with the mission that you will really take on the other side of the war

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Decisions have tangible consequences that are reflected in the world

One of the biggest critics of The Elder Scrolls game is that your decisions rarely have a big impact on the world and its characters. Fallout 3 and 4 made this a bit better, but outside of the Bethesda games, The Witcher 3 probably did it best.

Your choices during missions as Geralt would come back to haunt you for better or for worse down the line, to the point where you might even regret it or second guess yourself. It's a world where finding the right path isn't always obvious, and choosing one way will almost always hurt someone else or even decide the outcome of wars and other major conflicts between factions. These choices carry over from region to region, and you'll see them affect the characters, monsters, and villages around you. Sometimes it feels almost impossible to predict which choices are important.

For example, an interaction with Ciri that leads to a snowball fight is more important to her ideal ending than one might imagine. This is the kind of do-or-die choice that you simply don't find in a game like Skyrimand can cause you to permanently lose or have characters' fates sealed long before you even knew what was going on. This even extends to the characters you end up romancing, with pretty funny consequences if you end up trying to date both Yennefer and Triss at the same time.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

Henry Better be on your best behavior

It's a pity Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 did no better at The Game Awards, as much of the game could be considered almost a medieval simulation. Henry's life is dictated by many things: cleanliness, clothing… even his ability to read, or his scholarship skills. If you're a smelly, badly dressed, drunken gentleman behaving badly in the middle of the village, you better believe that people will notice and comment on it, unlike in The Elder Scrolls titles, where you basically never have to bathe. At most NPCs can comment on it, but you can't whine back and lose reputation.

But here, forget about trying to persuade someone if you are dirty. Your bad behavior and reactions, especially when you respond to people for calling you a smelly pig, will also affect your overall reputation, so it's actually in your best interest to behave well if you don't want to piss off half the world's people. It's a nice change where no one will accept you because you're a powerful chosen one, because you're not. You are only a small part of the world, inhabitants of it and everyone in it Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will surely remind you of it. Oh, if only you could tell the guards at Whiterun to screw up after they ask if you've lost your sweetroll!

Red Dead Redemption 2

The world lives on, with or without Arthur

It is for good reason that so many praise Red Dead Redemption 2 for its immersion. As Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2it has the magical power to make you feel like a drop in the bucket in the world, instead of a god-like being interacting with it as your playground. The NPCs have real lives and real reactions when you approach them. They will remember your actions, and your gang will even comment if you just shaved. Shopkeepers get annoyed with you if you circle behind the counter.

There are so many other insanely small but awesome details in the game that you might even miss if you blink. In restaurants, food doesn't just disappear or stay on plates, but will gradually be consumed by the NPCs eating there. Your horse will tire if you keep pushing it for a while. Dead bodies will decay as time goes by instead of just disappearing into the ether. Even animals in the wild do their routines, with cats chasing rats and eagles swooping down to snatch snakes.

The world isn't just a set piece where characters go through animations and movements, but it's actually fully alive, and Arthur's behavior has consequences, hence the Honor system. This isn't just taste either, as both low and high honor have their unique endings. Overall, it's a game that very few open-world titles are likely to ever be able to surpass in terms of immersion and technology, but one can hope that The Elder Scrolls 6 takes a page out of his book.