Almost perfect Frogotten Open-World RPGs from a decade ago

When it comes to high-profile open-world RPGs that are still talked about today, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Fallout: New Vegas must be at the top of the list. They helped make open-world RPGs a thing thanks to their world designs, quests, battles, and leveling systems. Moreover, they are readily available today.

Dragon Quest Builders and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning are two games that also deserve to be in the conversation, even if they were flawed at launch in some way. Let's go over why these two games, and four others, are worth checking out today. Most are playable on modern systems except one, so let's get into it.

3D Dot Game Heroes

Pixelated Hyrule

3D Dot Game Heroes was released for the PS3 in 2010, and unfortunately it has remained there. It was developed by a relatively small company, Silicon Studio, whose biggest work includes the first two Bravely Default game. Development aside, 3D Dot Game Heroes was made both as an homage and a parody of The Legend of Zelda on the NES.

The world was built in a top-down perspective, but all characters and scenes were made from 3D voxels. It made the world look distinct before Square Enix started making their HD-2D games. Players could travel around 3D Dot Game Heroes fight monsters, go on quests, dive into dungeons and more, which was more than challenging for a game at the time. What made it easier was the player's sword, which could engulf the entire screen at full health, and easily the biggest feature this quirky little PS3 gem is remembered for by a die-hard community.

Dragon's Dogma

A dark soul by any other name

Dragon's Dogma was released in 2012 for the PS3 and Xbox 360, and while it's not exactly a Soulslike game, it essentially tried to chase that audience. The difficulty of this open world game from Capcom was intense, and to get anywhere players really had to grind. Even a bunch of trolls can prove fatal, but there were many positives as well. Players could create their own character, along with a farmer to assign a class to from several, all of which evolved.

For example, a Mage can become a Magick Archer, giving the character both physical and magical properties. Fighting the large boss-like monsters, from chimeras to large snakes, was also engaging as players could take on them, similar to the boss battles in Shadow of the Colossus. The game was overshadowed when Capcom launched an extended version, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisesa year later, which is what future ports and remasters are based on. While it's essentially the same game, there are some players out there who remember the struggle for the original build of Dragon's Dogma nowadays.

Dragon Quest Builders

A what-if spinoff

Dragon Quest Builders was an interesting spinoff, released as part of Dragon Quest franchise's 30th anniversary in 2016 for PS3, PS4 and PS Vita. As a minor spoiler, at the end of the original Famicom game, players could choose to side with the Dragonlord, the main antagonist, which would lead to a bad ending. This game picks up where the bad ending would leave off, essentially leading to an apocalypse. Now, as a new hero, players can take their magical skills and attempt to rebuild each region one block at a time.

Visually, the game looks nothing Minecraftbut it certainly plays like it, from how the blocks break to how players can create. It's a full-fledged action RPG that essentially delivers Minecraft formula more of a point, but the downside is that players have to start at level one every time they move to a new region. This, and many other problems, were fixed in the sequel, which is still an underrated game, but next to this original, it might as well be The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim in terms of recognition. Dragon Quest Builders is at least still playable, and it even got a very late PC port in 2024.

Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning

Fight perfection

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning released in 2012 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 and later as remastered Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Accounting edition, which even added more content for systems like PS4, Switch and Xbox One. So this game definitely has the advantage of being one of the more accessible, yet forgotten, open RPGs of the past. Still, it deserves far more recognition for what it accomplished. The story wasn't the selling point as the NPCs and quests were pretty basic. The combat is what made this game a standout among open world RPGs.

Players weren't fixed to one class at first, as they could instead swap skills around to build whatever type of hero they wanted, from one focused on melee to a magic user. Melee and magic skills combine well in combat, making the battle system more similar Devil May Cry than anything in The Elder Scrolls pantheon of games. With a wide variety of weapons, from chakrams to swords, and an even better magic system, including lightning and earth magic, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is still incredibly fun to play.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel

Back from the dead!

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel was released on PC first in 2008, followed by PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2009. Despite being relatively obscure at the time, it was actually only remastered in 2025 for PS5, Switch and Xbox Series X, but that version also flew under the radar. What makes this game unique from the jump is the perspective, which is pulled back even more than 3D Dot Game Heroesbut players can also adjust it.

Players can create their character, choose a class, and then venture into this massive world. Combat and the overall structure is more akin to one Diablo game, and there's even multiplayer, so that's a bonus for anyone looking for obscure RPGs they missed from the late 2000s. The remaster is also a good reason to check out Sacred 2: Fallen Angel for the first time. Compared to some of these other open world games, it's more flawed, but it's one of those games that's just fun to jump into and have a mindless time alone or with friends.

Two worlds 2

Deeply flawed, but has a nearly perfect magic system

Two worlds 2 gets an honorable mention, even though it was even further from perfect than the rest of these games. It is one of the few examples of games released in Europe before North America in 2010, as opposed to 2011. It launched on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, and the only version playable today is on Steam.

The redeeming quality of this game is the magic system, as players can create their own spells based on rune collections. A simple fire spell could be enhanced to be a projectile instead, for example. Everything else about the game, from the world design to the hack-and-slash gameplay, was pretty basic for the era. There are still very few games with such a creative magic system, which is why Two worlds 2 gets a mention.