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Published Mar 17, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT
Elena Chapella (She/Her) is a current Writer for DualShockers, formerly an award-winning journalist for local news stations and newspapers in central Indiana.
Elena is passionate about writing, playing Dungeons & Dragons with her friends, and, of course, playing video games.
When she's not writing, Elena is actually a high school teacher by day. She teaches students essential life skills for adulthood, including job readiness, financial literacy, and college preparation.
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Fantasy open world RPGs are perhaps some of the most popular games on the market, drawing all kinds of players from all across the world for them to dive into a completely new one instead. Genuinely, good luck finding a game that doesn't at least dip its toe into these vibes; video games are abundant with this content.
So, if you're a fan of these kinds of games, the best news for you is that you have a wide variety of options. Whether you're new to the genre, or really just want to dive through iconic titles, there are several games you can choose from, all of them being fantastic.
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10 Best Open World Games, Ranked by Worldbuilding
If an open world game doesn't have a rich world, it's not worth playing.
Even if you aren't a fan of open world games, you can't deny the popularity of the genre, especially when it comes to fantasy and RPGs being added into the mix, making a genre hybrid that's as addictive as it is just outright fun.
But if you are one of the many that love fantasy open world RPGS, rest assured that you have a plethora of options that you can sample.
10 Dragon Age: Inquisition
Adventure Awaits
We're starting off with an open world game that's technically semi-open world instead — Dragon Age: Inquisition — with several large maps that span multiple regions, connecting together into a map that surely feels open. Players are given the freedom to run around and explore as if this map was a fully open world, with a formula meant to keep players contained to their adventures.
Dragon Age has always been a high fantasy RPG, with all four games in the series allowing players to fully immerse themselves in a rich world full of magic and wonder. Each game has hundreds of hours of content, of pure exploration and adventure while you make your way through Thedas.
However, Thedas (the southern continent that Inquisition takes place on) is dealing with a lot of civil unrest, unrest that you're supposed to simmer down and help repair. With the help of various characters you can add to your party, you can save the country and put the citizens at ease.
Just don't be afraid to look up all the terms and names that you're going to hear if you need a refresher. This is a world that you're immediately just thrown into, meaning it's up to you to keep track of everything.
9 Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon
King Arthur Save Us
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon
Everyone has heard of the Legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, but Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon tells that same story a little differently. Instead of focusing on all that was done during King Arthur's reign, this game focuses on the legacy that he's left behind — in your hands.
If you love The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (or more accurately to this game, Oblivion Remastered), you're going to love Tainted Grail, as it's clearly a passion project with love oozing from every corner of the map. The only difference is the combat is much more intuitive and challenging, more akin to Soulslike games rather than the straightforward combat that you're used to in The Elder Scrolls games. The game has been called an "Oblivion Rip-off," by non-observant players, but it's genuinely just a love letter to the genre and the games that defined it.
The customization possibilities in this game are endless, with countless different builds that players of all kinds will love. If you want to go in loudly, you can, if you want to go in quiet, you can — if you want to go in with wild cards and a dream, you can do that too. If anything, all these builds and branching pathways give you tons of replayability.
If you truly love fantasy RPGs, you're going to be thrilled with this open world, one that checks all the boxes for what players crave.
8 Baldur's Gate 3
So Much to Explore and Uncover
When it comes to high fantasy RPGs, you can't get any more infamous than Dungeons & Dragons — which is exactly why Baldur's Gate 3 ended up doing so well. Not only did it adapt the iconic tabletop into a video game, but it incorporated so many different pathways that you're able to take, no matter how wacky it may seem. The only thing missing is that genuine creativity that comes from improvising, but Baldur's Gate 3 does an amazing job at having a variety of options for most choices.
In Baldur's Gate 3, you have the option to choose between several different races, classes, and even subclasses, which you can continue to customize with all the various builds that are able to create for your Tav (or The Dark Urge if that's who you'd rather play as).
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Enjoy roleplaying your protagonist? These open world games will scratch that itch.
The replayability of this game is outright insane, with countless angles and pathways to make your next playthrough dramatically different from your first. Even if you do something as simple as changing your spell loadout, the entire gaming experience shifts, and it feels like you're playing it brand new for the first time again. Not to mention, with the addition of mods on both PC and console, the possibilities just keep growing (and getting infinitely funnier with each cup size that increases for Withers).
It's perhaps one of the best games to get into fantasy open world RPGs, and the open world isn't even as staggering in comparison to the rest on the list.
7 Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
A Literally Legendary RPG
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
When you look at Mass Effect, you wouldn't really think about the fantasy elements that exist in-game, paying attention to the overwhelming sci-fi that's seeped into every little aspect of the game. That being said, sci-fi fantasy is often a combined genre, with the creative, fantastical elements of sci-fi making the game feel more like a fantasy, just in space. With Bioware's worldbuilding, the game ended up being sci-fi, but with a fantasy heart and soul, invoking the same sense of wonder and awe as riding up to a castle of gold.
The Mass Effect Legendary Edition is, without a doubt, the best way to soak in these games, with all the different bugs and errors smoothed over and with updated graphics, the only drawback is that you don't have a multiplayer option (at least not yet).
You play as Commander Shepard, in charge of your ship, The Normandy, and all the crew inside. The characters, all various aliens (with a handful of humans), end up joining you in your fight to save the galaxy once The Reaper Invasion begins, mirroring how different fantasy races join your party on whatever quest you're set off on.
It's all the greatest parts of open world RPGs, just with a sci-fi touch to the fantasy rather than coming from the Middle Ages.
6 Cyberpunk 2077
Absolutely Fantastical
Similarly to Mass Effect, the sci-fi elements in Cyberpunk 2077 end up feeling more fantastical, especially once you start to get into your character's build (which mostly consists of whatever cybernetic implants you challenge yourself with). This only goes way more into the fantasy route with the entire plotline surrounding Johnny Silverhand — the Save Your Soul program may just be code at Mikoshi, but it's so hard to wrap your head around, it might as well be magic.
The DLC, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, pushed that sci-fi magic a lot further with how the espionage is conducted. You can completely change your face to pretend to be someone else, all the way down to your voice — so, with the power of technology, you can shapeshift like you're a changeling.
Not to mention, when you start the game, you have three main backgrounds that you're able to choose from, with each having their own distinct quests, introductions, and dialogue options for roleplay. Even the way you meet and know Jackie is different.
If you had a sour taste in your mouth from when this game first dropped, I'm telling you right now that it's gotten significantly better since, and it's well-worth playing today.
5 Elden Ring
Lore by George R.R. Martin
If you like open world games to have a bit of a challenge, then you'll likely have a good time with Souls games, with Elden Ring being one of the most accessible (and most played). While other Souls games had their own unique storylines that took a team to develop, Elden Ring's lore was written by George R. R. Martin, the author of Game of Thrones.
Immediately, this should give you an idea of what to expect before diving in. But when you dive in, you're in for significant hardship, but a significant amount of fun at the same time. That is, if you're a masochist.
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Sometimes all players want is to explore without fighting and these games offer that exact experience.
The lore runs deep, hidden in every little document and crack in the map, and it's something that players will consistently eat up with each new discovery. It doesn't matter what your build is (since you can do tons), you're going to be in this world for a while, with so much more to soak in and enjoy.
Do a mage build if you want combat to end up being trivial, since you can blast spell after spell from a distance. The only area that you'll struggle with this is Raya Lucaria Academy, but it's a magic school, so that should be a given. Thankfully, though, you aren't required to fight every enemy, so you can just run past them in the worst case.
4 Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Improved from the First in Every Way
If you want to play a fantasy open world RPG that is absolutely teeming to the brim with realism, your best bet is to play Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Not only is the world lived-in and wholly alive, but it's got all the staples of a good fantasy open world RPG that we know and love, completely improving upon them from the first game.
Basically, it's a Medieval Europe simulator, with a first-person perspective to really drive home the immersion that developers were trying to achieve for players. There is so much to do (and so many different kinds of quests, nothing will feel repetitive or boring) and even more to discover, even complete with a romance that you can cultivate if you so choose.
This is the kind of RPG that fans have been craving like candy, and it's being eaten up as if it's far tastier. Not to mention, it just looks absolutely beautiful in every possible way.
This is the kind of open world fantasy game that seems generic and like everything else you've played so far, but once you actually dive into it, you'll learn that's so far from the case. In fact, it's quite the opposite, with one of the richest stories and some of the most alive characters that you'll come across in any RPG.
3 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
A Fully Fleshed World Brought to Life
The worldbuilding in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is so masterfully crafted that opening up the game genuinely feels like you're travelling somewhere else, and the funny thing is, it's not even entirely CD Projekt Red's doing, since the books that these games were based on were written by Andrzej Sapkowski.
In The Witcher 3, you play as Geralt, a monster hunter (called Witchers), trying to find Ciri, your adoptive daughter. You're given a couple cutscenes and some dialogue as your foundation, and that's literally it — from there, you're thrown blindly into the world, and it's up to you where you go from there.
The RPG side of things is a lot more action-centric, especially with all the various monsters and humans that you'll have to fight on your journey. You have the entire open world at your disposal, but if you want to stay inside a tavern and just play Gwent until you're half-asleep, that's also totally fine too.
If anything, this makes us all the more excited for when we finally get to play as Ciri in The Witcher 4, and what possibilities would be at our disposal with her.
2 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Completely Encapsulates Adventure
The Legend of Zelda was, is, and remains one of the primary examples of fantasy worlds in video games, even when Breath of the Wild is one of the only official open world titles (even though the first game is technically open world, as are other entries in the franchise like Wind Waker). Even though it's not really an RPG, there are enough RPG elements to scratch the itch, especially with how wonderfully the fantasy open world is even done.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild encourages you to explore and soak up the adventure along the way, giving you multiple different pathways that you can take, but the story still feels organic, no matter what order you play it in.
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Cozy games don't always have to be indie titles — in fact, these AAA games are the equivalent of a warm blanket on a cold winter's day.
Not to mention, the world is just outright beautiful and cozy in every single way. The game encourages you to explore, yes, but it also encourages you to take things slow, to relax and find peace in a kingdom without any.
You wouldn't think that you'd like Breath of the Wild if you're a die-hard RPG fan, but trust me when I tell you, it's going to suck you in and lock you there, and you're going to love every single second.
Or Any Elder Scrolls Game, Honestly
What hasn't been said about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim at this point? Skyrim is basically the fantasy open world RPG in gaming, with Bethesda setting the blueprint that so many other games have followed since. You play as The Dragonborn, a descendant of dragons, having to guide the kingdom of Skyrim from its own civil unrest, while also protecting it from malicious dragons making a reappearance after centuries.
The world of Skyrim is unlike anything you've ever played before or since, with a warmth and richness that simply cannot be replicated in other open world fantasy RPGs. It's lived in and alive, completely immersing you every chance it gets — you could turn on the game to unwind after work, and the next thing you know, the sun is rising, and you don't even feel a hint of exhaustion.
Not to mention, there are so many different ways that you can build your Dragonborn, allowing for all kinds of replayability — this isn't even considering the sheer quantity of quests that you get through, because you've got your work genuinely cut out for you. Yet, this is going to be work that you love every single minute.
It's without a shadow of a doubt that Skyrim is the best game for fantasy open world RPG enthusiasts, and we'll most likely continue to play it until the end of time.
NEXT
At the End of the Day, There's Still Skyrim
Despite being bleak and cold, Skyrim has a warmth unlike any other world in gaming.
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