Best Open World Games with Deep Lore

One of the best aspects of open world games is the ways they allow players to explore fantastical worlds full of unique history, culture, and customs.

Lore told by NPCs, narrators, or even simple books and audio logs help immerse players into the game's worlds and better connect with characters.

That's not to say every open world game is focused on creating new, unique lore, as some are purely focused on recreating aspects of the modern world or just being a space for players to cause chaos within, such as Saints Row IV.

However, there's a good number of open world games full of deep lore in virtually every corner of their worlds that are critical to the games' main plot or serve as interesting background information.

10 Halo Infinite

Zeta Halo's Storied History

For Halo's first proper attempt at an open world game, 343 Industries packed Halo Infinite with a ton of deep lore both in its campaign and multiplayer.

Zeta Halo itself is full of deep connections to the galaxy's history with ancient humanity, the Forerunners, and the Flood, with Installation 07 being a temporary home to humanity post Human-Forerunner War before being used as a weapon by the Primordial and a rogue Mendicant Bias.

Aside from the lore dating back to before and immediately after the firing of the Halo Array, Zeta Halo is home to a plethora of information surrounding the Banished, particularly the Jiralhanae, and the UNSC in the midst of the Created Conflict.

One set of audio logs recorded by Banished War Chief Escharum is especially enlightening as it's one of the few and final first-hand accounts of the Brute homeworld Doisac, which has remained relatively enigmatic despite the Brutes' major roles in Halo games.

9 Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

The Na'vi Clans of Pandora

James Cameron's Avatar films are some of the highest grossing movies of all time, but the three films primarily focus on only two of Pandora's tribes: the forest-dwelling Omatikaya and the ocean-dwelling Metkayina.

Other tribes are briefly shown in the three Avatar films released so far, but the history and culture of Pandora's other tribes and clans are explored to a far greater degree in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

Here, players will be able to learn about many Na'vi tribes, including the player-character's own Sarentu, which were once traveling storytellers, the artistic Aranahe, the reserved herbalist Kame'tire, and the nomadic Zeswa.

During the player's travels of Pandora's Western Frontier and interaction with the clans in order to grow a proper rebellion against the RDA, Frontiers' showcases just how rich with life and stories Pandora truly is.

8 Horizon Forbidden West

Ruins and Tribes of a Post-Apocalyptic World

The Horizon series, by its very nature, is full of intrigue as it's set in a world full of gigantic, animalistic machines with tribal humans struggling to survive in wild, ruin-filled landscapes.

Horizon Zero Dawn in itself is full of unique lore with the revelation of Aloy's parentage, the truth of Project Zero Dawn, and the origins of the Eclipse cultists, but I'd argue that Horizon Forbidden West is full of deeper lore than its predecessor.

Members of all of Horizon Zero Dawn's tribes return in Forbidden West, but the game introduces a bunch of others full of their own rich history and customs, including the Utaru, Tenakth, and Quen, as well as the alien Far Zenith, whose members themselves feature complicated backstories.

A lot of information about Forbidden West's post-apocalyptic western United States is explored through the main questline, but there's a treasure trove of information regarding the tribes and the fall of humanity hidden throughout ruins and tribal homelands.

7 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

A Dive Into Lord of the Rings' Greater Mythos

J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings book series is one of the greatest literary stories of all time. Over the years, the world of Middle-earth has been adapted into several films, shows, and video games, but none have come close to delving into Tolkien's greater mythology than Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

Set in between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, Shadow of Mordor follows the Gondorian Ranger Talion as he sets out to kill three Black Numenoreans with help from an Elf wraith, Celebrimbor, to avenge both of their families.

For many LOTR film fans, Shadow of Mordor may have been their first deep dive into LOTR lore set before The Hobbit, as Shadow focuses much of its story on Celebrimbor's past as the forger of the Rings of Power and his manipulation by Sauron.

Beyond Celebrimbor's story, Shadow sheds additional light on the history and culture of the Orcs as well as other groups of men, such as the tribal people who inhabit the Nurn region.

6 Assassin's Creed Valhalla

The Viking and Isu Ages

The Assassin's Creed series is full of both its own original fictional lore but also the real-life history of dozens of civilizations spanning from Ancient Greece to Russia's October Revolution. But arguably, the AC game filled with the deepest lore is Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

Set during the Viking invasion of the British Isles during the late ninth century, Valhalla follows the raider Eivor Varinsdottir as they struggle to get a foothold in England and inevitably get caught up in the conflict between the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients.

During Eivor's travels across Western Europe, players are able to learn a ton about early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms as well as Gaelic and Pagan cultures, but the game additionally delves deep into Norse mythology with an AC twist.

Similar to how gods are portrayed in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Valhalla depicts Norse gods as not just mythical deities but as members of the fictional advanced race known as the Isu, whose actions and technology spark most past and modern events in the series.

5 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Geralt's Fantastical Adventure

With a world as rich in Slavic mythology and medieval cultures as Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher book series, it was inevitable that a developer would adapt Geralt's adventures into similarly rich open world video games, with the best being The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Wild Hunt's recreation of The Witcher's Continent is absolutely full of life and history to discover during Geralt's travels, so much so that it can be easy to miss certain side quests, contracts, or informative letters and books.

While Wild Hunt's main questline delves into the Continent's history and the cultures of those within, its side quests explore fascinating tales beyond the threat of the Wild Hunt, such as one about a troll, a godling, a doppler, and a werewolf uniting to stand-up against humans.

This wide variety of side quests and contracts not only helps immerse players into the world of The Witcher, but also makes Wild Hunt have a ton of replay value, as there's always something new to learn about in every playthrough.

4 NieR: Automata

A Robot-Ruled World

Sometimes the best games to feature deep lore are those with heavily complex stories and worlds, with a perfect example being PlatinumGames' NieR: Automata.

For players unfamiliar with the Drakengard series or prior NieR titles, Automata's world may be a bit overwhelming or mysterious at first, especially due to it being set about 10,000 years in the future on an Earth completely inhabited by androids and robots.

However, as players explore this post-apocalyptic Earth during combat androids 2B and 9S' journey, they can discover the enigmatic past of this world and the numerous robotic societies that inhabit the planet.

For example, players can discover how, over 250 years ago, a group of robots united to found the Forest Kingdom to live in harmony and defend the forest with a band of Royal Knights only for the kingdom to fall apart due to their inability to figure out how to make robots grow.

Tamriel's Rich Northern Province

One of the best and most popular open world games filled with countless hours of side quests and lore to discover is, without a doubt, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Players can spend literal weeks exploring every inch of Skyrim's medieval castles, cities, villages, and ruins and still not learn everything this land has to offer.

Every person and every place in Skyrim has rich stories to tell, from The Companions' history with lycanthropy to the many archaeologists' attempts to explore the dangerous, robot-filled Dwarven ruins hidden underground.

On top of interacting with Skyrim's citizens and spirits, players can additionally learn a lot about the history of Skyrim and Tamriel overall by reading hundreds of books and journals found throughout the province, such as The Book of the Dragonborn and A Dance in Fire.

2 Elden Ring

The Lands Between

FromSoftware is famous for creating games with complex stories that often require players to delve into item descriptions to learn about characters' past and the past of the lands they live in, and Elden Ring is no different.

Pretty much every character and item in Elden Ring has a deep backstory that will only be told to those who go looking for it, from the mysterious past of the spectral steed Torrent to the cursed life of Messmer the Impaler.

As the first true open world Soulsborne, players are able to fully explore the Lands Between more freely than ever before in Elden Ring, allowing more players to easily discover its hidden lore and become enthralled in its story without having to watch VaatiVidya videos.

Sure, players can still get a blast at just beating Elden Ring's tough bosses, but the game is especially elevated if gamers take the time to read item descriptions, analyze environments, and connect dots to truly comprehend the Lands Between.

1 Fallout: New Vegas

The Legacy of War

The Fallout series is famous for its unique worldbuilding in a nuclear, post-apocalyptic, 1950s Americana aesthetic-driven world, and while most entries in the series are overflowing with intriguing deep lore, Fallout: New Vegas has the best stories in the franchise.

In a way, this is due to New Vegas being built on franchise creator Black Isle Studios' original concepts for their Fallout 3 before the game was canceled, and the Fallout IP was purchased by Bethesda.

Luckily, many of Black Isle's employees migrated to Obsidian Entertainment, and they managed to effectively make New Vegas the true spiritual successor to the original Fallout 1 and 2.

This can be seen throughout the game, with the New California Republic being a result of The Vault Dweller's heroic actions in Fallout 1, Super Mutants being scrambled remnants of The Master's army, and Enclave remnants being survivors of The Chosen One's defeat of the faction, showing how the legacy of war persists for decades.