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With so many RPGs to explore, it’s difficult to consider which ones have the best world-building; games that take painstaking effort to flesh out the history of their fictional worlds. These RPGs are sure to keep a player entertained while learning more about the places in which they currently find themselves immersed.
10 Diablo
With a total of four games to its belt and more on the way, Diablo has had a long time to build the world players find themselves in. As the name suggests, Diablo tells almost a biblical story of the war between heaven and hell as the player must protect the innocent townsfolk from the onslaught of demons that have been released.
The franchise has gone on to not only have games but also its own novels and comics that expand on the stories told within this hack-and-slash RPG. Diablo goes as far as having even its own sourcebooks, so players may learn more about the world they fight within.
9 Borderlands
Like the intro of every single Borderlands game, they hope to tell a story about the tale of a vault hunter looking for exactly that. The second game relies heavily on the first one, as the ending of that one is the main issue throughout the second.
Reoccurring characters throughout the franchise help link them all together, as well as the drips of information about the world of Pandora the player is fed throughout playing. This can be incredibly fulfilling for gamers that see characters they once played have their own lives outside what they have experienced for themselves.
8 Fallout
Set in the nuclear fallout after the total atomic annihilation of America, Fallout is an interesting experience of a world that many players hope they may never experience for themselves. Each game focuses on a different part of America and how it has survived since the nuclear bombs, allowing players to visit well-known monuments and see how they have been reused to help society.
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What’s more fascinating than this is players learning more about the experiments of the company Vault-Tec. They may have been creating shelters for people during the bombs but were actually experimenting on these people, experiments that clearly went very wrong.
7 Vampire: The Masquerade
Originally a tabletop game that published its first edition in 1991, Vampire: The Masquerade has had plenty of years to build up its lore and the mysterious world it has created in the dark of high-end cities.
Due to its popularity, the franchise has had plenty of successful video games that hoped to expand and visually explore what it means to be a vampire abiding by the masquerade. RPGs like Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines are not only cult classics of RPGs but also a great way to be introduced to the franchise.
6 Baldur’s Gate
As an RPG based on the tabletop Dungeons and Dragons: Forgotten Realm campaign setting, Baldur’s Gate is another title that takes the information given from a simple pen and paper game and expands it into a digital world for players to explore.
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With the game being recently remastered, Baldur’s Gate has seen a resurgence in its interest for players and the lore surrounding it. Those that are fans of the Dungeons and Dragons campaign may spot some familiar names of both players and characters.
5 Mass Effect
The release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition saw all three of the titles that involved the story of the much-loved protagonist Shepard remastered with better graphics. Unlike other RPGs, Mass Effect relies heavily on the choices of the player for its world-building.
Choices that players made in the first Mass Effect can have repercussions in Mass Effect 2 and so on. This makes multiple playthroughs more enjoyable and also created an ever-expanding and interesting story in one of the best sci-fi RPGs released.
4 Fable
Fable takes world-building to the next step during their three-title franchise that shows the literal progression of the nation called Albion that the player finds themselves exploring. This shows the historical advancement of society in Fable similar to actual history, which makes playing Fable over and over again so intriguing.
In the first game, Albion is a nation of small city-states with large amounts of countryside between them. When players revisit Albion in Fable 2, it takes place 500 years after the events of the first one. Now Albion has even larger cities as well as the ushering in of new sorts of sciences that push back at the religious beliefs of old. This is continued in the final game as the player is making history for the world throughout.
3 The Elder Scrolls
The lands of Tamriel, where all The Elder Scrolls games are set are filled with history. Players have explored different periods of time across different countries and helped to stop the dangers that the people have faced countless times.
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But it isn’t just about defeating Daedra or exploring another dungeon, as all the Elder Scrolls’ lore can be found directly in their games. Especially Skyrim, which allows players to sit down in a cozy tavern with a warm mug of mead and a six-paged book that gives a sneak peek into the lore.
2 The Witcher
Sequels to the book series by the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher game series follows the journey of the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia. With plenty of source material to work from, The Witcher has been overall a successful franchise that has sold millions.
Besides allowing fans of the books to explore the world of The Continent, the wide variety of horrific monsters this slayer of beasts can face implements well with the lands. Some monsters are more common in some places than others, and as the player challenges themselves to face them, they can learn better ways to fight them.
1 Dragon Age
Similar to the freedom of choice in Mass Effect, Dragon Age allows the player to put themselves in the shoes of the hero as they attempt to protect Thedas from the dangers such as the Darkspawn and the brewing conflicts between the mages and the Templar Order.
The outcomes of each of the games can make a difference regarding how the next game plays, as well as the overlapping of fan-favorite characters from each title. Overall, Dragon Age has a vast world of history, with many areas still untouched by the games that many fans hope to explore in the future.
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