Open-world games and elaborate stories practically go hand in hand, as trying to tell an epic story over the course of a 20+ hour playthrough demands a level of complexity that is rarely seen in other genres. The game needs to pull players in, misdirect them, make them ask questions, and then guide them to a satisfying conclusion, which often means that the narrative takes a slightly different shape or alternative route.
Some games opt for a more abstract approach that allows their story to be told through the world and the player's personal journey, while others focus more on offering branching paths that build a layered narrative over time. No matter the setting or focus, these games demonstrate a level of storytelling skill and ambition that allows them to stand alongside greater works of fiction even outside the gaming space.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
A World Shaped By Choice
The Witcher 3 represents a monumental achievement in both game design and storytelling, taking players on a journey that doesn't just follow a strict path but evolves with them. Geralt’s journey unfolds across a war-torn continent alive with political tensions and supernatural threats, with each choice made bending the world in unexpected ways.
Characters change over time, entire factions shift allegiances, and new opportunities become available or blocked off depending on the player's actions, creating a sense of complexity through the sheer range of potential outcomes. The main plot is not just a single thread, and is instead a web comprised of separate paths that all weave together to create a cohesive whole that is ever-changing and in constant motion.
Elden Ring
No Clear Paths To The Truth
Elden Ring blows up the FromSoftware approach of obscure environmental storytelling to a much larger scale, sending players on a grander journey with even less direction than in previous Soulsborne games. There are no quest markers or long stretches of dialogue to follow, just hints in the world of a story that ties everything together.
What makes this storytelling method so interesting is how it brings the game's community together. Players spend dozens of hours trying to decrypt item descriptions, symbols, environmental details, and all kinds of other potentially crucial aspects of the world to hopefully bring everything together and tell the story themselves rather than being told it directly.
Fallout: New Vegas
Dilemma After Dilemma
Fallout: New Vegas elevates traditional RPG storytelling by presenting a world defined by broader philosophical decisions rather than single individuals. The world is at a crossroads between rival gangs, factions, and a war on democracy itself, forcing players to carefully navigate every social interaction with the knowledge that each decision has the potential to make waves throughout the entire civilization.
Where the story really steps things up is with how ambiguous the morality of its choices is. There are no purely right or wrong answers, only allegiances to one group or another, so players need to think long and hard about who they are siding with. Their choices can have vastly different outcomes across each playthrough, even when they think they have seen it all.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Strategy That Feeds Into Story
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain takes the open-world concept and turns it into a tactical playground where players need to infiltrate and improvise every step of the way. Players will discover very quickly that every mission has an impact on the battlefield. Enemy and allied forces adapt to changes in the world, which means that encounters remain engaging far into the main story.
Furthermore, the gameoften uses a more fragmented storytelling approach, allowing revelations and truths to be discovered in a less force-fed way through recordings and the environment. It always stays close to its themes of war and loss, interweaving moments of clarity with obscurity, which forces players to interpret the story's meanings to fully understand the plot.
Cyberpunk 2077
Finding Humanity In The Noise Of Neon
Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City is a colorful, technological melting pot that fuses civilization with the future in every way imaginable. The narrative explores all facets of the cultural ladder, taking players on a journey through struggling slums and all the way to the top of the corporate landscape.
In terms of story complexity, Cyberpunk 2077 merges intimate character drama with larger existential questions about identity and autonomy, allowing for more personal stories, no matter how small, to feel deeply important in framing the major arcs throughout the central plot. The story of V and Johnny Silverhand is just one aspect, as players will encounter struggling nomads, corporate whistleblowers, and even a mayoral candidate, all of whom are desperate to survive in a harsh future that glows with opportunity but rarely delivers on it.
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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
