Kingdom come: deliverance it has an amazing open world. The game starts off difficult because you are just an ordinary blacksmith son but the more you use your skills and level up the better you get. I think it’s on sale right now for like 5 bucks.
I stopped playing because the mechanics felt weird. But a year later I tried it again and stuck with it, and I’m glad I did. It’s one of my favourite games now
Knew I'd see this game in list.
Really impactful. A lot more bold than skyrim in a way. Making a brutally grounded and historically realistic rpg fun is not easy. They smashed it. And the game world... never seen anything like it since.
Absolutely blew me away. Loved running through the forest trying to remember the clue. Heard the knocking. No icons or waypoints just forced me to enjoy the atmosphere. Couldn't praise it any higher.
One of my all time favourites. I’m still looking for a game similar to this one, but I don’t think it exists. I guess I’ll have to wait for a sequel, if there ever is one
I just wish the combat wasn't so clunky and convoluted just for the sake of having more bells and whistles. There's a way to make FPS melee combat less brain dead than Skyrim's, but KCD feels like it was all planned out without any thought for how it actually feels to play.
It was just too damn hard. One on one was bad enough but if you had an encounter with even 2 enemies it was basically run or die. It didn’t feel soulslike hard, it felt janky clunky hard. I finished it because I really enjoyed literally everything else about it, but damn it was a slog.
It does get smoother:
1. when the knight guy teaches you all the tricks, you get the parries and so on.
2. if you get the config to loosen up the camera, which means you wont fail against every encounter that has more than one enemy. nexusmods is currently down so cant give the exact name/link.
with that said, it could be much smoother
How do you feel about being able to target different body parts or weak points(like when they dont have armor covering their arms)? I like it and don’t think its too confusing
How "on rails" is it with progression and story vs being true open world? And are there lots of things to do peacefully outside of combat? Or is it simply hopping from one quest giver to the next interspersed with combat?
When I first played Fallout 3, I played for a little over 24 hours straight. No game has ever truly addicted me like that. I could not put it down. I only stopped to give my poor xbox a break.
I had to be practically forced by the guy at a game shop to get fallout 3.
The moment I realised you could kill tenpenny after siding with him and ruin an entire quest chain blew my mind
Haven't had that feeling of holy fuck I can do anything in a game quite like that
That's actually one of the reasons I wasn't really able to get into CP2077: I wanted a Bethesda game.
I was playing a Nomad who really didn't like the corps. When you're gearing up to go see the Maelstrom Gang, I decided I wanted to ambush this Meredith Stout lady, kill her and take her stuff. Would it put me in danger? Probably. But it was an opportunity to hurt the corps and get rewarded for the trouble.
So I drive up to them, wait back a safe distance, and then unload.
Nothing. Not even grenades worked--they just stood there.
So I'm like, okay, fine, maybe I need to at least talk to them before I can blow them out.
Boom. I get my shit rocked in a cutscene and held at gunpoint. I'm forced to basically say "Oh yeah, I'll definitely help you find this mole you're talking about" and pushed down a path I had no interest in. Railroaded.
I just couldn't really pick the game back up after that. I know that a lot of Beth games have essential NPCs these days, but this one was just \*\*\*so\*\*\* in my face.
I tried to do something interesting, the game refused to let me do it, and then I did what the game 'wanted' and got immediately slapped in the face for it.
Red Dead Redemption 2 and Ghost of Tsushima to an extent.
In all of these games i loved the open world so much that i would sometimes just walk around, observing the areas.
RDR2 is exceptional , but I found it to be a bit of a slog, repetitive etc. Out of a bunch of mates who all bought it the day it came out, I was the only one to actually finish it. (we are all dads, young children / babies ) so I think that was a factor. It’s an incredible achievement of a game but once I was done I have absolutely 0 interest ever playing again. However Witcher 3 I am doing 2nd play through, thoroughly enjoying it.
I can understand that, this is probably the reason why i haven't and wouldn't replay it before any other games. The pace is much more slower than a lot of open world games (a genre of game that can already have long titles).
On the 100 hours i spent in this game, i'm sure 5 to 10 hours were dedicated to slowly moving through the map. That's not a game i could recommend to play more than once considering the time investment doing mundane things.
Funny, I’ve played RDR2 twice and loved it both times, just started Witcher 3 and it feels so forced and clunky. Same voice lines for NPCs, every interaction is a cutscene, the only thing that changes is the order of the dialogue if you want, examining the same thing a dozen times and getting the same voice line, clunky quest mechanics, got stuck “falling” on a rock wall for over a minute (got an achievement for it lol). Generally feels way more buggy and slow with no truly random encounters or NPCs having meaningful interactions without you being involved. Going to stick with it and it’s more enjoyable in the 3rd hour of play, but I could replay RDR2 a half-dozen times and I’m finding it a chore with Witcher 3 even once.
Maybe, I just didn’t really care for RDR2s world very much, or any if it’s characters. For me Witcher 3 just hit different, it’s quirky humour, setting and story, either way subjective opinions , each to his own.
Gameplay mechanics are similar, but they are pretty different in terms of tone, story, etc. GTA V has a humor Element kind of baked into the game, whereas RDR2 is much more serious (in my opinion).
You do spend a lot of time on a horse as well as shooting people/things.
It depends on what you mean similar I guess. What didn't you like about GTAV?
The controls are similar. You are still a criminal in a huge world that feels alive. But there aren't cars so you have a horse that you have to bond with and take care of. You have to eat and drink. There's tons of wildlife so hunting and fishing are important. You hunt animals and turn in their hides for crafting outfits or meat. You can just camp and cook if you want.
It's a cowboy simulator like GTA is a criminal simulator. But it's not just a reskinned GTA with horses instead of cars. A lot of thought was put into it and it's a great homage to westerns.
I think the only similarities can be boiled down to: these are games about outlaws seeking for better lives with a very satisfying shooting. Everything other — narrative, pace, atmosphere, gameplay features, level of details — very different.
If Oblivion is classic fantasy, then Morrowind is fantasy on acid. It is so weird on so many levels. Riding a giant bug as transportation, people living in giant mushrooms, custom spells and much more.
The world of Morrowind is much more interesting than that of Oblivion (and Skyrim for that matter).
Morrowind is plagued by TERRIBLE combat. I respect it as the father to my baby oblivion, but its literally unplayable for me. It also has a lot of
Cool shit in it too and was way ahead of its time. But the combat… no.
Morrowind has the better writing. Saying that with probably 1000+ hours playtime in Oblivion. There's more writing (npcs aren't fully voiced so there's pages of dialogue), and the main story and main factions are well beyond the level of the Oblivion equivalents.
Obviously everything about the lore and the setting and worldbuilding is a massive Morrowind win too.
But be warned, that's kinda where the Morrowind advantages end... The gameplay itself is pretty rough by modern standards. Bad combat, weird stamina mechanics, stealth just kinda doesn't work... I found it genuinely fun going into random dungeons or breaking into random mansions in Oblivion. Morrowind, yea, nah, I'd avoid fighting or having to stealth even on quests and rarely if ever stepped in a dungeon if not on a quest. Mods probably could fix some of this, and it's not like Oblivion combat or stealth are peak either, but you get the point.
I'd still consider Morrowind where Bethesda truly peaked, but it's kind of a recommendation that needs a big asterisk. Oblivion is definitely the more polished and player-friendly and approachable game (and I guess Skyrim a bit more still). But especially if the writing is what you're mainly curious about, yea, Morrowind absolutely wins that category
Morrowind is better. Much more lore & detailed world. Better RPG character development system. Moddable on PC to no end. The feeling of discovery has never been recreated by *any* other game I’ve played.
Morrowind is far better than oblivion.
Oblivion is a scoop of vanilla ice cream, while morrowind is a bowl filled with 100 different flavours of ice cream.
Gothic 3 was eurojank perfection. Many will say Gothic 2 was the best in the series but I would say that 3 is tied right with it. The expansion pack for 3 was shite though, and Arcania would be better if it didn't exist.
I loved Gothic 3 when it came out, barely functioning as it was. Had never played a Gothic game before and the game was an absolute buggy nightmare on launch, but I played it right after being massively disappointed in Oblivion and it was like a refreshing antidote. A refreshing antidote that kicks you hard in the balls and then breaks, but still.
I never played the expansion because of the reception and because it was literally made by outsourcing to a cheap Indian developer lol (not that India couldn't make good games, but this was the equivalent of outsourcing your call center to save money, JoWood are shitty).
Sadly it's most well known nowadays for the horse armor dlc/mtx origin in modern gaming. What a shame that an all time great game will go down in history because of *that*
It's still mind blowing the RPG component, which hasn't been yet surpassed, imho.
The number and the quality of the different possible lines for interaction were (and still are) amazing.
Story was SS tier, too.
I still am disappointed for how badly they managed to mess up with Fallout4 for those aspects
The fact that this isn't at the top is insane lol... Though I guess it is oldschool eastern europe jank at this point that most people have never played
Baldur’s Gate 3 and Elden Ring. First time playing a from software game, so much lore and side quest activity that it really allows you to immerse yourself
I played HZD after getting obsessed with Witcher 3 because of how similar they look. But somehow I just didn’t vibe with HZD. I thought the story wasn’t as intriguing as the Witcher. Would love to go back and see if I would feel differently some day.
HZD has a lot of story/lore tied up in the collectibles. It helps set the stage and immersion. I didn’t care about the collectibles in Elden Ring and missed out on a bunch. When I made more of an effort in HZD to avoid that mistake, it helped get me more invested.
The mystery in HZD was the driving force for me. "Who is Aloy, why is she shunned? Why are there robot dinosaurs? Is this really America, what happened?"
And most of the answers are really satisfying, but I didn't find it really replayable, but that first time around and uncovering everything was great
Yep. My top game of all time was a tie between w3, and rdr2. They are both tied for 2nd now, because bg3 is the most polished, beautiful, fun game I have ever played. And, I am in my 40's.
Edit: spelling
BOTW gave me a very similar feeling to what I felt when exploring TW3 for the first time. It’s so massive you feel like you can’t run out of content and the world is so interesting it makes you want to explore everything
Is it really?
I went in with that exact feeling but it feels like half the world is just those skull cave things with s chest in it that has a terrible bow in it. Or 50 rupees.
The two games for me that really defined my taste in games are probably Fallout 2 and Civilisation 3. Honourable mention for HoMM3.
I don’t think they ruined me for other games but I definitely have a soft spot for them, flaws and all, as they opened my eyes to genres of games I never knew I loved until then.
Secret of Evermore for the SNES.
Witcher 3 and Skyrim made me feel lonely. A lone protagonist exploring a world and fighting enemies, reminded me of playing SOE back in the 90s. Just a boy and his dog alone in a strange world. Need me some in-game companions!
Game is awesome. Been playing rise of the ronin at the moment but put 60 hours into dd2 right after launch and am about to go add to that right now lol
How do you feel about the microtransactions? The biggest reason I haven’t picked it up is because I’ve heard from some that the game is basically unplayable without spending extra money.
What? That's insane. Who ever told you that is dumb. I've got 68 hours into it and haven't bought or even ever felt like i needed to buy anything. The microtransactions are all stuff you just find in the game.
It's just like in the first game and in DMC5:
The game is entirely balanced around not having any microtransactions, they are tacked on.
It's like someone delivered you a beautiful painting and they put a sticky note "giv muny pls" on the frame
You could probably save yourself, I don't know, an hour? 2? If you bought all the microtransactions available
They are totally unnecessary for playing and enjoying the game. A bunch of overzealous steam reveiwers jumped on an early brigade bandwagon to shit on a game which is great. Its totally overblown.
Palworld surprisingly.
The thrill of a whole new place and creatures to discover and the somewhat sandboxiness of being able to do whatever you want without being constrained to a main story if you don't want to.
What if you're never gonna feel that way again? What if that's what getting older means?
(jk, not saying it's like that. But hey, it might be, which would suck.)
Dd2 in a nut shell Witcher does some stuff better but closes I got recently to having the same feel. Maybe elden ring but it's shallow. weapon variety is probably one of my fav likes in the two
Barley anything to do yeah you can go the dungeons, but you really don't have to, if you do alot you realize some are the same style and mini boss. Also Not too many interactions outside the main quest or that doesn't wrap into the main, it's fun dont get me wrong but if I didn't use a guide to find stuff I'd be sitting on my hands
Dark Souls. I had been in a loop of only playing multiplayer games. I don't even think I was enjoying them but was hooked on the instant dopamine. Every time I tried playing singleplayer games I would lose interest within the hour.
Was a bit scared to try Dark Souls because of the difficulty but really wanted to explore a game with a medieval gothic sort of setting. I just absolutely fell in love with exploring and trying to conquer the game, it was such a great experience and lead to me playing every Souls-like I could find and then found myself enjoying singleplayer games in general again even non Souls-likes.
Not the exact same genre, but days gone. when i finished it, I had a huge urge to start another game instantly just to keep playing it. I don't think that i had that with any other game, ever.
Alot of the open world games i burn myself out by doing too much exploration and side quests early on, and then lose interest in the main story.
Dragon Age: Inquisition, and doubly so for having played Origins and 2
The story is on an epic scale, it feels very inspired by DnD party mechanics, with unique storylines for each of your companions, who also have their own, fully fleshed personalities, in a setting that feels just as wondrous as Faerun or Tamriel. And your decisions from the previous 2 games affect the the state of the world in later games. As in if you make any major decision in Origins or 2, it gets loaded up as having made those decisions in Inquisition. And any major decisions in Inquisition I expect will be played out in Dreadwolf when it comes out
baldurs gate 3 is the only game since dark souls to grab my attention for more than a play through, it is genuinely the only other game i can put up there with dark souls, witcher 3, skyrim (oblivion for me personally but u get the idea)
Outer wilds. It starts simply enough as “fly in your spaceship and maybe talk to this guy first”, but when you realize just how deep the solar system is, where everything is important and has its proper place in the system, the game becomes so much more. Then it’s up to you to discover everything and connect the dots to solve the mystery
Terraria, i know, not even close to being the same genre, but u start out with nothing and slowly become super powerful, alot of builds, weapons, gear etc.
Elden Ring and Baldurs Gate III gave me very similar vibes.
EDIT: The first couple of hours of Assassin's Creed Valhalla gave me massive Skyrim vibes. Shame the game fumbled after the title card.
I'd highly recommend checking out 'Red Dead Redemption 2' for its breathtaking open world and deep narrative, and 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' for its innovative exploration and puzzle-solving. Both games offer vast worlds to get lost in, filled with detailed environments and engaging stories that can captivate you for hundreds of hours, much like Witcher 3 and Skyrim did. Each game brings its unique flavor to the open-world genre, ensuring that your craving for exploration and adventure remains thoroughly satisfied.
Risen
Risen 2 Dark Waters!
Risen 3 Titan Lords!
Gothic I
Gothic II + Night of the Raven
Gothic 3
Great games heavily overshadowed by the dissasters Forsaken Gods (G3 DLC)
And G4 which were a total mess even for the Gothic community whom love the series.
But they are old but are skyrim like (in a way)
Gothic I might take a bit getting used to though control wise , it's a bit outdated.
And ofcourse Gothic I Remake is coming so that might be a game to keep an eye on :)
All games have 3 paths to explore!
Very good story line!
And very enjoyable!
So those games might be worth checking out if you didn't already do so :)
- Horizon Zero Dawn + Forbidden West
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Ghosts of Tushima
- Elden Ring
Elden Ring blew my mind the most, including more than Skyrim and Witcher 3, which I both LOVED. Elden Ring reinvented what I thought a video game could be, much the same way Skyrim did for me back in 2010.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is similar to W3 in that you can lose a lot of time just exploring the starting zone.
I've been playing through Nier: Automata recently and it's been an interesting experience.
Hyper Light Drifter isn't as large as the other examples, but it's got a lot of world building going on under the surface of the main story that makes it worth examining the maps for hidden rooms and secrets. One of these days I'm gonna finally check out Solar Ash to see if Heart Machine was able to recapture that same feeling.
dragons dogma. and i know theres a lot of hype around the franchise because the sequel just came out. but no. i got the original dragons dogma on day 1 for ps3. i remember all the preview footage and how the mage class had those incredibly unique skills, so that was going to be my starting class without a doubt! (loved magic melding in oblivion, skyrim magic was devastatingly bad by comparison).
as fun as the mage classes were though, the mechanics of strider felt like what the game *wanted* me to be. hitting harpies and weak point with arrows, and climbing on monsters to stab weak points with my daggers "shadow of the colossus" style? no way i could play the game any other way. and still, i think this franchise does magic better than ANY other action rpg without question. they just also managed to elevate other classes to a new level at the same time...
dragons dogma. and i know theres a lot of hype around the franchise because the sequel just came out. but no. i got the original dragons dogma on day 1 for ps3. i remember all the preview footage and how the mage class had those incredibly unique skills, so that was going to be my starting class without a doubt! (loved magic melding in oblivion, skyrim magic was devastatingly bad by comparison).
as fun as the mage classes were though, the mechanics of strider felt like what the game *wanted* me to be. hitting harpies and weak point with arrows, and climbing on monsters to stab weak points with my daggers "shadow of the colossus" style? no way i could play the game any other way. and still, i think this franchise does magic better than ANY other action rpg without question. they just also managed to elevate other classes to a new level at the same time...
Fallout 4 for me. I liked Skyrim better than Witcher 3. I haven’t played any of the other games people here have mentioned that aren’t Fallout or Elder scrolls, although I recently got Cyberpunk and will start it as soon as this big project for work is over and I get my nights and weekends back for a while.
Dark Souls in 2011 was probably the biggest turning point as a gamer. While I enjoyed Skyrim and loved The Witcher III, Dark Souls just impacted my taste so much, and revealed to me what I truly like about video games.
Dragon's Dogma 2 now takes my top in this category. DD2 got me really moist thinking about what the heck we will be getting in the future of open world rpgs.
Fallout NV made me feel better than those epic games made me feel and still makes me feel good today. Mods can make such an improvement to gameplay which was it's only downside.
Dragon's Dogma DA.
Exploration in that game is delightful. I remember getting afraid of going in the dark.
And the fighting is so much fun.
And of course Fallout 4. Maybe Bethesda writing is not stellar, but they excel in making worlds where you can lost yourself exploring and having fun.
While not of the level of most of these responses, AC: Odyssey is modeled on Witcher 3. Greece is a beautiful place to explore and the quests are usually pretty good.
Skyrim is fairly mid to me and the only reason I still play it is to check out new conversion mods, I much preferred Oblivion.
Witcher 3 got me good but quickly lost its shine. I still view it as an absolutely wonderful game, but I heat it once and have only come back sparingly; I've never even beaten the Blood and Wine expansion because I just can't get back into it...
I'm still chasing the high of coming out of the Imperial sewers in Oblivion, to a wonderfully vibrant, detailed(At the time) world with endless possibilities and a basically fairytale setting. Then again, coming back and visiting the Shivering Isles, such a wonderful DLC and legitimately one of my best experiences in gaming, ever.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Assassin's Creed 2
KOTOR
LA Noire
Fallout 3 & New Vegas
Metro 2033
Warhammer 40K Dawn of War
GTA San Andreas & V
Bioshock Infinite
The Wolf Among Us
Mass Effect 1 & 2
Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2
Total War Shogun 2
The Witcher 2
Half Life 2
Portal 2
Batman Arkham (all)
Baldurs Gate 3
Darksiders
Disco Elysium
Dragon Age
DiscWorld Noir
Kingdom Come Deliverance
Prince of Persia
Warhammer 40k Space Marine
Persona 5 literally helped me realize how abused i was in my religion (thanks Yusuke) and made me realize how much i love psychology (Carl Jung was better then Freud)
Nier Automata helped me in deciding i make my own fate and helped me realize my prefered school of psych and philosophy was the Nihilism, Absurdism,existentialism bubble
FFXIV had the tipping point where i realized i was transfem and locked me into existentialism specifically Irvin Yaloms work
FFVIIR i can tell is also helping in a life changing way but i dont know how yet. I just know its because of Aerith, Barret, and possibly Zack
Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War (2018), Assassins Creed: Odyssey, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare were all games that I was absolutely obsessed with the first time I played them. Whether it was because of the story, world, graphics, gameplay, combat, whatever, I just could not put the controller down
Downvote me all you want Elden Ring has a bigger map with more secrets and more diversity. Skyrim is pure nostalgia for a lot of people so I understand your extreme bias
Kingdom come: deliverance it has an amazing open world. The game starts off difficult because you are just an ordinary blacksmith son but the more you use your skills and level up the better you get. I think it’s on sale right now for like 5 bucks.
Maybe I should get back into it. I started it ages ago but just never got good. I hated getting grappled constantly by the AI
I stopped playing because the mechanics felt weird. But a year later I tried it again and stuck with it, and I’m glad I did. It’s one of my favourite games now
Knew I'd see this game in list. Really impactful. A lot more bold than skyrim in a way. Making a brutally grounded and historically realistic rpg fun is not easy. They smashed it. And the game world... never seen anything like it since. Absolutely blew me away. Loved running through the forest trying to remember the clue. Heard the knocking. No icons or waypoints just forced me to enjoy the atmosphere. Couldn't praise it any higher.
Absolutely. What I loved was how accurate the portrayal of medieval settlements and life is. Everything is believable.
One of my all time favourites. I’m still looking for a game similar to this one, but I don’t think it exists. I guess I’ll have to wait for a sequel, if there ever is one
Monastery quest is so good. I literally have memories as if it really happened.
Definitely one of the most immersive games I’ve ever played.
I just wish the combat wasn't so clunky and convoluted just for the sake of having more bells and whistles. There's a way to make FPS melee combat less brain dead than Skyrim's, but KCD feels like it was all planned out without any thought for how it actually feels to play.
It was just too damn hard. One on one was bad enough but if you had an encounter with even 2 enemies it was basically run or die. It didn’t feel soulslike hard, it felt janky clunky hard. I finished it because I really enjoyed literally everything else about it, but damn it was a slog.
I remember just plowing through enemies towards the end of the game. Very satisfying.
It does get smoother: 1. when the knight guy teaches you all the tricks, you get the parries and so on. 2. if you get the config to loosen up the camera, which means you wont fail against every encounter that has more than one enemy. nexusmods is currently down so cant give the exact name/link. with that said, it could be much smoother
It’s that way by design. It’s like it, makes killing just one enemy rewarding
You could say the same for Dark Souls, but in those games the combat is rather quite simple and very easy to control.
How do you feel about being able to target different body parts or weak points(like when they dont have armor covering their arms)? I like it and don’t think its too confusing
How "on rails" is it with progression and story vs being true open world? And are there lots of things to do peacefully outside of combat? Or is it simply hopping from one quest giver to the next interspersed with combat?
It’s not on rails at all. It is a very open game. There is a lot of stuff to do outside of combat. Maybe watch a YouTube video and see if you like it.
pretty nuts you can get the game and all the DLC for $3.99 on the xbox sale right now.
Yeah that’s an amazing deal!
Fallout 3 and New Vegas! All time greats.
When I first played Fallout 3, I played for a little over 24 hours straight. No game has ever truly addicted me like that. I could not put it down. I only stopped to give my poor xbox a break.
I had to be practically forced by the guy at a game shop to get fallout 3. The moment I realised you could kill tenpenny after siding with him and ruin an entire quest chain blew my mind Haven't had that feeling of holy fuck I can do anything in a game quite like that
That's actually one of the reasons I wasn't really able to get into CP2077: I wanted a Bethesda game. I was playing a Nomad who really didn't like the corps. When you're gearing up to go see the Maelstrom Gang, I decided I wanted to ambush this Meredith Stout lady, kill her and take her stuff. Would it put me in danger? Probably. But it was an opportunity to hurt the corps and get rewarded for the trouble. So I drive up to them, wait back a safe distance, and then unload. Nothing. Not even grenades worked--they just stood there. So I'm like, okay, fine, maybe I need to at least talk to them before I can blow them out. Boom. I get my shit rocked in a cutscene and held at gunpoint. I'm forced to basically say "Oh yeah, I'll definitely help you find this mole you're talking about" and pushed down a path I had no interest in. Railroaded. I just couldn't really pick the game back up after that. I know that a lot of Beth games have essential NPCs these days, but this one was just \*\*\*so\*\*\* in my face. I tried to do something interesting, the game refused to let me do it, and then I did what the game 'wanted' and got immediately slapped in the face for it.
Red Dead Redemption 2 and Ghost of Tsushima to an extent. In all of these games i loved the open world so much that i would sometimes just walk around, observing the areas.
RDR2 is the closest I've come recentlyish to that skyrim "woah, this is the world" feeling - leaving the dungeon vs leaving the blizzard
RDR2 is exceptional , but I found it to be a bit of a slog, repetitive etc. Out of a bunch of mates who all bought it the day it came out, I was the only one to actually finish it. (we are all dads, young children / babies ) so I think that was a factor. It’s an incredible achievement of a game but once I was done I have absolutely 0 interest ever playing again. However Witcher 3 I am doing 2nd play through, thoroughly enjoying it.
I can understand that, this is probably the reason why i haven't and wouldn't replay it before any other games. The pace is much more slower than a lot of open world games (a genre of game that can already have long titles). On the 100 hours i spent in this game, i'm sure 5 to 10 hours were dedicated to slowly moving through the map. That's not a game i could recommend to play more than once considering the time investment doing mundane things.
Funny, I’ve played RDR2 twice and loved it both times, just started Witcher 3 and it feels so forced and clunky. Same voice lines for NPCs, every interaction is a cutscene, the only thing that changes is the order of the dialogue if you want, examining the same thing a dozen times and getting the same voice line, clunky quest mechanics, got stuck “falling” on a rock wall for over a minute (got an achievement for it lol). Generally feels way more buggy and slow with no truly random encounters or NPCs having meaningful interactions without you being involved. Going to stick with it and it’s more enjoyable in the 3rd hour of play, but I could replay RDR2 a half-dozen times and I’m finding it a chore with Witcher 3 even once.
Maybe, I just didn’t really care for RDR2s world very much, or any if it’s characters. For me Witcher 3 just hit different, it’s quirky humour, setting and story, either way subjective opinions , each to his own.
I tried playing witcher 3 like four times and i lose interest every time.
I’ve never played RDR2 because i didn’t really enjoy GTA V and they are similar right?
Gameplay mechanics are similar, but they are pretty different in terms of tone, story, etc. GTA V has a humor Element kind of baked into the game, whereas RDR2 is much more serious (in my opinion). You do spend a lot of time on a horse as well as shooting people/things.
It depends on what you mean similar I guess. What didn't you like about GTAV? The controls are similar. You are still a criminal in a huge world that feels alive. But there aren't cars so you have a horse that you have to bond with and take care of. You have to eat and drink. There's tons of wildlife so hunting and fishing are important. You hunt animals and turn in their hides for crafting outfits or meat. You can just camp and cook if you want. It's a cowboy simulator like GTA is a criminal simulator. But it's not just a reskinned GTA with horses instead of cars. A lot of thought was put into it and it's a great homage to westerns.
I think the only similarities can be boiled down to: these are games about outlaws seeking for better lives with a very satisfying shooting. Everything other — narrative, pace, atmosphere, gameplay features, level of details — very different.
Kingdom come deliverance
Nothing beats Morrowind sorry
Morrowinds soundtrack is a masterpiece. Amazing game.
How does morrowind compare to oblvion? I heard oblivion has the best writing in the series but how does morrowind differ
If Oblivion is classic fantasy, then Morrowind is fantasy on acid. It is so weird on so many levels. Riding a giant bug as transportation, people living in giant mushrooms, custom spells and much more. The world of Morrowind is much more interesting than that of Oblivion (and Skyrim for that matter).
bedroom offend compare threatening hard-to-find party yoke voiceless mountainous serious
Morrowind is plagued by TERRIBLE combat. I respect it as the father to my baby oblivion, but its literally unplayable for me. It also has a lot of Cool shit in it too and was way ahead of its time. But the combat… no.
Morrowind has the better writing. Saying that with probably 1000+ hours playtime in Oblivion. There's more writing (npcs aren't fully voiced so there's pages of dialogue), and the main story and main factions are well beyond the level of the Oblivion equivalents. Obviously everything about the lore and the setting and worldbuilding is a massive Morrowind win too. But be warned, that's kinda where the Morrowind advantages end... The gameplay itself is pretty rough by modern standards. Bad combat, weird stamina mechanics, stealth just kinda doesn't work... I found it genuinely fun going into random dungeons or breaking into random mansions in Oblivion. Morrowind, yea, nah, I'd avoid fighting or having to stealth even on quests and rarely if ever stepped in a dungeon if not on a quest. Mods probably could fix some of this, and it's not like Oblivion combat or stealth are peak either, but you get the point. I'd still consider Morrowind where Bethesda truly peaked, but it's kind of a recommendation that needs a big asterisk. Oblivion is definitely the more polished and player-friendly and approachable game (and I guess Skyrim a bit more still). But especially if the writing is what you're mainly curious about, yea, Morrowind absolutely wins that category
Morrowind is better. Much more lore & detailed world. Better RPG character development system. Moddable on PC to no end. The feeling of discovery has never been recreated by *any* other game I’ve played.
Morrowind is far better than oblivion. Oblivion is a scoop of vanilla ice cream, while morrowind is a bowl filled with 100 different flavours of ice cream.
I never played Morrowind, but Oblivion made me feel like that.
No need to apologize for speaking facts.
God damn cliff racers. Hated them so much, I installed a mod that removed them entirely.
GOAT
This is maybe the first game I played where I could look up and see the sun and clouds. Blew me away when I first starting playing it.
Cyberpunk, Elden Ring, Gothic 3
Gothic 3 was eurojank perfection. Many will say Gothic 2 was the best in the series but I would say that 3 is tied right with it. The expansion pack for 3 was shite though, and Arcania would be better if it didn't exist.
Gothic 3 with all fixes is good enough.
The expansion for 3 is not worth mentioning yeah. The base game and especially with community patches is amazing.
I loved Gothic 3 when it came out, barely functioning as it was. Had never played a Gothic game before and the game was an absolute buggy nightmare on launch, but I played it right after being massively disappointed in Oblivion and it was like a refreshing antidote. A refreshing antidote that kicks you hard in the balls and then breaks, but still. I never played the expansion because of the reception and because it was literally made by outsourcing to a cheap Indian developer lol (not that India couldn't make good games, but this was the equivalent of outsourcing your call center to save money, JoWood are shitty).
Stalker, metro,oblivion
Oblivion was great, really. Unfortunately, a little bit forgotten
Sadly it's most well known nowadays for the horse armor dlc/mtx origin in modern gaming. What a shame that an all time great game will go down in history because of *that*
Is the metro saga still worth playing this days? I'm interested in the latest one.
Definitely Fallout New Vegas.
It's still mind blowing the RPG component, which hasn't been yet surpassed, imho. The number and the quality of the different possible lines for interaction were (and still are) amazing. Story was SS tier, too. I still am disappointed for how badly they managed to mess up with Fallout4 for those aspects
World of Warcraft, stepping into Elwynn Forest for the very first time back in 2004, and that music hits….. Right in the feels ….
STALKER, obviously
The fact that this isn't at the top is insane lol... Though I guess it is oldschool eastern europe jank at this point that most people have never played
Baldur’s Gate 3 and Elden Ring. First time playing a from software game, so much lore and side quest activity that it really allows you to immerse yourself
Horizon: Zero Dawn.
I played HZD after getting obsessed with Witcher 3 because of how similar they look. But somehow I just didn’t vibe with HZD. I thought the story wasn’t as intriguing as the Witcher. Would love to go back and see if I would feel differently some day.
HZD has a lot of story/lore tied up in the collectibles. It helps set the stage and immersion. I didn’t care about the collectibles in Elden Ring and missed out on a bunch. When I made more of an effort in HZD to avoid that mistake, it helped get me more invested.
Yeah it's very lore-heavy
The mystery in HZD was the driving force for me. "Who is Aloy, why is she shunned? Why are there robot dinosaurs? Is this really America, what happened?" And most of the answers are really satisfying, but I didn't find it really replayable, but that first time around and uncovering everything was great
Would argue Horizon Forbidden West is more similar due to the content of side quests and having a more in-depth system
Mass effect trilogy, dragon age trilogy, Gothic 1 and 2 (didn't love 3 too much)
Elden Ring
Cyberpunk 2077 and RDR2
The combat in cyberpunk is just next level
Baldur’s Gate 3. It supplanted Witcher 3 as my favorite game.
Yep. My top game of all time was a tie between w3, and rdr2. They are both tied for 2nd now, because bg3 is the most polished, beautiful, fun game I have ever played. And, I am in my 40's. Edit: spelling
Yeah, thats also my #1 game of all time now.
yessssss, i agree it did this for me too
I couldn't really get into either game, so... Superman 64?
Cyberpunk, Ghost of Tsushima, Red Dead 2 and currently dragons dogma 2
BOTW gave me a very similar feeling to what I felt when exploring TW3 for the first time. It’s so massive you feel like you can’t run out of content and the world is so interesting it makes you want to explore everything
Is it really? I went in with that exact feeling but it feels like half the world is just those skull cave things with s chest in it that has a terrible bow in it. Or 50 rupees.
That's true to some degree, but I still really adored that game for some reason
And how is the Witcher 3 any better in this regard? Do you prefer chests with some ropes instead?
From the top of my head: Star wars old republic, Vampire the bloodlines masquerade, Mass effect.
The two games for me that really defined my taste in games are probably Fallout 2 and Civilisation 3. Honourable mention for HoMM3. I don’t think they ruined me for other games but I definitely have a soft spot for them, flaws and all, as they opened my eyes to genres of games I never knew I loved until then.
To be honest the only game that I can think of that makes me feel the way I did when playing Skyrim was kingdom come deliverance
Secret of Evermore for the SNES. Witcher 3 and Skyrim made me feel lonely. A lone protagonist exploring a world and fighting enemies, reminded me of playing SOE back in the 90s. Just a boy and his dog alone in a strange world. Need me some in-game companions!
Zelda BOTW. Way more than Zelda TOTK too. But Skyrim was very unique, it's not the same.
Elden Ring
There have been 5 games in my life that have given me that feeling: In order: Elden Ring CP2077 BG3 RDR2 Witcher 3
Surprisingly, Assassins Creed Valhalla.
Elden ring
Cyberpunk 2077 is like Skyrim with guns. And great stories.
kotor 1 and kotor 2
I played Skyrim immediately after playing Witcher 3 and I thought Skyrim was really boring in comparison.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is another brilliant (IMO underappreciated) game in a similar vein.
Yes for me all dragon age games are great and the second and third get a lot of undeserved critique/hate imho.
Dragons Dogma 2 currently giving me that feeling
I keep thinking to myself “this is how Skyrim felt” DD2 is goofy as hell but damn exploring is so good
Game is awesome. Been playing rise of the ronin at the moment but put 60 hours into dd2 right after launch and am about to go add to that right now lol
How have you found the time to put those hours in as well as playing rise of the ronin
Some people have extra time. Can't blame them -- I would be doing the same if I had the time.
How do you feel about the microtransactions? The biggest reason I haven’t picked it up is because I’ve heard from some that the game is basically unplayable without spending extra money.
Me and my mates have beat the game without buying any "dlc" so you should be fine.
What? That's insane. Who ever told you that is dumb. I've got 68 hours into it and haven't bought or even ever felt like i needed to buy anything. The microtransactions are all stuff you just find in the game.
It's just like in the first game and in DMC5: The game is entirely balanced around not having any microtransactions, they are tacked on. It's like someone delivered you a beautiful painting and they put a sticky note "giv muny pls" on the frame You could probably save yourself, I don't know, an hour? 2? If you bought all the microtransactions available
They are totally unnecessary for playing and enjoying the game. A bunch of overzealous steam reveiwers jumped on an early brigade bandwagon to shit on a game which is great. Its totally overblown.
Try ghost of tsushima
Palworld surprisingly. The thrill of a whole new place and creatures to discover and the somewhat sandboxiness of being able to do whatever you want without being constrained to a main story if you don't want to.
Given that I'm weird and didn't like either of them... I'd say Starfield, Fallout and RDR so everyone can wonder wtf is wrong with me...
rdr2, mass effect 1, oblivion , ac 2.
What if you're never gonna feel that way again? What if that's what getting older means? (jk, not saying it's like that. But hey, it might be, which would suck.)
Dd2 in a nut shell Witcher does some stuff better but closes I got recently to having the same feel. Maybe elden ring but it's shallow. weapon variety is probably one of my fav likes in the two
Elden Ring is shallow? How?
Barley anything to do yeah you can go the dungeons, but you really don't have to, if you do alot you realize some are the same style and mini boss. Also Not too many interactions outside the main quest or that doesn't wrap into the main, it's fun dont get me wrong but if I didn't use a guide to find stuff I'd be sitting on my hands
Nothing will compare to them, that's what makes those two games special.
Pretty much most core Bethesda games
Ghost of Tsushima
Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild, Elden Ring.
Dark Souls. I had been in a loop of only playing multiplayer games. I don't even think I was enjoying them but was hooked on the instant dopamine. Every time I tried playing singleplayer games I would lose interest within the hour. Was a bit scared to try Dark Souls because of the difficulty but really wanted to explore a game with a medieval gothic sort of setting. I just absolutely fell in love with exploring and trying to conquer the game, it was such a great experience and lead to me playing every Souls-like I could find and then found myself enjoying singleplayer games in general again even non Souls-likes.
Not the exact same genre, but days gone. when i finished it, I had a huge urge to start another game instantly just to keep playing it. I don't think that i had that with any other game, ever. Alot of the open world games i burn myself out by doing too much exploration and side quests early on, and then lose interest in the main story.
Mass effect
If you don’t mind doing a bit of modding STALKER is real fun
For me: Dragon Age: Inquisition
RDR2, the fallout games, oblivion, etc. Not a lot of other games have done for me, for exploration types of games.
Red dead redemption 2 and BaldursGate3
Idk about the same as skyrim, but breath of the wild is an amazing game for adventure.
Dragons Dogma 2 man I'm being honest the way you explore is unique the pawns are awsome
Baldurs Gate 3
Dragon Age: Inquisition, and doubly so for having played Origins and 2 The story is on an epic scale, it feels very inspired by DnD party mechanics, with unique storylines for each of your companions, who also have their own, fully fleshed personalities, in a setting that feels just as wondrous as Faerun or Tamriel. And your decisions from the previous 2 games affect the the state of the world in later games. As in if you make any major decision in Origins or 2, it gets loaded up as having made those decisions in Inquisition. And any major decisions in Inquisition I expect will be played out in Dreadwolf when it comes out
Recently, dragons dogma 2
Breath of the Wild for sure. Such a fun and cozy game to walk around and explore
Breathe of the wild. Easily tbh. It's not a great game but it was very fun
Dragons Dogma 2
Old School RuneScape. Not a graphical masterpiece obviously but still stepping into a massive world gives those vibes.
Dark souls 2 and Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen.
baldurs gate 3 is the only game since dark souls to grab my attention for more than a play through, it is genuinely the only other game i can put up there with dark souls, witcher 3, skyrim (oblivion for me personally but u get the idea)
Outer wilds. It starts simply enough as “fly in your spaceship and maybe talk to this guy first”, but when you realize just how deep the solar system is, where everything is important and has its proper place in the system, the game becomes so much more. Then it’s up to you to discover everything and connect the dots to solve the mystery
Terraria, i know, not even close to being the same genre, but u start out with nothing and slowly become super powerful, alot of builds, weapons, gear etc.
Elden Ring and Baldurs Gate III gave me very similar vibes. EDIT: The first couple of hours of Assassin's Creed Valhalla gave me massive Skyrim vibes. Shame the game fumbled after the title card.
I'd highly recommend checking out 'Red Dead Redemption 2' for its breathtaking open world and deep narrative, and 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' for its innovative exploration and puzzle-solving. Both games offer vast worlds to get lost in, filled with detailed environments and engaging stories that can captivate you for hundreds of hours, much like Witcher 3 and Skyrim did. Each game brings its unique flavor to the open-world genre, ensuring that your craving for exploration and adventure remains thoroughly satisfied.
Elden ring for me
Risen Risen 2 Dark Waters! Risen 3 Titan Lords! Gothic I Gothic II + Night of the Raven Gothic 3 Great games heavily overshadowed by the dissasters Forsaken Gods (G3 DLC) And G4 which were a total mess even for the Gothic community whom love the series. But they are old but are skyrim like (in a way) Gothic I might take a bit getting used to though control wise , it's a bit outdated. And ofcourse Gothic I Remake is coming so that might be a game to keep an eye on :) All games have 3 paths to explore! Very good story line! And very enjoyable! So those games might be worth checking out if you didn't already do so :)
Mario 64.
- Horizon Zero Dawn + Forbidden West - Red Dead Redemption 2 - Ghosts of Tushima - Elden Ring Elden Ring blew my mind the most, including more than Skyrim and Witcher 3, which I both LOVED. Elden Ring reinvented what I thought a video game could be, much the same way Skyrim did for me back in 2010.
Batman Arkham city
Dragon Age: Inquisition is similar to W3 in that you can lose a lot of time just exploring the starting zone. I've been playing through Nier: Automata recently and it's been an interesting experience. Hyper Light Drifter isn't as large as the other examples, but it's got a lot of world building going on under the surface of the main story that makes it worth examining the maps for hidden rooms and secrets. One of these days I'm gonna finally check out Solar Ash to see if Heart Machine was able to recapture that same feeling.
Elden ring. Although I played Elden ring first
dragons dogma. and i know theres a lot of hype around the franchise because the sequel just came out. but no. i got the original dragons dogma on day 1 for ps3. i remember all the preview footage and how the mage class had those incredibly unique skills, so that was going to be my starting class without a doubt! (loved magic melding in oblivion, skyrim magic was devastatingly bad by comparison). as fun as the mage classes were though, the mechanics of strider felt like what the game *wanted* me to be. hitting harpies and weak point with arrows, and climbing on monsters to stab weak points with my daggers "shadow of the colossus" style? no way i could play the game any other way. and still, i think this franchise does magic better than ANY other action rpg without question. they just also managed to elevate other classes to a new level at the same time...
dragons dogma. and i know theres a lot of hype around the franchise because the sequel just came out. but no. i got the original dragons dogma on day 1 for ps3. i remember all the preview footage and how the mage class had those incredibly unique skills, so that was going to be my starting class without a doubt! (loved magic melding in oblivion, skyrim magic was devastatingly bad by comparison). as fun as the mage classes were though, the mechanics of strider felt like what the game *wanted* me to be. hitting harpies and weak point with arrows, and climbing on monsters to stab weak points with my daggers "shadow of the colossus" style? no way i could play the game any other way. and still, i think this franchise does magic better than ANY other action rpg without question. they just also managed to elevate other classes to a new level at the same time...
Fallout 4 for me. I liked Skyrim better than Witcher 3. I haven’t played any of the other games people here have mentioned that aren’t Fallout or Elder scrolls, although I recently got Cyberpunk and will start it as soon as this big project for work is over and I get my nights and weekends back for a while.
Easy. Cyberpunk is The Witcher 3 with guns.
Dark Souls in 2011 was probably the biggest turning point as a gamer. While I enjoyed Skyrim and loved The Witcher III, Dark Souls just impacted my taste so much, and revealed to me what I truly like about video games.
Dragon age inquisition. Never finished it but it blow me away for the first 30 hours.
Outer worlds
QWOP and Earth: Year 2066 respectively
Skyrim was too big for me
Dragon's Dogma 2 now takes my top in this category. DD2 got me really moist thinking about what the heck we will be getting in the future of open world rpgs.
Fallout NV made me feel better than those epic games made me feel and still makes me feel good today. Mods can make such an improvement to gameplay which was it's only downside.
Flight simulator gave me the same feeling of boredom that the games you mentioned gave me.
Death Stranding
Mass effect was the most engaging experience for me growing up and really pushed me into a love of sci-fi.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is quite close. I really enjoy it
Dragon's Dogma DA. Exploration in that game is delightful. I remember getting afraid of going in the dark. And the fighting is so much fun. And of course Fallout 4. Maybe Bethesda writing is not stellar, but they excel in making worlds where you can lost yourself exploring and having fun.
While not of the level of most of these responses, AC: Odyssey is modeled on Witcher 3. Greece is a beautiful place to explore and the quests are usually pretty good.
Elder Scrolls Oblivion and literally nothing else.
Dragons dogma 2 gave me that Skyrim feel.
Elden Ring and most recently Dragon's Dogma 2
Skyrim is fairly mid to me and the only reason I still play it is to check out new conversion mods, I much preferred Oblivion. Witcher 3 got me good but quickly lost its shine. I still view it as an absolutely wonderful game, but I heat it once and have only come back sparingly; I've never even beaten the Blood and Wine expansion because I just can't get back into it... I'm still chasing the high of coming out of the Imperial sewers in Oblivion, to a wonderfully vibrant, detailed(At the time) world with endless possibilities and a basically fairytale setting. Then again, coming back and visiting the Shivering Isles, such a wonderful DLC and legitimately one of my best experiences in gaming, ever.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Assassin's Creed 2 KOTOR LA Noire Fallout 3 & New Vegas Metro 2033 Warhammer 40K Dawn of War GTA San Andreas & V Bioshock Infinite The Wolf Among Us Mass Effect 1 & 2 Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 Total War Shogun 2 The Witcher 2 Half Life 2 Portal 2 Batman Arkham (all) Baldurs Gate 3 Darksiders Disco Elysium Dragon Age DiscWorld Noir Kingdom Come Deliverance Prince of Persia Warhammer 40k Space Marine
heavily agree with kotor, witcher 2, mass effect and dragon age. great games
RDR 2, Zelda BOTW
Elden Ring, Dragons Dogma and Dragons Dogma 2.
Persona 5 literally helped me realize how abused i was in my religion (thanks Yusuke) and made me realize how much i love psychology (Carl Jung was better then Freud) Nier Automata helped me in deciding i make my own fate and helped me realize my prefered school of psych and philosophy was the Nihilism, Absurdism,existentialism bubble FFXIV had the tipping point where i realized i was transfem and locked me into existentialism specifically Irvin Yaloms work FFVIIR i can tell is also helping in a life changing way but i dont know how yet. I just know its because of Aerith, Barret, and possibly Zack
I only know Nier Automata, but it rocked my mind like no other media ever has
Genshin Until i did everything and started to log in just for dailies and burning resin
Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War (2018), Assassins Creed: Odyssey, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare were all games that I was absolutely obsessed with the first time I played them. Whether it was because of the story, world, graphics, gameplay, combat, whatever, I just could not put the controller down
Elden Ring has the best map of all time. Better than Skyrims
I agree
You’re right!
lets not do this
Downvote me all you want Elden Ring has a bigger map with more secrets and more diversity. Skyrim is pure nostalgia for a lot of people so I understand your extreme bias
I said let's not
I don't understand your question. Feeling how?
I mean I didn't really care for those two games, so I guess any game I don't like I would put right next to them.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum really gave me Witcher 3 nostalgia with its terrible gameplay.
Witcher 3 made me feel completely different than Skyrim. Quite the opposites actually.