Are you a sucker for good video game lore? Sometimes getting lost in a game because of its world-building is as satisfying as any gameplay loop.
These games take role-playing to the next level thanks to their masterful world-building. I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve spent hours the respective wikis, trying to get my fill.
10
Fallout
Though the Fallout series has been divisive at points, the lore has continued to pique player interest despite the existence of missteps like Tactics and the patched-up Fallout 76. What makes Fallout so interesting is the point at which the game’s timeline diverged from our own.
This divergence happened sometime after World War 2 and gave way to the political instability, fuel shortages, and massive inflation that led to the Great War. Once the bombs dropped, time stood still. What’s left is a jigsaw puzzle of clues that’ll keep you guessing as much as any in-game quest or encounter. Combing through computer terminals for anything you can learn about the devastation around you is what makes Fallout so moreish.
If you find yourself as captivated by this as I do, there are plenty of fan resources that attempt to piece everything together. Perhaps most interesting is the Nukapedia Fallout Timeline, which not only offers a blow-by-blow account of the divergence and the war, but happenings long before and after the event.
9
Half-Life
The original Half-Life sees you step into the hazmat boots of one Gordon Freeman, right as an experiment goes wrong. As you play through the game, you’ll discover more about the Black Mesa research facility at which you work as the situation unfolds in front of you. This includes grim insights into the lengths that authorities will go to in order to cover up the disaster, from sending in soldiers to kill Gordon and his colleagues, to eventually sending in Black Ops to clean up the first batch of soldiers.
Half-Life 2, on the other hand, picks up the same story two decades later with far more questions that need answering. Why are you now in Eastern Europe? Why are the vortigaunts now on your side? Why has the sea level receded so much? The game drip-feeds you nuggets of information while allowing its oppressive world design to do a lot of the storytelling.
Thankfully, there are many more answers available via fan-made resources like the Combine Overwiki. Though you might be waiting a while for Half-Life 3, there’s plenty to read in the interim.
Bethesda’s open-world RPGs masterfully combine familiar fantasy tropes with enough uniquely interesting lore that makes the gaps in between games feel like purgatory. While questing, leveling, and exploring the world, you’ll constantly be unveiling scraps of ancient tales, ruins from past ages, spirits who still roam present-day Tamriel, and books. Oh-so-many books!
When you start digging, The Elder Scrolls keeps on giving. Highlights include the origins of the mortal plane of Nirn, the planet on which the continent of Tamriel exists; gods like the Divines or Daedric Princes who are worshipped as such; to the events that defined the different ages into which the timeline is now divided. It’s dizzying, in a good way.
Skyrim is by far the most accessible jumping-on point, but Oblivion is still worth your time (as is Morrowind, but it’s getting on a bit now). Get your fill of extra lore on the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages wiki.
7
Metro
There’s something inherently intriguing about a post-apocalypse. It’s a car crash scenario: you want to look and figure out what happened, but you don’t actually want to have to deal with the aftermath. The Metro series is no different, offering a glimpse at a world destroyed by nuclear and biological war, now facing a new type of threat in the form of mutants.
It’s just as well that the Metro franchise has been so well fleshed out at this stage. The series is based on the novel Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky, which is the perfect accompaniment to the game of the same name. On top of this, there’s Universe of Metro 2033, a series of short stories all of which are endorsed by the series’ author, and two video game sequels in the form of Last Light and Exodus.
Small touches such as ammunition doubling as currency help to set the grim tone. Adding to the wider mystery is how little time you spend on the surface, at least in the earlier games. Much of your time is spent navigating the Moscow subway system and conversing with your fellow inhabitants.
6
Dishonored
Arkane Lyon’s Dishonored is an immersive sim set in a world that’s dependent on whale oil. Dubbed whalepunk, the game’s setting of Dunwall is heavily inspired by Victorian London and Edinburgh. The gameplay takes place in a series of highly detailed open levels, where you must reach certain objectives and dispose of specific targets (which you can do in a non-violent fashion if you want).
The game’s mood is heavily tied to the ongoing plague, in which vast swarms of rats gather and bodies pile high in the streets. You’ll spend a lot of time listening to in-game chatter from the shadows, waiting for the right time to strike or sneak past. Small scraps of lore litter the levels, including paintings and books, and the true nature of your powers and their origins will have you yearning to find out more.
There are three entries in total, with 2016’s sequel and 2017’s standalone expansion Death of the Outsider also worth a look. If you like grime and decay, Dishonored is a must-play. As a fun fact, Arkane Lyon’s 2022 release Deathloop is set in the same universe with numerous connections to be found.
5
Bioshock
Bioshock is a classic of the Xbox 360 era, a game that blends first-person action and shooting with survival horror elements and an RPG-style leveling system. While this was enough to raise eyebrows at the time, it’s the game’s setting that truly helps sell it even today (yes, the game definitely still holds up despite feeling a bit repetitive in the final act).
The first two games take place in Rapture, an underground city designed by a billionaire to be free from the constraints of government oversight or societal norms. It’s of little surprise that things have gone awry, with the city falling into a state of lawlessness and disrepair after its inhabitants began genetically modifying themselves with a substance derived from sea slugs.
The third game trades the sea for the skies, and though it’s not connected to the original it conjures a similar level of intrigue. _Bioshock_’s glimpse of one man’s vision taken to its natural conclusion is utterly fascinating, and the strong writing and incredible art direction will keep you coming back for more.
4
Control / Alan Wake / Max Payne
Here’s a fun one: did you know that Remedy Entertainment’s three heavy hitters all take place within the same universe?
If you’ve played a lot of Control you’ll surely have noticed references to Alan Wake in one of the expansions. In fact, Alan Wake’s entire predicament is explained within Control as an example of an Altered World Event (despite the fact that the Alan Wake series predates Control by a decade or more). Though _Max Payne_’s connections aren’t as clear-cut, some sources surmise that Max could be a character written by Alan Wake himself.
By far the most interesting place to start here though, is Control. In addition to being an excellent video game that still looks and plays great, the game is chock-full of interesting tidbits that reference all manner of strange, dark, and occasionally hilarious goings on. If the SCP Foundation wiki were a game, it would be Control.
3
Baldur’s Gate
You might think that including Baldur’s Gate is cheating, and you might be right. The game is set within the Dungeons and Dragons universe, specifically the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. The first game came out in 1998, spawning two full sequels and countless expansions. The franchise truly came to a head in 2023, with the arrival of the seminal Baldur’s Gate 3.
Since the third game is by far the most accessible of the bunch, that’s the one you shouldn’t hesitate to pick up. Don’t worry about history or characters, this is Dungeons and Dragons after all. You’ll be encountering all manner of stories and characters along the way, plus you’ll be able to put your own mark on the world by creating your own protagonist.
Starting a campaign means giving yourself over to the game’s rich world, rolling with the punches, and embracing the free-form “if you can imagine it, you can probably do it” gameplay. Throw in the lore, the excellent voice acting, a beautiful yet deadly world, and the ability to create the character of your dreams and kiss your life goodbye for a few months.
2
Dark Souls
The Dark Souls series is known for its difficulty, but it’s also heavy on rich lore. Beyond the game’s gloomy aesthetic that is perhaps best described as “what a black metal album cover would look like if it were a video game,” the games spin a rich tapestry across all three releases.
From item descriptions (which you could easily miss) to interactions with characters (which you could also miss) to the enemies you must defeat in order to progress and beat the game, there’s a lot going on here. If you were too concerned with nailing parries and dodge-rolls, the Dark Souls Community Wiki is worth a read to help fill in the blanks.
I’d love to add Elden Ring to this section, but there’s no clear consensus on whether the games are set within the same universe or not. Either way, the same can be said for FromSoftware’s more accessible Soulsborne: it’s a torturous and wholly rewarding journey through a truly unique hellscape that will have you in awe one moment and begging for mercy the next.
1
Mass Effect
If you prefer your roleplaying games set in space in the distant future, you should dive feet-first into Mass Effect. Even the set-up for the franchise is tantalizing: in 2148 humans discovered an artifact on Mars that led them to believe they had been studied by an alien species. By using Pluton’s moon Charon as a mass relay, faster-than-light travel was made possible thanks to the “mass effect” generated by a dark matter reaction.
And that’s before you’ve encountered a single alien planet, race, or the rather impressive Citadel. It’s before you’ve romanced a single character, or decided between an evil or good choice. It’s also before you’ve had time to contemplate the game’s main threat in the form of the Reapers, sentient starships that appear every 50,000 years to wipe out emerging space-faring organic civilizations.
There’s a lot to dig into here, and it’ll bring a smile to the face of any sci-fi fan. In addition to the bigger picture of the world itself, your dealings with the game’s various characters and factions will have you thinking long and hard about your decisions and the “what if” scenarios you’ll be navigating.
Of course, a game doesn’t have to have expansive lore in order to feel immersive. Check out some of the most engrossing simulation games, or open-ended games that you can play forever.
