Forspoken is another AAA game that was released to mixed reception, with people criticizing it for its writing, gameplay loops, and overall setting and story. But the game does have its fans amongst the critics who love the game for being a unique isekai, for the open world traversal, and for the magical setting.
In those regards, even if you don’t enjoy Forspoken, you can see how those aspects are easily appealing and keep people hooked. And for those who either want to see these elements done better in their eyes or who just want more of what they already love, here are 10 options that can scratch every itch there is!
10 Fallout: New Vegas
Some players have felt that open-world games can feel empty these days, with mostly empty worlds with a lot of busywork and that aren’t too alive. For players feeling that burnout, Fallout New Vegas has everything you’re looking for. Fallout New Vegas is an open-world RPG, seeing you roaming the Mojave Wasteland in search of the man who shot you and determining the fate of Nevada.
While Fallout New Vegas still has its shortcomings in terms of gameplay and especially performance today, it excels in giving a fascinating world to explore. Every inch of the Mojave has something interesting to find and see, with a fascinating list of factions and side-quests with loads of depth to them, each offering interesting choices that make the world feel real and alive and make you feel like a part of it.
9 Dark Souls
Dark fantasy has become more and more embraced by games, with the old classic whimsy being replaced with grittiness and darkness, and the original Dark Souls likely can be thanked for that movement. Dark Souls is an action RPG classic that sees you exploring a fallen and decaying fantasy world in pursuit of power and fire, choosing the fate of the world.
Dark Souls builds a deep and rich world that it communicates silently to the player, with each boss and location having a story to be told through the environment and item descriptions. And it’s a dark world, one of only death and decay, clinging to the last ashes of flame. This is enforced through the punishing and slow gameplay, having you perish over and over within this land. It was the first and still is one of the best games with this tone and style.
8 Magicka
Although many games feature magic in their settings, few really make it into the fascinating mechanic it can be, the arcane arts boiled down into just simple attacks. But Magicka dives into that complexity to make something interesting. Magicka sees you taking control of a wizard from a grand order to stop an evil sorcerer in a world based on Norse myth.
What makes Magicka so beloved is the complex and simplistic magic system, allowing players to combine up to 8 elements and designate them to a target for any number of effects to go off. It’s a game about discovering which spells are most useful for what situations. For fans of Forspoken’s magic system, this is something you can fall in love with.
7 Darkest Dungeon
Dark fantasy can usually lean pretty easily into horror, the worlds already having a bleak tone and horrifying elements they can easily lean more into, and this is exactly what Darkest Dungeon does. Darkest Dungeon is an RPG that sees you assembling a team of hapless adventurers to delve into and reclaim the lands of your family, now overtaken by Lovecraftian horrors.
Darkest Dungeon is a game that earns its title in both gameplay and story; it is horrifically dark. The game will force you to accept loss as it’s tough as nails, constantly hitting you with impossible obstacles and permanently killing your party members just when you get attached to them. And through all of that, you discover the horrible things your ancestor did and the horrors unleashed on the lands. For those wanting a truly bleak experience, this is the perfect game.
6 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Part of what can make magic in some games so underwhelming is how static it can feel — it doesn’t feel like you’re affecting the world, just one enemy or one thing. But Divinity: Original Sin 2 offers a far more dynamic system. Divinity: Original Sin 2 sees you gathering up a party to explore the world of Rivelton and forging your own path.
When it comes to magic, Divinity offers a far more dynamic experience, thanks to all its gameplay systems. Magic will affect the environment, like dousing fires, lighting up oil, and electrifying water. Combine that with a rich fantasy world and incredible player freedom, and you have a game that fans of Forspoken will love.
5 Noita
Another thing that’s missing from Forspoken’s magic element is that sense of arcane discovery, learning your own spells and finding wild effects with them, and in terms of that, Noita is unbeaten. Noita is a game that sees you as a wizard venturing underground to explore a pixel-simulated world, gathering spells and fighting against monsters.
Noita is a game all about discovering how the world works as every single pixel is simulated in Noita, having their own properties and the way they react to things and various spells, and almost everything being breakable. And the way you interact and discover all this is with your customizable spells, being able to create chain effects on your wands to create wild spells. It’s a game where you can have total control over the world if you know what you’re doing… But it will take a long time to learn that much.
4 Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Open worlds have had an interesting history and evolution from the more basic ones of old to the age where they were utterly packed with things to do and several little distractions, and now a new age of re-examining the open world brought upon by Breath of the Wild. Breath of the Wild is a reimagining of both the Zelda series and open worlds, seeing Link traversing a broken Hyrule with the single goal of stopping Ganon.
What makes Breath of the Wild so special is both how minimalistic it is and how free it is. The game doesn’t bombard the player with info, instead letting them have an experience of more natural discovery than most games, figuring out creative solutions of their own and their own way through things. And this is helped by the freedom of the game, as things truly can be tackled in any order after the tutorial, letting the player even fight Ganon right away. It builds up to be a truly memorable experience that feels so natural and wonderful.
3 The Witcher 3
But that isn’t to say the more linear open world is dead; there’s still a lot of merit in offering those side things but still forcing a rich main story and experience, such as in the Witcher 3. The game sees you once again taking control of Geralt, now sent on a mission to find his daughter and save her from the ghostly Wild Hunt.
The Witcher 3 offers a wide world with so many things to see and do in every inch of it, each side quest having some sort of story to it no matter how mundane the task may be, and that helps the world feel enriched and alive. And for fans of Forspoken, the game also offers excellent combat that will keep you on your toes, especially at higher difficulties.
2 Dragon’s Dogma
Part of what can feel so disappointing to some about open worlds like Forspoken is how they promise freedom in their world and then just don’t allow too many options… But Dragon’s Dogma is a rare game that delivers on that promise. Dragon’s Dogma sees you creating an adventurer and venturing out with 3 AI companions to explore the world and try to slay the dragon terrorizing the land.
Dragon’s Dogma offers an unprecedented level of freedom, having the same qualities as Breath of the Wild of going anywhere in any order; along with this, it offers a ton of freedom in character creation, with even your height changing how the game plays out for you. And while the quests sometimes are more linear, plenty offer multiple ways to conclude them and some in a creative way as you can keep quest items and give characters forgeries through a special system, sometimes coming back to bite you. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience.
1 Elden Ring
For the perfect combination of interesting magic that feels different from the usual play, a fascinating dark fantasy world, and an open world that’s rich and worth exploring, nothing is better than Elden Ring. Elden Ring sees you venturing into the Lands Between, a shattered world of insane lords and heroes of old, now trying to reclaim the Elden Ring and become Elden Lord.
Elden Ring handles the open world perfectly as it doesn’t force you to go through any kind of linear path, instead just asking you to defeat a few bosses to beat it and just encouraging the player to take a certain path and order through difficulty and get stronger. And just like its predecessor Dark Souls, it builds up a fascinating world and lore silently, with its own ideas of magic and other fantasy concepts we usually take for granted. It’s a master class of a game perfect for those who want a richer experience after Forspoken.
