Best Open-World RPGs Where Player Choice Matters

Many open-world games promise total freedom and huge worlds to explore, and some even let you make choices that shape your story. However, very few of them actually deliver on that promise completely.

Games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Disco Elysium have interesting choices, but aren’t truly open-world. While Dying Light 2 and Elden Ring offer choices, they don’t feel significant enough considering their large worlds. Let’s now look at the games that really excelled in both open-world design and player choice, and see how they rank.

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Avowed

Mushroom Gods

So, in Avowed, I play as an Envoy – basically an official representative – sent from the big kingdom to this place called the Living Lands. There’s this nasty disease spreading, the Dream Scourge, and everyone’s worried about it. The problem is, back home, they don’t even believe it’s real! As the Envoy, I get to decide how to handle things. I can be the tough guy and follow the kingdom’s orders to the letter, or I can try to do what’s right by the people and be a bit more compassionate. It’s all up to me how I approach the situation.

In the game, you can heavily customize your character’s appearance, even giving them unique features that hint at a deeper connection to the game’s lore and the mysterious Dream Scourge. Quests aren’t straightforward; for example, one early quest, “Dawntreader,” can lead to drastically different outcomes – from a dark path involving sacrifice and robots, to a heroic choice that defeats a rogue leader. The world is populated by various factions, and your choices about which ones to support will influence how others treat you. Magic is also a key element, allowing you to manipulate the environment in temporary ways – like freezing a lake to create a new path.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

Rags To Riches

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 offers a realistic medieval experience similar to Red Dead Redemption 2, focusing on historical accuracy rather than fantasy. The game meticulously recreates the Bohemian region of the 1400s, with cities like Kuttenberg feeling authentically gritty and detailed – a real treat for history buffs. You play as Henry, who begins as a soldier, and while you’re not forced to follow the rules, your actions have consequences. Your reputation will spread from town to town, so committing crimes like murder or theft can quickly get you known – and not in a good way.

One of the best parts of the game is improving your speech skill, which lets you talk your way through situations that fighting can’t solve. Quests aren’t always straightforward; your choices and how you interact with townsfolk, bandits, and hidden locations can lead to different results. While the world is large and can feel overwhelming at first, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is very satisfying if you stick with it. You can rise from a simple soldier to a celebrated knight or become the most skilled rogue in Bohemia.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Every Choice Is Dark

Similar to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt doesn’t let you create your own character, but your choices significantly impact how the story unfolds in both main and side quests. You play as Geralt, a monster hunter, who is searching for Ciri, a young woman he cares for, while being pursued by supernatural enemies called the Wild Hunt. His journey takes him through beautifully detailed villages that feel like they’re from a storybook, and he battles incredibly terrifying monsters – everything from giants and trolls to witches and creatures resembling trees. A prime example of the game’s depth is the quest involving the Bloody Baron, where you must decide how to handle his troubled family and save the villagers.

The game often forces you to make difficult choices where saving one person means another might suffer, and these choices are woven into a complex network of quests. Even seemingly minor tasks, like saving someone from a mob, can have significant consequences. Ultimately, players will frequently face grim outcomes, trading one sacrifice for another. The core of the experience lies in dealing with the repercussions of your actions and striving to do what’s best – either for the greater good or to help Geralt succeed in finding Ciri.

Cyberpunk 2077

It’s Hard In Night City

CD Projekt Red, the creators of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, also made Cyberpunk 2077, but the two games are very different experiences. Cyberpunk 2077 is set in a futuristic world, specifically in the high-tech city of Night City, where the possibilities seem endless. Players create their own character, known as V, and choose a starting background: a Nomad living in the wasteland, a Corpo with connections inside the city’s powerful corporations, or a Street Kid trying to make a name for themselves. Each background offers a unique way to begin the game and experience Night City.

I’m really digging how open-ended the gameplay is. No matter how I start, I can totally customize my character with cybernetics to become good at pretty much anything. Wanna be a hacker who can take down enemies from behind cover? Done. Prefer to sneak past everyone? There are skills for that too. Plus, how I interact with the different groups in the city really matters – siding with corporations might get me different quests than helping the street gangs, and it’s a cool system. Then, once Johnny Silverhand shows up – he’s an AI based on a real person, which is wild – things get even more complicated, but honestly, it makes the story way more interesting. He definitely throws a wrench into my plans, but in a good way!

The Outer Worlds 2

Choice Through Mistakes

The Outer Worlds 2 is a role-playing game where your choices truly matter. While it doesn’t feature one massive world, it offers diverse systems that ensure every playthrough feels unique. You’ll create a spacefaring adventurer and travel to different planets to resolve local problems. This galaxy is controlled by powerful corporations, but local politics also play a significant role. Similar to Cyberpunk 2077, the game lets you customize your character in countless ways, and each build offers different strengths and approaches.

Take a simple locked door – you could force it open with brute strength or use your engineering skills to bypass it. That’s just one small example of how much player choice matters in The Outer Worlds 2. Almost everything you improve affects the game world, whether it’s opening doors or influencing conversations – your engineering skills might even convince characters to see things your way. What’s truly unique about the game is its willingness to embrace imperfections. If you consistently play a certain way, the game will offer you a Flaw – a Perk with both drawbacks and benefits. For instance, you might be able to sneak more quietly, but standing up could alert nearby enemies. With its deep gameplay and branching dialogue, The Outer Worlds 2 is the perfect RPG for players who want a truly personalized space adventure.

Fallout: New Vegas

Good Or Evil, It’s Up To You

Though it’s an older title from Obsidian Entertainment and doesn’t have the same advanced features as their newer game, The Outer Worlds 2, Fallout: New Vegas is widely considered one of the best – and perhaps the best – in the Fallout series, thanks to its excellent karma system. You play as a courier who’s been shot down and brought back to life, and your main goal is to track down the person who tried to kill you. While you can customize your character’s appearance, it’s mostly limited to facial features. More importantly, your character’s stats and perks – earned every few levels – significantly impact gameplay, making everything from lockpicking to combat much easier and more effective, even letting you obliterate enemies in spectacular fashion.

Your choices as a player matter most, as every action impacts your karma. Helping people, like rescuing them from bandits, will improve your reputation, while constant violence will make you feared. This notoriety can actually be useful – frightened people are easier to control, and ruthless groups like Caesar’s Legion might appreciate your brutality. The game features several major and many smaller factions, including the quirky Kings – a group of Elvis impersonators on the New Vegas strip. As these factions compete for control of Nevada, you can choose to align with them, forge your own path, or simply look out for yourself.

2026-02-18 20:09