Open-World Games Where the World Tells the Story (No Cutscenes)

Games often use cinematic scenes, called cutscenes, to tell stories and highlight big, emotional moments that wouldn’t be possible through regular gameplay. But some games skip cutscenes altogether, choosing to tell their stories through the game’s environment instead.

The game’s story isn’t told through cutscenes or direct explanations. Instead, players piece it together by finding things like wall carvings, old audio recordings, and forgotten books hidden throughout the world. This makes discovering the story feel rewarding and natural, as if you’re uncovering it yourself, bit by bit.

Subnautica

Stories Buried in the Deep Sea

Subnautica is a survival game where you build a base underwater. It tells its story through the environment around you, rather than cutscenes. This allows players to explore the ocean at their own pace, discovering the secrets of this new world, its hazards, and the potential it holds.

Instead of traditional cutscenes, the story unfolds through audio logs and journal pages you discover while exploring wrecked spaceships, deserted escape pods, and hidden labs at the bottom of the ocean.

Outward

Lore Earned Through Exploration

Outward is an open-world indie game with a detailed backstory and a large world to explore. What makes it unique is that the story unfolds through conversations with characters you meet in towns and cities like Cierzo, Berg, Levant, Monsoon, and New Sirocco – there aren’t any cutscenes at all.

Players can uncover rich details about the game’s enemies, groups, magic system, and political landscape, but the game doesn’t simply tell them the story. Instead, Outward rewards curiosity and exploration, as there are no typical quest markers guiding you – discovering things on your own is what makes it so satisfying.

Project Zomboid

A World Ending Quietly in the Background

Project Zomboid is an open-world game where you try to survive a zombie apocalypse. Unlike many games, there aren’t any set quests or storylines – your primary goal is simply to stay alive. Learning about what’s happening in the wider world is up to you, and most players focus on immediate survival rather than investigating the bigger picture or paying attention to clues about what’s happening outside your local area.

Curious players can learn about the wider world as the zombie outbreak progresses. By finding and listening to radio broadcasts, watching old TV programs, and reading magazines, they can gradually uncover the story. The game tells this story brilliantly through its environment, and remarkably, it does so without any cutscenes.

Valheim

Norse Myths Etched into Stone

Valheim places you in a challenging, randomly generated world based on Norse mythology, where the story unfolds through exploration and discovery. After a brief introduction explaining you’re a warrior sent to Valheim to defeat Odin’s enemies, the Forsaken, the game provides no further guidance, leaving you to uncover the rest of the narrative on your own.

Valheim’s rich backstory is revealed through rune stones – large, magical rocks placed around the world by Odin. These stones offer guidance to warriors tasked with defeating the Forsaken. The engravings on them tell tales of past heroes sent by Odin, hint at hidden treasures, describe strange dreams, share folklore, and proclaim the deeds of legendary figures, among other things.

Kenshi

A World That Changes With Every Choice

Okay, so Kenshi is this amazing open-world RPG, but it doesn’t hold your hand with a bunch of cutscenes. Instead, the story just is the world. You learn about everything by actually exploring – wandering around ruined cities, chatting with the people you meet, even freeing slaves and finding hidden places. It’s all about discovering the lore yourself, which is really cool.

What’s unique about the story in Kenshi is that it doesn’t just focus on history – it actually changes as you play. As you join different groups and help them take control of areas, the world transforms. New groups appear, conflicts break out, and fresh stories emerge as your game progresses.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

The Land of the Nords Holds Many Secrets

As a huge fan, what I love about Skyrim is how it tells its story. It doesn’t rely on a bunch of flashy cutscenes; instead, you piece things together through talking to people, reading books you find, and really exploring the world. It’s amazing how the landscape itself – from old Nordic ruins to those mysterious Dwemer caves and dragon burial mounds – feels lived-in. It’s not just a pretty snowy place, it’s a world that shows you the history of those who came before, if you take the time to look for it. It really feels alive!

The world of Skyrim is filled with hundreds of books, letters, and notes that reveal the history and current events of Tamriel. Players who want to learn more about the rich backstory of The Elder Scrolls can spend countless hours exploring and discovering new details about the world.

Although Skyrim includes planned events, such as the opening carriage ride and the conversation with Jarl Balgruuf during the dragon attack, these aren’t traditional cutscenes.

Elite Dangerous

A Living Milky Way Shaped By Players

Elite Dangerous lets you explore a remarkably detailed, procedurally generated version of the Milky Way galaxy. The game features a rich history about humanity’s journey into space, including conflicts between groups like the Federation and the Alliance, and dangers posed by alien races such as the Thargoids. Unlike many games, Elite Dangerous is a true sandbox – it doesn’t offer traditional quests or a set storyline. Players are free to define their own goals and explore the galaxy as they wish, discovering the game’s lore through their own exploration.

The galaxy in Elite Dangerous is constantly changing, not just through big story events, but also because of what players do. Every action has a ripple effect: attacking a faction’s base weakens their control in a star system, and they could even be forced out completely if their influence drops too low. On the other hand, completing missions for a faction strengthens their position, allowing players to directly help factions gain power and become dominant in a system.

Outer Wilds

A Solar System Built on Questions

Outer Wilds is unique because it tells its story entirely through the world around you. Unlike many games, it doesn’t use cutscenes or give you directions with quest markers. Instead, you’re dropped into a solar system stuck in a 22-minute time loop. You must explore and piece together the mysteries of the system before time runs out, gradually uncovering the full story and ultimately reaching the game’s conclusion.

The game features a time loop where players always return to the beginning, with the world resetting each time. However, they retain knowledge gained from previous loops, allowing them to gradually uncover the truth. Because clues can be discovered in any order, each player’s experience is different and personalized.

Elden Ring

A Masterclass in Environmental Storytelling

The story of Elden Ring was created with assistance from renowned author George R.R. Martin, and it’s revealed in a unique, piecemeal way. Lore isn’t presented directly, but rather discovered in fragments scattered throughout the game’s vast world. Important details about Elden Ring’s backstory are hidden in item descriptions, vague conversations with characters, and subtle environmental clues – secrets that are so easily overlooked that it took the combined effort of the entire player community to uncover them.

Players uncover the story of the Lands Between bit by bit, gradually learning the truth about the fight to become Elden Lord, the relationships between the characters they meet, and the goals of the different groups and religions in the world. Figuring out the lore in Elden Ring can be challenging, but it’s incredibly satisfying when everything clicks and you finally see how seemingly unrelated events and conversations connect.

Nearly all the big bosses in Elden Ring have a small introductory cutscene. But because the game tells most of its story through the world around you—through the environment itself—we believe it still deserves recognition for its storytelling.

2026-01-15 08:35