Summary
Ever since the first proto-computer games were birthed in the early machines at various colleges across the United States during the 1970s, designers, artists, and coders have aspired to capture the same sense of liberation they felt (and still feel today) during agood pen-and-paper tabletop roleplaying session, such asDungeons & Dragons, to pack it all in a computer game. “Go anywhere, do anything” is one of the most celebrated core tenets most roleplaying fans cherish and ultimately yearn for. It’s the driving motivation behind the big studios' push for gigantic open worlds, and it might also be why seemingly every open-world game incorporates RPG elements.
Having miles of explorable terrain and complex skill trees doesn’t necessarily mean that the game prioritizes player freedom of choice, nor does it mean those choices are respected or followed up on. While players may not always look for games with rigorous reactivity, its inclusion almost always leads to more compelling experiences. As far as technology and game design practices have come, the promise of near-infinite player choice and freedom paired with a robust “action-reaction” dynamic still seems like a faraway dream. However, a few studios have come close, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the medium, bringing that precious dream closer to reality.
Despite the game’s name, not everything has to be about clashing steel or horseback riding inMount & Blade. Players can take to the life of a hapless adventurer, a peasant, a soldier, a blacksmith, a merchant, a bounty hunter, a gambler, a landlord, a jouster, a monarch, a slavemaster, a slave, or a simple beggar. Granted, blades and horses will occasionally enter into the equation from time to time, but thanks toBannerlord’simpressive simulation of societal systems and open-ended design, no player will ever be railroaded into doing anything they don’t want (although some lifestyles require more grinding than others).
There is a sandbox mode that expands that freedom even more (where players can more finely choose their age, skip the story, and choose where to start out), but it is recommended only for playersfamiliar with the basics, as the campaign was primarily designed to help ease players in and give them some direction. Additionally, sandbox mode won’t allow players to start off as royalty, as that is something they will have to work towards with their own blood, sweat, and divine entitlement.
Maintaining a balance between empowering the player enough to allow them to be whoever they want to be and telling agreat story in an open-world RPGis just about the highest order of challenge any games studio or developer can set themselves. Miraculously, Obsidian managed to pull it off in an entirely unfamiliar engine in only 18 months. The main character ofFallout: New Vegasis very much guided during their time in the Nevada Wasteland by clever map and narrative design, but the player always has the option to skip parts of the story, do parts of the story, or go off and do their own thing if they want (or are skilled enough).
Not only is the player’s choice of playstyle respected, but NPCs will remember even the smallest details and react accordingly based on what the player does (and how). Events unfold differently, and the context and state of each act will shift slightly depending on the player’s input. The story ofNew Vegaswas crafted in such a way that players will both want to see every part of the world and involve themselves with events as they play out. However, even if two players explore the whole game and complete every quest, they will always end up having two different characters by the end, both having left the region in two completely different states.
Set in a Tolkien-esque fantasy world undergoing an industrial revolution,Arcanummixes might, magic, and machinery to create a unique, hybrid setting brimming with possibility. From the staggering number of background and build options during character creation to the surprising amount of consequential reactivity (reading about the party’s exploits in the in-game newspaper is a trip), this old-school RPG was made by developers (FalloutCreator Tim Cain among them) who understood the potential of the genre and, despite technological limitations, reached for the stars.
Because of the game’s enormous and ambitious scope, there are bugs to contend with, and balance is somewhat askew (for example, the “harm” spell and the charisma attribute ended up being a little game-breaking). However, if the player is allowed to build a playstyle, chances are, the player will be able to use it to complete the game (or at least the main quest). A great example ofArcanumoffering player freedom and following it up with consequences is the dichotomy between magic and technology. The player character can become proficient in whichever takes their fancy, but going too far in one direction will lock them out from doing both, and this is even reflected in the story in unexpected ways.
As of this time of writing, only one game comes the closest to replicating the experience of jumping into a game ofDungeons & Dragonsat a gaming table:Baldur’s Gate 3. With an absolutely absurd number of viable builds, gameplay choices, and, perhaps most importantly, consequences for the player’s actions, Larian has pushed the boundaries of what many thought was possible in the computer-driven roleplaying space by providing a seemingly countless number of story branches. And in a game that looks as good asBG3with full voice acting, that is no easy feat.
Its success results from hard work built on top of an ethos of retaining seasoned talent in a company to which its publisher has total creative freedom. Larian is famous for testing the limits of choice in the long-runningDivinityseries, butBaldur’s Gate 3is an accumulation of all that experiential wisdom. Larian prides itself on creating so much depth that specific outcomes and dialogue trees inBG3may still beundiscovered a whole year after its release. While it may be a depressing prospect for some game developers to internalize, this bold design choice and willingness to create content that so few players will see may be the secret ingredient for a gold-standard RPG.
There is no easy toss-up between any ofThe Elder Scrollsgames when it comes to player freedom. While some fans might have peggedSkyrimfor this spot, it falls short in one criterion: consequence. This wasn’t necessarily the wrong direction for the series to take, as the open-world casual approach to faction-joining and often binary decision-making made it easier for newcomers to fall in without too much pressure, but long-time fans tend to agree that something is lost this way. WhileDaggerfallis also a contender with its overwhelming array of character creation options and expansive world, choices can be generic due to the limited diversity in its pool of emergent content.
With all that in mind,Morrowindemerges as the best middle-ground. The player is never gated out of going somewhere or doing something besides walking time or gold for a silt strider and occasionally dangerous foes. The main quest has several “breaker points” where the player character is explicitly told to go out and explore, grow, and get involved in the world. Finally, the factions the player joins and the decisions they make have (sometimes small but) powerful impact. The game is now decades old, and some players may feel the need to usemods to modernize certain aspects ofMorrowind(combat in particular). Besides perhaps needing a light patch here and there,The Elder Scrolls 3best maintains that precarious balance of liberty, meaningful decision-making, and reactivity.
Warren Spectoronce explained in an interviewthat while he was working on thelegendary stealth-genre pioneerThief, he became frustrated about not being able to complete a stage stealthily and wanted to engage in combat instead. After being told that “nobody was going to want to use stealth” if they could bypass guards with violence, he became determined to one day prove them wrong by producing a game in which the player could choose their own approach. That game ended up beingDeus Ex, a game funded by John Romero (ofDoomfame) and limited in scope only by imagination and ambition.
When players are presented with a guarded and locked door inDeus Ex, finding the correct key is never the only option. There’s usually a way to sneak by to pick the lock, or a chance to find an alternate route, or, failing that, to charm someone with the right access. Alternatively, for those with little to no finesse, a well-aimed rocket launcher shot will do the job nicely. This approach to problem-solving was adapted to just about every quest or obstacle, a radical design approach back in 1999, and is still a rarity in narrative-based RPGs today.
