Best Fantasy Games With Deeper World-Building Than Movies

Video games have advantages that movies simply don’t. They can build worlds that players don’t just have to look at; they can explore them. It’s why video games even dominate books and TV shows, as good developers can ensnare players in their worlds.

There are many ways to do this, from cool art styles to unique cities and races to just having a big open-world environment to explore. The following fantasy worlds do a better job than most games and movies, like Hollow Knight: Silksong and Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. To find out more about these worlds and others, read on.

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Hollow Knight: Silksong

Bugging Out

Hollow Knight: Silksong is a 2D Metroidvania that takes place in a different location than the first game and also features a new protagonist, Hornet, who evolves from a side character to the main. Hornet was kidnapped and brought to this new world, only able to escape after her convoy fell off a stone bridge. When she escaped the hollow she fell into, Hornet discovered this world is obsessed with the idea of pilgrimages. Bugs of all shapes and sizes go on a journey to a fabled church high in the mountains to pray for enlightenment, but all is not what it seems, as Hornet and players will soon find out.

The different areas players will travel to have deep lore hiding within, which is told through context, like through the designs of buildings, like living inside tin cans, notes left behind, or NPCs. Thanks to the game’s hand-drawn aesthetic, the world comes alive better than some big animated movies from Disney or DreamWorks. Comparing it to other bug-based movies, like A Bug’s Life, the world-building of Hollow Knight: Silksong is immaculate, as it asks questions beyond how funny it is that bugs are sentient. It wants to know their culture, including their religion, how they defend themselves, and so on. Even though these are cartoon bugs, players can believe in their reality.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch

To Another World

Even though Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is not based on anything, it has a bit of an unfair advantage since Studio Ghibli, a renowned animation company, worked on the game’s designs and animated cutscenes. The story follows a young boy named Oliver who lost his mom due to an illness in the real world, which looks like a typical 1950s-era USA town. After crying into his stuffed doll, Mr. Drippy, it awakens and takes Oliver to a gate into another world, which looks like a typical fantasy setting. What makes the world unique is that players will encounter several NPCs with a problem who have a counter to a character in the real world.

Solving the problem in the real world, including a party member named Esther, will cure the NPC in the fantasy world. It’s a nice mirroring of worlds and a unique way to solve problems in this monster-catching RPG. Beyond that, Oliver can learn spells via a book called the Wizard’s Companion. In the PS3 version, this was an all-digital guide, but in the original DS version, Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn, it came with a physical book for players to reference spells and create a better sense of immersion. Plenty of films have tried the isekai effect, including the Harry Potter films, but not many have tried the mirror world effect of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch that builds on not just one world, but two.

A Blend Of Fantasy And Sci-Fi

Metaphor: ReFantazio was a new project from the Persona team at Atlus that took place in a completely new fantasy world. The game’s opening plot followed Will and his companions in an assassination plot to kill a high-ranking general, Louis, who supposedly could break the curse of a prince who should rightfully inherit the throne after his father died. The twist is that the assassination fails, and the previous king’s spirit descends from the heavens as a giant sun to decree a political race for the throne that anyone can run for. On the political trail, as Will and his companions are trying to win for the prince, players will learn about the different races of the world and how their plights are being downplayed by the upper crust, thus enriching the lore.

There’s also a good blend of horror in the game, as well, since bosses are mutated creatures called Humans, which look straight out of Attack on Titan, that do indeed look like humans. The closest dark fantasy movie this game could relate to is perhaps The Green Knight in terms of the horror vibes, or maybe even The Dark Crystal. Metaphor: ReFantazio is a linear game that gives players freedom to explore, fight in turn-based and real-time battles, and just breathe in the world. It has the benefit of linearly taking 80+ hours, but not feeling quite as taxing since the story and characters are engrossing.

Dark Cloud 2

A Time Traveling Epic

Dark Cloud 2 is an action RPG from the PS2 era that still holds up in terms of gameplay and its story. It begins with Monica, a princess, witnessing her father being murdered in the future, and in the past, Max is a humble engineer going to a circus. This leads Max into the sewers to try and escape the circus after a bunch of clowns try to steal his pendant. Max meets Monica and the two form a bond when their two pendants react, allowing them to travel between the present and the future.

Various towns around the world have been destroyed thanks to Emperor Griffin, and the duo has a unique power, beyond time travel, to fix everything. In dungeons, they can gather orbs that safely house lost NPCs and building materials for the nearby villages. By releasing these NPCs and buildings, players can freely rebuild the towns and interact with the NPCs to further the story and restore time. There aren’t many stories about rebuilding what has been destroyed quite like this. Even a brilliant film like Back to the Future doesn’t get as intricate with the time travel.

Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand

Hunting Vampires With Sunlight

Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand is a top-down action-adventure game for the GBA that was pretty mind-blowing in 2003. There was a solar panel attached to the cartridge that absorbed sunlight into the hero’s gun. This hero, Django, was aided by a talking Sunflower, Master Otenko, who guided him to different vampire crypts around the world. Players needed solar energy to fight back monsters, and the best way to get it was through direct sunlight, although there were items and solar banks to use in a pinch, too.

Creating a vampire-hunting game was already a cool idea for a story, but it gets even more elaborate when fighting one of the main vampires. Players have to defeat it, thus forcing it to retreat into a coffin. Players then have to drag that coffin out of the dungeon and expose it to direct sunlight outside to fully vanquish it. Sinners, Blade, and From Dusk Till Dawn are great vampire movies, but none of them have cool little details like this. It goes to show that even as a GBA game, Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand still has the juice.

Elden Ring

So Good It’s Becoming A Movie

Elden Ring doesn’t have a deep system of lore that begs players to piece it all together instead of a direct story. Players awaken as a Tarnished, a sort of soulless wreck of a human who is bound to an ancient world, and the only vague guidance they have is to reach a glowing golden tree far off in the distance. Players will face elaborately designed bosses and enemies on their journey from fellow Tarnished lords to dragons. There are also NPCs around, like Iron Fist Alexander or Ranni, whose agendas are as mysterious as this land.

No NPC will directly tell players what is going on. They will have to figure it out based on ancient scripts, environmental clues, vague descriptions from NPCs, and online Reddit forums to fully piece things together. Fans were so interested in figuring out this world that it built a community, and that’s pretty astounding. Out of all these entries, Elden Ring is the only one getting a movie, and that should say something about the world-building of this dark fantasy, which is even stranger than Metaphor: ReFantazio. And even if players don’t want to go on forums, they can just appreciate Elden Ring’s world while playing it.