Fantasy based games can come in many forms, and 2022 will see its share. Already we’ve seen Pokemon Legends: Arceus hit the Nintendo Switch, with its exploration of the Hisui region and collecting and battling of the many creatures that live there. We’ve had the rogue-like GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon that takes you on a trip through Hell inspired by Japanese culture. One of the most anticipated titles from From Software, the developers behind the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, and Sekiro arrives on consoles and PC February 25 in the form of Elden Ring. The game comes to us from the minds of Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones), and it begs the question: Just what is more important in creating a fantasy game? Do you build a convincing and enticing world, allowing players to make their own way and mark through it? Or do you lead players along with a solid narrative, a tale woven to hold them spellbound and wanting to know what’s next over the course of 30-50 hours? World or story: just what’s the best way to build a fantasy?
We’ll look at a number of games here that embrace each approach. Videogames certainly give us plenty of material to draw from, perhaps lagging only behind books as a primary means for depicting the genre. The first thing we need to establish is: Just what is a fantasy game? Of course, with the meaning taken very loosely, all videogames could be considered fantasies. Who doesn’t like to indulge being a star quarterback in the latest edition of Madden or winning the World Series in MLB: The Show? We like to play the hero, be it on the battlefield in the latest, well, uh, Battlefield or beating the bad guys to the treasure in Tomb Raider or Uncharted. We face our fears when killing zombies in the bowels of a mansion in Resident Evil and when we take down a dragon in Skyrim. For our purposes, only that last title would qualify as a fantasy game.
We’ll define fantasy games as those that involve multiple characters or races, swords and bows or other medieval weapons, the existence of magic, a large vast land, and fantastical creatures. We can also follow a single character on a narrative through a world that fits our prior description, and some worlds may have technology that’s advanced but that there isn’t a highly technological state that would be more science fiction than fantasy. Fantasy games often allow players to create their own characters, choosing their appearance, attributes, class, race, and even what god they align with and whether they are good or evil, chaotic or lawful. As you can see, trying to nail the genre down can be tricky, but the following list of games will provide some examples: Bloodborne, Dragon Age: Origins, Final Fantasy IX, Sekiro, Skyrim, God of War, GetsuFumaDen, Kingdoms of Amalur, and the Dragon Quest series. Of course, we will not be solely limited to just these titles, but they’re all good examples of the genre.
Of course there are games that might seem to fit the fantasy mold, but actually fall into closely related genres. Sekiro is fantasy because there are fantastical creatures (for example, an ogre and a giant snake), and there are elements of magic. And while Sekiro is played out against a version of 14th Century Japan, it’s different from a historical action-adventure like Ghost of Tsushima, where things are dealt with in a more realistic manner. Bioshock may appear to be fantasy with its incredible underwater city, but it would really be closer to science-fiction with its themes and technology. Resident Evil and Skyrim may both have zombies, but the former is more horror and science-fiction while the latter with its dragons and sorcery is a very typical fantasy setting. These distinctions are important since the fantasy genre seems to have the greatest contrast between world building and a narrative experience.
Let’s look at world-building first. World building consists of creating an environment in which the game takes place and that with which players will interact. World building is exactly what it sounds like. Environments, cultures, races, languages, histories, religions, flora and fauna, and levels of technology or the use of magic all need to be created and established. Skimp on this, and your game world can feel empty and soulless, neither of which is any fun to spend a couple of hours in, let alone 30-50. Pack it too densely, and you could possibly overwhelm players with information overload. A balance needs to be struck, and the best games succeed in this. A good game world should also be fun and encourage the player to indulge in exploration, and that what’s found through exploring has some substance to it. No player wants to spend time to climb to the top of a mountain, only to find the empty shells of some buildings or a withered flower with no context of what they are and why they’re there. Finding an empty village where clues of an ancient, magical race was left behind or a flower that holds the key to saving the world is easily the better way to go, though you still need to convey the history behind such things in an interesting and preferably unique manner.
The Dark Souls games and Bloodborne do a very nice job of establishing a mysterious world with a foreboding atmosphere, but finding the lore can take some digging on the part of the players. Key NPCs can relay bits of history, but the strength of these games lies more in their atmosphere and the combat with its inhabitants. The difficulty of the boss battles in the Souls series and its brethren from From Software is the biggest draw to these games, and they succeed quite well in that regard. Sekiro:Shadows Die Twice goes a bit further by giving more of a narrative to draw us into Wolf’s quest to rescue his young lord. Differing from the previous titles, Sekiro gives us an actual protagonist to get through the world, instead of creating our own story with a created character. It remains to be seen how Elden Ring will fare with its world being created by George R. R. Martin and Hidetaka Miyazaki, and whether that game will build upon From Software’s already working formula.
Games like The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning take a similar approach to each other, combining strong world building with an overarching narrative. Both games have a main quest (in Skyrim it’s having your character rise up and become the Dragon Born and do battle with Alduin, the most powerful dragon in the realm. Amalur finds your character as one who can create his own destiny, and needs to rise up to lead the land’s people against a great evil.) in addition to multiple side quests and guilds players can join to create their own version of the main quest. The Dragon Age games also take this approach, though their focus is a bit stronger on the main story. These games also allow for multiple endings, making the experience a bit different for each individual player.
Some games go the other way, giving the barest explanations on the lore of the world and focusing more on the narrative. Games in both the Dragon Quest and the Final Fantasy series tend to fit this mold. While the worlds are suitably established in these games, their main focus is the story they tell. Players play specific characters rather than create their own, with only an occasional choice figuring into the mix. NPCs can still send players on various side quests, though these are often mere side diversions and extra activities tacked on to the main story. The plus side of this is that now players have characters to become attached to and even root for. The Final Fantasy series was especially successful in this, with the title that may come to mind for many being that of Final Fantasy VII . Though it skews closer to science fiction than pure fantasy, the characters of Cloud and Aerith have made an indelible mark on gaming, regardless of what genre you place it in. Sephiroth makes for a memorable villain, and it has remained among one of the most popular entries in the series.
Perhaps one of the most memorable blends of narrative and world building comes from The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt . Developer CD Projekt Red did an excellent job of focusing the story on Geralt and his quest to find Ciri against the looming threat of the Wild Hunt, while developing a very engaging world to explore and plenty of meaningful, and even heartfelt, side quests for the player to undertake. I’m sure many players spent hours just engaged in the card game of Gwent alone (the card game proved so popular it got its own spin-off game Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales) . It was one of the few games that made chasing down every “?” on the map worth your time. The world felt vibrant and alive, and that it just wasn’t merely pretty scenery to travel through.
So, which is the best way to build a fantasy? Honestly, there is no one right answer. Building a fully realized world certainly is important. Playing in an empty, vacant shell, no matter how pretty it is to look at, is never much fun. A strong narrative to pull players through can help, but with how many stories have already been told it becomes increasingly difficult to give players something they haven’t seen or been through before. Allowing players to create their own stories is fraught with its own perils, yet this can be ultimately very rewarding when done right. It really comes down to the players themselves, deciding what type of experience they crave at a given moment. Both world and story are necessary to make the games memorable, and to make them stand out for years to come. The Dark Souls games, Bloodborne, Skyrim, The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt and Final Fantasy VII all have made their mark. Now we wait to see what fantasy world will next capture gamer’s imaginations and carve a place for themselves in our memories.
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