8 Best Open-World RPGs That Get Better As You Play

Not every game starts with a high. In some cases, the story and gameplay can take a while to get going before the real action and intensity come into effect. This doesn’t mean the opener itself is poor, but in comparison to where the game ends up, the introduction can feel more like a starter to the eventual main course that players are eagerly waiting to tuck into.

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Also, because of how open-world games function, players may find themselves straying away from the main path for hours on end, never once progressing down the main path until it's absolutely necessary, which can make the early sections feel slow or underwhelming. However, once they reach the heart of the game, players will be greeted with a truly remarkable experience that only gets better and better, becoming increasingly enjoyable right up until the end credits and far beyond into DLCs, late-game sections, and even a second playthrough.

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Slow Start Turned Epic Journey

The introductory section is notoriously slow-paced.
The world gradually opens up in every direction.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt begins as a grounded monster-hunting adventure, but its true strength emerges over the course of a much longer playthrough. Early quests introduce regional politics, folklore, and the harsh realities of life in war-torn lands, and as the journey expands into new regions, the narrative deepens, revealing complex characters and long-running story arcs, both in the side and main parts of the game.

Character progression adds another layer of depth, as those initial conversations begin to carry a lot more weight in the context of a much larger story. On the mechanical side of things, new abilities and upgraded gear transform Geralt from a capable swordsman into a master of combat, letting the player tackle larger threats and more intricate quests that were only hinted at in the beginning.

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

Unfolding A Much Larger Mystery

The best content is found later on.
Combat depth increases significantly.

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen starts with a modest world with a few simple objectives, yet as players delve deeper, they are treated to a surprisingly deep set of systems that were initially fairly basic. The opening hours are spent learning combat and being introduced to the environment, but the game's true potential comes much later from advanced vocations and late-game abilities that transform every fight into something far more spectacular.

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The endgame dungeon, Bitterblack Isle, changes the experience entirely, introducing tougher enemies, rare gear, and encounters that demand a mastery of all the previous combat systems, far beyond what was expected at the start. On top of that, all the work that the player has put into their build becomes more specialized, with individual pieces of equipment growing more powerful and distinctive, allowing those later fights to feel incredibly weighty and satisfying, regardless of how long it took to reach them.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

From Peasant To Warrior

Limited skill access in the beginning.
Rewarding progression right to the end.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance begins as a humble tale of survival, placing an untrained blacksmith’s son in a harsh medieval world far away from the ideals of knighthood. Before any training or progress, the combat feels clumsy and unforgiving, reflecting the protagonist’s lack of skill, and this absence of power starts feeling like a game of patience that can only be overcome with slow, painful steps.

As Henry's skills improve, the transformation is pretty dramatic. Swordplay becomes more fluid, and the player's social abilities improve significantly, unlocking new dialogue options and choices in conversations. However, because of how organic the progression is, there aren't any huge skill jumps, allowing the eventual payoff to feel both earned and natural in the best way possible.

Gothic 2

Brutal Yet Incredibly Rewarding

Fragile early stages.
Training and faction progress unlock new areas and abilities.

Gothic 2 opens in a very similar fashion to the first game, thrusting players into a dangerous world where nearly every creature poses a threat. Each small step in those early hours demands caution, and most progress comes from careful planning and steady improvements rather than reckless leaps into the unknown.

Over time, through training and faction choices, the experience starts to look like an entirely different game. As players become better equipped and more capable, combat feels more manageable, and the quests grow in complexity, with the once-fragile protagonist turning into a fearsome fighter capable of confronting powerful enemies and dictating the fate of the entire world.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord

Grand Battles Hidden Away

Sandbox progression over narrative focus.
Small skirmishes turn into massive fights for the kingdom.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord begins as a small-scale survival experience wherein the player can command only a handful of recruits and has to avoid large armies at all costs. Scarcity is the best way to describe the opening, as money is tight and the equipment that's available is fairly basic, making the world feel vast and intimidating well before things really get going.

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With time, the gameplay evolves into something far grander, as armies grow larger and the player's political influence develops into a force that commands respect from every ally and enemy in the world. What starts as bandit hunting eventually becomes full-scale kingdom management, allowing those late-game battles to feel like the culmination of a long journey from obscurity to genuine power.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

An Iconic Opener That Only Gets Better

Initial sections are fairly simplistic.
The wider world introduces new factions and regions.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has one of the most iconic opening sequences in all of gaming, kickstarting each playthrough with an epic dragon attack that sets the pace for something truly epic. However, as the dust settles, players are presented with a fairly basic set of quests and dungeons to explore. While they might be accessible, they leave a lot to be desired in terms of challenge, rewards, and overall "wow" factor.

Yet as those levels increase, the experience expands in every direction. Faction questlines reveal deeper stories, while high-level enemies and dragons provide tougher challenges. Alongside this world growth comes personal progression, with new shouts, heightened subclass abilities, and a huge range of weapons to choose from, giving players the ultimate RPG fantasy that they've been looking for all along.

Fallout: New Vegas

A True Role-Playing Excellence

Narrative complexity grows with faction involvement.
Player choices reshape the world over time.

Fallout: New Vegas opens with a simple revenge story for players to follow, with nothing but a basic set of equipment to help them along the way. The harshness of the wasteland is immediately apparent, from the limited resources to the brutality of the enemies, and many of the choices the player makes feel pretty small in the context of the wider world.

Those humble beginnings progress steadily into a politically complex playthrough fueled by player decisions and the outcomes they bring with them. As major factions emerge, new agendas come into play, and those initial choices begin to carry a different kind of weight, determining the fates of individual characters, and in some cases, the future of the wasteland.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Bringing Mythological Legends To Life

Level-gated regions that eventually become accessible.
More powerful and specialized combat styles later on.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey initially presents players with a personal tale of exile and survival in Ancient Greece. The early missions focus on local conflicts, small bounties, and the exploration of nearby islands. Everything about the game, even the combat, is pretty basic at this point, and it isn't until a bit later that those simplicities fizzle away.

As levels increase, the world opens dramatically. More locations become available, and the action within them becomes grander and grander. The stories also start to become heavier, expanding the more personal tales into those of legend, whilst giving players far more ways to express themselves through skill and ability trees that are a big enough reason in themselves to stick with the game.