Perhaps the main storyline left questions unanswered, or maybe you just found a world that utterly entrances you.
In fact, there are entire communities online dedicated to digging around in games and teasing out little details.
28Dishonored
At first glance, the Dishonored games can feel simple in their world building.
An assortment of islands that resemble European cultures and the great unexplored beyond that.
You realise then that the world of Dishonored is temporary, transitory.
A drop in the great beyond.
Whales are turned into deific figures in a world fearful of its own speedy development.
Arcane powers are subjugated yet envied after.
The strength of Death Stranding’s lore comes from reality.
The BT’s looking like oil, the westward push where more and more golden chiral is found.
The scientific tying of extinction entities to human greed.
26The Ivalice Final Fantasy Games
Outside of direct sequels, the Final Fantasy games are mostly disconnected.
A few summons and themes can reappear, but that’s it.
Final Fantasy 12 stands out in this regard though.
And that isa world steeped in its own history.
The Ivalice world is comprised of FF Tactics, FF 12, and the non-FF Vagrant Story.
They all take place across various swathes of history, and are seemingly disconnected at first glance.
It is a deeply complex and political world that rewards you diving in at the deep end.
25Alan Wake Series
Alan Wakewas a solo affair for a straight decade.
Then, in 2019,Controlwas released.
With Alan Wake 2, the world has once again grown.
Needless to say, we look forward to seeing where the story of this franchise goes next!
The games go in a number of unpredictable directions.
The first seven gamesbarelyhave a story after all.
However, with each new franchise, things got more and more interesting.
Replicants, which we all designed based on Mega Man X, become the new humans.
Gear up for an electrifying adventure with these captivating games that channel the spirit of Mega Man!
There is more to this, too.
Zero, one of the heroes from the Mega Man X series, has direct ties to Dr. Wily.
Who, himself, may or may not still be influencing events.
There is even some indication that his consciousness was present in one of the Mavericks.
Though none of this is confirmed.
Oh, and the original Mega Man?
His fate is a mystery.
22Castlevania
Woah!
The game where you spend all your time walking to the right and whipping things?
The roster of heroes began to grow, including Dracula’s own kin.
We learned about the Belmont’s lineage.
How many franchises feature a thirty-game-long redemption arc?
Castlevania even managed to work Bram Stoker’s lore into the mix.
That’s right, the literary masterpiece is, technically, part of Castlevania’s lore.
Castlevania is (kinda) part of the literary canon, people!
21Persona
My how far thePersonaseries has come.
It used to be aShin Megami Tenseispin-off.
Now, it feels more like the centerpiece of Atlus' RPG franchise.
One of the primary distinctions between the two franchises is how interconnected each Persona game is.
For starters, all the Persona games are set within the same world.
The (underappreciated) first three games in the series had playable characters cross over.
We have also seenentirePersona casts interact with each other in a number of side games.
So, each story has built on the lore.
The end result is a fascinating version of the world that intersects with a shadowy version of itself.
One where our emotions, and our identities, manifest themselves as creatures and entities.
The characters in the Persona games must confront these elements of their being.
Famously, Persona is heavily rooted in Jungian psychology.
20Baldur’s Gate
Is this cheating?
The world of Toril is lively and filled with memorable characters.
There is a palpable sense of history here.
Be it Baldur’s Gate or Fallout, isometric RPGs represent the role-playing genre at its best.
Here are the best isometric RPGs, ranked.
But political intrigue is far from being the player’s only obstacle!
Dark, twisted gods are always involved in some way, shape, or form.
The plots of the first two Baldur’s Gate games entwine elegantly.
19Kingdom Hearts
Is the lore labyrinthine in the world ofKingdom Hearts?
There are twists, turns, and a whole host of characters with complicated motivations.
Kingdom Hearts isn’t bashful about diving into the thick of it headfirst.
Every entry makes the series slightly more unwieldy.
