Although originally playing military games and the odd Western and / or mob game, I've started straying into fantasy games...

... to...

... limited success.

I've found that my rate of "failure" is about 3:1. With that said -- and having found more interesting games through thread recommendations than simple trial & error -- I would very much appreciate any recommendations forum members might have!

Let me list some games that I have enjoyed and some that I haven't so you'll get a better idea of my tastes:

My favorite game of all times is...

Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen. It has an authentic "real world" aesthetic (unlike games like World of Warcraft), high difficulty, great combat system(s), brilliant companion system and team / resource management, and magic looks amazing

My favorite game from last year...

Greedfall. Again, a great, "authentic" world, beautiful maps, strong combat systems and companions, and upgrade / resource management. Yes, it follows many of my same interests from Dragon's Dogma.

My favorite game from the year prior...

God of War. Great story, combat system, and absolutely beautiful world. Slight companion system and "RPG elements." Game proved to me that map design is more important than open worlds.

A game series (2) I ended up loving...

Blackguards. While turn-based and extremely difficult, loved the Dark Eye world / story (reminded me of The Black Company novels). This series started my mild-obsession with turn-based games... something I had actively hated prior.

Also...

The Drakensang games. Even though they are fanciful, I loved the look and feel of the world, the companions, and what I felt was perfect difficulty. Yes, the combat wasn't the most weighted, but I loved the experience anyway.

A fantasy game I feel neutral about...

Divinity Original Sin. Although I like this game technically, I'm somewhat cold to isometric view games... but my main issue with this game is that I have a difficult time connecting to overly-fanciful worlds or stories with broad, humor-filled tones. I want to be wrapped up in a serious world with jeopardy... not play a Terry Pratchett novel (although I love to read Pratchett).

A fantasy game I disliked...

Dragon Age Inquisition. Having played the entire game and all dlc... it all was a boring slog with what felt like uninspired, weightless MMO combat in a beautiful but bloated world alongside a self-important story. I liked a few of the characters but never felt connected to anything.

Other issues that might help...

I tend to dislike isometric RPGs (favor 3D)... but not a deal-breaker

I also tend to prefer 3rd person games. First person perspective disorients me for some reason... and I often give up on them after a short time.

I enjoy high difficulty but have fallen out of love with "Soulsborne" games. If one-hit kills are at the game's core philosophy, I'll probably refrain from playing it ATM.

-- related --

I tend to like games best where analysis of a situation and planning are more a part of the gameplay philosophy than constant "save spamming." If the design philosophy incorporates consistent failure / replaying scenarios, I lose interest.

I tend to enjoy games that are voiced more that not... but also not a deal breaker.


Many thanks for any ideas! Appreciate it.

The list looks more like 3:1 success than failure. ;)

Starting with the well known and more obvious choices: What about Gothic and Gothic 2? Have you tried to play those? Are you open to such older and clunkier games, too? They have quite good atmosphere, IMO, great soundtrack, the combat system is not great, but it's tougher, meatier, you can't just charge and kill everything you see, you have to be careful, which makes exploration more exciting (although I guess you might have to reload a few times).

If they are too clunky for you, Risen is quite similar and a bit more modern. I didn't find it quite as memorable, but that's probably exactly because it's so similar to Gothic which I had already played before.

Another recommendation, in the same vein, would be Oblivion with the total conversion mod Nehrim. It uses the Oblivion engine but modded with new graphics and a completely new campaign, that differs from Oblivion in that this world is completely "handcrafted", not generated, so exploration is more rewarding, it has a more traditional xp and level up system and adapts some aspects from the Gothic series. IIRC, in Oblivion/Gothic you can switch between third person and first person view anytime.

If you're fine with old and clunky, what about Arx Fatalis (first person only though, but quite atmospheric and challenging in an exciting way) or Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (not on GOG though)?

Yeah, I agree with most of your post there. Inquisition especially was pretty average, you could tell it wanted to be an mmo, it wasn’t as bad as DA2 however, avoid that one.
Risen, this is a fantasy third person adventure, playing it now, it is hard.
Risen 2 is more pirates, not as difficult as first, good story though.
Risen 3 suffers the same as inquisition, it drags on and on, grind out boring missions for a story I can’t remember.
Divinity 2, was third person, not a bad adventure.

You have a mix on that list though, more traditional rpgs, and more action ones (like god of war), if you like action what about Rune or Enclave?

Afraid “fantasy” could cover most things.

You could try some TBS then? For example:
Campaigns on hardest level are challenging: Battle for Wesnoth
Hardest level can be challenging: FFH mod for Civ 4

hmm how 'bout

Darksiders warmastered edition
a bit off a god of war clone but nicely done.... if you can pass god of war alone then you probably won't have any trouble with this one

Though a bit grindy in concept did you ever try something from square's portfolio? Final Fantasy 12 or 13 maybe... Nier Automata ( more science fiction then fantasy but i belief square's approach grants it fantasy rights )

A what simpler but maybe equally fun could be the tactical fantasy game Aarklash which been greatly received by part of the object. Tactical Pause, different upgrade paths and various characters might grant for a good combat fantasy minded game

Depending on how fantastical you like your fantasy, you might like Darklands.

+1 for Gothic & Gothic 2:

Because I haven't got the time to write up something myself I will just nick the reviews from the CRPG Book Project:

Gothic, Pt. 1
Gothic, Pt. 2

Gothic 2, Pt. 1
Gothic 2, Pt. 2

If you prefer more "real world" ambience in your fantasy, have you considered The Witcher? Esp. on higher difficulties there is planning and preparation necessary to succeed.