It's hard to imagine a small studio putting out games with worlds as massive, deep, and historied as Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series. But as big games take longer and longer to develop, many admirers and fans have gotten together as indie studios to fill the gap with open-world sandboxes.

Related

The Elder Scrolls: Every Protagonist And Their Canonical Fates

The journeys of each of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls heroes are well documented, but what happens to those heroes after the credits roll is more obscure.

As the series evolved, many of Bethesda's design philosophies also changed, and while they may not have the budget or storied lore as seen in Skyrim, Morrowind, Daggerfall, or Oblivion, these games might just scratch those decade-long itches left behind by those ambitious fantasy life simulators with their emphasis on player choice, immersion, and highly detailed worldbuilding.

6 The Quest

A Hand-Crafted Open World Dungeon Crawler With An Immaculately Fleshed-Out World

• Platform(s): PC iOS, Android
• Released: 2016-02-19
• Developer: Redshift
• Genre(s): RPG

While there are plenty of modern dungeon crawlers looking to emulate the classic 90s look, what makes The Quest distinct (and draws comparisons with the Elder Scrolls) is that it presents a world full of civilization, from its NPCs, readable in-game books, living factions, and cities. There's much more in the game world to interact with than just smackable bandits and monsters. Houses can be broken into, characters can be persuaded or dissuaded depending on the player's actions, and inns offer a playing cards minigame as an additional diversion.

At a glance, The Quest bears a resemblance to 1996's Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, but the creators have cited Morrowind as one of their main influences. Thanks to its weather system, day and night cycle, and expertly hand-drawn environments, players have a world of immersion to enjoy. A dealbreaker for some may be its turn-based combat and grid-based movement. However, those who enjoy TES games for their populated towns and cities and libraries of lore, and especially those who dig Daggerfall's style, may want to give The Quest (or its 2016 remaster) a look.

5 Dread Delusion

A Psychedelic PSX Morrowind With Gigantic Mushrooms And Clockwork Monstrosities

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2022-06-15
• Developer: Lovely Hellplace
• Genre(s): Action RPG

Many Elder Scrolls staples can be found throughout Dread Delusion's wobbling floating isles, the most obvious perhaps being that the player begins as an imprisoned nobody, where they then choose their class and background. Dread Delusion specifically draws inspiration from one of the older games in the series, Morrowind, with its pickable plants, giant mushrooms, three colored bars on the lower left corner of the screen (magic, stamina, and health), and dice-roll skill checks, including "charm," lockpicking, and secret finding (or "lore") skills. There is even a buyable and upgradable home, giving players a reason to hoard all their loot and allowing them to play out their homeowner fantasy.

Related

The 6 Best Indie Games With Convincing PS1-Style Graphics

The PlayStation 1 might be long gone, but its shadow remains. A few indie games harbor back to the PS1 era by adopting its graphical style.

Creator James Wragg said that he was happy not to have to compete with Bethesda in creating a spiritual successor to The Elder Scrolls 3, but a few differences set it apart from TES. For example, while the map is large enough to get lost in, it isn't as expansive as a BGS sandbox. The player does not loot enemies. Instead, items and currency float in the environment like old-school power-ups. However, like any of the mainline Elder Scrolls games, it is evident that a great emphasis was placed on creating memorable NPCs and placing deeply weird and interesting lore through in-game artifacts, places, and readable books.

4 Outward

Immersive Adventures Don't Have To Taken Alone

• Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
• Released: 2019-03-26
• Developer: Nine Dots
• Genre(s): RPG

Although the Elder Scrolls Online allows fans to embark on adventures together, many fans admit that, despite the remarkable exploratory freedom on offer, the inherent trappings of the MMO genre persist throughout the experience. In the mainline TES series, players are given a profound sense of immersion, control, and an intimate connection with the world rather than feeling like mere guests in the expansive universe. This shared sense of freedom and adventure was exactly what the developers behind Outward were aiming to emulate when they developed their open-world, co-op-ready RPG.

Fans of Morrowind's "no handholding" approach to adventuring will appreciate Outward's minimal map design, which only offers players a hint about directions and lets them figure out the rest. Outward also subscribes to Daggerfall's "don't reload, let things play out" approach to delivering negative consequences. Falling to a foe doesn't have to be a dead end. Often, players will find themselves transported across the map to exciting new places, either helped by friendly wanderers or captured by menacing (if carelessly unobservant) slavers. While there are magic spells to learn and mythical creatures to meet (or beat), there is more focus on survival and realism in Outward that may frustrate those players looking for a power fantasy experience, especially with the game autosaving after each defeat.

3 Eastshade

Vivid Worldbuilding From An Artist's Eye

• Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
• Released: 2019-02-13
• Developer: Eastshade Studios
• Genre(s): Adventure, Photography

As well as its depth of lore and player freedom, The Elder Scrolls games are best known for their stunning environments. Capturing the essence of Dawn's Beauty is no easy task for a developer of any size. However, the four-person team behind Eastshade, led by seasoned environmental artist Daniel Weinbaum, made crafting an artful and beautiful world a priority. Unlike the epic fighting fantasy of the Elder Scrolls series, the main gameplay loops players can expect in Eastshade involve gathering firewood, peacefully resolving disagreements between the humanoid inhabitants of the island, and painting eye-pleasing landscapes.

Related

8 Peaceful Games To Lose Yourself In

From exploration to immersive stories to farming sims, these games are perfect for players who want to relax.

Players don't face much danger on the island besides getting caught off guard by a sudden blizzard while venturing out at night. Eastshade Studios has expressed a desire to give players of their Skyrim-inspired game a mindful and relaxing experience driven by sidequests, exploration, and meeting memorable characters. Part of what makes Bethesda games work is their inclusion of three-dimensional NPCs with schedules, social circles, and interests dotted all across Tamriel. Eastshade admirably renders its own cast of fully-voiced, anthropomorphic humanoids across the landscape and throughout bustling towns, especially considering that NPC implementation is one of the most complicated tricks for a developer of any stripe to pull off.

2 Kenshi

A Hardcore Survival Sandbox That Embraces The Elder Scrolls' Grim & Gritty Side

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2018-12-06
• Developer: Lo-Fi Games
• Genre(s): RPG

This open-world sandbox is a little more sci-fi and dieselpunk than the games it draws inspiration from, but it still takes the same "player-driven story" gameplay philosophy as TES. Kenshi takes place on the game's titular moon, which has experienced multiple apocalyptic events over several epochs. Like the unreliable-narrator-driven Nirn, the world (or satellite world) is layered with deep, hidden history and odd characters that fans of Morrowind or Oblivion might expect from an open-world sandbox, although the bandits and berserkers are a lot more formidable and organized than the rabble found across Tamriel.

While The Elder Scrolls has never shied away from harsh and alien themes, Kenshi takes these grotesque elements and runs with them. Everything, from the setting to the UI and the difficulty, can be thorny for newcomers. Those who persist will find an experience as vast in content as Skyrim and as deep as Dwarf Fortress, the two games that Kenshi creator Chris Hunt cited as the game's primary inspirations. A few nods to The Elder Scrolls series can be found throughout the game (for example, the resemblance between scorchlanders and ashlanders).

1 Ardenfall

Taking Up The Mantle Of An RPG Legend

• Platform(s): PC, TBA
• Released: TBA
• Developer: Spellcast Studios
• Genre: RPG

Summonable monsters, extensive dialogue trees, joinable factions with interweaving politics, unique cultures, and a cast of charming NPCs (all of which are entirely murderable), and, most importantly, choices that matter; it's details like these that make Morrowind a shining jewel in the RPG crown, but they also happen to be features common to Spellcast Studio's Ardenfall. The player character starts as nobody in a large, explorable world. With time, they can become a powerful magic user, an unstoppable warrior, a deadly assassin, an untouchable thief, or perhaps something else entirely. Whether dungeon diving or soothing tensions with a silver tongue, Ardenfall seeks to be as expansive and open-ended as it can possibly be.

While this might all sound exciting, there's good news and bad news. After five years of development, the game still isn't ready for release. However, there is an extensive playable demo out on Steam with a good number of explorable dungeons, voice-acted NPCs, vibrant towns, varied enemies, and all of the features described above, all playable with a variety of builds. While some long-time Elder Scrolls fans might already be chomping at the bit to play a game directly inspired by Morrowind, it is worth saying that the developers are keenly responsive to feedback about their demo, and kind, constructive feedback might even influence the final release.

More

10 Best Open World Games Without Fast Travel

Fast travel is often a crutch that people lean on in open-world games, but what of those titles that don't have such a feature?