Highlights

  • Bethesda creates immersive games where players become entirely engrossed in unique worlds and great characters.
  • Dishonored offers a stealth game experience with a riveting storyline and multiple pathways for compelling playthroughs.
  • Prey provides an intense and gripping story as players fight for survival on a space station overtaken by hostile aliens.

Bethesda has created and produced some incredibly immersive games over the decades, not bound to the genre and found with infinite imagination. Bethesda has managed to create some truly interesting worlds, filled with great characters and fun gameplay that has players not only coming back for more but becoming entirely engrossed within, immersing to new levels where these worlds captivate them through screen and controller.

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With great stories and great worlds to inhabit, the best Bethesda games are often seen as the most immersive, allowing players to live a second life, one within a virtual world in which they can fly spaceships, embark on journeys across a fantasy land, or even do battle against mutants in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

6 Dishonored

dishonored corvo
Dishonored

Platform(s)
PS4 , PS3 , Xbox One , Xbox 360 , PC
Released
October 9, 2012
Developer(s)
Arkane Studios
Genre(s)
Action , Adventure , Stealth

Enter the city of Dunwall, where the streets are ridden with poverty and a plague that threatens the existence of all classes. Arkane Studios and Bethesda made some truly unique with Dishonored, a stealth game where every map is like a sandbox, filled with treasures, hidden secrets, and of course, the thirst for blood and justice, where the protagonist is judge, jury, and executioner all in one.

Players take the role of Corvo Attano, the bodyguard of the assassinated empress. Dishonored is vastly immersive, thanks to its distinct painted art style, a riveting storyline that evolves depending on how gamers progress, and distinct pathways that make for compelling playthroughs.

5 Prey

Uncover Dark Secrets Whilst Trapped On A Space Station

Ambushing a large enemy in Prey (2017)
Prey

Platform(s)
PS4 , Xbox One , PC
Released
May 5, 2017
Developer(s)
Arkane Studios
Genre(s)
FPS

Awaken on Talos I, and uncover the secret experiments on board a space station that orbits the Moon. When players first awaken, they might find that not all is what it seems, and the space station has since been overtaken by hostile aliens, and the player must fight for survival as hunted prey, desperate to avoid death and to become yet another grizzly experiment lost forever to space.

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The story is gripping and tense, with enemies seemingly able to sprout from any corner, any object. Prey is intense, and players will be on the edge as they seek answers and safety, but will it ever come? Prey is definitely a unique vision that deserves at least one playthrough.

4 Fallout 4

Explore A Boston Ravished By Nuclear War

fallout4-fallout5-dog-vault-dweller-landscape
Fallout 4

Platform(s)
PC , PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
Released
November 10, 2015
Developer(s)
Bethesda
Genre(s)
RPG , Action

The nuclear wasteland has never looked so good, even if Boston itself has never looked so apocalyptic. Players will embark on a journey through a world ravished by atomic warfare, hundreds of years into an alternate future. As the Sole Survivor, the player will create a character of their own making and head out of Vault 111 into a larger world, where everything and everyone seems to be deadly.

Fallout 4 might not be the best Fallout game out there, but it certainly is the most immersive thanks to its colorful graphics and smooth gameplay. Whether players enjoy shooting things or building settlements, the wasteland is a better place with the player in it.

3 The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion

Venture Across Tamriel & Enjoy A Bundle Of Fantasy Quests

Cover art from the Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Platform(s)
PC , PS3 , Xbox 360
Released
March 20, 2006
Developer(s)
Bethesda
Genre(s)
RPG

Tamriel is an adoringly dangerous place, and the fantasy world within The Elder Scrolls is truly captivating. Whether it’s in the mythical creatures that can be found and attacked, the cunning plots crafted by multiple guilds, or even the overarching plot that threatens Tamriel itself through Daedric interference, Oblivion certainly has it all.

Whilst by today’s standards, Oblivion may seem like an outdated classic due to how far Bethesda has come with its gameplay, it can’t be denied that the attention to detail in Oblivion helps to create an immersive world that’s hard to leave. Characters are so intricate, and there seems to be endless exploration bound to this journey.

2 Starfield

Enjoy Interstellar Travel, Journeying Across The Stars With Utmost Freedom

Starfield - Gameplay
Starfield

Platform(s)
PC , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
Released
September 6, 2023
Developer(s)
Bethesda
Genre(s)
Action , RPG

Go beyond just one world in Starfield, in which humanity has evolved to explore and navigate the stars. Starfield is Bethesda’s first original RPG over two decades in the making, and it’s definitely their most ambitious project ever. Players may start as lowly miners, but they soon uncover a mythical plot, one that will perhaps guide them to the symphony of God and uncover the secrets within the wider universe in a fascinating story.

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In Starfield, players will have the utmost freedom in building their ships and setting out into the galaxy, landing on randomly generated planets and venturing to see what lies ahead. Even with these planets and creatures, players can still find an engaging story in a variety of ways, whether that’s infiltrating the Crimson Fleet, a group of space pirates, or becoming a smuggler of illegal goods, the possibilities are as endless as the stars.

1 The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

Battle Through A Resurgence Of Dragons & An Ongoing Civil War

A screenshot from Skyrim showing the Dragonborn aiming a bow at a dragon.
Skyrim

Platform(s)
PC , PS3 , Xbox 360 , Xbox One , Xbox One X , Xbox Series S , PS4 , PS5 , Switch
Released
November 11, 2011
Developer(s)
Bethesda
Genre(s)
RPG , Action , Adventure

There is a reason that Skyrim has been released on nearly every platform since 2011, and that’s because it’s probably Bethesda’s greatest achievement, and most immersive game yet. Skyrim brings players back into the world of Tamriel, with new graphics, better gameplay, and a detailed story on the return of dragons to the lands of Skyrim, and the Dragonborn that can stop Alduin the World Eater if they don’t take a few detours to the many different guilds and side quests found within this snowy region.

Plunged deep into a Civil War between the Stormcloaks and the Imperial Legion, Skyrim gives players a great level of freedom in both exploration and choice, where their decisions can affect the lives around them. There is much beauty to be found in Skyrim, and the addition of Skyrim VR easily makes this the best immersive Bethesda game.

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