Highlights
- Carnival Row could make for an intriguing open-world game, with its immersive worldbuilding, complex themes, and opportunity for exploration and revolution.
- A Narnia game could cover new ground by allowing players to become inhabitants of the fantasy world, offering customization options for appearance, race, and gameplay variations.
- Dungeons and Dragons, with its already open-world structure, has the potential to be a fun and immersive video game, allowing for character customization and online co-op play.
Fantasy is a genre that has existed for a long time, even if it can sometimes be hard to define what it is. A lot of what is commonly thought of as "fantasy" today has its roots in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, who was himself influenced by a combination of his religious faith and old Norse sagas like Beowolf. This has led to common tropes being associated with the genre such as the inclusion of magic, dragons, elves, dwarves, ogres, and trolls; although these are by no means a requirement. Fantasy has gained traction in literature, television, and film, so it should hardly be surprising that it's also become popular in video games. The open-world format has proven an excellent platform for fantasy, since it allows players to immerse themselves in a strange world full of intrigue and mystery.
From Skyrim to The Witcher, there have been some very popular open-world fantasy RPGs, and sometimes the genre gets the attention of some major franchises. The Witcher was a popular series of books before it became a game and a TV show, and Hogwarts Legacy brought the open world to Harry Potter. But there are still some major fantasy franchises that have not gotten a proper shot at an open world, which is unfortunate because some of these could make for some very interesting games.
5 Carnival Row
Amazon Prime's series offers a scathing critique of British imperialism set against the backdrop of a fantasy world clearly inspired by post-WWI Europe. The overall story follows various characters who struggle to navigate a cruel industrial world divided by class and racism. While the idea of using discrimination against fantasy races to allegorize for real-world prejudices is nothing new (the same thing had basically been done with Shrek), the immersive worldbuilding, 20th-century aesthetic, and engaging characters allowed them to make something creative and unique. A Carnival Row game would have to take advantage of the show's complex themes while also allowing the player to freely explore both new and familiar locations. This could provide a good starting point- a lot of side quests could involve helping the less fortunate or getting payback at the wealthy elite, and slowly moving towards fighting back.
This could make for a cool Assassin's Creed or Far Cry-style game where the player starts a revolution. It might be cool to give the player customization options as well, allowing them to pick from several different races with unique strengths and weaknesses. Playing as a faerie would allow the player to fly, while a centaur might have the advantage of strength and fast movement. The show did also have an interest in the moral tests that inevitably come with trying to institute change, which could also be an interesting feature to include. They could take a page from Dishonored and have a Karma system where the story is affected by how often the player turns to violence.
4 The Chronicles of Narnia
Few will dispute the influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on Fantasy, but many forget about his equally influential contemporary writing buddy C.S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia was a series comprising seven books about the adventures of various English children who find themselves whisked into the titular fantasy world where they'd be drawn into a battle between the forces of good and evil. While he may not have gone to the same lengths as Tolkien, Lewis did his fair share of world-building and created a very detailed world full of noteworthy characters, the most iconic being the wise lion Aslan. There is also a lot of lore that hasn't been touched on in most adaptations, including pretty much anything after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, offering room for a Narnia game to cover new ground.
The most obvious story direction would be to follow a kid, or a group of kids, entering Narnia, as happened in many of the books. They could even experiment with having a group of playable kids and an option for co-op multiplayer. However, as this plot has been done extensively, it might be a nice change to instead cast the player as one of Narnia's inhabitants. One really cool approach would be a customizable player character, with options for everything including appearance, gender, and skill sets- and also race. Having options not just for a human character but also the ability to play as dwarves, centaurs, fauns, and minotaurs would be a great selling point and there could be variations in gameplay. A centaur player character might have very different strengths and weaknesses compared to a faun.
3 Dungeons and Dragons
Really, when one thinks about it, Dungeons and Dragons is kind of already an open-world game, especially in a long-term campaign. While one-shots are often more linear, a longer game will often be structured around situating the party in a fantasy world and giving them free rein to decide where they want to go and what they want to do. One could even argue that it's a bit more open because a human DM can adapt to unexpected choices by the players. So logically it would make sense for an open-world environment. There's a lot of lore but no one hard canon, so the developers would have a lot to draw on and not have to worry about contradicting other media. And there are several settings that could be used: The Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Ravenloft, or maybe some combination thereof. And that's not even getting into the craziness of exploring other planes.
A game like this could have some fun being structured like a DND campaign. One could probably adapt most of the classes and races from the game, allowing the player character customization. There would also have to be choices that affect the outcome of the game. For added fun, there could be an option for online co-op where players can bring their unique adventurers together to make a "party" that can also roleplay in the world, making it feel more like the tabletop game.
2 Middle-Earth
Tolkien's iconic fantasy world is the stuff of legend, a setting so meticulously detailed he created entire fictional languages. Middle-Earth has seen its share of video games with varying degrees of success, but the closest it has really gotten to a proper open world is arguably Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War, and even those aren't perfectly open worlds. It would be pretty awesome to see an open world containing the entirety of Middle Earth, with players being able to freely explore everything from Mordor to the Shire to Lothlórien to the deepest mines of Moria. However, as both Mordor games show, even just one of the many scenic locations Middle Earth has to offer could easily work as an entire setting.
There are plenty of characters who could conceivably star in a Middle Earth open-world adventure, but one really cool idea might be to take advantage of the story in Rings of Power. This would allow the developers to work with a noticeably different Middle-Earth from the Peter Jackson films and the story could follow a young Galadriel from her warrior days. Alternatively, it wouldn't be that hard to imagine a fully open world happening in a follow-up to Shadow of War, possibly picking up Etlariel's story where the Blade of Galadriel DLC left off. Yet another option could be trying to explore the aftermath of Lord of the Rings. With such a detailed world the developers could have a lot of fun pulling up some interesting lore to work with.
1 My Little Pony
For a show based on a toy line about colorful horses, the latest iterations of Hasbro's franchise have done a lot for world-building. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic proved to be so good at creating engaging stories and characters it found an unexpected adult fanbase. While the iconic series that sparked so many memes might have ended, that doesn't mean fans have seen the last of its surprisingly detailed world. They're already planning to go further with the upcoming My Little Pony: Make Your Mark so branching into other media doesn't seem entirely crazy. Equestria is already a pretty extensive world, with a ton of varied locations appearing across the show, many of which also have their own unique spaces. Just being able to explore Ponyville would get a lot of fans excited, but a game like this could conceivably expand as far as Yak Yakistan. Another interesting facet would be to take advantage of the friendship theme - while one probably wouldn't be able to befriend everything, a lot of missions would involve problem-solving to find a non-violent solution.
There are probably a number of characters who could carry such a game, but one thing that would probably excite a lot of fans of all ages would be to have character customization. Allowing fans to create their very own pony and decide everything including gender, type (Earth, pegasus, or unicorn), colors, maybe even skillset and cutie mark. There could even be some slight gameplay differences based on what type the player chooses, like getting access to flight as a pegasus vs. magic as a unicorn. Combine that with a decent photo mode, and one would have the recipe for a game that could appeal to both kids and adults alike.