Medieval fantasy games make up a large part of the adventure and RPG genre. They allow players to both travel back in time but also encounter mysterious creatures using various spells that they assume their characters have learned or mythical strength that allows them to hack and slice through enemies.
These games allow players to open their minds to create a character that represents themselves well or allow them to take on a life that is not theirs. There is a lot of freedom in the medieval fantasy genre in the way the world is experienced through the eyes of the players’ choices. Two experiences are almost always completely unique.
10/10 MediEvil (2019)
The 2019 MediEvil remake of the over 20-year-old game is a game where the player plays as a knight who was killed in battle. When this hero is accidentally resurrected by a necromancer, this knight gets a second chance to become a hero by saving the world from the evil necromancer who resurrected the player.
This is a faithful remake as it stayed true to the concept of the original game but recreated every design and enemy in the game. The game as the title suggests includes many medieval areas such as the haunted castle for players to explore, but the combat can feel a bit dated at times.
9/10 Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed may not be the best game in the series as most of the gameplay involves the player getting to an objective and then killing that objective easily. There really isn’t much else to it, and that left many of those who ended up buying it feeling extremely disappointed when it first came out. The game was kind of fun with the parkour mechanic and the idea was there that created a base for the sequels.
Although the game is not the best, the setting is during the Crusades, as well as introduced an interesting world of historical assassins who helped remove the evil to follow that time period. The sci-fi background wasn’t heavily developed, but also introduced the larger story that would come in later games.
8/10 A Plague Tale: Innocence
A Plague Tale: Innocence creates a game driven by historical fiction that has players in a medieval fantasy setting where the stakes are very high. The stakes are high as the player has the responsibility of caring for a child in an environment where everyone and everything wants to kill them.
There are hordes of killer rats everywhere the player turns and knights will kill players in one hit, so they have to be careful how they traverse the different areas.
7/10 Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor
The Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor game puts the player in an M-rated version of JRR Tolkien’s fantasy world of The Lord of the Rings. It opens up a story full of revenge as the main character, Talion, seeks to kill someone who wronged them by committing a horrible atrocity against them.
The fantasy backdrop that the game presents makes the tones of the game feel much darker. There is magic but no electricity which ever makes the player or the enemy the player pursues feel safe. The stealth mechanics are also fun as they provide strategic combat opportunities.
6/10 Diablo 3
Diablo 3 takes very different religious concepts than most people are used to in video games and creates a game around them that focuses mainly on the 12th to 13th centuries, as explained further in the books. The setting in Diablo 3 will have players walking through areas that look like towns where farmers mainly live.
Later in the game, the fantasy comes even more to life as players will visit the heavens to fight various demons before their inevitable confrontation with Diablo.
5/10 World Of Warcraft
World of Warcraft takes the medieval fantasy and expands on it more than any game has ever done before. It has a story as close to actual history books as the game has been around for almost 20 years. The expansions have continued to create new areas for the player to explore.
All of the areas fit into the medieval history, and while there are some machines in the World of Warcraft realm, they tend to be powered by magic a lot of the time.
4/10 Skyrim
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Skyrim created an RPG that didn’t feel linear in any way, allowing the player to fully explore their areas however they chose to do so. The game has a medieval background reminiscent of an old Holy Grail novel. It brings in dragons as one of its main enemies and has a large variety of other classic creatures for players to encounter.
All the missions feel like a lot of time has been put into them like one where the player has to explore a haunted house and the player is sent to another realm. The game is fantastic in its nature and always fun to come back to.
3/10 Dark souls
Dark Souls is full of dark romance where certain backgrounds in the game will feel like a Francisco de Goya painting with a mix of large bright gothic buildings that suggest a dark, haunting tone in their structures and the way the bright lights hit them. The Anor Londo location is a perfect example of this.
Anor Londo in Dark Souls is a symbolic masterpiece in that the giant castle in the center of the map gives off a sense of holy fear. It almost looks like the face of an angry god looks down on the player who is doomed to cross his location, which is further pushed by the inclusion of Ornstein and the Smough fight which is one of the hardest in the Dark Souls series.
2/10 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has a story that was able to become as big as it is because of the literary source material it comes from. The game’s setting is expansive and filled with various monsters that the player must strategize against and then hunt down. There are small villages to walk through as well as huge cities surrounded by castle walls.
The game feels like a dark hero’s journey that leads Geralt, the protagonist, to feel the need to fulfill his knightly duties and makes players feel that in their first hunt for the Royal Griffin.
1/10 Fire Ring
Elden Ring takes the medieval fantasy setting and goes all out on it with a setting that feels lived in, in every single part. Some may say that areas are oversaturated with enemies, but this is not necessarily the case as it creates a much more ecologically vibrant environment for players to explore.
The different settings tell stories about different events that happen, such as the castle where the festival that players have to fight against Radahn will take place. Elden Ring never fails players with various events that will feel like the player is living out a chivalrous romance.
