Summary
You can’t go wrong with a bit of good ol' high fantasy, a genre giving youthe most extensive and sometimes complex lore, worldbuilding, and grand adventures throughout incredibly immersive fantasy lands. You have lots of it in literature, TTRPGs, TV, and also video games that take the highlights of high fantasy and immerse players in awe-striking gameplay, systems, and narrative design.
Luckily, game designers are just as captivated and eager to get into a high fantasy game as you. Over the course of the industry, in a sea of games from various genres of survival horror, platformer, FPS, and regular adventure, high fantasy has soared to great heights to stand out from the rest. Here are the best of all time!
Updated on May 10, 2025:These high fantasy games are just that good, we had to go and make a video to talk about them even more. Check out all of these worlds that you can easily get lost in - or perhaps you’ve already been lost in them for a while. It’s okay. Me too.
Dragon’s Dogma is Capcom’smore medieval high fantasy spin on Monster Hunterfrom the studio behind its Devil May Cry games. While an immersive fantasy experience, the visuals and world design hold nothing special over competitors like Dragon Age, Demon’s Souls, Elden Ring, and Baldur’s Gate 3. Plus, we have mixed feelings aboutthe studio’s handling of microtransactions for the sequel.
Nonetheless, the studio deserves praise in its own rightfor achieving a different vision with Dragon’s Dogmathan its standard long-running series like Resident Evil and Street Fighter. The creature combat, detailed character creation system, magic, and imaginative pawn companion mechanics are all fun. Just askthe Cyclops you knocked down to make yourself a bridge.
It would be sacrilege not to put Square Enix anywhere when considering a list of best high fantasy games; the studio behindFinal Fantasy,Kingdom Hearts, and countless other gems. Though those two border more on science fiction, the developer’s most traditional high fantasy project is the HD-2D pixel art adventure seriesOctopath Traveler.
Both the original and the sequel are fantastic at demonstrating how state-of-the-art graphics and cinematics don’t really matter in presenting beautifully realized fantasy landscapes and architecture and a solid story, which allows you to play through eight different charactersacross two different fantasy locations — Orsterra and Solistia.
What’s more high fantasy than J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth mythology andThe Lord of the Ringsseries?Middle-earth: Shadow of MordorandShadow of Warare two excellent games that give you a new story within it, following a Black Gate ranger named Talion who’s tethered to the wraith of Celebrimbor, an elf who you may know if you’ve seen the Prime Video prequel series Rings of Power.
Talion is off to face Sauron and has a whole heap of orcs and their various commanders to dispatch — or recruit using the game’s patented Nemesis system where you can make your own Orc army! Besides Celebrimbor, more familiar characters from The Lord of the Rings return, and then you have satisfying hack-and-slash combat with Batman Arkham-style counters and finishers.
If FromSoftwaremastered the dark fantasy genreand Gothic atmosphere withBloodborneandDark Souls, high fantasy was an even bigger triumph inElden Ring. The Lands Between are not only home to lore and bosses crafted by fantasy author George R.R. Martin, but its vast regions come with one of the most enthralling art directions and use of colors in games of its kind (just check out the gallery of images).
It’s also one of the most accessible Soulsborne games from the studio on the more forgiving side when it comes to encounters, andoffers tons of lore to discoverto find out more about what the fantasy deal with the Lands Between and Tarnished really is. Getting the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC expansion makes the experience even more worth it.
Is there anything more iconic thanThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt? There are so many memorable story moments, side quests, and characters,not to mention your romance options. It’s expansive and is the entry with the largest scope in The Witcher video game series, both in the locations you can explore and enemies you’ll have to fight, as well as the narrative.
Andrzej Sapkowski’s mythology and vision come beautifully realized in The Witcher 3’s gameplay, complimented by an exceptional performance from Geralt voice actor Doug Cockle. The combat animations, magic system, character designs, story, and graphics (especially with the next-gen upgrade) make it one of the best fantasy epics in gaming.
5The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild And TOTK
This game changed a lot of people’s lives, and that’s really all that needs to be said aboutBreath of the Wild. It took Nintendo’s long-running series in a new and bold direction, featuring some of the most majestic art and open-world traversal. Not only is it one of the best Zelda games of all time, but it’s also a runner-up for getting the title ofone of the best Nintendo Switch games of all time, period.
Even if you’re not well-versed inThe Legend of Zeldalore, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying this high fantasy experience, because the story is made to see that Link and Ganondorf are in a constant state of struggle through reincarnation. Its sequel,Tears of the Kingdom, is a further testament to that and expands on everything that made the original so highly acclaimed.
Dragon Agewas the show-stealer in the realm of high-fantasy RPGs before you had The Witcher 3 and even Skyrim. In total, there are three games — Origins, Dragon Age 2, and Inquisition. Each is great to try out if you want an original high fantasy experience that feels inspired by literature’s greatest hits, though Inquisition is said to be the height of the series.
Since Dragon Age is the brainchild of BioWare, a trailblazing developer and a master of the craft that paved the way for having more queer options represented in the romance system and a revolutionary dialogue wheel for branching decision-based paths, it’s a perfect fantasy roleplaying adventure for all genre lovers to dive into.
When it comes to the MMORPG territory of high fantasy games, there’s just nothing that can beat the juggernaut that is Blizzard’sWorld of Warcraft. With all its compelling expansions that have come out since the game’s inception in 2004, you really can’t say that another high fantasy game has as much dedication to its continued world-building, storytelling, and lore as WoW.
Azeroth is such a brilliant concept for hosting a high-fantasy game world; an entire planet with fictional continents and lands brimming with lore, intriguing NPCs, and villains that are as well-established as any you can meet inGame of Thrones. The land is made up of ruling Houses like Proudmoore, Waycrest, Ashvane, and Stormstrong.
With all the impressions and impactBaldur’s Gate 3had on the gaming community and its staggering achievement in game development and design, it should come as no surprise that it go down in history as one of the best high fantasy experiences of all time. The entire series is also built on the intricate characters and mythology fromDungeons & Dragons, by the way.
The series began with BioWare adapting D&D into the digital RPG world of Baldur’s Gate,before taking over two decadesto find itself in the safe hands of Divinity developer Larian, which was a match made in heaven. You’ll be lost in the sheer amount of things to tackle, careful attention to detail, NPCs to meet, gorgeous graphics and environments, and excellent Act-structured pacing that results in endless replayability.
As written, Bethesda’sElder Scrollsremains king of the high fantasy genre in games.Skyrim is still being actively modded todayand widely discussed well over a decade since its launch. What it achieved also shouldn’t overshadow the earlier Elder Scrolls games like predecessorsMorrowindandOblivion, nor the equally wonderful MMORPGThe Elder Scrolls Online.
Anything Elder Scrolls means mounds of fantasy action-adventure fun to be enjoyed (because who can forget how you can place a bucket on an NPC’s head to avoid being caught stealing?). The world, characters, and classes work wonders for its medieval fantasy atmosphere that plays out in the first-person, with Elder Scrolls Online further letting you engage with friends in multiplayer.
