The best fantasy games if you want a second life full of wonder and excitement

What with commuting to work, meal prep, and our favorite bedtime shows, real life can get very routine at times. Of course, there's something extremely calming about it, but it's also nice to occasionally engage in something a little exciting and unpredictable. With a distinct lack of magic, dragons, and other fantasy tropes in our lives, video games can fill that void nicely.

Some fantasy games have great world building, while others allow you to effectively create a world for yourself. What all these titles have in common is not only their quality, but also the freedom they offer players to create their own second life and experience it at the pace they choose.

To be (Stealth Archer) or not to be

There are many good reasons why The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim it's so iconic. Yes, there are silly arrow-in-the-knees memes, but first and foremost it's the sheer scale of the world and the freedom to explore and experiment with your character. Skyrim is an incredible and diverse fantasy realm to explore, and as you do, you never know exactly what you'll find. It's a land that welcomes everyone from players who simply want to fast travel from quest to quest to those who want to see every inch of the map and read every book and lore note. Skyrim's world building has tremendous depth for those willing to dive into it.

At the same time, you're not really pushed to do it. At first glance, the land of Skyrim may also be about the present rather than the past. You don't need to know who Mannimarco is or the complex history of the Greybeards to enjoy building a character, developing relationships, completing quests and creating a home. There's an absurd amount of work to be done in vanilla Skyrim and its DLC packs, and that's before you even add any mods that can do anything from improve combat to flesh out your new in-game life even more. This is one of the most interesting fantasy settings in gaming.

5

Conan's Exiles

Banished lands are not for the faint of heart

A fantasy world is not necessarily a pleasant, charming and magical place. The Exiled Lands, the setting for Funcom's survival title that left Early Access in 2018, is more than a little foreboding. That's to be expected from the world of Conan the Barbarian, which is full of danger, far beyond the usual concerns of hunger and resource gathering in a survival title. Teammates, NPCs, and fantastic beasts can all be beyond you, the not-so-lucky survivor, so it's vital to engage in vicious, limb-focused combat.

This second life will certainly be trying, but it is great for those who like survival games with a capital S. Despite all this, however, it is perfectly possible to build a life for yourself in Conan Exiles. The game continued to expand as it released, and if you can secure the necessary resources, expansive and creative houses and bases can be built. However, you will need to loot vaults across the landscape, fuel your character and secure the best equipment, because the bigger and more luxurious your base becomes, the more it becomes a target for other players. Make sure you place the base well. One of the most exciting (and potentially terrifying) mechanics is the siege system, which will put your fortifications to the ultimate test. Or you can simply put your own building on the back burner and set out to destroy other people's buildings with a vengeance.

4

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time

It will steal dozens of hours of your time

Of course, if you're looking for a fantasy world to really invest in and build a new life for yourself, the Fantasy Life series is an excellent candidate. The original, developed by Level-5, which arrived in the West in 2014, introduced the concept: The protagonist is a citizen of a kingdom in Reveria, who chooses his path by choosing between the different lives (basically professions) on offer. They range from things like Angler and Blacksmith to combat-focused lives like Paladin, each of which play a vital role in securing resources and fighting enemies. The player isn't stuck in one particular role and can switch depending on the task at hand, allowing for a lot of fun with customization and experimentation.

All of this is true in the sequel Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time. Our main character has to piece together the story of an island lost in time, which would be a big problem if it weren't for the bone dragon and his unique time travel abilities. This is the kind of territory many RPGs have trod before, but it's engaging enough to keep you invested for a long time. There's an island to evolve and upgrade, loads of items, pieces of equipment and friends to acquire, and changing dungeons and combat challenges that constantly test you as you progress through many lives.

3

World of Warcraft

One life in the real world and the other on Azeroth

There are plenty of huge, ambitious fantasy RPGs out there that you could sink hundreds of hours into. Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age is a perfect example, with the hero's quest across Erdrea being one of the most famous in recent gaming memory. What it doesn't quite do, however, is give you a second life in the same sense as the other titles on this list. Our next title takes place on another fantasy planet, Azeroth, and many fans seem to have happily swapped Earth.

The typical MMORPG World of Warcraft is a game that has transformed itself, added features, removed others, lost fans, attracted more, and otherwise been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. It first arrived in late 2004 and has returned players to a simpler time in 2019 with World of Warcraft Classic, meaning it can be played exactly as it was back then or filled with updates and mods from over two decades. The breadth of it all is staggering when you delve into the guilds, the quest system, the intricacies of its economy, the art of building and upgrading a character, the evolving neighborhood features, and so on. If you find a great multiplayer network, you may not need another game. The continued support for him all these years later is incredible to see and his amazingly deep legacy is beloved among fans.

2

Persona 5 Royal

Among the greatest JRPGs ever made

There's no denying the impact Persona 5 has had since its original Japanese release in 2016. What with Joker's incredible dominance when he first joined the ranks of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, several spin-offs (including the turn-based tactical game Persona 5 Tactica) and a packed edition of Royal, that's the depth and breadth of the 5th decade. Persona 5 Royal is the perfect experience for fans of Phantom Thieves and their experiences.

This is basically the game of the year version of the vanilla game, which adds a lot of features including a new palace, a long new story segment, more character customization options, and a hook that changes the way you approach level traversal in some areas. But it doesn't change the basics: Our mysterious protagonist and his friends at Shujin Academy live out their high school careers as well as their new roles as awakened Phantom Heart Thieves, whose Personas help them fight enemies found in the Palaces (various dungeons that are created by the malevolent will of their current target). It is this mixture of the real world and the curious dimension of the Metaverse that makes the game so engaging, as the player must manage his responsibilities in both realms. Along with working part-time, studying, and developing relationships with classmates and locals in the Tokyo area, they also spend a lot of time in the Metaverse as their alter egos. In the 'real world' there is only so much time each day, so you have to prioritize activities to build your character the way you want. By juxtaposing the conventional with the fantastical, Persona 5 is a world in which so many fans continue to get lost.

1

The Mabinogi

A deep and involved adventure

If you mixed the Fantasy Life series with World of Warcraft, the result would be something a lot like Mabinogi. A Korean MMORPG by devCAT, this adventure embraces the relatively peaceful world of Irish mythology and formulates storylines revolving around gods, goddesses, and Albanian knights. The player takes on the role of a Milletian, a warrior of a chosen race (each with strengths such as elf archery). Although there is a story to follow, you have a lot of freedom to put it aside and build your own little life in this extraordinary and engaging world.

Similar to Stardew Valley, the player can spend their days largely as they wish, with an engaging and rewarding fishing minigame for avid anglers, plenty of dungeons to dive into for those who simply want to gather all the loot and resources they can, a surprisingly in-depth music-making feature, mandatory farming, and much more. Recent updates have helped make the game a little less of a stumbling block in the beginning and avoid frequent bugbears for those who joined the MMORPG after years and felt overwhelmed by it all.