Sometimes, straying from the beaten path is the best way to experience a game.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 In recent years, many top-tier game studios have taken to spending ungodly amounts of
00:04 time perfecting the tiniest details of their titles.
00:07 Every room is meticulously designed, minor characters are given backstories long enough
00:11 to fill a novel.
00:12 If you want to take a break from the main campaign, well, just explore the world, try
00:16 out a few sidequests, you might just get as much reward as that supposed main thread.
00:21 In fact, many titles do such a phenomenal job at everything other than the beaten path,
00:25 alongside those where the story isn't all that anyway and you could have been doing
00:29 hundreds of other things instead that you should often prioritise exploration and free
00:33 will as much as possible.
00:34 I'm Scott from WhatCulture.com and these are 8 Video Games Where You Should Avoid the
00:39 Story.
00:40 Number 8.
00:41 Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag.
00:42 2013's Black Flag is referred to as a pirate simulator for good reason.
00:46 It has you take control of Edward Kenway, a swashbuckling captain who sails through
00:50 the West Indies to battle the Templars during the Golden Age of Piracy.
00:54 On your travels, you battle and ally with many of history's most infamous pirates,
00:58 including Charles Vane, Calico Jack, Anne Bonny and Blackbeard.
01:01 Although sailing was a minor factor in Assassin's Creed III, here it's an integral part of
01:05 gameplay.
01:07 Captaining the mighty Jackdaw ship, you can use your vessel to find buried treasure, discover
01:11 what feels like endless amounts of new land, and battle tons of enemy ships.
01:16 Although these tasks aren't always necessary, they are extremely helpful.
01:19 By plundering ships and obtaining coin, you can fortify your ship's armour and enhance
01:23 your weapons, giving way to devastating ram attacks on bigger ships, unlocking even better
01:28 gear and more chaotic battles overall.
01:31 These upgrades also factor into the end of the game, if you ever get there, since formidable
01:35 Man o' War ships will blast your Jackdaw to pieces in seconds unless it's heavily reinforced.
01:40 Another side quest worth your time is tracking down the Mayan Stones.
01:44 By obtaining all of these artefacts, you'll be rewarded with the Mayan Stalai armour,
01:48 which makes Edward Kenway totally bulletproof.
01:50 Pursuing these tasks and others like it only enhance this instalment in the Assassin's
01:54 Creed saga, and arguably it makes Black Flag the best pirate game of all time.
02:02 Focus on the necessary missions of Arkham Knight and you'll face off against classic
02:05 villains like Man Bat, Harley Quinn, and the Scarecrow.
02:08 However, if you want to see a much wider, obscurer portion of the Dark Knight's rogue
02:12 gallery, you'll have to check out the most wanted side quests.
02:15 With more of them added to the game as the season pass rolls out, you can battle supervillains
02:19 that don't appear anywhere else, including Ra's Al Ghul, Azrael, Mr Freeze, Killer
02:24 Croc, Firefly, and the Mad Hatter.
02:27 Fan favourites like Professor Pig and Deacon Blackfire also make their Arkham debut in
02:31 this game, but you only encounter them by taking part in a few extracurricular tasks
02:35 first.
02:36 Even though most wanted missions are inessential, every one is crammed with in-jokes, easter
02:41 eggs and comic book references that every DC purist will appreciate.
02:47 These textures might look like a portion of Google Street View hasn't loaded, but Pokemon
02:51 Legends Arceus revamped 20 years' worth of Pokemon gameplay, putting a much larger
02:56 emphasis on free-roaming and essentially feeling like an open-world, combat-heavy Pokemon snap.
03:01 Enter rideable Pokemon, not only used to reach inaccessible areas, but to admire the occasional
03:06 beauty of the world from above.
03:08 Props to Game Freak on how they implemented this stuff too.
03:11 You can gallop across the plains on your Weirdere, tap a button mid-air to hang from a Braviary,
03:16 then swoop down over the water and land on a Basculegion to catch specific Pokemon.
03:20 When you realise you can alter which Pokemon appear based on your behaviour all the time
03:24 of day, you really start experimenting with the possibilities.
03:28 As you're encouraged to catch and battle every individual Pokemon in ways that explore
03:32 every single animation they have to complete your Pokedex, it's very easy to lose tens
03:36 of hours in the starting area alone.
03:39 Pokemon Arceus is nothing less than a gameplay-first blur of running, flying, swimming, battling
03:43 and catching to your heart's content.
03:46 Number 5 - Borderlands 2 In Borderlands 2, you take control of a Vault
03:50 Hunter to hunt down the douchiest tyrant in existence, Handsome Jack.
03:54 Because Jack is protected by a zillion drones, monsters, soldiers and grunts, having him
03:58 eliminated is no easy task.
04:00 On your journey then, you'll need to complete 19 chapters, comprised of 128 mini-quests.
04:05 For some, that's more than enough, but if you're craving more, check out the extra
04:08 159 sidequests.
04:11 Any time you feel like taking a break from trashing Handsome Jack's weapon factories
04:14 or plundering his Iridium Mines, you can talk to Roland, Mad Moxie or Claptrap and find
04:19 some of the best semi-hidden content in the game.
04:22 A lot of these sidequests have the most epic bosses, coolest rewards and funniest dialogue
04:26 across all of Borderlands 2.
04:28 Thanks to hilarious banter from the likes of Tiny Tina, Ellie and Mr. Torque, it's
04:32 on missions like these where the Borderlands IP really came into its own.
04:36 Number 4 - The Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild
04:39 The game that inspired everything from Elden Ring to Pray for the Gods, Immortals Fenyx
04:43 Rising to Pokemon Arceus, Breath of the Wild is swamped with endless things to see, do
04:47 and interact with without signposting any of it.
04:50 The definition of how rewarding freeform video game exploration can feel, you're urged
04:54 to climb every mountain, explore all 120 puzzle shrines or locate some spirit orbs for Link's
05:00 health and stamina.
05:01 Taluses and Lynels are formidable creatures you'll stumble upon in the open world.
05:05 Testing your combat skill and giving better ingredients for stat-boosting potions, you
05:09 can then apply everywhere else.
05:11 On top of that is a steady supply of shields, weapons and boss powers improving how you
05:15 even get around, plus some optional memories fleshing out the backstory of Link, Zelda
05:20 and the four champions of Hyrule itself.
05:22 With the entire game creating a metatextual relationship between when Link is ready to
05:26 fight Ganon and you feel confident enough to, you can take as long as you like taming
05:31 and riding wildlife, searching for mythical dragons, cooking meals, playing golf and doing
05:35 much much more.
05:37 Number 3 - Elden Ring - Breath of the Wild
05:38 Elden Ring single-handedly proved that some things can live up to unrealistic expectations.
05:43 Every aspect of FromSoftware's open world masterpiece has been tailored to perfection,
05:48 whether it's exquisitely rewarding fighting mechanics or indulging in George RR Martin's
05:52 background lore, attached to every weapon, item and character strewn across the lands
05:56 between.
05:57 Like most fantasy games, you're compelled to delve into your surroundings, but here
06:01 in true Soulsian fashion, a better reason to roam around is entirely related to difficulty.
06:06 Depending on a horse-riding boss designed to encourage you to do anything other than
06:09 keep fighting, take this lesson on board and you'll find entire franchises worth of unlockables,
06:14 progress paths and story beats, regardless of which direction you pick.
06:18 Gaining XP and refining your approach to combat comes with every encounter, but the quality
06:22 of Elden Ring is how every aspect of this world folds into something else.
06:27 Characters will remark on how you've met one of their friends or enemies, no matter
06:30 which order you're doing things in.
06:31 Combat dungeons, big and small, house unique weapons.
06:35 Drop-in, drop-out co-op can turn Elden Ring into a dungeon crawler with a couple of random
06:39 teammates if you want a different pace to gameplay.
06:41 Or you can spend time tracking map fragments, upping your health, while mashing shiny dung
06:45 beetles for better weapon skills.
06:47 All of this is just the tip of the iceberg on why Hitotaka Miyazaki and the team have
06:52 outdone themselves in 2022, crafting an experience that thoroughly encourages and rewards your
06:57 instincts as a gamer at every turn.
07:00 2.
07:01 Horizon Forbidden West Yes, 2022's first quarter has been on fire
07:05 in a very good way, with Horizon's highly anticipated follow-up being a release of immaculate
07:10 refinement.
07:11 Again playing as Aloy, but more confidently embodying her role as protector of the realm,
07:15 Forbidden West fleshes out its signature mechanic of every creature being its own custom-locked
07:20 walking treasure chest.
07:21 Taking robo-dinosaurs down now comes with more options than ever, ranging from weak
07:26 spots to elemental reactions, triggering specific animations to gain access to a part you might
07:30 want to carve off, or using newer weapons to keep the pressure on.
07:34 A far more fleshed-out combat tree lets you cloak and hide mid-fight, or spec towards
07:38 notching three arrows at once with a boost to ranged weapons for that perfect final shot.
07:43 The cherry on the cake, alongside neat minigame strike, is drinking this gorgeous game in
07:47 from the air once you've tamed a shield wing, or diving to the bottom of the ocean
07:51 and just marvelling at how gorgeous everything looks.
07:54 1.
07:55 Grand Theft Auto V A testament to the fact this has remained
07:58 in the top 10 best-selling games of a given week since launch in 2013, Grand Theft Auto
08:04 V is the embodiment of the interactive sandbox.
08:07 With a budget of $265 million and a 1,000-person dev team, yes, there's a well-written story
08:13 with incredibly memorable characters, but this is also the best titting-about simulator
08:17 of all time.
08:18 Stunting vehicles off whatever outcrops you can find, punching pedestrians, getting in
08:22 police shootouts and car chasers, there's a multi-million strong majority of GTA players
08:27 who actively avoid the story.
08:29 Literally, at time of recording in 2022, only 16.6% of people have the story completion
08:35 trophy on PlayStation, after almost a decade of playing.
08:38 Thankfully, Rockstar know what their audience want, and from street races to strangers and
08:42 freaks missions you can randomly stumble upon, there's always something to enjoy across
08:46 this ludicrously popular title.
08:48 And those are just a handful of games where you should actively avoid the story.
08:52 Let me know your favourites down in the comments below, and please subscribe to the WhatCulture
08:55 Gaming Podcast.
08:56 For now, I've been Scott from WhatCulture.com and I'll catch you soon.