Cinematics and cutscenes are commonly used as vehicles for storytelling in games, often used to convey special emotions and epic moments behind the scene that simple gameplay cannot. Some games, however, do not use cutscenes, instead relying solely on environmental storytelling.
7 open-world games that mastered the art of slow exploration
There have been some truly breathtaking open-world games over the years, and these titles let you explore at your own pace.
Carvings on walls, audio logs in abandoned facilities, long-forgotten tomes in caves, and other objects hand-placed in the world tell the stories the developers wanted to convey in an immersive, non-intrusive way. Players feel like they are discovering a story through their own efforts, one quest at a time.
Subnautica
Stories buried in the deep ocean
Subnautica is an underwater survival base building game that relies almost entirely on environmental storytelling to gradually reveal the hidden depths of the ocean, not relying on cutscenes. As a result, players are free to explore the depths of the ocean to slowly uncover the truth about the new world they find themselves in, the dangers it holds, and the opportunities that lie beneath the waves.
After the opening sequence, there are no cutscenes to perform. The entire story is told through lost recordings and journal entries found in abandoned life pods, crashed ships, and secret underground facilities that dot the seabed.
external
Knowledge gained through exploration
external is an indie open-world game with rich lore, a vast setting, and not a single cutscene to its name. The main story is primarily experienced through dialogue with NPCs in major hubs such as Cierzo, Berg, Levant, Monsoon, and New Sirocco.
Knowledge about enemies, factions, magic, and politics seems hard enough for players to discover, but it's not force-fed to them through linear story sequences. The lack of traditional quest markers encourages exploration, however, and makes discovering new things much more rewarding. external.
Project Zomboid
A world quietly ending in the background
Project Zomboid is an open-world isometric game where players are tasked with surviving the zombie apocalypse using any means necessary. There are no quests or missions in the game that deal directly with the story; The players' main concern is ensuring their own survival, and finding out news about how the rest of the world is doing is entirely optional. As a result, most don't pay attention to the signs that the game drops about what is happening outside the exclusion zone.
9 Best Open-World Games With Cryptic Storytelling, Ranked
For players who like to figure out the story on their own, these open-world games keep their story vague, offering only cryptic clues as a guide.
As the zombie apocalypse unfolds, curious players can find out what's going on in the rest of the world. With scattered information in the form of radio logs, television programs, and old magazines, it is possible to piece together parts of the story. The environmental storytelling is done expertly, and without a single cutscene to boot.
Walheim
Norse myths carved in stone
Walheim Throws players into a harsh, unforgiving procedurally generated land inspired by Norse mythology, where almost all of the storytelling is conveyed through the world itself. After a short introductory sequence where players are told that they are warriors of Midgard who have been given life. Walheim In order to defeat Odin's enemies, the Forsaken, no further information is provided, leaving players to piece together the rest themselves.
WalheimThe deep lore of is told through rune stones, large magical rocks scattered about Walheim By Odin to guide his warriors in the direction of abandonment. The carvings on the rune stones tell the stories of previous warriors sent by Odin to slay the Forsaken, clues about treasures, descriptions of unexplained dreams, folk tales, proclamations of heroes and much more.
Kenshi
A world that changes with every choice
Kenshi An open-world RPG with deep lore that isn't told through cutscenes or traditional story elements, but through exploration and environmental storytelling. Players uncover the truth of the world around them by talking to NPCs, exploring abandoned cities, liberating slave camps, and discovering forgotten places.
what makes KenshiThe story that stands out is that it is not all about the past; It also evolves during playthrough. As players help factions claim their own territory, space changes, new armies move in, new conflicts arise, and new stories unfold in real time.
The land of the Nords holds many secrets
Skyrim NPCs tell their story through the physical layout of the world rather than dialogue, books, and grand cinematic cutscenes. From ancient Nordic ruins to dwemer caves to dragon burial mounds, the world Skyrim Not just an empty expanse of snow and tundra, but a living, breathing land that bears the footprints of those who came before, and proudly displays it to anyone who cares to go see it.
Hundreds of books, letters, journals and notes are scattered throughout the libraries. SkyrimTelling the past and present reality of Tamriel in bits and pieces that players can piece together to understand the whole picture. Players interested in learning more about Deep Lore The Elder Scrolls A franchise can spend hundreds of hours exploring the world Skyrim And still come up with new things to discover.
While there are scripted sequences SkyrimThe cart ride at the beginning of the game and the dialogue with Jarl Balgruuf when the dragons attack the western watchtower are not, strictly speaking, cutscenes.
Elite dangerous
A living Milky Way shaped by players
Elite dangerous Offers players a 1:1 procedurally generated recreation of the Milky Way galaxy, complete with in-depth background knowledge about humanity's expansion into the universe, conflicts between various political entities such as the Federation and Alliance, and major alien threats such as the Thargoids. Elite dangerous A sandbox game that doesn't have any quests or missions, leaves players free to choose their path and dictate what they do instead of giving them a linear plot to follow what they want to do. Those who wish to discover its knowledge must go and seek it.
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In addition to major events in the Milky Way, the world Elite dangerous evolves in real time. Every action the player takes affects something or someone in a meaningful way. Attacking a faction's facility in a star system reduces the faction's amount of influence in that system, and if that influence is reduced enough, it is very likely that the faction will be driven out of the system entirely. Likewise, each mission completed for a faction increases the faction's influence, meaning players can (and do) help factions become the ruling force in the star system through their actions.
Wild outdoors
Solar system built in questions
Wild outdoors A rare example of a game where the entire story is told through its environment. There are no scenes explaining what's going on, nor are there any handholding or quest markers to tell players where to go and what to look for. Wild outdoors Throws players into a solar system trapped in a 22-minute time loop, where players must use the limited time they have before the world ends to explore the system and uncover its secrets to uncover the full mystery and reach the finish line.
Each time a time loop ends, players end up back at the beginning, the world resets itself, and the only thing that has changed is what the players discovered in their previous loops. Linking clues from multiple loops together gradually reveals the full picture. Clues can be obtained in any order, with each playthrough being unique to each player, depending on the order in which they find the clues.
Alden Ring
A masterclass in environmental storytelling
Alden RingThe story was conceived with the help of legendary author George RR Martin, and is told for the most part through a fragmented storytelling method. Bits and pieces of lore are found throughout the large open world without rhyme or reason. Important pieces of information that are largely important to getting the full picture Alden RingThe legends are hidden in item details, cryptic NPC dialogue, and environmental details that are so easy to miss that it took the collective efforts of the entire community to uncover some of the secrets.
It's up to the players to piece this information together one piece at a time, and slowly but surely discover what's happening between the lands, the truth behind the struggle to become Alden Lord, the relationships between NPCs scattered around the world, and the motives of the various factions and religious orders that call the place home. I try to understand the trends Alden Ring It can be an exercise in frustration, but the reward when it all comes together, and players finally understand the connections between random events and bits of dialogue heard in different corners of the world, is truly great.
Most of the major owners in Alden Ring There is a small cutscene related to them. However, since 99% of the storytelling is done through environmental storytelling, we've decided that the game deserves a spot on this list.
10 Best RPGs If You Love Reading, Ranked
For players who love to delve into the history, stories, and world-building of their video games, these RPGs have a lot of lore to parse.
