Question 1

What are fantasy games?

Accepted Answer

Fantasy games are games where the setting is not the real world but a place where magic and mythology make up the world. Players and characters will usually have special powers, and creatures of the world will include mythical beasts that don’t exist in the real world, though some elements of the real world can be present (horses, for example). The landscape can be less technologically developed than the real world but can also have elements of high technology or impossible architecture, such as floating cities or vast castles. Generally, the laws of science can be subverted by magical powers and effects within fantasy games.

Most RPGs are fantasy games. Fantasy allows for the creation of characters that do not exist in the real world based on classes, race, and magical ability. Quite a lot of games use fantasy archetypes as the basis for their characters (mage, rogue, and such). Players can play the role of non-human characters who throw fireballs or can hide in plain sight with cloaking powers. Large RPGs will allow for a range of characters to be created, each with unique powers and backstories that fit the world. Players might even be controlling a team of them.

World building is a huge element of fantasy worlds, unique places that are created specifically for each game. They can superficially resemble the real world, with forests, deserts, and such, but they’ll often be extreme in nature. Forests with speaking trees and witches' huts or deserts with giant worms dangerously gliding below the sand. Each element of a fantasy world that differentiates from the real world helps to create a unique, strange environment where the player is left wondering what they’ll discover next and how it came to be.

The same can be said for lore. A world’s backstory will give players a sense of history and what’s at stake. The creation of a history of the world allows developers to present swathes of backstory, the rise and fall of kings and countries, which gives life to the present world that the players find themselves in.

Fantasy games can exist in multiple genres. Though RPGs are the main genre, you can find fantasy first-person-shooter games, where the player can teleport and wield magical weapons, fantasy platformers with twisted forests, and floating ledges. Turn-based strategy and real-time strategy games are all heavily represented in the fantasy genre, where wizards will battle in tight arenas, or vast armies of skeletal beasts will rattle at the gates of a player’s base. It has a lot of scope.

Question 2

Are there PC fantasy games to play with friends?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Most massively multiplayer online role-playing games have a fantasy setting, and you can join friends when playing in them. RPGs will often have cooperative modes that allow you to play together, too.

Question 3

Do fantasy games have character creation and customization?

Accepted Answer

RPGs will almost always ask the player to customize a character in some way. There are a number of archetypes that players can select as the basis for their character, but an RPG will ask the player to imbue the character with their own unique playstyle. They’ll usually have stats to tweak, gear to change and upgrade, and more.

Players have been known to spend hours on character creation. It fits into role-playing just as much as building up skills and powers throughout the game.

Most games will allow players to customize their character as they play, unlocking new abilities, or improving existing ones. Stats are a major part of RPGs and will be earned from missions to be spent on the character’s skills. It can be the difference between throwing a single lightning bolt that singes a single opponent and casting a fork of lightning that leaps from enemy to enemy, taking down multiples at a time. Most fantasy titles will allow for dozens of powers to be upgraded multiple times.

Question 4

Do all fantasy PC games have magic and sorcery?

Accepted Answer

Most do, but there are fantasy worlds where magic isn’t present, and the characters are living in a world where the backdrop is simply different from the real world.

Question 5

Why are fantasy games so popular?

Accepted Answer

Fantasy games are the ultimate in escapism. Eschewing every part of modern life, no phones, no guns, no TV, and allowing players to live in a magical realm is incredibly compelling. You might have a day job that pays the bills, but you can go home at night and battle orcs, hunt griffons, or learn new spells.

Fantasy Games