TheMMORPGis a relative newcomer to the world of gaming. Other than the occasional LAN party or dial-up connection, it wasn’t really until the internet took off that the large-scale, open-world MMORPG became a possible dream. Gamers liked the immersion factor that MMORPGs provided. The immersion of a game typically revolves around the complexity or the size of its setting.
RELATED:MMORPGs Perfect For Newcomers To The Genre
It’s not always the vastness of the world nor the quality of the graphics. Immersion is about the storyline, the lore, and the sympathetic characters the player actually cares about. It helps to have a big world, but if the underlying story doesn’t have any heart, the game doesn’t have any immersion.
7New World
Say what you will about Amazon’s entry into the MMO market, butNew Worldhas made a definitive impact on the world of MMOs. It’s given the gaming community an RPG without conventional classes or professions. Players can use any weapons they want and level as many professions as they have time and resources for without any superficial limitations in other MMOs, which make players choose between one or the other.
This has a lot to do with this game’s high immersion factor, but that’s not all the game has going for it when it comes todrawing the player in and keeping their attention. The vast and beautiful world of Aeternum, which is based on the 17th century Age of Exploration, looks distinctly familiar and has a lot of real-world historic references.
6Elder Scrolls Online
By the time Bethesda releasedElder Scrolls Onlinein 2014, it already had almost 15 years of previous games in theElder Scrollsfranchise to back it up. Players were able to immerse themselves in the vast realm of Nirn, which included not only familiar places likeSkyrimandMorrowindbut also the mysterious Daedric realms that only existed before in legends and songs.
RELATED:ESO: Things That Have Changed Since The MMORPG’s Launch
This was a step above the stand-alone PC games in the series, which often featured only one part of theElder Scrollsuniverse at a time and was totally devoid of other features that help make MMOs more immersive generally, like crafting customized items and role-playing with other characters.
5Old School RuneScape
There are a few different versions of this iconic game, so why not the latest version with the best graphics? The reason is that storyline, characters, and world-building are what made the old game great when it was released in 2007.
Old School RuneScapewas released in 2013, and was intended to be an updated version of that game but hasevolved a lot since then to include other improvements. That’s only improved an already high immersion factor, and today more gamers are playingOld School Runescapethan its modern counterpart.
4Lord Of The Rings Online
It helps that the game already has a guaranteed fanbase and a setting that came from one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century. Sometimes it really is all about the story, and there are plenty of fans that love both the books and the movies, and there are few other games that can beatLord of the Rings Online.
RELATED:The MMORPGs With The Best Storytelling, Ranked
The game has been online since 2007 and has expansions with names likeSiege of MirkwoodandMines of Moria.This would sound intriguing to a casual fan but is positively compelling to those who had read either the books or watched the movies. The game’s deeply immersive world is sure to drive hardcore Hobbit fans completely out of their minds.
3Classic World Of Warcraft
The retail version ofWorld of Warcraftis little more than a glorified lobby game these days, and might not even qualify as an MMO anymore. The Classic edition, on the other hand, was created at a time when the competition was all about open-world with RPG elements, with games likeEverquestandStar Wars Galaxiesas popular alternatives.
Like other games that have a high immersion factor,Classic WoWhas a series of previous games with animpressive amount of lore and history to back it up. The history ofClassic WoW’s creation is a dramatic one that pits gamers against company management, and that’s another story that’s not going away any time soon.
2EVE Online
It’s hard to compete with the realism of open space when it comes to immersion.EVE Onlinealso has a reputation for a savage economic culture based on some cut-throat commercial trading and some wild PvP battles, and many players cite realistic commerce as one of the most immersive factors in the game.
RELATED:The Best Sci-Fi MMORPGs, Ranked
Other than the engrossing setting,EVE Onlineas a game has a long history going back to 2003, and that’s as the same game, not revamped or resurrected likeOld School RunescapeorClassic WoW. As a science fiction-based game, it also has a vast expanse of open space for player interactions, space battles, and role-playing.
1Final Fantasy 14
It might be a matter of opinion, as this relies more on storyline and setting than player interaction and open-world exploration. However, the recent popularity ofFinal Fantasy 14has a lot to do with how immersive the game is,and that’s not just about the incredible graphics.
Final Fantasyis a brand that goes back decades, to the time of the early RPG console games of the 20th century, making it the oldest franchise on this list with some of the most expansive collections of lore and history. There’s also a lot of drama involved in the history of its development, which has contributed to a loyal fanbase and deeply immersive environment.
