Any seasoned open-world RPG fan will say that some of the best moments in their favorite genre emerge when a unique faction mechanic meets the narrative design of the world. What results is the kind of magic that only a well-thought-out and lovingly crafted open-world RPG can create, where decisions echo across hours of gameplay and the player’s choices have meaningful consequences on the world around them.
These unique faction systems take many different forms, in very different world, but what unites them is how they lovingly craft together a living breathing world that reacts to the player’s choices. In the best-case scenario, an adynamic faction system can make for incredible replay value, and some of the best games ever made.
5 Morrowind
Vvardenfell Is A Hard Place To Make Friends
Most every gamer has dipped their toe into the world of The Elder Scrolls before, but factions have perhaps never been done better than in The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. Taking place on the strangely alien island of Vvardenfell filled with breathtaking locations, the player ventures headlong into a dynamic world filled with factions like the Mages Guild, Fighters Guild, Thieves Guild, and the many Great Houses of the land.
What makes it unique is that each faction system has a ranking system, and some factions are mutually exclusive with other factions. That means the player can only join one of the Great Houses. Doing lots of work for one faction can actually negatively impact the player’s reputation with another. That means when push comes to shove, the player will need to make some tough decisions later in the game, which could lead to entire merchants or towns being locked off. That sounds like a punishment, but it makes for a great faction system.
4 Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord
In The Medieval Era, Chaos Is A Ladder
While most Medieval set games let the player take the role of a king or conquerer, Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord is unique in that the player inhabits the role of a wandering mercenary who can actively choose their sides in a sprawling open world filled with conflicting factions competing for the crown.
Players can pledge their allegiance to existing kingdoms, becoming a vassal, and gaining access to that kingdom’s resources. However, a smart player will forge alliance, negotiate treaties, and swing their growing power behind whichever side benefits them the most, resulting in a fascinating scenario where the player’s clan can become the kingmaker in an ever-shifting world. Not everyone can win, but chaos is the player’s ladder to glory.
3 Dying Light 2
No Getting Along In The Zombie Apocalypse
While the reputation of Dying Light 2 is mixed in the fan community, one of the best additions to the series was the unique faction system in the second entry. Featuring the two primary factions of the Survivors and the Peacekeepers, players must make key decisions throughout the game in assigning territory of the city to the opposing worldviews, while trying to keep their head on their own shoulders by mastering the unwritten rules of the world.
The Survivors are focused on building up a new democratic society in the post-apocalyptic world but are more chaotic than the Peacekeepers, who enforce strict law and enforce it, imposing order wherever they are. By choosing one side or the other, the actual map can change, with unique resources spawning depending on which faction has power. The player’s decisions shift the world, they just need to hope that they made the right decision in the end.
2 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
Nuclear Tensions Overblown
Where some games integrate the factions into every system, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat takes a more hands-off approach, building an incredibly unique atmosphere and realistic world. Players are unlikely to go on a long quest line for any of the factions because that’s not really how these groups would work in reality. Instead, the player must juggle shifting relationships, trying to keep as many options open as possible to receive vital assistance for degrading gear.
These informal alliances mean that the player is free to choose how to influence the faction system to their benefit. Whether it be the Monolith worshipping the zone, the Military controlling the borders, the Anarchists who struggle against order, or even other wandering loners, the Zone is alive with potential friends and foes. It’s up to the player whether they want to forge tentative alliances with all or burn them all to the ground.
1 Fallout: New Vegas
Factional Warfare Makes You Wish For A Nuclear Winter
Undoubtedly one of the best open-world RPGs of all time, Fallout: New Vegas succeeds in almost every way, including its incredible and unique faction system. Built off simple reputation meters, the many factions of New Vegas interact with the Courier cautiously at first but push will come to shove eventually. The battle for Hoover Dam lurks, and there’s no way that the player can be friendly to everyone, particularly the most fearsome enemies in the game.
Well, that’s most of the challenge. Almost every NPC in the game has an opinion on the many factions. If players become an NCR ally, the Legion will loathe them. If players shoot up NCR patrols, they better believe that getting to New Vegas is going to be more tricky. When players want to take over the Strip for themselves, they might regret tearing through the nomadic Khans and Boomers. Choices matter in New Vegas, and the faction system is one of the best ways to show it to the player.
