Developers put a lot of time and effort into creating interesting worlds for their games to take place in. Some take things a step further by providing exciting worlds and allowing them to change as you play.
This can occur in multiple ways. Sometimes, your actions will shape the world, as you may destroy or mend parts of it. On other occasions, the world changes automatically without your input, perhaps due to a time skip or something significant happening in the story. Whatever way it’s done, the inclusion of change adds a lot to the overall experience, as it makes the world feel more real. Here are some games that include worlds that evolve or devolve over time.
Updated by Ben Jessey on December 1, 2025: We updated this list to align with current formatting standards and added a few more entries.
Dishonored
Dishonored is an action-adventure game set in the fictional town of Dunwall. It’s a fairly nice-looking place, except there are a few rats running around. However, you can make that problem much worse if you desire.
These Video Game Worlds Are So Detailed, You’ll Feel Like You’re In The Real Place
Escape to a whole new world.
The game uses a chaos system rather than a moral one. How it works is the more killing you do and the mayhem you cause, the more rats flood the city. Your actions don’t just impact the rodent population, either. More parasitic insects and zombie-like weepers appear when you cause more chaos.
My Time At Portia
In My Time at Portia, you play as a builder who takes over their father’s workshop in the city of Portia. As them, you must spend your time gathering resources and completing building jobs. Some of the things you craft become significant parts of the world. For instance, one of the first missions has you constructing a bridge to Amber Island.
Once you create it, you can now use it throughout the rest of the game. You also build things like water towers, lifts, and anything else the town requires. Therefore, by the end of the game, you’ve changed the place forever.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
In The Witcher 3, your quest is to find and protect your adoptive daughter, Ciri. However, this is a large RPG with a bunch of side quests to do. While doing them, you can impact regions of the world.
For example, if you follow Triss’ questline to sneak the mages out of the city of Novigrad, then the Witch Hunters will target nonhuman races instead. So, when you return, you won’t notice elves and dwarves running around, but you may see some strung up. On top of that, entire villages can be wiped out or saved, curses removed, and rulers eliminated, depending on your actions.
The Saboteur
In real life, Nazis figuratively make every place darker. In the World War 2 game, The Saboteur, they literally make things darker. This is because every area the Nazis occupy in France is in black-and-white, except for a few bits of color.
However, you play as a member of the French Resistance, intending to take back the country. To do so, you must go district by district, systematically taking away The Third Reich’s influence. Any area you recapture regains some color.
Death Stranding
Being a courier in a video game isn’t an enviable job because it is usually pretty treacherous. That is certainly the case for Sam Bridges in Death Stranding. As him, you have to get across a harsh and dangerous land to make your deliveries.
Thankfully, though, during the game, you can make things a bit easier for yourself by building structures. You can build zip lines, bridges, safehouses, highways, and more. These things become a part of the map, not just for you, but you can also create things for other people playing online.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human
Dying Light 2 is set in a city filled with zombies and the villainous faction known as Renegades. Yet, there are some more friendly faces, too, namely the Survivors and Peacekeepers. Both factions can help you out during the game. You can also help them out by taking over facilities from the zombies or Renegades and handing them over to either faction.
Doing so makes those locations much safer. Plus, the factions provide you with stuff in return. This includes things like extra zip lines to help get around, extra trampolines to bounce on, and extra traps to use. These are all added to the open world.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
At the start of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you move to a deserted island owned by Tom Nook. He gives you a tent to start off with. Over time, though, you can upgrade to a house that you can decorate to your heart’s content.
However, that isn’t the only part of the island that improves. Over time, more facilities and shops can be added to the island. It can take a while, but eventually, the place will feel like a real community.
Prototype
There are plenty of games set in New York, but the one in Prototype is much worse than most. This is because the population is dealing with the outbreak of a dangerous virus that is turning people into monsters.
While your character, Alex Mercer, has also been infected, you’re mainly using your powers for good, as you’re trying to save the city. It isn’t just the people you’re saving either, as the virus infects buildings and streets, too. In fact, the entire place gets visibly more infected as the game wears on.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
The various species of the Milky Way travel to the Andromeda galaxy at the beginning of Mass Effect: Andromeda. The goal is to start a new life here and colonize some of the planets. Yet, when they reach the galaxy, things are much worse than expected. Many of the planets are uninhabitable.
However, all hope is not lost, as you are here. You can visit some of these scary and dangerous planets and fix what makes them uninhabitable. For instance, the planet Eos is filled with radiation, which you can get rid of, making it easier for you to roam the place going forward. Plus, people even move to the planet and begin their lives there.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Late into Red Dead Redemption 2, the story jumps forward in time. You don’t move to a new world, though. You still roam and explore the same place, just several years in the future. As a result, you can see that the place has changed in various ways. What’s cool is that the game sets up these alterations.
For example, in the early parts of the game, you can find some workers building a railway, but once time jumps ahead, the railway is finished. There’s also a building in the town of Valentine that’s being built in the early stages of the game and will be completed by the end of the adventure. You also contribute to world changes at times, as places you’ve burnt down remain charred, and a house you build becomes part of the world.
10 Open-World Games That Shine When You Skip The Story
Sometimes it’s better if you just go off on your own and make your own adventures.
