Best Video Games For Fantasy Nerds

This week we will be discussing our favorite video games for Fantasy Nerds. It was difficult to narrow down which video games to put on this list because there are so many that deserve to be on it. I could add countless more but then this post would take ages to read!

Heroes of Might and Magic

This is a game that is extremely special to me personally, I played it often with my dad and my siblings growing up and have many fond memories tied to it. That being said, Heroes of Might and Magic has many versions, the most recent release was Heroes of Might and Magic VII in 2015.

Now, these games are turn-based RTS (real-time strategy) games. You can play hot seat style, with multiple people on one computer, and each turn it will swap to the next player. Your goal is to build up your base, and army, and expand until you defeat the other players.

There are multiple factions you can choose from; Haven which are medieval knights and monks, Inferno is different types of Demons, Necropolis are necromancers and undead (my personal favorite to play), Sylvan are elves and mystical creatures, Dungeon is dark elves that are renegades from the Sylvan, Academy is wizards, Fortress is dwarves, ad lastly Stronghold which is Orcs. From the array of factions you can be I think you can infer why this game is perfect for Fantasy Nerds!  You build up what is similar to a talent tree by building different structures in your home base, which enables you to recruit more creatures. Each faction has an extremely powerful final creature you can unlock, in most, it’s a different type of dragon; for example, Necropolis can recruit an enormous undead dragon. I have to mention that Sylvan can recruit unicorns and fairies.

The battles that take place are also turn-based, and there are special abilities for not only your hero but also each type of minion you recruit. Each turn you have a certain amount of movement to expand, and there are encounters for battles, picking up items, and taking over settlements all over the map that gain you gold, abilities, and resources. I have played V and VI thoroughly, and while the graphics, character details, and all-around gameplay are cleaner in VI I still lean towards V being my favorite, and that may be for nostalgic reasons so I urge you to play them yourself!

World of Warcraft

If you haven’t played World of Warcraft, I’m certain you’ve heard of it. It’s an MMORPG created by Blizzard, released in 2004 following Warcraft. I’ve played World of Warcraft since it came out fifteen years ago; wow that makes me feel old. I feel like I can roll these all into one game for this post because they are all centered around the Warcraft universe. If you’ve played World of Warcraft and haven’t played any of the Warcraft games, you need to. Warcraft is an RTS, while World of Warcraft is an MMORPG. The vast story and lore put into these games are unfathomable, and the reason why I adore these games. In fact, I have a tattoo of one of the main characters in the Warcraft Universe; Sylvanas Windrunner. If I start going into the lore of these games in detail, this post will certainly become a novel!

The only downside to playing World of Warcraft is it requires a monthly subscription fee of $14.99 a month, but if you want to try out the game, you can download a trial for free and play up to level 20. Blizzard recently released World of Warcraft Classic, which brings the game back to its original version that was released in 2004. This game is a grind, you walk everywhere, constantly aggro enemies, die often, and get frustrated easily. But, that being said, it’s so rewarding when you finally get to where you want to be or get that item you’ve been waiting to drop. If an endless time-consuming grind doesn’t sound appealing, you can play regular World of Warcraft which is on its seventh expansion; Battle for Azeroth, it is less of a grind and certainly easier. Classic World of Warcraft, in my opinion, has better talent trees, is more difficult, and ultimately a more rewarding experience.

Dungeons, Battle Grounds, and regular questing areas are some of the main things you can do. You can also choose to be on different realms like PVP, PVE, RPPVP, or RP. Each experience is different, but I would recommend PVP if you are more competitive. You choose to play either Alliance or Horde, which are the two different factions, and each faction has its own specified races. Each race has its own advantages and disadvantages based on which class you choose to be.

I’ll touch on mine and Clever’s favorite classes and races; Clever likes Gnomes, small humanoids that are on the Alliance faction. My favorite race is the Forsaken which are undead humanoids in the Horde faction, followed by Blood Elves which become available to play in the first expansion Burning Crusade. Clever’s favorite class is a Mage, which is a magic-wielding DPS class that specializes in staves and summoning elementals. My favorite class is a Warlock who is also magic-wielding and specializes in staves, but it’s a dark form of magic and they can summon demonic minions as well as utilize DOT (damage over time) spells. There are many classes you can choose from, and some classes you have to be of a certain race for. Whatever you choose, World of Warcraft is an epic fantasy adventure you can easily get wrapped up in!

Oblivion

Oblivion is part of the Elder Scrolls series. Skyrim is probably the most popular of the Elder Scrolls and is a similar game, Oblivion is its predecessor. The graphics of Oblivion compared to Skyrim are almost laughable, but the gameplay is better in my opinion. Oblivion has a huge open world, with what feels like endless things to do. The setting is an absolutely breathtaking fantasy world, if you enjoy fantasy and gaming, this is for you.

The game itself is also a little bit of a grind, and you go at a somewhat slow pace but the things you can do in this game are so enjoyable. It is an open-world RPG made by Bethesda. One of the greatest things in this game that got me right off the bat is the character customization. It is so in-depth, that you can customize a character down to the angle of the bridge of their nose. The races you can choose from are so interesting and different, for example, you can be a Khajiit, which is a cat-like race. The story is vast and engulfing, and one of the most enjoyable fantasy games I have played.

One of my favorite things about this game is you can become a vampire, either by accident or on purpose, and the in-game effects on you are so realistic. You have a sensitivity to sunlight, as well as a sensitivity to fire, but on the other hand, you can see living beings in utter darkness as well as gain resistance to frost magic. In Oblivion Vampirism happens when a syndrome called Porphyric Hemophilia has infected the character for three days. There is also an in-game cure, and that is barely scratching the surface of what you can do in Oblivion.

The gaming is endless in Oblivion, quite literally, there is no end quest or end cinematic, you can continue on in the game into well… Oblivion. Character development is your main focus in the game, you can do quests, interact with just about every person, animal, or object, and explore the open world of Cyrodiil. Basically, there is nothing you can’t do in Oblivion, and that’s what makes it so fun to play.

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What Do You Think?

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Thanks for reading!

-Clever&WTF