The constant expanding of open-world games, both in terms of their variety as a genre and the scope of their maps, has led to a fairly consistent push and drive to continue adding detail and flare to these worlds. For some, the more immersive and dense an open world is, the more enjoyable the game is overall.
As games get broader and more expansive, they can add a newfound level of detail to the individual biomes found within them. That might mean making mountainous regions colder and more perilous, or it could mean making forests more idyllic and verdant. For players looking to delve into murky, foggy swamps, here are some games that can’t be missed.
5 Kenshi
The Swamp Is A Thrilling If Dangerous Land
Of the many places open to settle and thrive in Kenshi, the Swamp is a more challenging region. Though, one must give credit to the straightforwardness of its name. One the one hand, this area is incredibly fertile and with a good cropping of high quality copper and iron mines, so building a productive settlement here that can sustain itself is, in theory, quite feasible. However, nothing is so straightforward, especially in Kenshi, and there are a few things to watch out for when constructing a settlement in the Swamp.
Especially for beginners, the amount of raids in the area will prove quite challenging to wall against. There’s also a good deal of banditry in the area, and an array of hostile fauna like blood spiders and swamp raptors – the stronger variant of river raptors.
4 Skyrim
Vampires And Spiders Lurk In Hjaalmarch
Although it is one of the smaller holds in the land, and topped with the smallest capital city in the game, Hjaalmarch hosts an incredible array of compelling features for adventurers and monster hunters wandering across Skyrim. Some particular plants can only be found here within the entirety of Skyrim, and the prevalence of creatures and enemies like frostbite spiders or vampires makes farming particularly rewarding. There are many threats to this area, such as the aforementioned vampires, add to the foreboding atmosphere of the marshes.
Taking down Morvath in the central Morthal quest is a fun experience, although with Morthal being, candidly, irrelevant in the unmodded game, it would have been nice to get a little more freedom with how that quest unfolds, potentially ending with siding with Morvath and taking over the town.
3 Fable 2
Wraithmarsh Has A Dark History
The undead infested marshlands of Wraithmarsh provide one of the most atmospheric examples of horror seen in an open world game today. The dense, impeding fog, the first stretch of the area where players lose their dog, the banshees and terrifying balverines that make the area their home, it all comes together to form a singularly unsettling experience, with the marsh itself so wide and sprawling that there’s plenty of things to do.
This storybook-style haunted marsh has a long and dark history that connects to the previous title and, for anyone invested in the Fable series, Wraithmarsh is an area that will stick with them for a while.
2 Elden Ring
The Swamp Of Aeonia Is Expansive And Gruesome
Dark Souls as a series has always had an interesting relationship with swamps.It’s the sort of relationship where developers put them into the game, and then players roll around in terror, poisoned and screaming, as all manner of unearthly abominations try to fashion them into an environmental storytelling corpse for the next poor consecrated undead to stumble upon. Elden Ring departed from its parent franchise with a lot of changes in tow, but if there’s one thing that it happily took along for the ride, it’s masterfully made and wondrously terrifying swamps for players to explore.
The Swamp of Aeonia is at the center of the terrifying Caelid, and exists as the pinnacle of the scarlet rot that has slowly infected the area. Death and disease wait around every corner here, but so do some hauntingly beautiful sights for players to discover.
1 Greedfall
Védvílvie Is Perilous And Wondrous In Equal Measure
One of the less populated regions on the lush and wild island of Teer Fradee is Védvílvie, a swamp that is bountiful in terms of both its flora and fauna. The swamp’s name literally translates to “swamp of many lives” and it’s clear to see why with the amount of scenic wildlife existing around the player are they wander through this beautiful – but treacherous – land.
Epitomising this is a particularly terrifying boss waiting for players within its depths, as well as the various more fearsome creatures that will look to take a chunk out of the player. While players wait for the early access launch of Greedfall 2, revisiting this area might be worth a shot.