Best Open-World RPG Trilogies Ever Made, Ranked

Trilogies are a popular format across various mediums, and gaming definitely has its own established front-runners, especially within the role-playing genre. From Mass Effect and Dark Souls to Fable and Baldur’s Gate, some RPG trilogies are acclaimed masterpieces with few weak links. Once we narrow the category down to open-world RPG trilogies, however, the options become much more limited.

Few RPG series have exactly three games that form a relatively cohesive story, while many franchises only gradually evolved into true open-world RPGs after starting as something more linear or, at best, open-zone. For the ranking below, we’ll include the latter as well, prioritizing trilogies mostly associated with the open-world genre even if not every individual game offers a true open world.

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6 Risen

The New “Gothic” Trilogy With Huge Thematic Swings

Risen is a notable open-world RPG trilogy from Piranha Bytes, the creators of Gothic. Unlike the studio’s debut series, however, Risen takes much bigger swings in terms of setting and tone. The original Risen stayed relatively close to Gothic in how its world felt, while Risen 2: Dark Waters took a bold turn toward pirate adventures across the seas. The third game expanded the world and mythology significantly, throwing an almost excessive number of supernatural elements, Titans, gods, and ancient magic into the mix. Even the protagonist changes, with the first two games following the same unnamed hero before Risen 3: Titan Lords introduces another.

With all that, Risen never feels quite as cohesive as Gothic, but for some players, its shifting identity is part of the appeal. You never really know what to expect from the next entry. As a whole, though, this inconsistency holds the trilogy back, resulting in yet another somewhat inferior variation on Gothic within the studio’s portfolio. Perhaps, if Piranha Bytes hadn’t closed down, a potential Elex trilogy would have eventually replaced Risen on this list.

5 Assassin’s Creed (Mythological Trilogy)

Origins, Odyssey, And Valhalla Connected Through Layla Hassan

Easily one of the biggest open-world series around, Assassin’s Creed contains several informal trilogies tied to a single historical or modern-day protagonist. However, the franchise only began fully embracing RPG elements with Assassin’s Creed Origins, positioned as another major milestone in its evolution. Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla then formed an open-world RPG trilogy that, despite wildly different settings and historical periods, is connected through the modern-day story of Layla Hassan.

To this day, the Assassin’s Creed RPG trilogy remains extremely divisive among players and long-time fans, with all three games constantly surrounded by arguments that “it’s not Assassin’s Creed anymore.” That criticism aside, it’s undeniable that the formula proved perfect for the series’ massive mainstream appeal. Between visiting beautifully realized historical settings, experimenting with combat builds, and influencing the outcomes of certain quests, Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla each offer plenty of possibilities and largely fulfill their open-world RPG promise. Each game leans more toward blockbuster open-world action than a deeply reactive RPG built around layered storytelling and long-lasting consequences. Nevertheless, this trilogy has firmly established its place in the modern gaming landscape.

4 Dragon Quest HD-2D Erdrick Trilogy Collection

A Curious Case Of Genre Evolution And Unusual Narrative Connections

Like Assassin’s Creed, Dragon Quest is home to at least two recognizable trilogies, while also being a pure RPG series from the start. The Zenithian trilogy, consisting of Dragon Quest 4, 5, and 6, is connected by the legendary castle of Zenithia and several overarching themes, although its overarching narrative ties are relatively loose. The Erdrick trilogy, on the other hand, is an official collection of the first three games.

Among them, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake offers the clearest example of a true, expansive open world, with towns, castles, caves, towers, and dungeons scattered across a vast world map. Dragon Quest 2 opens up considerably once players gain access to a ship, and its HD-2D remake even adds a fully explorable underwater world alongside the surface map.

What makes the Dragon Quest HD-2D Erdrick Trilogy especially interesting is its chronology. The third game actually serves as a prequel to the other two, revealing the origins of the legendary hero Erdrick, or Loto, whose legacy defines everything that follows. Rather than following one persistent protagonist, the trilogy is connected through bloodlines, inherited legacies, recurring kingdoms and artifacts, and the same overarching mythology.

3 Gothic

One Of The Most Influential European Open-World RPG Trilogies

Easily one of the most iconic European open-world RPG series, Gothic needs little introduction today, especially after its faithful modern remake. Piranha Bytes’ debut game laid the foundation for the now-defunct studio’s entire RPG portfolio over the following two decades. Gothic 2, particularly with the Night of the Raven expansion, improved on nearly everything and is still widely regarded as the series’ best entry. Gothic 3 then attempted to dramatically increase the size and scope of the world, which was never really the series’ greatest strength, resulting in perhaps its weakest yet most ambitious chapter.

Nevertheless, few open-world RPG trilogies can match Gothic. All three games follow the continuous adventures of the same Nameless Hero across the Kingdom of Myrtana, unified by their distinctive low-fantasy look and feel. The trilogy’s greatest achievement is how confidently Piranha Bytes carved out its own path, establishing signature approaches to combat, trainer-based progression, leveling, world reactivity, and believable NPC routines. The studio spent much of its later years creating different variations on Gothic, yet even Piranha Bytes itself rarely matched its own debut trilogy.

2 Xenoblade Chronicles

Neatly Connected Through The “Worlds Collide” Premise

Among Nintendo’s biggest open-world and open-zone JRPG series, the numbered Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy is a massive undertaking that can easily take over 300 hours to complete. Known for its unmatched length and scale, each game offers several enormous regions brimming with exploration, combat, quests, and activities. Better yet, every entry earned acclaim as an epic standalone RPG, while the series continued to evolve and mature with each successive game.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy is how neatly everything connects. The first two games initially appear to take place in completely different worlds, with separate stories, casts, and conflicts. Aside from recurring themes and ideas, you might barely realize that they belong to a larger whole until Xenoblade Chronicles 2 reveals the deeper connection. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 then turns that link into the foundation of its entire premise, with Aionios formed through the convergence of the first two games’ worlds and serving as a proper culmination of both stories.

1 The Witcher

Eventually Evolved Into The Open-World RPG Benchmark

The Witcher is exactly the kind of case noted in the introduction. Two of the three Witcher RPGs released so far aren’t open-world, yet the series as a whole is now largely defined by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a decade-old benchmark for the entire genre that shows no signs of slowing down. Before launch, the developers marketed it as “the crowning achievement of the RPG genre,” and after all these years, that confidence still feels contagious. No joke, some players are now more excited about The Witcher 3 Remastered and the Songs of the Past expansion coming in 2027 than the launch of GTA 6 in a few weeks.

Despite how often the first two games are overlooked, both remain great RPGs. They undoubtedly show their age and technical limitations, but still offer exceptional role-playing experiences. The original game has an atmosphere unlike anything else, while The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings delivers an incredible branching storyline that changes roughly one-third of the entire game depending on your choices.

There is also The Witcher Remake currently in development, which is particularly intriguing because it has been presented as a fully open-world reimagining. It remains to be seen how such a drastic structural change will suit the original game’s story, atmosphere, and pacing, but it could eventually make this already iconic trilogy feel even more unified.