Plenty of games these days overload you with side content, and it can be easy to get lost in the sauce and lose track of what the point of the game is even about in the first place.
However, most games give you a choice about how you want to approach their plots and side quests. Some reward you greatly for ignoring the side content and powering through the main plot, and we’re going to check out some of those games today.
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At least there’s side content.
If you don’t want to get bogged down with countless badly designed side quests or overwhelming busy work, here are some games that are much better if you just mainline the story and get to all the good stuff first.
10
Death Stranding
You’ve Got A World To Connect, Sam
Death Stranding is a long game if you mainline the story already. If you get caught up in side quests, you could easily see yourself spending 80 hours plus in this world.
That side content, though, is not all that interesting. Most of the time, you’re performing seemingly pointless deliveries like retrieving clothes for an NPC or finding someone’s lost toy, and usually it’s for little reward.
The tone of the story suggests Sam has little time to lose in terms of connecting America to the Chiral network, so why am I risking my life trying to find some guy’s hat?
It not only isn’t fun to do most of these side quests, but actively goes against the plot of the game.
You’ll get plenty of bang for your buck here by sticking to the story, and it’s undoubtedly the highlight of the game in the first place.
9
Assassin’s Creed Origins
Bayek’s Journey Is Tightly Crafted
Assassin’s Creed Origins was the first of the RPG series of Assassin’s Creed, and it hadn’t really figured out how to craft side quests.
It pretty much said “We’re doing the Witcher 3” and expected people to love it. However, they forgot the charm, wit, and creativity elements that made the quests in The Witcher 3 so great.
Luckily, the actual plot is a blast to play through. Bayek’s intense revenge tale is well paced and has plenty of gameplay for you to engage in, and the objectives are varied and don’t waste your time in the process.
The side quests here are just far too obtuse and stretched out without giving you anything all that interesting to experience in the process.
If you see the scene that sends Bayek on his quest and think there is a good time to help out some random guy searching for his pet, you need to get your priorities in order. It’s killing time, and Bayek’s got a long list to take out.
8
Elden Ring
Focused Tarnished
Elden Ring is one of the best games ever, but if there is one thing that will drive you crazy while playing it, it’s trying to follow the various side quests you’ll encounter throughout the game.
They are put together like a puzzle where someone comes in and throws all your pieces out the window the second you start, and various woodland creatures carry pieces to different corners of the world.
That’s my metaphor for how unclear these quests are, and I might be a little easy on FromSoftware here, to be honest.
Without a guide, you’ll likely have no idea what to do for half of these and, ultimately, they’re not nearly as rewarding or interesting as the main quest most of the time.
The base game itself can be 100+ hours, so burdening yourself with obscure, wild goose chases is only for those truly dedicated lore fiends who want to find out every possible ending.
7
Ghost Of Tsushima
The Mongols Take Priority
Ghost of Tsushima is a thrilling story from start to finish, but it’s easy to get bogged down by the numerous side content in the game.
Some of the side content is short and fun, like the hunt for the legendary duels, but the incredibly lengthy side stories are aggressively boring most of the time and do nothing to really add to the narrative in a meaningful way.
You’ll find a handful of these, and each character has at least 5+ quests to take on for them, so you only ever get resolution to the quests if you finish them.
The story itself is lengthy and can get repetitive, so doing the side content, which doesn’t introduce anything unique to the game, will only exacerbate that feeling.
6
God Of War (2018)
Get To The Mountain Top, Kratos
God of War is a revolutionary game for the series, but if there is one facet that falls a bit short, it’s definitely the side quests.
This was God of War’s first venture into the open-world space, and because of that, side quests felt shoe-horned in at times.
Some try to tell a story, but they add so little to the actual lore of the world and feel like little more than “Go here and kill that” simulators.
There are some good fights to find, but they feel tacked on and lack the context and storytelling that the sequel would eventually implement to make these side quests feel worth it.
The only reason for side content in God of War is to extend your playtime and grind for better equipment. There is little other reason to bother with it when the main quest is so great and feels so important.
5
Cyberpunk 2077
V Is On Borrowed Time, Act Accordingly
The side content in Cyberpunk 2077 is by no means bad, but it’s incredibly distracting. While some quests make sense within the larger story, smaller ones are nothing more than busy work that gets old very quickly.
On top of that, it just plain doesn’t make sense to take on loads of side quests here. You are on a literal timer with your life in the shoes of V. Your time is limited, and every day you get sicker and sicker in game, so why are you bothering helping out a random stranger?
Ignoring that though, much of the side content isn’t really fun, and there are only a handful of side quests worth taking on. Those are the ones generally surrounding the main story anyway.
If you focus on the main story, you can always come back after and finish everything else. The main story is just so good and gripping that to pull away from it would be doing a disservice to you, and V as well.
Why Settle For The Appetizer?
Metal Gear Solid V doesn’t rely on a gripping narrative to fuel its main story, but rather incredible combat scenarios and freedom given to the player.
Because of that, the lengthy campaign keeps you gripped throughout, but there are also side ops to take part in. You may think those change up the pace a bit, but that’s not really the case.
The majority of these are incredibly short, with objectives like “Take out the highly armed operatives”. Then, you land right next to them, call an air strike, and collect a payday.
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It’s pointless and a clear example that Konami had very little clue about what to do with an open-world setting.
While you can do them to pick up some weapon upgrades, the main story gives you a ton to do already, and you’ll likely see little reason other than to get a little bit more out of the game, which, if you’re so inclined, can be done after the story concludes anyway.
3
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
The Paintress Calls
Clair Obscur has some of my favorite side content of any game in a long time, so why am I suggesting you mainline the story? Well, that’s because most of that amazing side content is completely inaccessible due to how insanely difficult it is.
The way it’s designed is generally this: if you see a red danger sign in front of an area, it’s going to be almost impossible to win a fight there. You are pretty much incentivized to beat the game first and then do the side content.
It’s bizarre, but the urgency of the story pushes you forward full force in Chapter 3, and while that side content has some incredibly important story beats, it doesn’t make sense to grind for hours just to have a chance at being able to experience them.
The more logical way to go about it is to work your way through the final dungeon, beat the final boss, and then, after you’ve powered up a bit, take on all the side content later.
It just doesn’t make any sense to take on an area called the Endless Tower when the final confrontation is still waiting for you.
2
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Is New York City This Boring?
Before you get heated at the subtitle, I’m a New Yorker! And I guarantee you I can have more fun wandering around the city than Miles or Peter do in Spider-Man 2.
With everything that Insomniac has to draw from in the Marvel Universe, from possible side quests featuring the likes of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, The Punisher, The X-Men, etc., there was so much hope that the side quests in this massively anticipated sequel would be a huge upgrade over the first game.
Instead, you could easily argue they got worse. Weird Mysterio alternate dimension techno battles, securing stolen instruments from a jazz museum, and putting music frequencies together as Miles are just some of the wildly un-fun and boring activities Insomniac thought you would like to engage in on the side.
Luckily, the main story is a tightly paced and fun time, but it’s a huge disappointment that we aren’t given better side missions to take part in.
There is exactly one that feels like real effort was put into it where you hunt down a cult, and the payoff to that is fantastic and leaves a fun possibility for the future of the series. Other than that, there is nothing remotely fun or interesting to do on the side while exploring the city.
It’s a huge miss in my eyes, and hopefully the third game will go all out in this aspect.
1
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Too Much Bloat
Dragon Age: Inquisition is a hell of a game that you can get hundreds of hours out of, but the biggest mistake you can make is getting caught up with the side content.
There is an egregious amount of side content here, and while some of it is very good, much of it is fetch quest garbage. You can find yourself lost in so many “find this” tasks that you’ll lose sight of the story before the plot even really begins.
This is known as the Hinterlands problem, but it’s not just the opening area, as each zone has that issue in its own way. The main story here is quite gripping, however, and incredibly lengthy on its own, especially when you count the DLC on top of it.
Stay on the beaten path your first time around playing, and if you’re in dire need of leveling up or gear seeking, dabble in the side content a little bit, but don’t get lost in it. You’ll be missing out on the real quality of this game, which is the main plot.
Next
10 Open World Games With Amazing Side Quests
These games have such immersive universes that the optional content ends up being just as good as the main campaign.
