Exploring a long-forgotten kingdom will always be a memorable gaming experience. Games set in fallen empires are often full of immersive atmospheres, with many magnificent structures to venture around. There are so many questions surrounding these settings. Who used to live here? What happened to cause this kingdom to fall? What lurks within the shadows now?
Many games occur in mysteriously fallen kingdoms, from open-world epics to charming side scrollers. If you are craving to sink a few hours into a crumbled, lost world, here is a selection of fallen kingdom games to try out. Each of them brings a unique style and engaging world-building to enjoy.
10 Shadow Of The Colossus
Shadow Of The Colossus is a thrilling adventure game initially released in 2005 (with a remake in 2018). You play as Wander, an adventurer eager to find a way to resurrect the dead. You venture into the fallen kingdom known as the Forbidden Land. It has been hidden from the rest of the world and is shrouded with mystery.
The core gameplay of Shadow Of The Colossus is to venture through this fallen kingdom, navigating platforms and puzzles and looking for giant beasts. There are so many mighty Colossi for you to face off against throughout this vast realm, each with unique battle styles and weaknesses. Can you defeat them all?
9 Dark Souls Series
Each entry of the Dark Souls series has been set in a decaying, crumbling fallen kingdom. They explore themes of life and death and an endless cycle of light and darkness. The surrounding empire is falling into disarray, full of undead entities. It is up to you to either rekindle the light of this broken realm or let it fall entirely and make way for a new era of darkness.
The Dark Souls games require a lot of patience and skill. They are full of challenging areas to explore; no matter where you go, you will find both magnificent structures and deadly enemies to face. Expect to die a lot as you attempt to explore each crumbled kingdom further.
8 Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight follows the story of a knight exploring the fallen kingdom of Hallownest. This once-thriving realm has fallen because of a magical infection that corrupted all that lived there. It is now up to you to venture back into this dangerous, abandoned kingdom and destroy the source of the disease.
Hollow Knight has a beautiful art style, and it is incredible to explore this fallen kingdom. You'll face off against enemies that are often rather adorable, as well. Do not be fooled, though. These threats are all rather dangerous. That bit of challenge makes it extra satisfying when you manage to complete each level.
7 Kingdom Series
There have been several entries into the Kingdom Series, such as Kingdom: Classic and Kingdom: Two Crowns. The core concept is that you are attempting to rebuild your kingdom and obtain wealth while defending everyone from an endless raid of the Greed, an army of monsters that steal money and try to bring the kingdom to ruins once more. This is made even harder the further you play, where things like the changing seasons make previously established sources of income more difficult to maintain. At the start of each playthrough, the ghostly ruler of the previous kingdom will guide you around.
The game perfectly captures the theme of fallen kingdoms as you attempt to survive for longer than the last monarch. Fortunately, there are the crumbled ruins of the previous kingdom that you can discover, rebuild, and unlock new perks to help your current empire thrive. But, of course, nothing lasts forever, and your kingdom will fall eventually.
6 Hyper Light Drifter
For an 8-bit-style platformer set in a science fiction world, Hyper Light Drifter is a unique outlier to most of this list. You play as a drifter, eager to find forgotten knowledge and technologies left behind by an ancient race known as the librarians. Your journey will be dangerous, but fortunately, you have several extraordinary abilities to help you along your adventure.
This game is quite cryptic and mysterious. As you venture around the planet, you'll stumble upon many clues to the fallen Librarians' past and now crumbled kingdom. A lot of the Hyper Light Drifter's narrative is open to interpretation and theories. It is a fascinating forgotten realm to get lost in.
5 Heaven's Vault
Heaven's Vault is a more relaxed venture into a fallen kingdom. A beautiful game full of wonder, It revolves around an archeologist called Aliya Elastra and her robot companion, Six, as they explore the remains of an ancient civilization.
The game is full of secrets to discover about this fallen world, all just waiting for you to unlock them. You'll not only be exploring ruins but also translating ancient hieroglyphs, uncovering Heaven's Vault's engaging storyline, where you meet a cast of curious characters and craft a story at your own pace.
4 Grim Dawn
Grim Dawn is a hack-and-slash RPG that is worth checking out. It takes place in a fantasy world on the brink of extinction. This is due to two alien species in an endless war where humanity has been caught in the crossfire, either used as tools by the Aetherials or killed by the Chthonians. With little way of fighting either threat, the entire world has fallen into ruin, with only a few small groups of survivors living in fear.
Armed with incredible supernatural powers, you play as a member of the resistance, venturing through fallen kingdoms, eager to find a way of reclaiming the world from these monstrous overlords. Grim Dawn is full of fascinating lore and exciting RPG elements that keep you hooked.
3 Vagrus: The Riven Realms
Vagrus: The Riven Realms is a story-driven role-playing game set in a kingdom now forsaken by the gods. The entire realm has been corrupted and turned into a grim wasteland. No one is safe, as horrific monsters linger in every corner.
There are a lot of places to explore and stories to enjoy. You play as Vagrus, a caravan leader attempting to keep their group alive in this harsh reality. Your decisions impact the realm throughout the adventure as you pick up unique companions and ally with various factions in the fallen kingdom.
2 Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is a sequel to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. In the first game, you played as Kain as he becomes a vampire and brings upon the end of the world. In Soul Reaver, you instead play as Raziel, a lieutenant of Kain, who is now a powerful vampire lord. Kain kills you at the start of the game, but you are eventually revived by an elder god and tasked with enacting revenge.
Since Kain killed you, over 1000 years have passed, and now his kingdom has fallen into disarray. Throughout the game, you explore more of the domain you once knew, seeing how the realm and its undead inhabitants have mutated and corrupted beyond recognition over the years. Soul Reaver has an entertaining storyline and a fascinating world to explore.
1 Elden Ring
Elden Ring has quickly become an all-time classic in the gaming world. The game takes place in a realm called The Lands Between. Within this land are multiple kingdoms, all in a state of ruin. Each domain is ruled over by a different demigod that you will need to confront during your quest to become an Elden Lord. This is no easy task, but the world is full of hidden details to discover that will help you along your journey. With your supply of weapons and loot, you should hopefully be able to restore the pieces of the Elden Ring and determine the fate of this corrupted land.
Elden Ring is a vast, open-world game that you can explore in any order. Like the Dark Souls series, you are in for a tough time as this dangerous land is overwhelmed with terrifying foes to vanquish. But if you manage to take down one of the tough demigods of The Lands Between, you'll feel like an unstoppable badass.