Most of us are drawn to quality RPG experiences due to their richly detailed worlds, three-dimensional characters and excellently told narratives. As games have evolved, there has been an influx of more fleshed-out side content to tempt you from the beaten path.
Good role-playing and open-world games will have some of the most memorable content within their side quests. Being separate from the world-saving antics of the main quest allows for more creatively inspired experiences that are usually entertaining and make for a good chuckle. Here are some of the most memorable and hilarious side quests in games.
10 Fable 3 - The Game
The Fable series has always been known for its delightfully sarcastic and silly British humour, with plenty of fart jokes to go along with it. One of the more memorable side quests in Fable’s third installment is “The Game”.
Here, you come across three suspicious mages who seek your aid. After interacting with a seemingly inconspicuous orb, you find yourself shrunk down in size amidst a Dungeons and Dragons-inspired table-top RPG. It turns out the three mages are just a group of regular Joes killing some time playing their favourite board game. There’s a bunch of hilarious banter between the mages, and they often break the fourth wall, even referencing previous games in the series. It’s definitely a uniquely bizarre experience, even by Fable’s standards.
9 Borderlands 2 - Claptrap’s Birthday Bash!
After settling for a while in Borderlands 2’s familiar hub world, Sanctuary, a side quest soon emerges to celebrate Claptrap’s humble seven years after coming off of the assembly line in “Claptrap’s Birthday Bash!”.
You are hilariously given the taxing and arduous task of enjoying the party and everything that comes along with it — eating pizza, dancing to music from a boom box, and blowing a party favour. Despite sending out multiple invitations, you are the only attendee for Claptrap’s blowout. It’s hard not to feel sorry for the funny little guy, despite his sincere exclamation that it’s the best party he’s ever thrown.
8 Grand Theft Auto 5 - Epsilon Program
With Rockstar’s classic pop culture satirical style, there are countless wild and wacky side missions to get stuck into in Grand Theft Auto 5. One of the more interesting of those is the Epsilon Program.
This series of side missions involves Michael being inducted and indoctrinated into a cult that’s a parody of those that actually exist today. You must donate a significant portion of Michael’s income in order to progress, and you will get up to a bunch of zany cult-like activities that involve pointlessly wandering through a vast open desert and wearing the cult’s uniform for ten in-game days to show your loyal devotion to the cause. Just make sure you don’t drink the punch.
7 Fallout 4 - The Silver Shroud
Hardly any other quest evokes the ridiculous hilarity of Fallout 4 more than “The Silver Shroud”. This peculiar side quest sees you take on the role of the fictional in-universe superhero, as you are tasked with cleaning up the streets in the only way that the wasteland would permit — by mowing down various criminals and vagabonds with a silver submachine gun while wearing the Shroud’s iconic silver costume.
Like any self-respecting superhero, you will tune in to the radio to listen out for any crimes to foil, and you will be carrying out all your crime-busting antics with all the 1950s-style superhero bravado you can conjure.
6 Skyrim - A Night To Remember
Skyrim is bursting with content to discover across its snowy mountain peaks, deep caves and bustling towns found scattered across the land. Eventually, you’ll find yourself in one of the game’s funniest quests, having a drinking contest in an unsuspecting tavern with the seemingly harmless Sam Guevenne in “A Night To Remember”.
The next thing you know, you are waking up many miles away in the city of Markarth, where you must journey to unravel the events of the previous night. It is an escalating tale of hilarious encounters and escapades that pays homage to the Hangover movies. It turns out that it was all a rude laugh at your expense from the Daedric Prince of Debauchery. He gives you a powerful artefact for your troubles, so it’s not all bad.
5 The Witcher 3 - Paperchase
In a wonderful reference to the classic French Asterix and Obelisk comics, the “Paperchase” quest from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s Blood and Wine DLC has Geralt attempt to complete the simple task of withdrawing a tidy cash sum from a bank. If only it were that easy.
As it turns out, the bank has declared him legally dead, which means Geralt will have to try and prove to the right people that he is, in fact, alive. What follows is a sadly realistic wild goose chase through bureaucratic hell, until you end up where you started — trying to convince the bank that you are not a dead man. It’s all very frustrating.
4 Oblivion - Sheogorath
Another Bethesda game, another weird side quest. This time we find ourselves in the Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion with everyone’s favourite sarcastic Daedric Prince of Madness, Sheogorath. After summoning him, he decides to use you in his schemes for amusement by enlisting your aid in making a group of unsuspecting Khajiit villagers cower in fear at the coming doom and end of all things.
You must simulate the features of a doomsday prophecy by attracting vermin into the village and poisoning their livestock. After a bit of absurd Daedric intervention, the villagers are irreversibly traumatised and Sheogorath’s desire for a twisted form of entertainment has been satisfied. It’s all a bit mad, really.
3 Mass Effect 3 - Citadel DLC - The Party
Mass Effect 3’s Citadel DLC sees Commander Shepard organise a social gathering that makes for one of the most memorable space party’s ever thrown. It really is a who’s who of notable characters that have shown up over the course of the three games, and will vary wildly depending on the decisions you have made along the way.
After sending your invites and buying all the necessary supplies, it’s time for the swankiest of soirées, with plenty of dancing, laughing and hangovers to be had. There are even some references to some community memes for an extra bit of fanfare.
2 Red Dead Redemption 2 - He’s British, Of Course
There are plenty of zany characters that you will inevitably stumble across during your time with Red Dead Redemption 2, but hardly any of them are as funny or memorable as Margaret in the ‘He’s British, Of Course’ set of stranger missions. As a circus performer wearing a dress, you find him in a spot of trouble after crashing his caravan and losing his ‘dangerous’ circus animals of a zebra, tiger and a lion. Good thing Arthur is there to lend a hand.
It turns out the zebra is just a donkey playing dress up, while the tiger looks suspiciously similar to a small painted cougar. It makes it all the more surprising when you are expecting an equally underwhelming farce for the lion… only to find an actual lion ready to tear you limb from limb. He got us there.
1 Yakuza Kiwami 2 - Be My Baby
There are many hilarious side quests in the Yakuza series, but few come close to “Be My Baby” in Yakuza Kiwami 2. Here, you find yourself being rewarded for a hard day's work with a visit to the Be My Baby club, where things are not as they first appear.
It soon becomes clear that you’ve stumbled upon a brothel that exclusively facilitates diaper fetishes. After refusing to participate, Kiryu proceeds to engage in hand-to-hand combat with a series of thugs wearing nothing but diapers. It’s a hilarious situation with a poignant message — don’t force others into your weird perversions, unless you want a serious beat down.