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Essays 02 August 2021, 20:00

author: Michael Pajda

Single-Player Games Worth Playing After End Credits

Reaching the end credits doesn't always mean the end of your adventure with a game – some games still have plenty of attractions beyond the main storyline.

Table of Contents

Borderlands 2

I love chaos – but Borderlands 2 sometimes gets almost too intense...

  1. Genre: action RPG
  2. Play it if: you like collecting more and more powerful weapons and combining them into endless creations
  3. Don't play it if: you have a lousy sense of humor
  4. Related Games: Serious Sam series, Bulletstorm

This story could not have ended any other way. The high ratings for the first part of Borderlands, released in 2009 – a colorful combination of action and RPG – influenced Gearbox Software's decision to release the next installment. In "two", whose story takes place a few years after the events from the original, the main villain is Handsome Jack – an influential man for whom Pandora (the planet we traverse in the game) and its treasures are excellent business.

The sequel was received as warmly as the original – not only by the gaming community around the world, but also by reviewers, whose scores ranged between a strong eight to a perfect ten. The same was true of the equally well-regarded expansions.

Once you've seen the main storyline, played all the characters, and maxed out the four expansions, there's still a Gearbox version of new game plus, called Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. This mode provides a whole new challenge for players who have completed the storyline at the True Vault Hunter Mode level (the developers claimed that it was necessary to reach level 50, but this is not true). You can immediately see the changes that have taken place in the gameplay. Opponents drop better items more often than in the basic mode, and the same goes for bosses and legendary items. Furthermore, even regular opponents can regenerate their health. The level of enemies is automatically scaled – in the single-player, to the highest-level character (their HP, attack points, and items collected along the way), while in multiplayer, it's scaled to the highest-level character in the team.

It's interesting that the creators – uncharacteristically – decided to give the players in this mode a tutorial and re-explore the basics of the gameplay. Instead, the fun starts immediately in the Southern Shelf instance with the first mission outside the tutorial active.

WHAT ABOUT BORDERLANDS 3?

Yes, it's not a surprise that you can also spend a lot of time in 3 after the main storyline is over. In this respect, the series has not changed. However, we stuck to 2 because we still feel more sentimental about it.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Already know why the eagles didn't drop Frodo off at Mount Doom...?

  1. Genre: RPG
  2. Play it if: "graphics aren't everything" is your motto
  3. Do not Play it if: you don't like dragons
  4. Related Games: Dark Souls, The Elder Scrolls

A dragon rips out the heart of the main character who, as the chosen one, returns from the afterlife to take revenge on his tormentor. On the one hand, it sounds like a reheated chop, but on the other, it raises curiosity. However, it's not the story alone that the player lives by – it's also worth mentioning the gameplay mechanics, which is a clever mix of everything that's best in Dark Souls, God of War, Devil May Cry or The Elder Scrolls series. The cherry on top of this delicious-looking cake is the fact that the production was done by none other than Capcom. And we have a recipe for getting the attention of hundreds of thousands of gamers.

Originally, Dragon's Dogma came out in 2012, exclusively for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles – however, the game didn't shine in terms of technology at the time of its debut, which didn't stop it from gaining a considerable following. A year after the release, players received a kind of remaster entitled Dark Arisen, which – in addition to the obvious content of the original – introduced a new story line to the game, as well as ported the game to next-generation consoles and PCs, where the momentum of the production no longer choked the hardware.

Beginning post-fiction play in Dragon's Dogma is available after completing the final quest "The Great Hereafter." When starting new game plus, however, be careful and select Load Game or Hard Mode rather than New Game – otherwise you will start from the first character level and with progression reset.

NG+ mode itself allows you to play with an already developed hero – their level, the calling by which the hero's classes and skills are determined – and all their possessions. It is worth noting that the level of opponents does not scale to ours, so duels become much easier. Apart from that, new game-plus introduces a few cosmetic changes and offers the possibility of replaying the game after completing this mode – under NG++ or NG++ rules – which makes it possible for the player to develop their character to their heart's content, as well as acquire gold and any discoverable finds.

Diablo 3

My personal space is thirty feet in diameter, gentlemen.

  1. Genre: RPG
  2. Play it if: The devil is not as scary to you as some say
  3. Don't play it if: you think Diablo ended with part two
  4. Related Games: Path of Exile, Pillars of Eternity

Blizzard's Diablo series should be considered solely as an icon of the gaming world – and there can be no doubt about that. The first part, dated 1997, got great reviews and won a slew of followers. The cult of the game was strengthened when the second installment of the series appeared on shelves in 2000. The traditional "when it's done" – a platitude used by Blizzard Entertainment employees when "specifying" the release dates of their titles – only fueled huge interest in the third part, released 12 years after Diablo II. Some people were disappointed, while others absolutely loved it.

Initially, Diablo III featured a multi-stage New Game Plus mode. After playing the game for the first time with a particular character, we could continue the adventure in the Nightmare level, and after passing it, we could start playing Hell, and then Inferno. Currently, the gameplay doesn't force you to complete the campaign several times, but instead relies on collecting items, upgrading characters and constantly raising the difficulty level (it's up to the player to decide what it will be).

It's also hard not to mention Deep Rifts, which serves up more challenges but also offers the best rewards. Blizzard also made sure to introduce regular seasons, during which players compete in online rankings and at the end receive unique weapon types or cosmetic items. Diablo III is the kind of game that if you soak in it then... you'll be lucky if you can find time for anything else at all, sleeping included.

Fallout 4

Fallout 4

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Diablo III

Diablo III

Disgaea 5 Complete

Disgaea 5 Complete

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