In one form or another, an RPG needs to incorporate progression, and most games simply go down the “stat boosts, skill upgrades” path. There’s no reason to fix a wheel that isn’t broken, but it is still nice when we get a game that takes things in a different direction. As progression fundamentally alters how you interact with the world, a unique version can create a dynamic not found in any other game.
Move away from any bonfires and traditional stat points; let’s focus on a few games that experiment with new progression systems and, for the most part, nail their implementation. As nothing exists in a vacuum, we will highlight a mix of classic and modern games, even if the former’s ideas are no longer as unique in 2026.
I’ve opted to just include three games, as I’d rather go in depth. Several other open-world RPGs have novel progression systems.
Click on the game with the higher OpenCritic rating.
Gothic (1 Or 2)
Groundbreaking Progression In More Ways Than One
Gothic
- Released
-
November 23, 2001
“Near-perfect” might be a slight exaggeration, but Piranha Bytes’ first two Gothic games have firmly written their places in both open-world and RPG lore. Focusing on the 2001 original, Gothic rejected the prevailing trends of its era, moving away from the casual stats-based power fantasies that defined most early 3D RPGs. In an absolute genius move, your character’s animations act as your progression bar, as they change as you become stronger.
You begin Gothic as a nameless convict kicked into a magical prison colony called the Mining Valley. If we take “progression” to mean more than just “growing stronger,” Piranha Bytes set its games apart by removing conveniences like quest markers or an accessible mini-map.
Gothic gives you traditional stats like HP, Mana, Strength, and Dexterity.
While you do gain experience to level up, this process only rewards Learning Points and a boost to HP. To become actually stronger, you need to use LP and money to get an NPC to train you, which lets you improve your stats or acquire new skills. We’ve seen this concept co-opted by the likes of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, but Gothic did it better than its successors.
World progression is entirely based on experience as well. Rather than artificial walls, players simply learn if they are strong enough for an area when they run into its monsters. Gothic even handles story progression differently than most RPGs, making it primarily based on social hierarchy. Factions react to the player’s state, strength, and wardrobe.
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Kenshi
Want To Become Tougher? Well, Then Prepare For A Beating
Kenshi
- Released
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December 6, 2018
Even more so than Kingdom Come: Deliverance or even Piranha Bytes’ subsequent games like Elex, Kenshi seems like the true spiritual successor to Gothic. If the 2001 masterpiece wrote the blueprint for organic world-building and progression, then this bizarre indie darling pushes to its unhinged end.
No other open-world RPG makes you feel like trash better than Kenshi. In this wasteland, you mean nothing. You have no identity, future, presence, strengths, or ambition. Rock bottom is your home, and moving out is not easy. The world doesn’t exist for your benefit, nor does it scale to match your capabilities. It simply exists, and it’s up to you to make something out of it.
Similar to Gothic, Kenshi has plenty of stats and skills, nearly all of which gain XP independently based on what you actually do and how you do it. For instance, running improves your Athletics, and direct combat increases stats like Martial Arts or Toughness (you need to get hit for the latter). If you want to become a master thief, you need to steal, get caught, end up in a slave camp, try to escape, get beaten by guards, and repeat the loop to improve your Stealth and Lockpicking skills.
The above progression is really just for the early game, as Kenshi gets progressively more complicated.
Again, “near-perfect” might sound like too much praise, but Kenshi was initially created by a single person, Chris Hunt, and has been a fixture of Steam for nearly a decade. Even now, the game still averages about 5K concurrent players. Considering its humble beginning and longevity, “near-perfect” seems fair.
Cassette Beasts
Record, Stick, And Fuse
OK, that’s enough gritty open-world RPGs! Time to talk about something a bit more colorful. That said, don’t be fooled by its cozy 16-bit monster-taming aesthetic; Cassette Beasts is far closer to a critique of the Pokemon formula than an endorsement. Although it incorporates some traditional elements, the indie game stacks mechanics upon each other to create a system that is wholly its own.
You wake up on New Wirral, a bizarre, shifting island stuck in an interdimensional pocket dimension where people from different eras of Earth are mysteriously washed ashore. Rather than throwing Poke Balls, you tame monsters by recording them on magnetic tapes, allowing you to physically transform into them.
You level up tapes until they reach 5 stars, adding moves (aka stickers) along the way. The cool thing about stickers is that you can peel them off and attach them to other tapes, giving you way more customization options. Unlike so many monster-tamer games, Cassette Beasts‘ progression isn’t a mad rush to find a high-level monster, but rather a journey to harvest stickers to create a very strong core group.
Naturally, Cassette Beasts features an evolution system in the form of Remasters, which is honestly not that different from Pokemon besides occasionally offering multiple paths.
Finally, the progression loop culminates with Fusion, which unlocks once you improve your relationship with your human companions. Since the protagonist transforms into a monster, you can only have one tape active at a time, and Cassette Beasts gets around this by attaching companions with the same ability as you. After completing a personal quest, you unlock the ability to fuse with your companion in the middle of battle, and you need to figure out the best combination of monsters to survive boss battles.
When it comes to world progression, Cassette Beasts structures its island like a Metroidvania that locks sections behind traversal abilities. It isn’t a particularly unique progression system, but it is rarely seen in open-world RPGs.
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