(electronic bleeping) - [Falcon] From zero to hero. (gun blasting) A lot of games really give you that experience, and- - I have arrived at the conclusion that a bad day is just a bad day, and it doesn't mean your whole life (muted) up. - [Falcon] Well, I'm not gonna waste a lot of time here.
That's what I want to talk about. Hi, folks, it's Falcon, and today on Gameranx: 10 games where you rise from nothing to powerful. Starting off with number 10, it's "Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
" If you want a series where you start off as a total chump working your way up from literally nothing, the "Kingdom Come" games are what you're looking for. In the first game, you start off as a literal peasant who can't swing a sword, can't even read, and you basically spend the entire game getting up to the point where you're just about equal to your average "Elder Scrolls" protagonist at minute one. So it's less of rags to riches and more rags to slightly better rags.
But hey, in the world of "Kingdom Come: Deliverance," that's kind of powerful, you know? (chuckling) The sequel starts off on slightly better footing. You can still read, but otherwise, it does eliminate all your gains from the previous game in a pretty clever way by having Henry get ambushed, shot with an arrow, and humiliated in the opening hours and stranded in a new place where everyone just assumes you're another penny-loose peasant.
From there, you once again have to work your way back. And let me tell you, folks, it ain't easy. The first few hours of "Kingdom Come 2," they're brutal.
Just one or two bandits can totally kick your ass. (both grunting) (blows thudding) - [Assailant] I'll get you, fucker - [Falcon] You'll fail at every skill check you try. Sneaking is a disaster.
You suck at everything. The only way to get better is through practice and playing as cautiously as possible. Eventually, you start to get better, but it's slow.
You do go from the chump with nothing to a fully decked-out knight, taking on entire camps of enemies single-handedly. The difference is that what you do at the start of the game compared to the end is night and day. You're still not that strong compared to your average video protagonist, but you feel much more empowered in these games because you know where you started, and every level-up and progression update is really meaningful.
- I'll shoot you an extra arsehole! (fighters grunting) (blows thudding) Yeah, don't spare him! Ha!
You got him! (fighters grunting) (blows thudding) - Ah! - Slice him up!
- Ah! - I'll kick your arse! - [Knight] Drw blood, yeah!
Kill him! - [Falcon] And number nine is "Days Gone. " For a game where your progression is almost entirely tied to your equipment, "Days Gone" manages to make you feel way more powerful at the end of the game compared to the beginning.
You're not a complete joke at the start, but the opening hours of "Days Gone," any random zombie is super dangerous. (rain pattering) (blade slashing) (Both grunting) Just a few human enemies can easily overwhelm you. Weapons start off weak.
It doesn't take much to kill you. Even just getting around is a pain without, shit, your motorcycle. We wrote down "underpowered" in the notes, and you know what?
No, it's shit. Once you start to get better weapons, things start to change pretty dramatically, though. At the start, hordes of zombies have to be avoided.
You do not stand a chance. So if there's a horde around, that means getting the hell out. It's not till the mid-game you start getting tough enough to take on small hordes of even about a dozen or so zombies, and that's still risky.
But by the end of the game, where you're finally equipped, you can seriously take on the real zombie hordes in spots where hundreds of undead congregate, and it's badass. (gun blasting) (zombies moaning) (tense dramatic music) (blow thuds) (zombies screeching) These are the highlights of the frickin' game. They're a perfect example of how far you've come.
You start out with a piddly little pistol, and now you're going full-on Rambo with a light machine gun, tossing satchel charges full of explosives around like it's no big deal. The gulf between where you start and where you end up in "Days Gone" is massive, especially compared to other open-world zombie games, you know? (tense dramatic music) (gun blasting) (zombies moaning) (blows thudding) (zombies growling) (gun blasting) (gun cocking) (gun blasting) And number eight is "S.
T. A. L.
K. E. R.
2. " This is another game where the power curve is a little more shallow than your traditional RPG, but like "Kingdom Come," every little tiny improvement feels monumental 'cause the game just does not cut you any slack whatsoever. This game is just relentlessly difficult at times, even unfair.
Just being able to afford to repair your equipment can be a struggle. Your weight limit is so pathetically small that you're forced to travel light. The nonstop anomalies can kill you out of nowhere.
And even the most basic artifacts, which are one of the few ways to improve your skill, have the severe drawback of irradiating you when you equip them. You get nothing for free in "S. T.
A. L. K.
E. R. 2" other than a crappy starter pistol that can barely scratch a bandit, let alone one of the many beefy monsters inhabiting the zone.
(guns blasting) (group grunting) (Skif grunts) Everything's dangerous. One or two bandits, that's enough. And if a monster tries to kill you, just run.
Seriously, monsters in "S. T. A.
L. K. E.
R. 2" drop nothing when they die, so killing them is just a net negative on resources. (gun blasting) It takes a long time, but eventually, you start getting decent weapons and stuff that allows you to take on tougher creatures without a lot of difficulty.
By the end of the game, you're not up to the level of, like, a "Fallout" character or anything, but you're not far off. You're decked out in some kind of power armor and experimental weapons that can kill everything on sight. It takes a real long time to get there, though.
And even then, it is a struggle to maintain that level of power. The power armor has downsides. The upgrades for equipment are super expensive, and just keeping it maintained drains most of your bank account.
It's worth it, though. Where the rare moments where you get to cut loose, though. It's pretty sweet.
(guns blasting) (tense dramatic music) - [Col. Korshunov] You won't get me here, you sons of bitches. (guns blasting) - [Falcon] And number seven is "Enderal.
" I was thinking about putting "Elder Scrolls" on this list, but I think there's a better example. The total conversion mod for "Skyrim," which uses the same base elements of the game but, in terms of progression, it's significantly more challenging. If you've played "Skyrim" recently, you know what progression looks like.
You're a freed convict at the start of the game. You're not really in that much danger other than the dragon. The game's kind of designed to get you away from that situation, though.
So, hm. "Enderal," however, whew! Even something as basic as a wolf can and will kill the shit out of you.
(character yelling) (sword slashing) Everything about this game is designed to be a lot more challenging than "Skyrim. " Instead of automatically leveling up your skills, you've gotta learn from skill trainers. Enemies hit a lot harder.
They do not scale, so you can and will encounter monsters that are way tougher than you right at the beginning. The only way to deal with them is to get the hell out. Just a few enemies alone can overwhelm you.
(intense dramatic music) (character yelling) (blow slams) (monster growling) (monster growling) So, like, in the opening hours, stick to the main story. Do side quests in the safety of villages, where all you have to do is talk to people. If you've played particularly difficult RPGs, like the "Gothic" games or really anything from Piranha Bytes, RIP, but I don't know, the "Elex" games just made me mad, whatever.
"Gothic" game. Anyway, the start of the game is spent accumulating money and resources to improve survivability. One big change from standard "Skyrim" is you can't rely on magic to save you.
Casting spells causes a buildup of arcane fever that can have debilitating effects the more it builds up. Potions do the same. So, if you wanna heal, you're mostly relying on eating food to keep your health up, which is obviously quite slow.
It's just one of the ways that "Enderal" is way tougher than "Skyrim," especially when you're starting out. Still, it's a fantasy game, so you do eventually start taking on god-like beings and monsters and become obscenely powerful, it just takes longer. (tense dramatic music) - Ah!
(flames whooshing) (flames whooshing) - [Falcon] Moving on to number six, it's "Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. " This game, a little more sandboxy than the other games on this list, but it does give players the option to start with literally nothing and go all the way up to the emperor of the online continent. While there is a story campaign to follow, this is more of a game where you can do whatever and make your own fun.
So there's a lot of different options for your character: who they are, what they are. You can be a noble, you can be a thief, relatively rich man, or somebody with absolutely nothing. And if you really wanna experience the full breadth of what the game has to offer, starting with basically nothing, that's the way to go.
The goal here is to build up a warband, increase your renown, get in good with the local lords, and eventually become one yourself. You can start with just yourself, eventually work up to hiring a few allies, then to a full-blown warband, and eventually lead an army. - [Character] "Attack!
" (horse hooves cantering) (river burbling) (dramatic orchestral music) (horse whinnies) (soldier yells) - [Warrior] I'll eat your liver! (warriors yelling) - [Falcon] There's a lot of different routes to conquest. It's almost like a "Civilization" strategy game, just more basic, mixed in with real-time combat and RPG elements.
And yeah, there's no point in trying to explain exactly what it is. It's "Mount & Blade II," that's what you need to know. What's different here is you don't just become more physically powerful in the game, you gain significant political power as well.
You go from being a nobody to controlling an entire country. You're in charge of entire armies, that kind of thing. It's a different kind of power than you normally get in these games, but, like, it is satisfying.
(intense dramatic music) (warriors yelling) (blows thudding) (horse whinnying) (warriors yelling) (blows thudding) (warriors yelling) (blows thudding) And number five is "Baldur's Gate 3. " You take pretty much any CRPG, it would fit the criteria, especially the ones that are based on the "Dungeons & Drgons" rule set. They almost universally start you off pretty weak, but "Baldur's Gate 3" is a game where you really feel the progression more so than most other games of this type.
They put in work to make you feel underpowered, to be clear, is what I'm saying. The opening hours, like, at best, you can take on a few goblins, some bandits, and you need, like, an equal party size, otherwise your. .
. Being outnumbered, and that's it. You're done.
(light percussive music) (creature screeches) (blow thuds) (blow thuds) It's done. In act one, anything feels dangerous. You really feel like there's a ticking clock counting down to your doom.
And even though that's mostly just smoke and mirrors, the first time you're playing through the game, the tension is so thick, you can cut it with a knife. It takes a lot to get past those opening hours, where every battle is a life-or-death struggle. Even once you're past that, there's still the massive difficulty spikes to worry about every once in a while as well.
One big difference with "Baldur's Gate 3" compared to other RPGs is it's not just leveling up that makes you feel more powerful. It's how you slowly begin to learn tricks and, like, little things that make the game easier for yourself. You start figuring out which spells to exploit and then ways to ambush enemies that completely neuter them.
Getting good at the game isn't just about increasing stats, it's about figuring out how everything works together and using it to your advantage. It's how you're able to take on enemies that are significantly tougher than you and still come out on the other side unscathed, more or less. Enemies that would've been impossible 20 hours ago aren't just possible by the endgame.
You can easily smack them down if you know the right spells to cast and the right weapons and abilities to use. Yeah, it's impressive that you were fighting bugbears at the start of the game, and now you're taking on dragons. But what really makes you feel powerful is you know all of the tricks to make the dragon not just beatable but easy.
Knowledge is what makes you feel more powerful in "Baldur's Gate 3. " And honestly, that's more satisfying than just hitting the level cap, you know? (dramatic choral music) (explosion blasting) At number four is "Gothic.
" The original balls-hard RPG is pretty awkward to get into in 2025, but if you want an RPG where you start out with nothing, then this is the ur example. The ubermensch of that, I guess. It's far from the first game to drop you off at the start of the game with the clothes on your back, and that's it.
But it's one of the first games to really hammer home just how screwed you are at first. What makes "Gothic" different is that you're not treated like an RPG hero. You're treated like a nobody because you actually are a nobody.
- I'm Diego. - I'm- - I'm not interested in who you are. You've just arrived.
I look after the new arrivals; that's all for now. - [Falcon] The game drops you into this magical prison colony that's been completely separated from the rest of the world. The prisoners revolted; they took over, and now this entire world is trapped in this magical bubble run by killers, thieves, and outlaws.
Everyone you run into is looking to either rob you, exploit you, or just screw with you. And at the very start of the game, there's nothing you can do about that. It's not like your standard RPGs, where bandits try to rob you, and it's just an excuse to kill some enemies.
In this game, if you run into robbers at first, your best bet is to just give them what they want. Not exactly the most inspiring route to take, but (laughs) I mean, the opening hours of "Gothic" are just people using and abusing you. It's like hazing in a fraternity.
You gotta take it for a while before the game even starts to accept you. In comparison to most games that start off, that ease the player into the world, "Gothic" doesn't. Doesn't pull punches.
Doesn't care. It doesn't like you. Even the most basic monsters can wreck you at the start.
Prison guards extort you for cash. Quest givers will just straight-up lie to you. The guys who give you quests!
It's a cruel game. And back in 2001, it was a real, big breath of fresh air, honestly. If you stick with it, you will eventually get tougher, but the power scaling is definitely closer to "Kingdom Come" than something like "Baldur's Gate.
" You're not fighting god-like beings by the end of the game, but at least you can fight off some tougher monsters. Still, every bit of progress you make makes the game feel significant. And when you finally get to the point where you can stand up for yourself and intimidate all those NPCs who, for the past 12 hours, have been pushing you around, it feels real good.
(light tense music) (footsteps tapping) - Alert! (swords scraping) - Nice fight! (blows thudding) (sword squelching) (character yells) - [Falcon] And number three is "SteamWorld Heist 2.
" Weird one, but bear with me here. The options are to either talk about "Elden Ring" for the millionth time or try something different. So we're trying something different.
Also, you already know "Elden Ring" does this. Let's talk about the "SteamWorld" games. They're all pretty good, but one thing you don't normally associate with them is a serious sense of power.
They're dig games, there's fun progression in them, but they're mostly just making you dig faster, unlock new movement powers, Metroidvania-type stuff, more or less. And while the first "SteamWorld Heist" game was great and innovative, the progression was flat and pretty linear. You got better weapons, but you never really got to feel significantly more powerful.
And "SteamWorld Heist 2" has a brilliant class system that mixes things up. So, literally, it mixes things up. Every class has different abilities.
You're able to sort of pick and choose what abilities mix and match as long as you've unlocked a character within that class. At first, it feels a little overwhelming, the opening hours of "Heist 2" can be a little difficult, especially if you're not already well-acquainted with the game's unique side-scrolling strategic gameplay. (light dramatic music) (gun blasting) (blow slams) It does take a while, but soon you start to learn powerful synergies for each character.
And in time, you can turn them into squishy, barely functional junk bots, and, you know, what you are at the beginning, to the unstoppable killing machines clearing out entire maps just on a single turn. By the end of the game, you're rolling with an entire squad of overpowered, unstoppable specialists that have pinpoint accuracy. Bounce shots from basically anywhere on the map, they can run anywhere, and take multiple actions every turn while also building up a damage multiplier that'll kill even the toughest enemies in one hit.
I've never played a strategy game that lets you be this broken, yet it somehow feels intentional because enemies by the end of the game are just nuts. They're no joke. The devs behind this one knew the truth of strategy games.
People love to min-max, and they made a central element of this game that. And, oh, man, is it fantastic? It really works.
(gun blasting) (explosion booms) (upbeat dramatic music) (gun blasting) (explosion booms) (guns blasting) And number two is "Noita. " It's pretty common for roguelikes to have you start off weak and then become extremely powerful by the end. But "Noita's" a game that takes that basic idea and goes absolutely bonkers with it.
You start off with a weak little wand that can barely do anything, but if you know what you're doing, you can get a wand so absurdly powerful that it can literally stop anything that tries to stand against you, including the environment. (wand blasting) (explosions booming) (wand blasting) (gunge splashing) This is one of those games where knowledge is just as important as power, though. You learn all the tricks to survive just as much as getting more powerful the old-fashioned way.
The thing with "Noita" is that everything's simulated, and everything breaks, which can cause all kinds of Rube Goldberg-like chaos. It's "Spelunky" on steroids, where some random magic stray shock can cause a chain reaction that, at least, at first, you never see coming. The complexity of the situation is what makes the game difficult but also fascinating.
And once you learn to bend the world to your will, it all becomes so much easier. (wand blasting) And finally, at number one, it's "Kenshi. " Take "Mount & Blade" and make it 100 more bizarre.
You know what? Do that with the punishment as well. It's 100 times more bizarre and punishing.
That gives you "Kenshi," though, one of the strangest and most fascinating sandbox games out there. It's a game where there's no real goal. There's no campaign or anything.
You just create a character, drop into the world, and see what happens. Most of the time, that means you're gonna get beaten up, robbed, left for dead, blah, blah, blah. (swords clanking) (birds chirping) It's ruthless.
The game gives you almost no guidance, and what you're supposed to do. Even in the most basic action, you really don't know what it is, and that, of course, makes it quite a struggle. If you stick with the game and really try to understand it, slowly but surely, everything gets a lot easier.
Your guy eventually is able to survive and thrive in this brutal world. Maybe you'll eventually build a posse and take over a settlement or build your own settlement, that's a possibility as well. In "Kenshi," you can start off as a starving torso in the middle of the desert and eventually build yourself up to a warlord that has his own city you can build from scratch.
No other game lets you start as low as "Kenshi" and lets you eventually become the most powerful individual in the entire wasteland. It's a fascinating game, but not one for the faint of heart. It can and will chew you up and spit you out.
Like, it's tough, but if you have the patience for it, it's one of the most rewarding sandbox games of all time. And that's all for today. Leave us a comment; let us know what you think.
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I'm Falcon. You can follow me on Twitter and book me on Cameo, @FalconTheHero. We'll see you next time, right here on Gameranx.
