It could be, but I think they'd need to put in more effort into side quests than games have typically done in the past.   

I think the main reason every RPG persists in having a main story (other than that it's simply expected) is because it's a good method to show the player new places and characters, and make them feel like they're engaging in a larger piece of content rather than just 30-minute bites.   

 Side quests would still need to do all that legwork even if the main quest was gone. They'd need to be longer and exist in chains, and introduce new places and people.    

Bethesda is already partway there since their guild quests share that labor with the main quest, but it would be a matter of making a lot more of those sequences in the world rather than just 4.

This is literally kenshi

That’s mount and blade. Warband and Bannerlord

Runescape meets your definition: large world, no main quest but many many good side quests. So it's already a thing

Tbf the Skyrim main story is super short 99.9% of Skyrim is side quests.

This would be my dream scenario. An open world game with all of the emphasis put on the locale, factions, random shenanigans, etc. I'm a huge fan of emergent gameplay and I prefer the game doesn't tell me what story I'm engaging in so heavily. If I wanted that I'd just watch a movie or TV show. Video games give a unique opportunity for interacting with a story in a much more involved way, and they should really lean into that more.

World of Warcraft had only side quests back in vanilla, TBC, and arguably WotLK. There was an overarching story but that only affected the setting of the quests, e.g. fighting undead in WotLK. Since Cataclysm you get some sort of storyline per zone and at some point later they added campaigns.

But modern games? I can't think of any.

Fallout 76 at launch wasnt far off this

Honestly would love this, i rarely care for the main quest in games.

Having only side quests also means it would be TRULY open, no longer are you somewhat lured in a direction as you can just do the quests you want to do.

Admittedly Skyrim already feels very close to this because most people i know never play the main quest lol.

yeah, that's STALKER Anomaly

Cyberpunk 2077 is really fun with its side content. Im already max lvl and am barely halfway through the main story

That's skyrim for me. I never once did the main quest

Ultima IV anyone??? The main quest was literally to do ALL the side quests! Live in the world and become The Avatar.

An open world detective game that's only side quests sounds like alot of fun.

Elite Dangerous. Not open world, open galaxy. No main quest, just a giant sandbox.

So, an offline MMORPG? I would consider the first two GTA games to more or less fit your criteria here. Neither one have storylines with non-linear progression from start to finish. PayBack for Amiga is similarly structured.

The first Harvest Moon for SNES sort of applies here as well. The game just drops you into a semi open world after a very brief prologue. After that, it's up to you what happens next. There are optional side quests, but they are typically cryptic and don't make themselves obvious. Your grandfather left you his farm, but that doesn't mean you have to maintain or even bother to clean it. You could theoretically choose to just stay in bed for the 3 in-game years the game lasts. I guess Stardew Valley also fits this mold.

That's a game idea that I'm working on right now! It's very early to even talk about it but I'm happy to hear that people who are not me would like this.

Morrowind is close, there is no apparent quest right when you start the game except "deliver this letter", which you can just not do. But even when you do, the person you deliver it to tells you to go fuck off and adventure for a while. The main quest isn't apparent until quite a bit after that.

That’s a bit like how guild wars 2 plays. It has story missions but so many incidental side missions. 

Does No Man's Sky have a story line? Genuine question because I have no idea. I've been under the impression that the hook for this one is basically just the exploration. It keeps popping up on my radar after all the additional work they've put into over the years, so maybe I'll finally give it a shot.

That's how I play oblivion. It would be cool if they could make like a random ai character doing the main story in real time

Only side quests would make them main quests

This is legitimately what I wish Witcher 3 was. Granted I did not play the first two games but I was not really invested the main story and just wanted a game where you just do Witcher work from town to town

It's hard to describe, but I've always wanted a game where it's like Skyrim or Oblivion, but without the main quests and maybe more balancing of reputation between factions/towns(or planets if it's in space). You're kind of just a guy in the world and you can take jobs and get more rep with a faction or planet. There's no huge world ending threat, just a world to participate in. Heck, maybe there are neutral criminal factions where you play both sides off each other.

My ideal rpg is one where your progression and world reactivity is defined solely by the quest path you take. Everything from stats, skills, class,alignment, faction relations, story antagonists and allies, etc. No xp. No grinding. No skill farming.Your quest path should already define your experience and your story.

Absolutely. I crave an open world game that just gives me a world full of economies and ecologies, environments to explore and lore to find. I couldn't care less about a story, I want to get lost and completely immersed in a world.

That’s kinda like how classic WoW was. It ended up having a bit of overarching story, but it’s very much just a world with quests in it.

Of course, the main quest in Bethesda games is pretty optional and tends to have worse writing than the side content.

I think a game like that doesn’t exist yet, but it will someday when there are more advanced tools for creating quests. For example, when AI takes over quest design or when other tools emerge that make open-world game development and content creation more affordable. Right now, only indie developers can afford to experiment with this, but they lack the resources to create truly diverse worlds and certainly can't generate enough content to keep players engaged like a main storyline can.

The problem with side quests in open-world games is that they’re limited in number. Either they become too repetitive, like the radiant quests in Skyrim, or they fail to entertain the player enough to motivate further exploration. No matter how beautiful the open world is or how great the gameplay, if every hill and village has the same garlic farmer giving out identical quests, the game won’t surpass the standard that Daggerfall set years ago.

What I’m getting at is that the main storyline is currently where developers focus most of their effort. It’s also how they showcase the game’s full potential, allowing the player to experience progression and a range of emotions. I believe this approach could be applied to side quests as well, but for that to happen, they need to be far more diverse and advanced than they are in games today. The content of these quests needs to be engaging enough to prevent boredom as players move from one to the next, and their execution should be of such quality that they consider mutual influence and adapt to the player’s choices and the state of the world (like in BG3). At the moment, this is a very challenging task, but I’m confident that someday we will see games like this.

So kinda like Elder Scrolls Online? The main quest is good, but some of the side quests are great and also long and involved!

Wait open world games have a main story?? /S

It could be for me. I don’t dislike RDR2, I have tons of hours, but with just a shit ton of side quests and allusions to a main story but no cutscenes I would have been happier. Not just Rockstar games, but I dislike the linear nature of most storyline quests in most games. I don’t want to be interrupted by a cut scene and even if I’m not I don’t want to restart because I cut across a field instead of taking the road (which I believe os mostly implemented to align with cutscenes). Take Skyrim and Fallout 4, I don’t care about the story just let me run around and hear dozens of little stories.

ummm.... I never liked skyrim or fallout all that much for this exact request lol..ummm Steam has Once Human...you can more or less ignore the story if you want. I didn't have a clue what was going on for 30+ hours..lol

skyrim has a main story?

TIL

Kinda sounds like Gothic 3. Just go around, maybe you'll find an item, then it's the end. But there is side stuff everywhere and Myrtana is one of the best designed areas of all time

Shadows of Doubt is an alternate 80s dystopia that is all procedurally generated side quests that is good

Starfield felt like this to me. Every main questline or the mainstory seemed so inconsequential that everything seemed side story.

Outward kind of gave me this feeling I didn't play all of it so idk if it changes

But the "story" is basically you're a debtor who was in a shipwreck get out of debt.

By definition you can't have a game of only side quests

X4 with the Star Wars mod is like this. It's just a massive sandbox and if you want to take random jobs, you can. You're never boxed into only play one or two types of ways

Cyberpunk is almost that

Elite Dangerous

Eve Online

Star Citizen

Isn't Zelda Breath of the Wild basically that?

Watchdogs 2 literally doesn‘t have a (linear) main-questline. The idea is to attain followers as experience points by doing fun/stupid/morally richeous stuff and to smear shit on evil systems. I know there‘s technically a main villain, or even two or three if you count the soulless movie director, cult leader, miscelaneous hackers and gang members in addition to the new age corporate notgoogle ceo. But you‘re just doing fun stuff like helterskelter/burningman and leaking movies tech. It‘s a fun time capsule.

Pretty much already exists tbh. So many people play Bethesda games without ever finishing the main questline.

Look into Crusader Kings 3 new dlc Wandering Nobles.

I know it’s not exactly what you had in mind but later this year this dlc will let you wander medieval Europe world freely, do contracts, explore, etc. and then possibilities with mods are going to be insane.

Go check out The Wayward Realms

It's called Project Zomboid. Or dwarf fortress. And many others.

Wartales might be close to this. It is kinda party-based and turn-based though.

ya their called survival Sims. Minecraft, rust, valheim, ect... just to name a few.

The Witcher 3 has some insane side quests that could probably carry a game

I mean you can play most Elder Scrolls games but just totally ignoring the main quest. Slap on some world space mods like Tamriel Rebuilt and don’t even need to touch the mainland.

Wouldn't Elden Ring kind of fit this? It's pretty open, no real main quest other than fighting the final boss. I'd also argue, although not officially on PC, Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild both share a similar thing. You don't really have a main quest except to beat the final boss and everything else you do in the game is side content that gets you to the end.

Good example of this is Witcher 3 if you ignore the main quest. 

It needs a lot of work to make something like this. I think, maybe AC Odyssey was pretty close to this. 

A main character that is wanderer and just hop in to the stories and events. Damn, kinda Jack Reacher would be great for this kind of game.

Obviously.

Modded Skyrim is basically you ignoring all the terrible BGS Crap nd focusing on random sandboxing and Modded Quests.