Off The Beaten​​​​​​​ Path

RPG designers tell us how to make the perfect sidequest.

The typically epic main quests of Western RPGs represent only a small portion of an adventure that might last for over 100 hours. In between these gargantuan set pieces are countless sidequests, asides, and ancillary diversions with the power to flesh out characters and worlds, guiding us down the paths less well trodden. Sidequests help define their respective RPGs, reinforcing their themes and letting us dig even deeper into these elaborate fictional universes when the critical path is ignored and deviated from.

“From a design standpoint, the most important thing for a sidequest is that it needs to bring some added value,” explains CD Projekt Red quest designer, Patrick Mills. “Usually, this means exploring a topic, situation, or theme that’s implicit in the main story, but not foregrounded. From a player experience perspective, a sidequest should give the player something different from the main content. Sometimes that means a new gameplay element, but it could be as simple as mixing up the tone of the narrative.”

Hidden inside The Witcher 3’s final expansion, Blood and Wine, is one of the game’s most memorable quests— the Equine Phantoms contract. A woman is being plagued by nightmares and spectres, leading grouchy Geralt to drink a hallucinogenic potion in an attempt to get to the root of the problem. The result? The itinerant monster hunter starts hearing the voice of Roach, his horse. It turns out that his mare enjoys expletives, and is none too impressed with Geralt, but it’s only by working together that they can figure out what’s going on.