Morrowind
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 5 open-world RPGs by recommenders
Open-world RPG praised for its rich story, freeform world and distinctive setting. Common caveats are a dated look and bugs, with crashes unless tweaked.
Open-world RPG praised for its rich story, freeform world and distinctive setting. Common caveats are a dated look and bugs, with crashes unless tweaked.
32 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 26
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 26 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Rich story and unique quests
“Morrowind had no guardrails or quest markers, but it had a good story and clear final goal that you learn eventually.”
Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “No Man's Sky Cosmos” “the storytelling is amazing. Far more interesting and unique quests than later TES games.”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “Ask HN: What game have you replayed more times than any other?” “was a gem that was full of rich lore, plenty of readying”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “The case for MUDs in modern times” Freeform world and spell creation
“I really like the balance that Morrowind offered: it all felt like one big world”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Outside, Dungeon, Town: Integrating the Three Places in Videogames (2024)” “Morrowind gives the player more actual freedom with the spell creating and such.”
Comment from 22 Aug 2026 in “The Lost Treasure of Sid Meier's Pirates” Distinctive setting and retro charm
“people weren't happy that they moved from Morrowind's much more unique fantasy setting”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Command and Conquer Generals natively ported to macOS, iPhone, iPad using Fable” “I always liked the more retro/polygonal charm of Morrowind.”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “OpenMW 0.50.0 Released – open-source Morrowind reimplementation” “Morrowind is kind of dated. But I like the original style.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “OpenTTD 16.0-Beta1” Immersive, one-of-a-kind feel
“Morrowind is something really special and unlike oblivion It. Just. Works.”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “Ask HN: What game have you replayed more times than any other?” “very few games had this effect on me - maybe only TES3”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Making Video Games in 2025 (without an engine)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Bugs and crashes, especially vanilla
“Morrowind (2002) is riddled with bugs, a lot of them game breaking.”
Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “Microsoft's lack of quality control is out of control” “It also crashes a hell of a lot less than the official binary.”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “OpenMW 0.50.0 Released – open-source Morrowind reimplementation” “Both crash on launch, unless you tweak a lot of things”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Win32 is the stable Linux ABI” Dated look and missing voiced lines
“it's a really great game, but it lacks fully voiced lines for dialogue”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “Seedance 2.5” “Morrowind is kind of dated. But I like the original style.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “OpenTTD 16.0-Beta1”
Other open-world RPGs people recommend
The four most recommended other open-world RPGs, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 76 | 38 | 67% | 12 | 6 mo5 owners | Approved |
| MorrowindThis page | 26 | 6 | 81% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Skyrim | 25 | 21 | 54% | 10 | — | — |
| Fallout: New Vegas | 15 | 4 | 79% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | 11 | 21 | 34% | 8 | — | — |
What people said
29 of the 34 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Morrowind had no guardrails or quest markers, but it had a good story and clear final goal that you learn eventually.”
“the creative team on it being incredibly hard-working and inspired”
“Morrowind gives the player more actual freedom with the spell creating and such.”
“it makes no sense having common bandit on the road carrying god-like equipment”
“I liked the vast modding community around Morrowind and had plenty of fun playing around with it”
“NPCs in Morrowind are much more numerous and verbose than in Oblivion or Skyrim”
“it's a really great game, but it lacks fully voiced lines for dialogue”
“was a gem that was full of rich lore, plenty of readying”
“Up there with Morrowind: Pipboy Edition”
“people weren't happy that they moved from Morrowind's much more unique fantasy setting”
“Morrowind is kind of dated. But I like the original style.”
“Morrowind is something really special and unlike oblivion It. Just. Works.”
“the storytelling is amazing. Far more interesting and unique quests than later TES games.”
“your character movement gets extremely janky when you're well outside of Vvardenfell”
“very few games had this effect on me - maybe only TES3”
“who needs these when we have Morrowind?”
“Love this so much, as a long-time Morrowind fangirl.”
“Whilst Morrowind is fine under Wine”
“Both crash on launch, unless you tweak a lot of things”
“I really like the balance that Morrowind offered: it all felt like one big world”
“this game is way ahead of everyone else”
“Morrowind (2002) is riddled with bugs, a lot of them game breaking.”
“itself less ambitious than Daggerfall”
“Morrowind has multiple fan patches”
“doesn't beat out Morrowind as my all time favorite from the series”
“It also crashes a hell of a lot less than the official binary.”
“I think Morrowind Vanilla is fine, but there are a few I like”
“I always liked the more retro/polygonal charm of Morrowind.”
“Still my all time favourite game”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.