{"id":874141,"date":"2025-12-19T14:58:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T14:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/five-of-the-best-side-quests"},"modified":"2025-12-19T14:58:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T14:58:51","slug":"five-of-the-best-side-quests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\/","title":{"rendered":"Five of the Best: Side quests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/five-of-the-best-side-quests.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p><em>Five of the Best is a weekly series for <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subscribe\"><em>supporters of Eurogamer<\/em><\/a><em>. It&#8217;s a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It&#8217;s also about having your say, so don&#8217;t be shy, use the comments below and join in!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Oh and if you want to read more, you can &#8211; you can find <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/topics\/five-of-the-best\"><em>our entire Five of the Best archive<\/em><\/a><em> elsewhere on the site.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Side quests are part of so many gaming adventures now they&#8217;re a worn trope &#8211; an expected thing. Yes, they litter role-playing games, because that&#8217;s where they originated from, but they&#8217;ve also spun out to fill Ubisoft worlds and many others. But there&#8217;s a sharp line between filler and fun. Some games use side quests as padding, whereas others use them as vessels to deliver what the main story can&#8217;t: incidental detail, world building, lore. They are where we often find some of the most memorable details in games. The question is, which of these side quests &#8211; and by &#8220;side quests&#8221; I mean those that aren&#8217;t part of the main quest, somewhat obviously &#8211; are the best?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It&#8217;s a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It&#8217;s also about having your say, so don&#8217;t be shy, use the comments below and join in! Oh and if you want to read more, you can &#8211; you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site. Side quests are part of so many gaming adventures now they&#8217;re a worn trope &#8211; an expected thing. Yes, they litter role-playing games, because that&#8217;s where they originated from, but they&#8217;ve also spun out to fill Ubisoft worlds and many others. But there&#8217;s a sharp line between filler and fun. Some games use side quests as&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":874142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[1070,8768,5175,259,473,157,1083,585,2879,317,290,8712,79,773,8913,8767,159,977,1843,8711,8673,13,21,59,844,45,34,54,2160,516,8851,8769,7067,6755,3987,273,8771,99,534,4616],"class_list":["post-874141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-2k-games","tag-4j-studios","tag-achievements","tag-action-adventure","tag-activision","tag-android","tag-aspyr","tag-baldurs-gate-3","tag-bethesda-game-studios","tag-bethesda-softworks","tag-bioware","tag-bird-view-isometric","tag-fantasy","tag-first-person","tag-five-of-the-best","tag-full-product","tag-ios","tag-larian-studios","tag-lucasarts","tag-multiplayer-competitive","tag-multiplayer-cooperative","tag-nintendo","tag-nintendo-switch","tag-pc","tag-ps3","tag-ps5","tag-rpg","tag-single-player","tag-star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic","tag-strategy","tag-strategy-turn-based-strategy","tag-superscape","tag-the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion","tag-the-legend-of-zelda-majoras-mask","tag-third-person","tag-ubisoft","tag-vir2l-studios","tag-xbox","tag-xbox-360","tag-xbox-series-x-s"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Five of the Best: Side quests | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It&#039;s a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five of the Best: Side quests | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It&#039;s a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-19T14:58:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/five-of-the-best-side-quests.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Five of the Best: Side quests\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-19T14:58:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":205,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/five-of-the-best-side-quests.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"2k Games\",\"4J Studios\",\"achievements\",\"Action-Adventure\",\"activision\",\"Android\",\"Aspyr\",\"Baldur's Gate 3\",\"bethesda game studios\",\"Bethesda Softworks\",\"Bioware\",\"Bird view \\\/ Isometric\",\"fantasy\",\"first-person\",\"Five of the Best\",\"Full product\",\"iOS\",\"larian studios\",\"Lucasarts\",\"Multiplayer Competitive\",\"Multiplayer Cooperative\",\"Nintendo\",\"Nintendo Switch\",\"PC\",\"PS3\",\"PS5\",\"RPG\",\"single-player\",\"Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic\",\"Strategy\",\"Strategy: Turn-Based Strategy\",\"Superscape\",\"The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion\",\"the legend of zelda: majora's mask\",\"Third Person\",\"Ubisoft\",\"Vir2L Studios\",\"Xbox\",\"Xbox 360\",\"Xbox Series X\\\/S\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\\\/\",\"name\":\"Five of the Best: Side quests | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-side-quests\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/five-of-the-best-side-quests.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-19T14:58:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. 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