The Strangest NPCs From Open-World Games

Highlights

• Strange NPCs can make open-world games more engaging and memorable for players, adding a unique twist to the gaming experience.
• Characters like M’aiq The Liar, Billy Peabody, and The Strange Man bring an element of mystery and intrigue to their respective game worlds.
• NPCs like Beedle and Johnny Silverhand offer a mix of humor, confusion, and depth to the narrative, making the gaming experience more immersive.

Open-world games, regardless of format, are some of the most popular titles available today. The delight of exploring and experiencing a whole new world filled with quests, loot, and new characters to interact with is unmatched in the gaming sphere, and this is especially true when the characters you encounter are well-developed.

Players especially enjoy when the NPCs in these games are a bit unusual, either to interact with or in terms of their backstory. The memorable and strange characters are much more likely to be fan favorites than any others, a welcome break from the set-dressing that NPCs can often amount to. They can lighten up even a dark and miserable world, and even if players aren’t so sure about a game, these characters can make them enjoy it at least a little bit. The strangest of them can even become known by those who have never played the title(s) they feature in. With that in mind, here are some of the strangest NPCs of all.

6 M’aiq The Liar: Skyrim

This Khajit Is A Valuable Source Of Misinformation In-Game

M’aiq The Liar is a recurring NPC throughout the Elder Scrolls franchise, but the beloved and influential Skyrim was many players’ first introduction to this mysterious Khajit. Players can find him wandering throughout the world, and when they engage him in conversation, he will pass on misinformation, or even just information that has no relevance to anything else in the game. He’s a fan favorite for this reason, as he provides another level of strangeness into the already peculiar world of Skyrim.

A delightfully bizarre fixture, engaging this Khajit in conversation as players traverse the world is guaranteed to be enjoyable or frustrating, depending on how players feel about his supposed facts. M’aiq, at the very least, reminds us that it’s worth taking the time to stop and talk with a range of NPCs, just to see what they might have to say.

5 Billy Peabody: Fallout 4

This Child Can Be Found Hiding In A Refrigerator

Billy Peabody can be found as the Sole Survivor crossing the Commonwealth in Fallout 4. As players reach a certain area on the map, they pass an old refrigerator and hear banging from the inside of it, which activates this quest. On opening the fridge, a child jumps out, confused about the state of the world and the calamities that happened while he was in it. Players can then take him back to his parents’ house and save the day, or take a far crueler route.

Billy Peabody is a strange NPC in Fallout 4 for a few reasons. Players are probably not expecting to come across him as they’re crossing the map, which is a surprise in itself, but once they do, they are unlikely to believe that this will be an interesting quest. However, Kid In A Fridge is one of the most unique quests in the game, all because Billy locked himself in a fridge. It’s a unique concept and underlines the fact that players never quite know what awaits them in the Wasteland.

4 The Strange Man: Red Dead Redemption 2

A Long-Running Enigma

The Strange Man is one of the strangest and best NPCs in Red Dead Redemption 2, and this is to be expected as it’s literally in his name. Players can find his shack in Bayall Edge, and will see different things depending on who they are playing when they enter the cabin. Arthur will see an unfinished painting of the Strange Man, but John Marston can go back over a few days, and will gradually see the painting becoming complete. Players will also hear talk about him around the world, especially in New Austin and Armadillo.

The Strange Man is truly an unsettling NPC in Red Dead Redemption 2, as he is never fully explained. He also appears in a side quest in the original game, meaning that his story has never been clear despite his presence in both games. Some believe he’s the embodiment of death, whereas others believe he represents evil. Only two things are sure: the Strange Man is well-named, and has a distinct aura of menace about him.

3 Beedle: The Legend Of Zelda – Breath Of The Wild

The Most Dedicated Beetle And Insect Enthusiast You’ll Ever Meet

Beedle is a delightfully eccentric NPC in the packed world of The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. He is a merchant who will excitedly offer to exchange any beetles in the player’s inventory for a random elixir or food item. If the player declines, he will become upset and claim that the beetle wants to be with him. He will even mumble that he will sneak into the player’s inventory to take it from them. He then changes his mind and starts debating whether he should hire someone to do this before being shocked that Link is still there.

Beedle is an adorably strange NPC in The Legend Of Zelda, particularly in this installment. Players can find him wandering through Hyrule, and he can be useful to them. However, it is almost more enjoyable to decline his excited requests just to see how dedicated he really is to collecting bugs and insects.

2 Johnny Silverhand: Cyberpunk 2077

This Hologram Will Provide Cryptic Messages And Confuse The Player

Johnny Silverhand is one of the strangest NPCs in Cyberpunk 2077, and one of the reasons for this is that he isn’t actually physically present. Rather, he is a hologram of somebody who died many years before the events of the game, who appears periodically to offer the player guidance. In a manner of speaking, that is, because his aid boils down to cryptic messages and confusing sentences. He offers confusion at best for players just trying to get through the game, but his backstory is interesting enough not to disregard him completely.

Johnny Silverhand makes the experience of Cyberpunk 2077 more bizarre, but the story behind his character is strange and sad for players to learn about. Sure, his cryptic offerings won’t necessarily help the player progress, but they do add extra intrigue to the dark world of the game, and that alone makes him a great addition.

1 Gary: Fallout 3

Gary Is Not One NPC, But Many

Finally, the strangest NPC in an open-world game is Gary in Fallout 3. Gary was one of the first inhabitants of the doomed Vault 108, a vault that was designed to fail after a set amount of time. One example of this is the fact that the power source was designed to break after just 20 years of being active. The original Gary was cloned, but the clones became hostile to everyone who wasn’t a clone until, eventually, the vault was overrun, and those residents still lived in the vault when the player happened upon them.

The story behind Gary is one of the stranger vault stories in Fallout 3, and the fact that the clones have survived underground for so long is almost impressive. The Lone Wanderer is safe among the Garys as they go about their lives in Vault 108, and its existence adds some whimsy to the game’s world.

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