10 Games Where Fashion is The True Endgame

Monster Hunter (World, Rise, Wilds)

The Monster Hunter games always come up with a reason for us to go hunting. Something upsets the ecosystem. Somebody wants to study a Mizutsune.

There are cool hats to craft. In fact, for every monster there are several cool hats (and other armor pieces) you can make, and they all are detailed, distinct, and perfect for playing dress up whenever you don’t need to be concerned about stats.

Monster Hunter Wild, Image credit: CAPCOM

With five armor slots, plus fun weapon designs, MH fashion is off the charts. By the time you’re in the endgame, you’ll have dozens of armor pieces across three ranks, plus access to layered armor (skins) to put “fun” in “function”.

Of course, all of it requires mastering MH’s complex combat system and prepping accordingly, so that monsters you want to turn into a cool hat don’t ruin your day.

Monster Hunter Rise

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Final Fantasy XIV

MMORPGs have always been phenomenal fodder for perfecting the art of endgame drip, and to pick just one exemplar would be impossible, so we picked two.

The first if Final Fantasy XIV, one of the most critically acclaimed MMOs of the last decade and a veritable treasure trove of cool, stylish, and cute gear you could use to give your avatar a wardrobe for every occasion.

Image credit: SQUARE ENIX

Glamour, FF14’s transmog system, is of great help, allowing you to store the look of gear you enjoy and apply it to something you want just for the stats. You do need to obtain Glamour Prisms to engage with the system, but they are not very hard to get, especially once you’ve got your character rolling in resources and cool loot.

Final Fantasy XIV

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Warframe

Fashionframe is widely recognized as the true purpose of Warframe.

There are several dozen different warframes, all of them with several color channels and, often, several available skins. But that’s not where it ends. There is a ton of various attachments, which include shin and shoulder guards, capes (called syandanas), auras (called ephemera) and halos (called signa). Plenty to play around with!

Image credit: Digital Extremes

And that’s just the warframes, there’s also gear for stuff unlocked further down the storyline which would be considered gauche if we spoiled it here. Earning them can take a little while, but Warframe’s fast-faced, dynamic, over-the-top action gameplay makes the process entertaining, and there’s always something to grind for and farm, as the game grew a ton in its lifetime.

Warframe

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Elden Ring

One does not automatically think about fashion when looking at FromSoftware’s open worlds take on the Soulsborne formula, but Elden Ring is no slouch in this department.

While this game can absolutely curb stomp you if you don’t have a good synergy between gear, stats, and skill, there’s so much cool-looking stuff in there it would be a shame not to use it for getting stylish.

Image credit: FromSoftware

You could go two ways about fashion. Try to find a nice fit that has both form and function, or throw caution to the wind and assemble a set that looks fantastic, but will get you killed. Either way, you’re working with four armor slots (head, chest, gauntlets, and legs), plus weapons and shields. With ER’s excellent, dark fantasy-infused art direction, playing dress up inevitably makes you look cool as hell.

Elden Ring

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Deep Rock Galactic

Dressing your space dwarf miner up is a crucial aspect of Deep Rock Galactic.

Outside of overclocks which change something about your gear, the drip truly is the endgame, although it is more humorous than serious, in this case. Each of the four classes has its own armor designs, unlocked as you level up, and, of course, there is a bunch of unlockable skins and colorways for them and the weapons.

Image credit: Ghost Ship Games

If you want to get more granular, then you can mix and match all the beard, eyebrow, moustache, sideburns, and headgear options, with the addition of various skin and hair colors. You could have a fully bald, green-skinned dwarf in a flowery t-shirt as easily, as a magnificently bearded, armored-up soldier with eyebrows so thick they qualify as eye protection and helmet-prohibiting, bushy sideburns.

Deep Rock Galactic

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Cyberpunk 2077

Self-expression is an important element of the cyberpunk vibe.

It’s no wonder that CD Projekt Red’s video game based on the legendary TTRPG features robust equipment system with lots of room for fashionable creativity. With six slots (two each for Head, Upper Body, and Lower Body), a ton of available gear for each, and an accessible transmog system, you can be both effective AND well put-together.

Image credit: CD PROJEKT RED

As a result, your V’s style can be as cool or sharp as you want it to be, as long as you can acquire the relevant gear, of course. Cyberpunk 2077 is an FPP game, so you won’t spend a lot of time looking at your creation, but they will appear every so often. It simply wouldn’t be appropriate for a cool merc with existential problems to look like a clown. Or maybe it would. It’s Cyberpunk, after all. Screw rules.

Cyberpunk 2077

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Grand Theft Auto V

The urban, open world adventure extraordinaire Grand Theft Auto V wouldn’t be complete without proper dress-up options.

As a result, all three of its main characters have access to impressive wardrobes covering everything from very formal to “probably too casual”. Each character has their own selection, so you’re in for a wild variety of options from which to assemble your best crime outfit.

Image credit: Rockstar North

If you’re more of a multiplayer gamer, you’ll be delighted to know that GTA Online has loads and loads of clothes, although getting them all might require a fair bit more work than it does in the singleplayer mode. Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it can be spent on tees (and pants, and accessories…). But on the other hand, what’s the point of crime if you don’t look cool?

Grand Theft Auto V

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For Honor

When the dust settles on the battlefield and dueling injuries are healed, it’s time for warriors to engage in their second-favorite pastime and start showing off just how cool their outfits are.

For Honor is a game almost a decade old now (time sure flies), with five distinct factions, tons of cosmetic pieces to unlock, and a really cool combat system which feels like it should have had some imitators already.

Image credit: Blue Byte

Each of the five factions (faux-Knights, faux-Samurai, faux-Vikings, China-inspired Wu Lin, and Outlanders inspired by several different cultures) comes in several classes, and these classes have a lot of customization options for their armor and weapons. Of course, you need to work fairly hard to unlock many of them, but dressing up your avatars in more and more elaborate garb never stops being fun.

For Honor

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Guild Wars 2

We told you we put two MMORPGs on the list. Guild Wars 2 players are quite serious about fashion. Plentiful gear isn’t the extent of options, either.

There are also dyes and infusions giving your avatar visual special effects to help you spice up your outfit with extra pizzaz. With Guild Wars 2’s decent graphics capable of handling different textures and materials, there’s a lot to bite into.

Oh, and if you want to be a bit more extra, you could give your character a “Mini”. It’s a tiny version of a creature you might have fought, or done a quest for, just following you around like a pet would. Learning how to assemble all these pieces into an outfit that draws the eye can take some time, but the results can be incredibly satisfying, whether you go with some theme or just your own tastes.

Guild Wars 2

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Nioh 2

Nioh 2’s Refashion system is the key to its fantastic potential as a dress-up game masquerading as a tense action-adventure experience.

Yes, it’s just a transmog, but it’s incredibly accessible, unlocked by just… having owned something at some point. If you found a really cool-looking sword with absolutely rubbish stats, its looks are saved and available to you and you can ditch it like it deserves.

Image credit: Team NINJA

With Nioh’s wealth of gear, there’s a lot to play around with, and there are quite a few over-the-top pieces available if you ever grow bored of the slightly more down-to-earth options. Nioh 2’s story about a player-created, half-yokai warrior born in Japan of the 1500s is a great fodder to give this thrilling action game a bit of additional, fantastical oomph.

Nioh 2

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