The inventory is the in-game space where items owned by the player are stored for on-hand use. Inventories may be limited by item size (Diablo, Dungeon Siege), weight (Fallout, The Elder Scrolls) or a set total number (Borderlands, Divinity). The inventory may also be practiacally unlimited (Pokemon, Final Fantasy), where a limit of 99 is usually put into effect.

Many games have used restrictive inventory systems to increase strategy in gameplay. Other game developers use it to lengthen the title by adding the loot-cycle to the game, where players gather loot to stash or sell in friendly areas but the abundance of loot makes the player repeat the process several times per dungeon. This was famously parodied in Dungeon Runneres with their Bling Gnome ad campaign.

In games where pickpocketing or looting is enabled, NPCs may also have an inventory containing their equipped items and other things like gold, keys and quest items. This is employed in the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series.