There’s a special quality tovideo gamesthat let you go wherever you want and do as you please, whenever you please. The concept of an open world is both exciting and overwhelming. Beyond choice, open-world games allow for thrilling exploration, feeding a gamer’s curiosity until satisfied, and the best ones let you make the game your own. You decide how you want to approach the story, and in some games, that can lead to very different results.
Open-world games span across genres and are growing increasingly vast and imaginative. But for such virtual worlds, it’s not enough to just have a big map (I’m looking at you, Ubisoft). There must be an element of discovery and innovation to truly create a great open-world game.
With that in mind, here’s a non-exhaustive, indefinite list of the biggest open-world games that stand out across genres and styles, worth exploring – or at least, acknowledging.
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1Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
This is Sparta! And Athens.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Ubisoft is probably the master of open world games at the moment, and the world it crafted for Odyssey is a living, breathing beauty.
I want to champion Black Flag, as it serves as an impressive pivot point for the franchise, but Odyssey expands on innovations and ideas from that entry in impressive and grand ways (AC: Mirageseems to have scaled back efforts after the franchise grew too big). Odyssey is set in beautiful and vast Ancient Greece (sorry fans of the Roman Empire), with historical monuments to explore and mythical creatures to fight. The game also boasts some of the best fighting mechanics, weapon upgrade systems, and skill trees in the franchise. Not only can you travel by food, but you command a ship and brave the high seas; a battle others ships, as well.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey review: Sparta-cular
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2Final Fantasy VII
The beloved and heart-wrenching RPG
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII is a classic RPG where you, as Cloud Strife, lead a team against the corrupt Shinra Corporation and the enigmatic Sephiroth in a journey that uncovers secrets and reshapes your identity.
Surely one of the greatest RPGs of all time, if not one of the most memorable, Final Fantasy VII created a magical, exciting world for you to explore across three discs, which at the time of its release in 1997, was pretty wild. The original FFVII world map was impressive for its time, even if you had to cut away to venture into a town or fight a battle. The fact that monsters could appear without warning at any time put you at the game’s mercy.
There were countless hidden areas to explore that were not necessary to beat the game, but still so satisfying. It had a few giant monsters hiding in the ground and under the sea, a pair of optional characters to recruit to your team, a giant amusement park, and more than a handful of creative ways to get around, especially if you took time to breed chocobos. Everything about it was thrilling.
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3Death Stranding
A heavy game where you literally carry the load.
Death Stranding
Death Stranding is a post-apocalyptic action game where you, as Sam Porter Bridges, traverse a fractured world to reconnect isolated cities, battling mysterious entities and unraveling a complex narrative about connection and loss.
Death Stranding is a staggering achievement in storytelling, a game of beauty and horror with an open world that makes you feel small and maybe a bit weak. It is a game that focuses on you simply getting from point A to point B, and that process can be surprisingly tedious and difficult. This game is definitely not for everyone, but if you come to it with an open mind and a lot of patience, there is plenty to enjoy and discover.
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4Lord of the Rings Online
Middle Earth awaits.
The Lord of the Rings Online
The Lord of the Rings Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game where players explore and adventure through a continuously expanding Middle-earth, engaging in quests and epic storylines based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s work.
Lord of the Rings Online stands out in part due to its endurance. This massive multiplayer online game is getting on in age, approaching nearly 20 years in existence, and while it has gone through some rough patches, it continues to thrive. The graphics definitely feel a bit dated, but the world is still popular and growing, with regular events, updates, and expansions to please both casual and die-hard LOTR fans alike.
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5Just Cause 4
Action on the ground and in the skies.
Just Cause 4
An open-world, action-adventure game that pits you against a powerful mercenary group in a dangerous environment.
Set in a fictional South American country, Just Cause 4 offers a lot of action and plenty of ways to create it. While navigating a diverse biome with inclement weather, you battle a mercenary group with your deep skillset and, let’s say, unique arsenal. All of this results in plenty of creative explosions and gravity-defying stunts. As well as a high body count.
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Sandbox fun with repetitive missions full of mass destruction like no other. It’s mindless rather than high-brow - but sometimes that’s just perfect.
6Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Two Spider-Men is better than one.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Play as Peter Parker and Miles Morales as you protect New York from villains new and old.
There are open world games you can explore, and then there are open world games you can swing around in. There are so few games where fast travel is something you might never want to use because traversing is simple too fun, and this is one of them. The playground is this lauded sequel is an expanded New York City, and it’s entirely available to players almost immediately. The side quests are varied and engaging, and there are plenty of thrilling sequences in this cinematic game. Still, sometimes you just need to take a break from fall the action and head up to the nearest tallest building to chill out.
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Spider-Man 2 is exactly what it says on the tin - a hyper-polished superhero adventure that builds nicely on its predecessors.
7Microsoft Flight Simulator
The size of the Earth: literally.
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator is an ultra-realistic flight simulation game that lets you fly detailed aircraft across a highly accurate, real-time rendered Earth, complete with live weather and traffic conditions.
Earth is your open world in Microsoft Flight Simulator, a detailed and authentic game where you travel as you please. While technical and precise, the game is also beautiful and highly detailed, allowing players to view the world from on high and spend as much time as they want taking it all in. Regular updates keep the game fresh and varied with dozens of ways to take to the skies. The best part? It’s a lot more relaxing than actually flying.
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8Grand Theft Auto V
The lawless open world icon
Grand Theft Auto V
Rockstar’s monster success is a seriously fun game that looks great on PC, with limitless fun to be had online.
Grand Theft Auto games offer a wild, chaotic, and R-rated sandbox in which to play. The huge online world in GTA:V represents the height of the franchise and rivals other open-world games featuring unsavory and illegal activities. It’s simply real hard to be bored in this world. you’re able to keep things pure and just drive around in your favorite vehicle, play games at the arcade, or spend some time shopping. Alternatively, you can sow a path of destruction and chaos wherever you go with a range of weapons. Sustained popularity has led to regular updates and newfound opportunities for gamers with endless activities to take up and roles to play.
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9No Man’s Sky
Beautiful and deadly space exploration.
No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky is an exploration-based game where you traverse a vast procedurally generated universe, discover unique planets, mine resources, build bases, and encounter alien lifeforms.
No Man’s Sky isn’t so much an open-world game as it is an open-universe game. It is a massive science fiction undertaking and with an almost infinite number of planets. Practically speaking, it is infinite, because you’re simply not going to be able to explore everything. That vastness is part of the wonder, and the horror, in a game where you must build, trade, fight and explore, in order to stay alive.
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