Best open world games?

[aj3292]

I love open world games (Skyrim, Fallout, RDR, etc.). Which are your favorites?

[spurraider21]

stuff that's available current gen? GTA V, Red Dead 2, and Horizon Zero Dawn are standouts that I've played.

Spider Man and God of War are both open world-ish. They're not as long as the others mentioned here or in your post and the world aren't as interactive. Same can be said about Arkham City. I haven't played Arkham Knight.

While I haven't played them, I've heard good things about Witcher 3, Assassins Creed: Odyssey, Metal Gear Solid V, Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Far Cry/Borderlands are also popular franchises. by my understanding, Witcher 3 is considered the mecca of the open world genre.

[Reck]

Other than the Rocktar open world games, I tend to stay away from massive open worlders.

I like games that have set boundaries. God of War/Horizon/Saint's Row games are my wheelhouse.

Big games, but not so big you get overwhelmed.

[spurraider21]

god of war would probably be the least overwhelming. its technically open world, but still had a fairly linear feel to it. the world isn't overly interactive with NPC's and .

horizon definitely has a lot more going on. it has the classic map peppered with you're supposed to handle. but its not an RPG. there aren't significant choices you make that alter the story, and they have a skill tree (which you can inevitably fill up over time) rather than skill points that force you to choose a build for the play-through you're on. god of war has a similar system. you dont choose a "build" for a play through. you just slowly fill your skill tree.

spiderman is kind of an in between. its more of a collectathon that god of war (more small side stuff), but again, for all the people around, the world isn't overly interactive save for the people that give quests. spiderman is an open world but not an imposing one. traveling from place to place isn't a heavy undertaking like it is in Red Dead or Horizon

[Xevious]

The most unrestrictive open world game that I can remember is Morrowind. No blips or markers on the map telling you where to go, no convenient fast travel system, no way to sort your quest log (could get to be 100+ pages of to sift through all in the order that you received them), every NPC in game was killable including ones necessary to beat the game, etc. I think it took me three tries spread across several years to beat that thing.

There are a lot really good games listed here, but Rockstar is still king IMO. They've found the right balance of freedom and structure. And RDR2 in particular has just a ridiculously good story.

[buenavides1]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is on top of my list.

[Henrey]

The Elder Scrolls
Fallout 4
Grand Theft Auto V

[apalisoc_9]

Suikoden 2. Hands down.

Not even close. 10/10.

Game of thrones of video games.

Best sidequest
Best story.

[Leetonidas]

Witcher 3


















Everything else

[aj3292]

spurraider21 I’ve heard so many conflicting things about horizon. Seems like people either love it or loathe it.

[Reck]

spurraider21 I’ve heard so many conflicting things about horizon. Seems like people either love it or loathe it.

Where did you hear that?

From my experience, everyone loves it. Granted, you will always have people that dont like games that are by all metrics good games but still somehow find faults in it.

[spurraider21]

spurraider21 I’ve heard so many conflicting things about horizon. Seems like people either love it or loathe it.

im playing through it for the first time right now... i have to say its a delight. the combat with the machines is really intriguing. it seems very challenging early on but there's a learning curve and you ultimately get a lot better at dealing with them. when i first started i was complaining about one of the early level machines being absurdly difficult. now i encounter a pack of 3-4 of them and just charge in no s given and dispatch them.

as far as the open world mechanics... its far from groundbreaking. the game looks nice, but its certainly not reinventing the wheel. you have side quests that amount go "go here and kill some machines. then go here and kill some people." there's enough story/dialogue to make them worthwhile, but they're not as good as sidequests from games like fallout. you have a map littered with icons of things to do. there is the trope of having to scale a tower to unlock portions of the map, though the way they've integrated that into this game is pretty ingenious. its still ultimately the assassins creed tower system, just with a twist.

it basically takes all the stuff people like about open world games and executes them well. but its not blazing the trail. i think its worth playing. the machines and storyline make it feel unique enough, despite the open world mechanics not being particularly innovative. that said, i'm still barley into the story and i'm sure it expands quite a bit more with background on the machines.

its also a great value price wise. i bought the complete edition (comes with the DLC, which from what i've read is fairly expansive... a good 10-15 hours of content) brand new for $10 around black friday. you can still probably get it for around $20, and given the scope of the game, its well worth it. the main issue is that its a PS4 exclusive, so if you have another console or PC, its not accessible. but the ps4 has enough high quality exclusives to justify the purchase imo