CD Projekt RED announced today that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has gone gold, and GTA 5 is out on PC. It’s no wonder we’re thinking about open word games. So many of them have been made over the years, but there are only a limited number of really good ones. Most of those offer both immersive worlds and engaging gameplay. These eight are definitely on that short list.
Don’t see your favorite? Tell us in the comments!
Crackdown
Crackdown embraced the idea of an open world, and added to it the idea of leveling up your abilities by collecting orbs found throughout the world. While the main story cast you as the good guy using your amazing abilities to wipe out the bad guys, you could deviate from this and simple cause havoc using your powers, although you will hear about it from your superiors. Even if you do toe the line of the story, you’ll be in for lots of action. Open world games have improved a lot since then, but Crackdown is still a stellar example of the genre.
Burnout Paradise
Open world games don’t have to be RPGs, as Burnout Paradise ably demonstrates. Dive into Paradise City, and you’ll find that you’ve suddenly spent hours tracking down every last gate, smashing through every billboard, and hurtling off every super jump. Jumping into races and trying to beat the best times is another rabbit hole you can go very far down. Add in the variety of activities and cars to unlock, and it’s no wonder people still love to play.
Saints Row 4
As the Grand Theft Auto series has gotten more serious, Saints Row has gone the opposite way – into silliness. Saints Row 4 is the epitome of this shift, granting the player not only ridiculous weapons, but even super powers. Add in a ton of side missions and a stint as President of the United States, and you’re got an open world game that’s super fun to play.
Ultima VII
Ultima VII is not only one of the earliest open world games, it was one of the first to give players a bit of moral freedom. You could steal, kill, and pillage, bu8t if anyone saw you do it, you suffered the consequences. Also, it was one of the earliest games that let you pick up virtually anything. If it wasn’t nailed down, you could grab it and take it with you. This translated into a lot of options, including the ability to bake bread, forge weapons, and more.
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas took the ideas from Fallout 3 and iterated on them, resulting in a game that many find to be superior to its predecessor. The large number of factions lead to the reputation system returning to the game, and Obisidian also added a “Companion Wheel” to let you control you companions’ actions. Taking inspiration from some Fallout 3 mods, New Vegas included a hardcore difficulty that made resource management for more important, and health items more valuable. Add in the Mopjave Wasteland to explore, and you’re in for a great time.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Almost any of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls titles could have made this list, but Skyrim is perhaps the most advanced of the series. Character development can be done in any number of ways, from progressing the main story to simply wandering the world looking for trouble. You could become a werewolf of a vampire if you chose. Even if you avoided becoming a monster, you could make your character whatever you wanted to be simply by using your abilities. Use magic, and you become more powerful with it. It’s a rewarding game that lets the player be whatever they want enroute to finishing the story.
STALKER: Shadow Of Chernobyl
In the near future, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone is the site of a second nuclear disaster, which causes more strange changes to the world around it. As a “Stalker” with amnesia, you wander The Zone exploring and scavenging artifacts. Along the way, you encounter mutants and explore areas with altered physics, called anomalies. The game is played in a completely non-linear fashion, and allows for interaction and trading with NPCs. It’s an enjoyable game, but the setting is extremely bleak, perfectly capturing the idea of a post-apocalyptic experience.
Just Cause 2
When it comes to open world craziness, nothing can top Just Cause 2. There’s almost no linear aspect to the game at all. Instead, you need to generate Chaos, which you can do by completing missions, destroying government property, collecting items for the factions and reaching 100% completion in settlements and military bases. More chaos unlocks new missions, as well as new weapons and vehicles in the black market. You can acquire a grappling hook that lets you grapple up to passing aircraft, then jump off and parachute down. It’s not unusual for a game session to include no story progress, but tons of explosions and chaos. It’s certainly a pillar of the open-world genre.
