Open World Games: Your Favorites?

[Arsic]

I'll be honest ResetEra: I'm beyond fatigued by open world games.

Younger me loved them and loved spending the hundred minimum hours to beat games like Fallout 3, AC2, Skyrim, etc.

As of late I've tried and failed to get into:
Witcher 3(multiple times)
AC games after black flag
Fallout 4 & 76
Zelda Breath of the Wild

I did oddly enough complete mgs V to almost 100% and Horizon Zero Dawn but not close to 100% completion .

What, if any games, are a must in the open world genre ? If even Zelda didn't grab me would something like Spider-Man do it ?

 

[Greatest Ever]

GTA LCS

 

[Omanisat]

Yakuza 0 is, I guess, technically open world. However it's quite small size allows them to go for depth rather then sheer area.

 

[TaySan]

Saint's Row 2. One of the few games I enjoy playing. Just big enough, but not too overwhelming. Activities that are actually fun to play.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Uncharted Waters New Horizons. Still touched in depth in an open world game.

 

[est1992]

Spider-Man PS4 perfectly captures the superhero open world experience. My new favorite.

 

[Deleted member 864]

Spider-Man PS4 might be a good one OP. The game does a great job of making you feel like a superhero, and it never gets old just swinging through New York.

 

[More_Badass]

Red Dead Redemption 2
Assassin's Creed Origins (for the world)
STALKER
Shadow of the Colossus
Witcher 3
Red Faction Guerrilla
Days Gone
Yakuza 0
Kingdom Come

 

[Deleted member 2793]

I don't like open world too much. Xenoblade X is my favorite because it has a lot of variety and stuff to do.

 

[hydruxo]

I would definitely give Spider-Man a shot, OP. It's open world but it's just the right size. I play a lot of open world games and Spidey was nice because I never felt that fatigue while playing it. You can 100% it in a week or two.

 

[Deleted member 1656]

Deadly Premonition
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction

 

[PancakeBurglar]

Breath of the Wild
Xenoblade X
Witcher 3
Red Dead Redemption 2
Spider-Man

 

[Meliodas]

THE most fully realized open world game to date; Red Dead Redemption 2, NPCs interactions and random events encounters will never be the same after this one.

RDR2 is a long-awaited accomplishment & a landmark to the whole video game industry.

 

[Clive]

Sunset Overdrive because traversal is always engaging and fun. Chaining together moves and avoiding the ground is really cool and rewarding. Casually cruising around for collectibles was maybe my favorite part of the game.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Witcher3
Red Dead Redemption 2
Skyrim
are my favorites.

 

[MrNewVegas]

My namesake. Fallout New Vegas.

It is a tightly crafted world. There is lots of interesting things to keep you going and be interested. This is nothing like FO3/4/76. It is a connected, lived in world. While those games open worlds serve as fodder holder for you to kill between their showpieces, NV is a connected world with a story to tell.

 

[StarPhlox]

Favorites

Nier: Automata
Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
Watch_Dogs 2
Xenoblade Chronicles X

Least favorites

Fallout 4
Dragon's Dogma
Horizon Zero Dawn
GTA IV
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War

 

[RavFiveFour]

I use to root for open world games, but not as much now, Favorites include GTA IV, (exception to Mass Effect 2 for open-universe), Red Dead 2, and BOTW.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

Usually cant stand Open World type games because they feel like crapshoots in terms of time invested vs quality, but Witcher 3 did something to sell its world through lots of interesting NPCs and stories. RDR2 sort of did this too, but that game was so very slow and the fights mostly felt very similar.

 

[Soj]

Watch Dogs 1
Sleeping Dogs
Red Faction: Guerrilla
Mafia 2
Crackdown 1
Saints Row 2
Ghost Recon: Wildlands
Batman: Arkham Origins
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

 

[EatChildren]

Spider-Man is a good choice. Navigating the city is a joy, and with a handful of upgrades captures a great sense of freedom and momentum. The city isn't overly huge, and while it's got plenty of checklisty style open world stuff, much of the content is snappy and serviceable to engage with. Despite being an open world it never really meanders. The mission structure and content pace the game in such a way that there's always something to do, and the seamless, snappy navigation makes moving around the city feel effortless yet entirely at the behest of player interaction and control.

It's also much shorter than other open world games, so you're not expected to spend 100 hours aimlessly wandering the sandbox looking for something to do.

 

[Linus815]

I prefer immersive open worlds, where the focus isn't neccesserily on density of activities, but rather making the world feel like a real, lived in place.

RDR 2 is the king in this regard. Closely followed by Witcher 3.

Watch Dogs 2 impressed me with its world/npc manipulation mechanics. The map is nice too, but it's really the way the gameplay utilizes the world here that's notable. Assassin's Creed Origins' rendition of Egypt is so good ubisoft added a tourism game mode to it that is known to be used for educational purposes in schools. It's fucking fantastic.

And of course there's the evergreen GTA 4-5. Even to this day, those games are still among the best open worlds out there.

 

[MentalZer0]

Far Cry 3 / Far Cry 5
AC Black Flag / AC Origins / AC Syndicate / AC 2 / AC 3
ARK: Survival Evolved
Red Dead Redemption 2 / Red Dead Redemption
GTA 5 / GTA Vice City / GTA San Andreas
Arma 3
Yakuza 5 / 0
MGSV
Zelda Breath of the Wild
Bully
Days Gone
Mafia 3 / Mafia 2
Sleeping Dogs
Sniper Ghost Warrior 3
Sniper Elite 4
Metro Exodus
Dying Light
The Long Dark
Infamous Second Son / Infamous 2
Watch Dogs 2
L.A Noire
Shadow of the Colossus
Forza Horizon 4 / Forza Horizon 3 / Forza Horizon 2
Monster Hunter World
The Witcher 3
Saints Row IV
Dragon Age: Inquisition / Dragon Age Origins
Borderlands 2
Horizon Zero Dawn
Marvel's Spider-man
Ghost Recon Wildlands
Shadow of Mordor
Fallout 4 / Fallout 3 / New Vegas
Batman Arkham City / Arkham Asylum / Arkham Night
Morrowind / Oblivion / Skyrim

 

[Falchion]

Saint's Row 2. One of the few games I enjoy playing. Just big enough, but not too overwhelming. Activities that are actually fun to play.

Click to shrink...

Saints Row 2 is the pinnacle of open world game design and I won't hear differently.

 

[Strat]

Morrowind
Breath of the Wild
Very little else

 

[Aaron D.]

In recent memory:

Fallout 4
Farming Simulator
Project Zomboid
My Time At Portia
Subnautica
Slime Rancher
Enderal: Forgotten Stories
Kenshi
The Witness
Sunless Skies

 

[cowbanana]

There's some good ones spread out over the years. Especially old PC RPGs. But let's take some more recent ones in order of preference.

Horizon Zero Dawn
Red Dead Redemption 2
Days Gone
The Witcher 3
GTA V
Subnautica
MGS V
Marvel's Spider-Man

 

[Deleted member 249]

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Assassin's Creed Odyssey

These are my favorites, but I see you tried and failed to get into most of these lol, so maybe my tastes and yours don't align

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

Morrowind
Breath of the Wild
Very little else

Click to shrink...

These are the two actual best open world games

 

[Phantom88]

The best execution of an open world for a fps is Stalker Call of Pripyat and for an rpg is Gothic 2.

If devs would learn from these we would all be happier gamers

 

[Nintendo]

Red Dead Redemption 2
GTA V
The Witcher 3
Dying Light

 

[CopperPuppy]

This generation, IMO, the gold standards are:

Breath of the Wild
The Witcher 3
Red Dead Redemption 2
Assassin's Creed Origins
Yakuza 0

 

[5taquitos]

Mercenaries will always have a place in my heart.

 

[Van Bur3n]

If you didn't like those you mentioned, I don't know how you'd like Spider-Man. It's a boring as fuck world that is more so an excuse to just swing around.

But then again, perhaps you may like that more simple experience.

RDR2 is a top tier open world, but it has some weaknesses in other areas. Some that directly conflict with the agency of said world.

What don't you like about open worlds now? Too much to do that you grow tired? You looking for a simpler world to explore? One with more player agency or less?

As for my favorites, they're from Bethesda and Rockstar. Sandbox open worlds where you can just fuck around and do whatever you want. Elder Scrolls, Fallout, GTA, RDR. Pure freedom. No rules.

 

[Opa-Opa]

GTA (every one, except III) and now Zelda.

 

[Bundy]

Days Gone
The Witcher 3
Horizon Zero Dawn

 

[LocoRoco]

witcher 3
ffxv

 

[MoogleWizard]

BOTW
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

The only open world games I finished, the only ones that had great gameplay and kept tedium to a minimum.

 

[Robdraggoo]

Faves:

Black flag- far and away. My favorite
Gta5- best city recreation have ever seen
Witcher 3- beautiful fantasy landscape I have had the pleasure to ride a horse through
Breathe of the wild- no matter where you are, you always get the feeling of something great just over the horizon.

 

[MorshuTheTrader]

In recent memory, my favorite is Breath of the Wild. It's one of the few open world games that made me explore just because I wanted to see what was out there.

In most open world games I play, the open world just feels like set dressing as I go from point A to point B. Exploring is rarely interesting, most of the time I find nothing or maybe a collectable. But in BOTW, the combination of interesting world design, very few map markers, and actually being able to find interesting things makes it rewarding.

Obviously it's not perfect. The more you play, the more you realize that most of the time you're just going to find Korok Seeds or shrines so the wonder you feel does eventually fade. Still the best I've played recently though.

 

[Deleted member 679]

Probably forgetting something, but the ones that immeadiately come to mind are:

Assassin's Creed II
Final Fantasy XV
Shadow of the Colossus
Sleeping Dogs
Red Dead Redemption
Mafia II
Skyrim
Dragon's Dogma

Looking at this list, I seem to be capable of enjoying open world games if they deliver a combination of the following:

- compelling characters
- reasonable map size
- not too much side stuff
- fun combat

And then there's Skyrim. I have no idea why I like it as much as I do. My first thought is to reference the fantastic optional questlines, but Witcher 3 is constantly praised for that and yet I hate it, so who knows.

EDIT: I also seem to have a thing for open world games that are often criticized for having "empty"/"uselesss" open worlds.

 

[N7_Kovalski]

Witcher 3
Red Dead Redemption I and II
Basically every Assassin's Creed game
Batman Arkham City/Origins/Knight

 

[Momo]

Xenoblade Chronicles X is my favorite open world game. It even trumps Breath of the Wild.

 

[roly82]

Sleeping Dogs

 

[InsaneLuchador]

I liked many of the games OP listed, but here are some of my favorites.

GTA Vice City-- my favorite in the GTA series. Not sure how it would hold up today though but you can get it on your phone if you can stomach touch controls.
AC Odyssey- I'm playing this now and surprised by how much I like this one. I'm thinking of getting the expansion, which I usually don't do.
Sunset Overdrive- The best traversal system in any open world game. It's the only game in years that gave me the same feeling as being a kid sitting in front of my Dreamcast.

 

[GymWolf86]

This gen only and not in order of preference

Horizon combat and graphic
Spiderman combat and traversal
Yakuza 0 writing and minigames
Dying light parkour, melee combat
Dishonored saga\prey level design
Days gone atmosphere, graphic and ecosystem
Witcher 3 writing and quests
Gow lake of nine level design
Mgs5 not much the open world itself but the open approach to missions
Rdr2 animal ecosystem, graphics, euphoria engine and giant number of script
Maybe ac origins because egypt is gorgeous?
Maybe zelda botw for the physics?

Forgot something for sure.

 

[Richter1887]

-Yakuza Series
- Every GTA from 2 to GTA4
-Saints Row 2
-Days Gone
-Far Cry 5
-Bully
-Assassin's Creed Origins and Odyssey
-The Witcher 3
Edit:
-Gravity Rush 2
-Shenmue series
-Red Dead Redemption
-Spider Man
-Watch Dogs 2
-Sleeping Dogs

All of those had some of the coolest world's to explore I have ever seen. Tons of secrets and interesting places to explore and all of them feel alive.

Saint's Row 2. One of the few games I enjoy playing. Just big enough, but not too overwhelming. Activities that are actually fun to play.

Click to shrink...

Saints 2 was such an amazing game for just exploring and doing what you want. The amount of secrets and cool unique locations were great. I can never forget the time I found the secret mall with the unique clothes and weapons or the fact you can go back and explore the prison you escape from. They also had caves and even the nuke plant and the secret base.

Unlike the following games (which disappointed me after how good SR2 was), Stilwater felt very diverse and unique in it's design.

 

[Serpens007]

Red Dead Redemption 2, then, the rest.

When I play other open world games I really miss the level of interaction of that game. As simple as saying "hello" to strangers is impossible in other games

 

[plié]

My favourite genre, I just love wondering around open worlds. I could spend hours in the deserts of AC:O just doing nothing.

Everything Rockstar

The Witcher 3
Sea Of Thieves
Assassins Creed: Origins / Odyssey
Far Cry Primal
Mafia II
ES: Oblivion
ES: Skyrim
Spiderman
Batman: Arkham Knight & City

 

[Moose]

From this generation:

Witcher 3
Breath of the Wild
MGSV
RDR2
Elder Scrolls Online (is technically zones but the game is huge)