Open-world games are one of the most popular genres in the industry. After developers realized that exploration options gave much greater returns than it cost them to develop, they knew that there was a lot of money to be made. Thus, just about every developer imaginable is adding their own spin on the genre each year with new releases, from mega-icons like Nintendo's Mario series to two-person indie teams.
Some of the best games of all time are marked as open world, which makes talking about them a difficult task. Many of them are held in such high regard that it’s nearly impossible to have anything critical to say or even rank them against other open-world games. With that in mind, we’re going to rank the best open-world games (and/or series) of all time.
Updated on July 25, 2023 by Rebecca Phillips: Open-world games continue to be some of the most popular games ever, largely thanks to the freedom they can offer you. When you play an open-world title, you're likely going to have a complete unique experience to someone else who plays the same game, and that's what makes them so exciting. We've updated this list of the best open-world games ever so you can keep going on these thrilling adventures.
Disclaimer: These are our opinions. After looking through what fans seemed to agree on and what we felt were personally better choices, we came up with this list. If there are some open-world games you feel we missed, feel free to let us know what your choices would be.
Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom tells a sweeping magical tale where a humble king, Evan, must rebuild a new kingdom after he is forced to depart from his previous kingdom. This game picks up many, many years after the first game, Wrath of the White Witch, this time focusing on a more action-oriented RPG gameplay system. What immediately sets this game apart from its predecessor is the gorgeous open-world fantasy land.
Revenant Kingdom took what made the original game so great — namely, fantastic art direction, orchestral music, quirky and lovable characters, and an intriguing plot — but throws in a highly explorable world filled with secrets and discoveries. While the overall gameplay deviated from the somewhat Pokemon-esque turn-based battle system of the previous game, it managed to set itself apart nicely with a highly stylized combat system as well as an entire kingdom-building mechanic.
Resident Evil Village
Resident Evil Village is an intriguing entry in the long-running and venerable survival horror series. The game immediately separates itself from previous entries, specifically the older third-person titles whereby the game takes place in a downright creepy and macabre Romania-inspired world. While the open-world elements in Village are certainly not as expansive as some games on this list, it feels utterly unique from the werewolf village to Castle Dimitrescu to the very haunted House Beneviento.
Playing once again as Ethan Winters, this time with him searching for his stolen daughter Rose, Village throws you into a spooky world filled with vampires, werewolves, phantoms, and plenty of other monstrosities sure to give you nightmares. The unfolding world that was built in this game is constructed in such a way that you are always moving forward, eager to see what's around the next corner.
No More Heroes 1 And 3
When you think of No More Heroes, the first descriptor that comes to mind is likely not “open-world,” and that’s fair. NMH is more well-known as a chaotically hilarious third-person character-action game, as complex as that may sound, but it still 'technically' has an open world. In any case, the open-world sections of both NMH 1 and 3 are serviceable at best, which is why NMH2 took out the open-world and replaced it with a location map.
That said, the open-world sections of these games serve as a breather from the endless hallways of grunts you’ve been slaying with your beam katana, the off-the-wall events of the story, or just so you can process all the absurd lore stuff that was played off as a joke in the last cutscene. And, in serving that purpose, the open-world parts of NMH 1 and 3 are fantastic. This is especially true for NMH 3 — it improves upon everything that made the first game so memorable.
Cloudpunk
Cloudpunk is an open-world game that slipped past a lot of people’s radar, and that’s a shame. Compared to the “scale” of most of the other open-world titles on this list, Cloudpunk is relatively small, with a much shorter list of "things you can do" but there’s still tons of content packed within it.
You spend all your in Cloudpunk controlling Rania, a new delivery driver for Cloudpunk, the fictional shady company the game is named after. This Cloudpunk company is relatively well known for delivering their packages speedily and without asking questions, which gets Rania wrapped up in a whole lot of drama.
That said, deliveries are what you’ll be spending most of your time doing, flying around this charmingly Cyberpunk x Minecraft-esque voxel city in your HOVA car. There are a few other games that fall into this same “delivery category,” such as Elite Dangerous or even Death Stranding, but Cloudpunk manages to stand toe-to-toe with them in terms of atmosphere and writing prowess.
Rider's Republic
The tried and true Ubisoft open-world format is one that a lot of people have become tired of nowadays. There are just so many games, both made by Ubisoft itself or other devs emulating their style, that start to all feel the same because of this. But, Riders Republic was breath of fresh air, and was also a pretty innovative genre-blending of open world racing that you don't see too often outside of games like Steep or Burnout Paradise.
In terms of gameplay, Rider's Republic is a ton of fun. There are plenty of different races, events, and vehicles to try out, each with their own gimmicks and nuances. Lastly, the cosmetics for this game are incredible, as they should be, and a lot of them actually manage to take advantage of being a costume for a racing character with things like the giraffe head helmet/mash that sways in the breeze with every turn or flip.
Batman: Arkham Series
After Batman: Arkham Asylum put Rocksteady on the map, the developers outdid themselves completely with Batman: Arkham City. The combat was smoother and the world was much larger, giving the Dark Knight a portion of Gotham to fly around. With the series already creating the freeflow combat and Predator system that people loved so much, the sequel simply refined those elements, created a better story, and gave more of what the players wanted.
But, the method of hook-shot into gliding to get around the city did feel awkward, and most of the city exploration really just boiled down to Riddler puzzles, so as an open-world game Arkham City did a decent job, but Arkham Asylum is definitely a more 'complete' product in comparison
Then there's Arkham Knight, Rocksteady's attempt at fixing the flaws from Arkham City, improving upon past systems, and introducing new ones (such as costumes). And, in most departments, it absolutely succeeded! Arkham Knight has a bigger map, more side activities to do, easier terrain traversal, and smoother combat.
But, in the process, the boss battles aren't nearly as enjoyable, the gadgets aren't used quite as much, and the forced Batmobile stuff felt like a tacked-on gimmick right away. Overall, the two games are almost equal in quality, so it's entirely up to you which one takes the cake as the "best" Batman game.
Shenmue
Ah, Shenmue, the series that basically invented the open-world genre as well as one of the most polarizing open-world games of all time in regards to its overall reception nowadays. There are two types of people when it comes to Shenmue: those who absolutely adore it and can’t get enough, and those who find it to be the ultimate expression of tediousness.
But regardless of your opinion on Shenmue’s general gameplay loop and martial arts-centric combat, the revenge story of Ryo Hazuki searching for Lan Di, the man who killed his father, is something that has influenced almost every other open-world game going forward. There are three Shenmue games, all numbered accordingly. And, in general, the average opinion of each game is as such:
- Shenmue 1: A masterpiece for its time that is very difficult to go back to nowadays due to all the dated systems, but still holds up to a certain degree.
- Shenmue 2: The sequel that improved upon the first in almost every way, basically Shenmue at its peak and the best way to test if you'll like the series.
- Shenmue 3: The one with a development funded by Kickstarter, and is generally regarded as an open-world game stuck in the past that is missing a lot of what made Shenmue 1 and 2 so memorable.
Forza Horizon Series
Forza Horizon took what was established with previous innovative racing games like Burnout Paradise to create a concise racing game in an open-world that is just so much fun to explore. Newer graphics allow it to stand out from the competition in ways that no one could imagine. Everything feels connected where a traditional racing game would force players to scroll through menus.
Forza Horizon 4 irons out a few kinks from the previous games, to the point where it's often believed to be the best in the series. However, Forza Horizon 5 takes all the amazing things from FH4 and only amplifies it. FH4 already had such an absurd amount of content on release, as well as all the additional stuff Playground added over the next couple of years, but FH5 has all that, and more.
With even more stunning graphics, a huge playerbase, and an incomprehensible amount of customization for each individual player, in just about every sense of the word, FH5 is a true sequel to the already incredible FH4 that came before it.
Just Cause 3 And 4
The Just Cause series is all about giving you as many tools as possible so that you can run around having a blast trying to pull off ridiculous stunts. It's something of a 'toybox sandbox' game, where the story and narrative really don't matter. The obvious intention of the developers is to enjoy yourself with a slew of interesting systems and weapons stacked on top of each other. Just Cause 3 nails this to a tee. The entire draw of the game is playing around with the physics system just to see what you can come up with next.
Just Cause 4 came out a whopping three years after JC3, and when it was first released, the game had a ton of issues. If you play it now, most of those issues are gone, thankfully. And, for the most part, JC4 just piles on more tools and locations onto what JC3 already introduced. More regions to explore, different environments, tons of ridiculous new tools to use, and that's just to name a few additions.
But, even with all those additions, the question of "is JC3 better than JC4?" is hard to answer. JC3 was a bit purer, had more interesting challenges, and the progression system of the story didn't restrict you quite as much. That said, both games are still incredible open-world experiences that could be your #1 or #100 pick, depending on what you enjoy doing in these types of games.
No Man's Sky
Thinking about it now, Sea of Thieves and No Man’s Sky might actually have a fair bit in common. Both games were released to a pretty loud negative reception but were vastly improved over time through dedicated developers who released constant updates or DLCs. To be fair, the original response to No Man’s Sky release compared to SoT’s was night-and-day in terms of the sheer volume of the negative outcry, as Hello Games' marketing (and behind-the-scenes development) for NMS bit off more than they could chew, to say the least.
But, in its current state, No Man’s Sky is a fantastic open-world experience that just about has everything in it that was originally shown or promised in that infamous E3 2014 trailer. So, if you’ve held off on trying this game due to friends swearing that it's still bad based on critic reviews from over three years ago, there’s no better time than now to give the game a look and form your own opinion.
Raft
Playing Raft with a group of friends is such an enjoyable time. And, managing to best the shark constantly attacking your tiny floating home feels amazing. But, after your first shark is gone, and you realize how easy they are to bait or kill, the game loses some of its luster.
Then, when you fall into the loop of harvesting resources with your hook, crafting one thing, and harvesting again, it loses a bit more. Granted, the overall exploration and story of Raft are probably the best out of the survival games, but its core gameplay does feel tedious the quickest.
Astroneer
In terms of concept and style, Astroneer takes the cake over games like Rust or The Forest in the aesthetic department. The bright colors, the low-poly geometry of the terrain, and the OST make Astroneer such a comfy experience.
Plus, it almost rivals Dead Space in how masterfully it blends UI design and gameplay mechanics thanks to your backpack in-game. But, once you stop having fun finding Research Orbs to open, Astroneer's enjoyment starts to fall off pretty quickly.
Valheim
Valheim was the perfect sleeper-hit that everyone needed when they were stuck indoors back in February 2021. It has a charming artstyle, featured a lot of historical inspiration from Norse mythology and was a great game to play all day with a group of friends. While it doesn't match other games in the complexity of its systems, it is a lot easier on the eyes both in its UI and in its combat.
You explore a procedurally generated world with gorgeous landscapes all around you — many of which that you'll want to stop and admire. To survive in the world, you'll have to craft your own weapons and armor, but you can also do more homely things, like grow your own vegetables or decorate your base.
Project Zomboid
Project Zomboid has to be one of the most interesting games on here in terms of the peaks and valleys in its notoriety. The game was originally released as a tech demo back in 2011, before coming out in 2013 to a less-than-stellar reception from most fans who had been keeping up with its development.
Fast-forward all the way to 2022, and the game has suddenly had a large peak in its popularity, and it's all due to the game basically being re-built from the ground up with the update that is Build 41. This build reworks just about everything in the game, from the core mechanics to even the animations, and especially the difficulty.
Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor
People might be surprised to see how low Warner Bros Interactive's Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is. With a game that borrowed elements so heavily from the Arkham and Assassin’s Creed series, it seemed that it would be a total bust. However, the game manages to shine through the utilization of these systems and bring together an experience that The Lord of the Rings fans can enjoy.
The Nemesis system is the shining light of this game, introducing a concept of "rival" enemies that Assassin's Creed would immediately 'borrow' right back in its next game. This, combined with Mordor's combat, which was equal to if not greater than the Arkham games in terms of enjoyment, made Shadow of Mordor one of the standout open-world games for its time.
Death Stranding
Out of all the open-world games on here, Death Stranding made by the iconic Hideo Kojima is likely the most polarizing. Many people adore this game and call it the future of the open-world genre. But, to contrast that, there’s also a huge portion of the player base who hated Death Stranding's core gameplay loop and called it a “walking simulator.” No matter which side you personally fall on, it’s safe to say that Death Stranding is a one-in-a-million game in terms of its development, its narrative, or the concepts it introduced.
In this title, you sneak past ghosts (called BTs or "Beached Things), fight ex-delivery men (called MULEs), avoid time fall rain that instantly ages anything it touches, and most of all, you’ll be constantly managing your balance while carrying cargo and coming up with tactics to traverse the upcoming terrain as efficiently as possible.
Getting from A to B in a lot of these open-world games is an aspect that can be pretty boring. But, in Death Stranding, getting from A to B is the most exciting part of the game, and you'll either love it or hate it. And, with the Directors Cut, you're now able to deliver packages in even more unique ways, build your own racetrack, and more!
The Ascent
The Ascent was a sleeper hit of 2021, and one of the more unique attempts at a Cyberpunk open-world seen to date. It's an ARPG rwin-stick shooter, and that's not a genre that's been touched all that much. Yet, in terms of pure atmosphere and gameplay, The Ascent is an gorey blast, especially with it having online functionality with friends.
The big downside of Neon Giant's beloved title is the fact that its very buggy. Even this long after its initial release in July 2021, the game is plagued with a variety of bugs, from ones that are easy to ignore to even a few game-breaking ones. Still, while flawed, the Ascent is absolutely one of the most memorable games to come out of 2021.
Saints Row 3 And 4
The Saints Row series has always been about wacky concepts coming to life and giving you every tool in your arsenal to play around with them. Saints Row 4 takes a lot of those ideas and goes the extra mile, making it one of the most screenshot-worthy games in a long time. It builds on its predecessors with all the right steps and additions that make it hard to not regard as the best in the series.
While Saints Row 4 is the more commonly known entry nowadays, it's only thanks to Saints Row 3 that SR4 could get so absurd. The tone, gameplay, and mechanical changes from Saints Row 2 to 3 is one of the biggest 180-turns we've ever seen in gaming. SR2 was similar to the GTA games, focusing on an actual narrative and using a bit of humor. Meanwhile, SR3 is off-the-wall wacky, the activities in the open-world grew so much larger, and the narrative was rarely ever serious again. If you play SR4 and feel like the aliens, superpowers, and super-jumps are all a bit too much, then SR3 might be just enough of a step back.
Far Cry 3
Far Cry 3 is an interesting game because it takes the conventions of shooting games and makes you think twice before pulling the trigger. It's not on the same level as something like Spec Ops: The Line, but it does have you questioning yourself and your decisions. What are the implications of this decision? How would those actions affect a person in real life?
It presents a compelling narrative through its organic moral system while still setting it against a gorgeous world with wild characters to meet and plenty of hostiles to take down. Even with subsequent entries, Far Cry 3 remains the best of the series in terms of perfectly blending fun open-world exploration, an interesting narrative, and enjoyable objectives.
Far Cry 4
Far Cry 4 is a lot like Far Cry 3 but turned up a few notches. More map to explore, more things to do, and more chaotic gunfights to immerse yourself in. This is where it became clear that every future game in the franchise would have some 'unhinged' antagonist that most of the marketing would be about.
And, in comparison to Vas from FC3, Pagan Min is a far more interesting character. But, in contrast, the playable character, Ajay Ghale, doesn't have nearly as interesting of a character arc as Jason Brody did in FC3. If you liked FC3, you'll probably like FC4, but there might be some aspects of it you think the previous game did better.
Far Cry 5
Far Cry 5 is where a lot of the player base for these games either re-affirmed that they adored this series, or fell off it completely. It tried to introduce a lot of different systems, mechanics, and activities at once.
You can do a million different things in the game, buy hundreds of weapons/guns, unlike over 50 different skills, and experience three different DLC campaigns. All this lead to some balance issues some players griped about. But, as an open-world game, Far Cry 5 really does feel like an open-world with an incomprehensible amount of choices at every turn.
Far Cry 6
Many say that Far Cry 6 is just as good, if not better than the multitude of Far Cry games that came before it. A decent portion of the player base are even calling it as good as Far Cry 3, so it's at the very least worth a look. Honestly, there are quite a few similarities between Far Cry 6 and Far Cry 5 especially, almost too many.
But, at the very least, FC6 seems to have either improved upon or tidied up all those similarities, and the new animal Amigos are so immediately lovable compared to a lot of the forgettable companions in FC5.
Don’t Starve
There’s a lot of simplicity to a game like Don’t Starve. It’s nothing more than surviving. You're dropped on an island and must gather resources to build your own camp before night falls and sinister monsters try to take your life.
You learn through experimentation and are punished for your mistakes, yet its simple nature doesn’t totally discourage you from trying again. Plus, the art style is so incredibly unique that you can easily attach yourself to any of the characters. There’s also a version called Don't Starve Together that you can play with your friends, letting this already adorable game reach a much higher audience.