The best open-world games place you in an area that’s teeming with life and contains a bunch of things for you to do. On top of that, they excel in the other areas games are judged on, such as gameplay mechanics and presentation.

Over the years, many games have ticked all those boxes, whether they're action-adventure titles, RPGs, or creative sandbox games. And if you have Xbox Game Pass, you already have access to several of the best ones. After all, the subscription service has a load of compelling open-world experiences. The following ones are the best it has to offer.

Updated April 15, 2024 By Ben Jessey: Open worlds can fit into many different genres, which is clear when you look at the titles on Xbox Game Pass. So many distinct games on the service have open-world environments. We created this list to highlight the most notable ones. In this update, we've added a few more.

Dead Island 2

Dead Island 2 is set in the vibrant city of Los Angeles. However, it's different from the LA you are used to seeing. For example, in the game's promotional material, the place is labeled Hell-A. This is because the city is dealing with a zombie outbreak. So, you get to roam around a zombie-infested open world. That would be a horrible situation in real life, but it's a pretty fun sandbox for a video game.

When combating zombies, you can defend yourself using various weapons and your character-specific abilities. The title has RPG elements so that you can customize those weapons and skills. It's a solid game with plenty of personality.

No More Heroes 3

Hack-and-slash games don't tend to have open worlds, which is one of many reasons why No More Heroes 3 is unique. Yet, roaming this game's open world revolves around something other than hacking and slashing things. It's more about riding your motorcycle around the city of Santa Destroy and completing side content.

It's during the main missions and boss fights that the game's stylish hack-and-slash combat comes to the forefront. As you beat the bosses, you will make your way up the galactic superheroes rankings. This is all to beat the alien at the top, who has led an invasion on the planet.

Coral Island

You’d be hard-pressed to find an open world as beautiful as the one featured in Coral Island. After all, it’s a lovely tropical island that serves as your character’s new home. Once you get there, you’re given a pretty run-down farm to look after. Your main objective in the game is to build it back up.

Yet, you can also do several other things, as this is a life sim as well as a farming sim. So, you can also interact with nearby residents and generally explore the area. It’s a laid-back and comfy experience.

Yakuza Kiwami 2

Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a remake of the original Yakuza 2 game. It contains one of the series' most gripping narratives that revolves around a brewing Yakuza war between the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance. You play as Kiryu, who gets brought back into the Yakuza fold in an attempt to stop the conflict.

To do so, you must travel between two cities called Kamurocho and Sotenbori. Both contain activities, side missions, and plenty of interesting sights. So, you will likely find yourself putting the story on hold to roam the exciting streets. In the process, you will get into many third-person hand-to-hand fights.

Goat Simulator 3

Goat Simulator 3 doesn't provide you with a true simulation experience, as this game is a lot more wacky than real life. For starters, goats can do a lot more as they can interact with most things, climb buildings, and generally cause chaos.

This is what the game is all about, as you're placed in control of a goat and are set free in an unsuspecting city. What you do from there is pretty much up to you, as the world is your sandbox, and it contains plenty of things to mess with.

Palworld

Palworld is an open-world survival game set in a bright land filled with unique, colorful creatures. They look a lot like Pokemon, but this is no Pokemon game. After all, you can eat these cute creatures if you desire. You can also shoot or catch them.

If you do the latter, you can put them to work, keeping your base up and running while building up your resources. The goal of the game is to live and survive in this world, which sometimes means having a shootout with rival Pal trainers.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

The Assassin’s Creed series contains many interesting open-world settings as each title takes place during an important time and place in history. In Odyssey, you get to explore Ancient Greece during the Peloponnesian War.

This means the map contains landmarks like The Parthenon and Sanctuary of Olympia that you can visit and climb. Alternatively, you can get involved in the conflict between Athens and Sparta to help either side take over regions of the map. However, you’ve also got your own things going on, as you’re hurting members of a cult that ripped your family apart.

Gotham Knights

Batman is gone. So, it’s up to Batgirl, Nightwing, Robin, and Red Hood to look after Gotham. That is the basic premise of Gotham Knights. And it sets you up for some open-world fun.

Every night, you go out on patrol as one of the Bat-family. This means you make your way around Gotham, beating up gang members, completing missions, and generally attempting to stop dangerous villains from ruining the city. All of this means engaging in some exciting beat ‘em up-style brawling and optional stealth.

Starfield

Starfield takes place in a time when humanity has become a spacefaring race and has managed to travel beyond the Sol system. Therefore, the open world in this RPG is very large, as you have a bunch of different planets you can explore.

You do so while controlling a protagonist that you've personally created and given a backstory to. You can travel through space, embark on many different quests, and talk to plenty of people.

No Man’s Sky

Once upon a time, No Man's Sky was known as one of gaming's biggest flops. The title has significantly improved since its launch, though. These days, it's an exciting survival game where you roam different planets and mine resources.

There is also a story if you want to seek it out. The tale is all about discovering the secrets of the universe. So, it's serious stuff, but you can ignore all that and just explore the interesting worlds you visit.

Forza Horizon 5

The racing genre isn't known for its open-world adventures. After all, races tend to happen on defined tracks. Yet, Forza Horizon 5 contains a free-roam element. And you don't just drive around a random made-up location.

The game provides you with a large fictional representation of Mexico to explore. Driving around the place and seeing the sights is a very soothing experience. This is because the driving mechanics are smooth, and the visuals are stunning.

State Of Decay 2

Open worlds are generally fun sandboxes for you to roam around in. Yet, these places can also be dangerous. This is certainly the case in State Of Decay 2, as the world is filled with deadly zombies.

Your natural instinct in this situation would be to find a safe area and stay there. And there are bases in State Of Decay 2 that provide that safety. However, you have to journey out into the wild to complete missions and gather supplies. While doing so, you control a group of survivors that you continually swap between to keep people alive and in good condition.

Disney Dreamlight Valley

If everyone imagined their perfect world, several people would think of one filled with Disney characters, which is exactly what Disney Dreamlight Valley provides. The titular place includes various biomes that not only contain original Disney characters like Mickey Mouse but also feature characters from Pixar movies.

You don't play as an established character under the famous banner. Instead, you create a human to live among the famous faces. 'Live' is meant to be taken fairly literally, in this case, as this is a life simulation game.

Burnout Paradise Remastered

The Burnout series didn't seem like a natural fit for an open-world game. After all, it's a series mostly about causing vehicle destruction, not driving around beautiful cities. Yet, Burnout Paradise proves that the combination of free-roaming and car demolition can work.

The game gives you free rein to drive around Paradise City at an electric pace, making crazy jumps and participating in special events along the way. The loose goal is to improve your driving license, which unlocks more impressive cars. Yet, the real goal is to have pure, chaotic fun.

Just Cause 4: Reloaded

The Just Cause series has a reputation for providing wild open-world games where you're encouraged to cause as much havoc as possible. Just Cause 4 certainly follows that tradition. In this one, protagonist Rico Rodriguez goes to the fictional nation of Solis. It's a vibrant island filled with different biomes.

So, you have the chance to explore distinct environments in this very large world. The size isn't too troubling, though, as there are many ways to get around quickly, including Just Cause's signature grappling hook and wingsuit combo.

Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite is the first game in the famous FPS series to provide a true open-world experience - ODST dabbled with the concept. After finishing the prologue, Master Chief spends the rest of the game on a Halo ring.

This world is bright and full of greenery. Yet, it's also full of enemy camps and bases, which you're free to attack as you drive around the place. The said enemies are members of the Banished, who the Chief intends to stop as part of the main story.

The Outer Worlds

The Outer Worlds is an RPG set in the distant future where humanity can colonize new worlds. The game revolves around their colonization of a new star system called Halcyon.

Not everyone made it to this new world, though. One ship, in particular, didn't reach its destination. This means many people are still in cryo sleep, which was the case for your character until the opening scene, where you're thawed out. Your goal is to explore the different planets in Halcyon and decide what to do with your frozen peers. Each of these planets is its own open world, and you're free to travel between them.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga lets you experience the nine main live-action Star Wars movies in LEGO form. They're deep and satisfying re-tellings that cover all the main moments of the series. During those movies, the main heroes travel to all sorts of wild and wonderful places across the galaxy.

In this game, you get to wander around LEGO re-creations of some of those planets. So, instead of one giant open world, this game includes several slightly smaller ones that you can roam. In the process, you can find all sorts of interesting things.

Sunset Overdrive

The colorful Sunset Overdrive is set in a city that contains plenty of mutated humans. Their mutation is a result of drinking a toxic energy drink. The protagonist used to work for the drink company and now has to escape from the world their former bosses created. Plus, they also want to bring the corporate villains to justice.

In the process, you traverse the brightly colored metropolis, doing plenty of rail grinding and wall running in this movement-focused third-person shooter.

Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War

As the start of the title suggests, this game is set in Tolkien's Middle-Eath, which gives you a fantasy-filled open world to explore. It's separated into a few regions that are visually distinct from one another. There are plenty of things to do in each of them, including engaging with the game's iconic Nemesis system.

The feature gives personality and a hierarchy to some of the goons you fight. Whether you defeat or lose to them in battle impacts their standing within their army. You've also got your own crew that you're trying to build up in anticipation of taking on Sauron's mighty forces. This serves as the primary motivation for the main story.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dragon Age Inquisition isn't a completely open-world game in the traditional sense, as you're not placed on one giant map and told to get on with it. Instead, there are a bunch of smaller maps that you're free to explore. There is a great variety to them, as you visit all sorts of different places and environments.

Wherever you go, there are always a bunch of missions to complete and landmarks to find. And no place is entirely safe, as all the maps contain enemies. Some of them even have dragons. You go to these locations to recruit allies for your Inquisition and mess with the evil Corypheus's sinister plans.

Immortals Fenyx Rising

Immortals Fenyx Rising is heavily inspired by Greek mythology. Thus, it takes place in a land of gods called the Golden Isle. The map is split into several regions, and each one is dedicated to a different deity.

Due to the game's eye-catching art style, the world is incredibly beautiful. Along with looking at it, traversing it is a lot of fun, too, as your customizable protagonist has both climbing and flying abilities. Your hero's goal is to restore the gods, who have been robbed of their status and powers by an evil being known as Typhon. You also have to put a stop to the villain's plan to take over the world.

Watch Dogs 2

The San Francisco Bay area is the setting for Watch Dogs 2 - albeit a fictionalized version of it. You get free reign to roam the place between missions.

The city is filled with all sorts of shops to visit and races to join. In fact, it's one of the best non-racing games to include racing, as the titles offer plenty of different types, from Sailboat events to drone circuits. The map also includes a lot of technology to mess with as you play as a hacker trying to bring down a major tech corporation called Blume.

Far Cry 5

The Far Cry games tend to take place in very exotic locations. The fifth game doesn't quite follow that trend as the story occurs in a fictional region of Montana. Still, the environment is beautiful regardless. And the map contains a bunch of things to occupy your time. There are collectibles, side missions, and outposts for you to discover.

However, it is also a treacherous land. For starters, dangerous animals are abundant in the wild and will attack you on sight. Plus, at the beginning of the game, the entire region is controlled by the villainous Seed family, led by cult leader Joseph Seed. The goal of the game is to stop them.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

Skyrim's main quest is about the customizable Dragonborn stopping a dragon that's prophesied to destroy the world. However, it can take a long time to get there, as the world is jam-packed with stuff to do.

You can spend many hours traveling around the giant map, discovering new locations. In addition, there are a bunch of items to locate and side quests to complete. You can also roam the map looking for resources. Few open worlds are as big or include as much content as the one in Skyrim.

Assassin's Creed Origins

Origins boasts one of the biggest maps in Assassin's Creed history. It is a beautiful re-creation of Ancient Egypt, so it contains all the famous landmarks, such as the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. Plus, as this is Assassin's Creed, you can do more than just visit them—you can climb all over the structures.

They aren't the only places worth visiting, as there are many other fascinating locations on the map. However, you shouldn't spend all your time exploring, as the main questline is also worth doing. It tells an interesting tale about a Medjay called Bayek who attempts to avenge the death of his son.

Minecraft

It's fair to say that Minecraft is one of the most famous video games of all time. Each new game in this juggernaut of a survival title begins with you spawning into a randomly generated world. As such, everyone gets a different place to explore, but they each share similarities. For instance, every world contains the same mobs and similar sorts of resources.

With the said resources, you can build what you want with them. After all, this game is all about giving you complete freedom to experience it how you see fit. There is technically a conclusion, which you activate by beating the Ender Dragon. Yet, you can avoid all that and just stick to farming if you like.

Batman: Arkham Knight

In Arkham Knight, the iconic villain Scarecrow threatens an attack on Gotham City. So, the citizens panic and flee. Not everyone goes, though, as there is still a bunch of rogues in the city, as well as some innocent victims.

As Batman, there are several ways to get around the large city, such as using your grapple hook or driving the batmobile. While traveling around, you can track down some of the villains and apprehend them. You also need to travel around Gotham for the main missions as you attempt to stop Scarecrow and a new enemy known as the Arkham Knight.

Fallout New Vegas

Fallout New Vegas doesn't provide you with a tropical paradise or stylish city to roam around. The open world you're given is a post-apocalyptic wasteland. So, it isn't easy on the eye, but it still contains plenty of fascinating areas. And you're not alone in this hellscape, as there are other people, too.

You can speak with some folks to learn more about them and get side quests. The future of these people and the wasteland as a whole is heavily impacted by your actions in the main questline. But it all starts with a revenge mission as you try to find the man who attempted to kill you.

Yakuza 0

Yakuza 0 is a game that features multiple protagonists, as you control both Kiryu and Majima. The two characters each get their own Japanese cities to explore. Kiryu mostly spends his time in Kamurocho, while Majima is a Sotenbori man. While neither of them is the biggest open world you will ever see, they are dense.

Each place has a whole host of activities to engage with, from pool to karaoke. On top of that, the cities are brimming with people offering you side missions. The most important place in the game, though, doesn't contain any people or activities. Instead, it's an empty lot within Kamurocho. This is because the entire main story revolves around its ownership.