What exactly is a "Ubisoft" game? Well, it's a term that the more critical gaming populace uses to describe games that all feel or play similarly to a lot of the titles made by Ubisoft Entertainment. In particular, it applies to open-world games that follow the same structure of opening up the map by climbing up "towers," running around clearing side objects and random activities and sidequests, then climbing up the next "tower" to open up the map again, rinse and repeat.
So, what are the games that most strictly follow this formula? Obviously, there won't be duplicates from the same franchise in this list, and there will only be a couple of franchises on here actually made by Ubisoft themselves, just to get things started.
10 The Assassin's Creed Games
The Assassin's Creed franchise was always going to be first. It's the series Ubisoft is most known for, it's the one that caused the Ubisoft formula to become popular, and it's the franchise that most recently had a game come out with Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Now, to be fair, with Assassin's Creed: Origins, this franchise did switch up a ton of its gameplay combat-wise. But, the open-world formula is still there exactly as it was before.
9 The Watch Dogs Franchise
Next up are the Watch Dogs games, in particular, Watch Dogs 1 and Watch Dogs Legion. Watch Dogs 2 tried to switch it up a bit and feels the most unique in terms of its cast and moment-to-moment gameplay. Meanwhile, Legion and the first game are pretty "by the numbers" in terms of their gameplay loop.
Legion's "play as anyone" aspect falls somewhat flat, plus the gameplay at the center of the experience still remains the same no matter who the player chooses to recruit. Also, with all those new variables, the game is even buggier than usual. Watch Dogs has always been a franchise about giving the gamer plenty of unique tools, but not enough uniquely interesting missions or ways to use those tools.
8 Far Cry 3 & Onward
The Far Cry IP has changed an insane amount since its early days and is now an iconic example of the Ubisoft formula. All of the later games in the series, starting from Far Cry 3, boil down to the same basic loop of climbing towers, clearing compounds, and hunting animals.
That said, the setting, narrative, and characters change with each Far Cry game pretty drastically. However, at its core, Far Cry adheres to the Ubisoft formula about as strickly as the Assassin's Creed games do. Here's hoping that Far Cry 6 switches things up when it comes out in May next year.
7 Horizon Zero Dawn
Now it's finally time to start talking about games that feel like Ubisoft games even though they are made by other companies, starting with Horizon Zero Dawn. This series had an incredibly unique setting and some amazingly designed machines, which will likely be improved upon in the upcoming sequel. But, the franchise's open-world mechanics do feel very Assassin's Creed in many ways.
For one, Horizon Zero Dawn absolutely has the towers of Ubisoft games, but this time in the form of tall giraffe-like machine animals called Tallnecks that actually move around. It's a neat remodeling of the mechanic but is still very much the same concept. And, that really applies to a lot of aspects of Horizon Zero Dawn; it's a game that takes what works and upgrades it from a bunch of different popular open-world games like The Witcher, Far Cry, and Assassin's Creed.
6 That Mad Max Game
A lot of people forget that there was a Mad Max game that came out back in 2015, and it was pretty good. Players got to drive around the wastelands of Australia running people over, unlocking new parts for their car, clearing out compounds, and unlocking more of the map with Vantage Outposts. While it was the best video game representation of the franchise so far, it was also an incredibly by-the-books open-world game reminiscent of the Ubisoft formula.
Players had a million different icons on their map to go and clear out and combat felt very similar to a mix of pre and post-Assassin'sCreed: Origins combat. Plus, the driving, in general, felt a bit heavier but still pretty similar to the recent Far Cry games.
5 Marvel's Spider-Man
Now moving on to a game that people didn't really notice at first was completely adhering to that same old Ubisoft formula. Marvel's Spider-Man was developed by Insomniac Games, the team behind the Ratchet & Clank and Resistance series.
Marvel's Spider-Man feels like it meshed a Batman Arkham-style combat system with an Assassin's Creed-esque open world. And, those who played Spider-Man PS4 will probably find that not too much has changed with Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
4 Any Batman Game After Asylum
As this discussion continues, the games are starting to loosen up rather than holding tight to the Ubisoft formula. The Arkham games are an example of something primarily unique that took on more Ubisoft-esque elements as it went on. The comparison between Asylum and City being the most drastic one.
Arkham Asylum was a stealth-based mystery game at its core, with exploration being optional rather than center stage. Then, Arkham City introduced the series to the concept of an open-world, and suddenly Batman is grappling across the city doing errands for people rather than pushing the narrative forward. This idea of offering more random side missions and making the map bigger kept going with Origins and eventually into Arkham Knight. Basically, the Arkham games are very similar to Spiderman PS4 combat-wise, but with a bit less Ubisoft in their open-world mechanics.
3 The Middle-Earth WBGames Franchise
There's an odd relationship between the Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor series and the Assassin's Creed games, they've sort of rubber-banded off each other with each new release. First, Shadow of Mordor comes out and takes inspiration from a ton of Ubisoft's open-world mechanics, but introduces fluid combat as well as the "Nemesis" system.
Then, Shadow of War comes out in late 2017 with many of the same ideas. Next, Assassin's Creed: Origins comes out less than a month later, introducing a completely overhauled combat engine that has a lot in common with Middle-Earth, and a pretty bare-bones Nemesis implementation with the Phylakes. Then comes Odyssey, fine-tuning the Nemesis system and elaborating on it with the Mercenaries and Cult of Cosmos. Now, it's up to Warner Bros to see if they want to continue this any longer or not.
2 Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs is probably one of the most underrated titles of the last decade. It follows a man by the name of Wei Shen who goes undercover within the Triads of Hong Kong and gets a little too deep into his role. Sleeping Dogs has a lot in common with just about every game talked about up until now.
Like Horizon Zero Dawn, Sleeping Dogs takes these mechanics and tinkers with them until they feel very unique and natural. The game works overall, and its combat system is still incredibly fun to go back and mess around with.
1 Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Then, lastly, there is The Phantom Pain. It feels strange comparing a Metal Gear Game to something formulaic, as that is an aspect of Kojima's projects that he's always seemed to try and avoid. But, The Phantom Pain has players wandering around a needlessly large map, upgrading their hub, recruiting new soldiers, clearing out compounds, unlocking new skills, and more.
It's the most open a Metal Gear Solid game has ever been and that new frontier was very divisive for the fanbase. But, overall, MGS5 squeezes a whole lot into this Ubisoft formula rather well, even if it takes away from the fantastically dramatic narrative of Big Boss and Mother Base.