Topic: Top 5 Open World Games?

What are everyone's favourite open world games? This has become an over-used genre this generation but some games do seem to do it very well.
Lets just define it as games where you can explore nearly all of the map from the beginning without needing main story progression to unlock parts of it.
Mine would be:

5 - Skyrim
4 - Xenoblade X
3 - Arkham City
2 - Breath of the Wild
1 - The Witcher 3 (Doesn't actually fit my definition of open world but it mostly does)

I still haven't got round to playing GTA5, MGS5, Horizon

1. World of Warcraft
2. The Legend of Zelda
3. The Crew
4. Fallout 4
5. GTA V

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
3. Just Cause 2
4. Dragon Age: Inquisition
5. Red Dead Redemption

I kinda surprised myself when making the list seeing as the only Rockstar title I included was Red Dead Redemption. Rockstar used to pretty much own the "open-world-genre" (as soon as someone coined the term open-world I thought of Rockstar back in the day), really shows how open-world games have taken off and been improved upon over the years.

Well there are Bethesda games and then there all of the series that converted to open world and cranked the playtime and walking up 100s of times because they wanted that GTA/Skyrim money. Those games usually just don't have enough unique dungeons or story content (side quests aren't usually narratively fulfilling) spread throughout those worlds to save them from devolving into a lot of walking. I don't like many open world games outside of Bethesda's.

Just out of the games I've played (I've also played Witcher 3, Xenoblade, Inquisition, and WoW, most of which were MMOs and got pretty dull.);

1.) Skyrim
2.) Fallout 4
3.) Oblivion

~ Unique open world level design ends here. ~

4.) Gravity Rush 2 (More of a sandbox IMO, but it's still a good example of a different way to explore a world. And people thought climbing in Zelda was revolutionary...)
5.) Breath of the Wild (It's compares favorably to the rest of the genre, but lost what made Zelda notable in the first place to chase the open world hype.)

In no order what so ever.
Pilotwings 64 (N64)
Mercenary (C64/128)
Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
Morrowind (Xbox)
World of Warcraft (PC)

1) Oblivion
2) Daggerfall and/or Skyrim
(cannot decide, for its time Daggerfall was better imho but today Skyrim is more fun and satisfying)
3) The Quest
(world is small but is very good anyway)
4) GTA Vice city

I don't think I played that much open world games to even make top 5 but since arkham was mentioned I guess Black Flag will do as well. I'll make sure to put them last. I played Lineage but I eehhhh.

1. Breath of the Wild
2. Morrowind
3. Oblivion
4. Xenoblade X
5. Arkham city/ black flag

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
2. Horizon Zero Dawn

These two are easily my number 1 and 2. The Witcher 3, and all of its DLC, is my favourite game of 2015 (or 2016 if you count Blood & Wine). I still think it's the best example of how an open-world game should do side quests, and open-world in general. It took me more than 250 hours to complete, and the second DLC may very well be considered a game on its own, boasting more play-time than the average AAA release these days.

Horizon Zero Dawn isn't as strong in the story and side quest compartments as TW3, but the fast-paced action and combat make up for it. Combat was engaging till be very end, and the game never became ''easy'', even the first enemies you encountered still proved to be a danger in some way later on. Plus there's bow and arrow combat and giant frickin' robot dinosaurs!

I find it difficult to decide what else should be in my top 5 list. I recently played Gravity Rush 2 and I like that game a lot. It's an improvement on the first game, but both are solid games. Not your typical open-world game, but still somewhat open-world. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild deserves a mention too. I really enjoyed the first 20 hours or so of that game. One of the best experiences I had this year, but it became too repetitive, and I think it took the term ''open'' a little too far. I liked the lack of waypoints though. Minecraft is pretty fun if you're playing it with a bunch of friends, but that's more because it's multiplayer I think. Haven't played it in quite some time though. Infamous Second Son was pretty good too.

I haven't played enough of Skyrim or Xenoblade X to give an educated opinion. I only played a bit of Skyrim here and there, and Xenoblade X was quite boring IMO, so I quit. I guess GTA also counts as open-world, and I have enjoyed those games over the years, but I never owned any of the games personally. I haven't played the campaign either, so I can't say if it's even worth playing or not.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Red Dead Redemption 2 and Days Gone in 2018. And Monster Hunter World, if that counts as open-world now. I also think that's enough big open-world games for one year...

1. Fallout 4
2. Zelda - BOtW
3. Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)
4. Witcher 2
5. Skyrim (PC)

Me like these :
1. Super Mario Odyssey Switch (later)
2. LEGO CITY UNDERCOVER Switch
3. Portal Knights PS4 / Switch (later)
4. Go Vacation Wii
5. Pokepark 2: Wonders Beyond Wii

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Probably the G.O.A.T.! The world is like a patchwork quilt; every inch of it is a micro-puzzle of one form or another, but it's all knitted together perfectly in to one grand tapestry! The way that you can lose yourself in the minutiae in pretty much any corner of the world is just...astonishing! Bravo Nintendo, bravo!

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - A living, breathing world full of awe and wonder, beautiful vistas and endless lore...it was everything I hoped it'd be and more!

No Man's Sky - I know it got quite a lot of criticism - some fair, some not so fair - but I absolutely love it! Exploring a near-infinite multiverse and knowing that almost wherever you tread, no player has gone before, is mind-blowing! The free updates have really helped to gel it all in to something a bit more whole...I just wish I could take it on the go with me!

Grand Theft Auto V - There's a reason it's stayed in the best sellers list ever since it launched...it's near perfect! I spent over 1000 hours in that world and never got bored - and the creator tools added infinite possibilities to the game Bellissimo!

Red Dead Redemption - Glorious! So, so immersive! Had so much fun exploring this vast and varied world! So many great surprises and stories along the way too!

Honourable mentions:

L.A. Noire - Beautifully constructed open world - perhaps a little lacking in things to do compared with the above, but a great place to lose yourself in nonetheless

Dying Light - Another fantastically designed open world...it was, for me, just the control scheme that let it down - running is key to traversing the landscape, but having to push the stick in to run felt kinda uncomfortable - otherwise, amazing!

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - So, so close to my top 5! Exploring the iconic setting of ancient Rome was an absolute joy...it was just the segments outside of the 'Animus' that I didn't enjoy so much.

Dead Island - So much fun! A post-apocalyptic scenario unfolding in paradise - the setting was quite inspired! It sometimes felt a little clunky to play, but the fun I was having more than made up for it - a close contender for sure!

All other 3D Grand Theft Auto games - Rockstar are the masters of world building! I've loved every 3D GTA game (more story-driven and immersive than their 2D predecessors) Difficult to pick a favourite; III and (especially) IV really captured that NYC vibe, San Andreas did the same with LA & Vice City, with its 80s setting, was so so great too! ..I just think V's setting edges them all out - if, one day, they roll all of these cities in to one MEGA GTA game, gaming perfection will have been realised!

Runescape - Really addictive little game with a lot of quirky and cool little adventures to go on...I was hopelessly addicted to it in my youth - it still has a place in my heart!

Everquest & Anarchy Online - My brother managed to swing me free subscriptions to these games, which probably helped! ..but I used to love them so, so much! ..MMORPG's are often plagued by toxic player-bases, but these communities were quite the opposite - the worlds were great, but the people bought them to life! Great games!

1) Breath of the Wild
2) Xenoblade Chronicles
3) Zelda I
4) Xenoblade X
5) Witcher 3

No love for Dragon's Dogma in this forum apparently. That's my number 1 pick. I'd say Witcher 3 as well but I haven't played it. I love the first two games though so I am sure I will love 3 too.

Shenmue I and II
Grand Theft Auto III or GTA London
Shadow of the Colossus
The Godfather

last spot would be a toss between Fallout 3 which I liked very much, Breath of the Wild, which I liked as much or maybe more and Yakuza (any Yakuza would do as they are all basically the same game). I haven't played that many open world games by the way.

Yes I forgot Dragon's Dogma, it is a beautiful game. I'm not sure if I would put it in a top 5 of open world games however because it did not use the "open world thing" as well as the others does. I like it more than Vice city for example but I think Vice city uses the open world better than DD does. But it is a very good game indeed.

For Assassin creed, I think in every Assassin creed game the segments outside the animus just suck and make those games a lot worse than they would be if there was nothing like this at all

These are just the games I've played. I'm sure games like The Witcher 3 and Horizon: Zero Dawn would be on this list if I had played them, though. From worst to best (obviously they're all good if they're on this list, though):

5: Oblivion: Not a bad game by any means, I just haven't played a ton of it, which is why it's so far down on the list. I need to start playing it again.

4: Red Dead Redemption: Very good game, but it's really, really overrated. I don't really understand why people thought the story was THAT great. There also weren't many sidequests, and the world was kind of empty and boring. Again, great game, these are just some issues I have with it. I'm super hyped for Red Dead 2, though.

3: Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Great game, and like Octane said, the first 20 hours were fantastic, but it got old fast after that point. Fun game, but really flawed, and not nearly as memorable as other 3D Zeldas.

4: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. While it's not a traditional open world game in that it's world is broken up into 4 segments, with extra areas that are only reachable when doing certain quests, it's still pretty much an open world game, and man, is it a fantastic one. Absolutely amazing world, lore, characters, voice acting, side quests, story, almost everything about it. It's one of the criminally underrated gems in the industry, and is probably one of the most immersive games I've ever played, if not THE most. It's just a shame that it's so hard to get it running properly and that you need to install an unofficial patch, because absolutely everyone who likes RPGs, open world games, or just games with great story and atmosphere needs to play it at least once, although playing it multiple times is very viable due to how different the vampire bloodlines are. If you have a PC that's not a complete potato, you should be able to run it, so you should do yourself a favor and look up some guides or ask people on the Steam community about how to install it. It's well worth it, and you can buy it cheap on Steam. The only bad part of the game is the combat, which is pretty mediocre. Literally everything else is absolutely top notch, provided you install the unofficial patch to fix the bugs.

1: Skyrim. Probably my favorite game of all time. Absolutely amazing game in almost every way. If you haven't played it, there must be something wrong with you. Nuff said.

• Red Dead Redemption (360)
• InFamous (PS3)
• Way of the Samurai (PS2)
• Ultimate Spider-Man (PS2)
• GTA: Vice City (PS2)

Honestly not a genre I've spent much time with (only finished the first 3 games I mentioned, and only a couple of storylines in WotS at that. Never actually played Vice City for the story, just goofed around in it).

You're generally supposed to only have opinions of things you've actually played!

It's significantly better than either of the first 2 imo. Get it played! With the DLC.

Still haven't actually finished it but that's similar to my only real criticism of the game. It presents itself as unbelievably massive, and there probably is like 100 hours of content overall, but it can't sustain the same level of interest for that long.
I think it's because there isn't enough story to balance out the sheer number of shrines so if you want to finish it all, you can't avoid the fact that you'll have parts of the game where you're just doing 10 shrines in a row, which feels repetetive and meaningless.
I think it should've been 6 divine beasts with accompanying towns. That would've felt more balanced. I think I'm actually gonna wait for the 2nd DLC before I carry on for this reason. Without any extra story content, I'd say BotW is an incredible 30 hour game but a disappointing 80 hour game.

I think what passes for content in Breath of the Wild is essentially infinite since you'd never find the dozen (?) Korok seeds hidden under rocks that blend in with canyon walls without a guide. (But why would you ever want to do that?)

1. Xenoblade Chronicles - Number one, easily. Especially in this category, where I can't think of another game where I so consistently wanted to explore what was around solely so I can explore it.
2. Arkham City - Because I unintentionally saw through open worlds being too big before it fully became the trend, and thus the smaller Arkham City is better than most of them. I remember every small section of this city, which I can only say for...I guess parts of GTA V?
3. Red Dead Redemption - God this game was great. I will almost certainly not enjoy it as much again on a second playthrough but what a great time this was in 2010.
4. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - See: Red Dead Redemption, except 2007
5. Assassin's Creed 2 - See: Elder Scrolls IV, except 2009