Best Nintendo Switch Open World Games

Wouldn't mind trying out Starlink when it goes on sale for $10-$15 again.

Technically, all Switch games can be played in the “open world” thanks to it’s portability.

(Sorry, I’m a Dad, and it’s my job to make bad puns).

I'm not sure if I would describe Hyper Light Drifter as an open-world game, but it's a great game for sure.

In addition to these games, I've heard Lego City Undercover is also a pretty solid game.

If we're bringing up open-world RPGs I'm surprised DQXI or Xenoblade DE didn't get mentioned at all

Loving Burnout Paradise....

I'd suggest starting with Skyrim. It only gets better from there.

This came at just the right time. I'm itching for open world on my Switch and was just doing some research yesterday.

@TheFrenchiestFry Because they aren't open world. They just have huge areas to explore.

I'm a dad. With a job. And a bedtime. I do most of my Switch gaming on the couch while my wife occupies the TV watching 90 Day Fiance.

Which one of these is the easiest to jump into?

@rockodoodle Me too. "Open World" gets a bit aimless for me but still a tonne of fun.

I'm going to say this and run away: even though it is a remaster - Xenoblade is better than Breath of the Wild and should be on the list.

@abbyhitter You literally just described Breath of the Wild and Skyrim.

It also has huge interconnected areas to explore amidst an open-ended world.

@Kienda you’ve done your duty. Good soldier.

@jsw-8 I agree that Xenoblade should be on the list, but only that part.

@TheFrenchiestFry You obviously don't know the meaning of open world. You can't freely explore the entire world map at any point in the game and go anywhere you want in Xenoblade or Dragon Quest.

I want to get Don't Starve, but had heard that the Switch version has game-breaking bugs at launch. Does anyone know if those were fixed? Can't get any info online.

What's interesting about that list is that I have many of those games (love or like them all) and the ones I don't have are on my wishlist to acquire when there is a sale.

Is Super Mario Odyssey not open world? I (somehow) haven't played it yet, but I thought that was one of its selling points?

@Incarna Open world means you are open to explore anywhere when you first start the game. If you start the game and the game is restricting you from exploring or holding your hands throughout your playthrough then it's not open world as it's a linear game (Trials of Mana and Pokemon are like this).

@VegasKeith the most approachable is easily BOTW, but as a Dad with limited time myself I can also recommend Witcher 3 as it has generous save system and missions are nicely split into bite sized chunks with loads of freedom to wander off. I've not played Skyrim though so can't comment on that one.

I have a problem with Xenoblade Chronicles being called "open world." Unless we're talking Xenoblade Chronicles X, which lets you travel virtually anywhere as soon as you clear the tutorial, the Xenoblade games are very deliberately paced JRPGs. Xenoblade 1 metes out a single area at a time, and Xenoblade 2 is segmented up into titans. Now both of these games are amazing, and both do include huge chunks of game to explore, but calling them "open world" just isn't accurate.

This generation just calls EVERYTHING "Open World" like its something good and LINEAR is something bad.

Xenoblade is a linear RPG with huge areas to explore and its an amazing game. Its not open world.

Xenoblade X on the other hand is an open world.

@ViewtifulJotun I probably should have led with this. BOTW is easily the game I've invested the most time in the last few years. Wrapped it up a week before my daughter was born. That was on the Wii U. Yeah! I'm one of those guys!

@VegasKeith Skyrim! Even though it lacks mod support, which is some major BS, it's still fun to play.

The best Switch open world game is GTA: San Andreas.

Oh wait ... Nevermind.

@Incarna Those would be more like "game worlds with interconnected sandbox-like areas." XB 1 is very linear in spots (just plugged in my 1st 8 hours of it yesterday, btw), XB2 is as well connected by pathways to big open spaces that can be gatelocked. Dragon Quest 11 is very gatelocked with branching paths to big areas. Dragon Quest Builders 2 feels open world, but it has huge open areas "linked" to other huge open areas. Open world is more about being able to traverse the whole space...maybe there's spaces locked out to you, but you can potentially go and visit all those spaces, and said spaces are surrounded by "open world."

@jsw-8 i also cant get in to breath of the wild. Dont get me wrong, im a massive Zelda fan and have played and completed most main line games but something about BOTW i just dont like. Be it the breakable weapons or lack of themed dungeons with a themed boss at the end of said dungeon.. I just dont know. The world is gorgeouse to explote but i also fine that no one has any personality in the gsne either. I may get fried but i cant help how i feel.

Basically you need something else If a fan of open world games.

Leeeet's see. I have and/or I've played all of them except Burnout, Hyperlight, Starlink and... Minecraft

@VegasKeith as a Dad, with a job and a bedtime, I would say Zelda. It has an excellent save system, o huge playground to explore, and the game just let you be, it doesn't bore you with quest after quest. It just let you explore.

@Pekapa yeah i should have said this earlier. i played the heck out of that one on the wii u. never got into any dlc though. maybe worth a double dip?

No Dark Souls, but you include Dragon's Dogma? I'm confused.

@Milton_Burle it has become what MK8 was for me. I can just unwind and fart around for 20-30 minutes here and there.

Nice to see Dragon's Dogma get a nod, its a fantastic game and runs well on the Switch.

@getyourak Dark Souls isn't a proper open world while Dragon's Dogma very much is.

Okami is also great, not truly open world but close enough for me

@Kienda I rather like that way of viewing it, actually and unironically. I'd rather sit outside in my forest on a sunny day playing a more linear game, than spending my days glued to a tv in a building playing an open world game.
Also, according to a popular bad joke - not a dad joke though - as a vegan, it's my job to tell you that I am a vegan, completely out of context. Now I actually wonder if that made me a "good" or a "bad" vegan... I mean, I ironically did what a vegan must do for that joke to work, but that joke is typically about vegans being considered "annoying"...
But so are dad jokes... The endless loops of irony are getting confusing.

ASHEN is an open-world game I recommend. I was surprised by the BOTW & Dark Souls like mash up... found myself hunting through ever crevice for upgrades and armor. Big bang for your buck.

@Cevil Xenoblade Chronicles is not an open word game (and neither is 2). It is a linear RPG in which instanced regions must be accessed in a specified order.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is an open world game, but it isn’t on Switch.

@fafonio open worlds are great but so are linear games. But some open worlds just suck. Witcher 3 is a great game but not because of its open world elements—it has a really serious case of “there is nothing to do or find except walk from icon to icon” syndrome.

@jsw-8 agree 👍

@Kienda that’s 2 in 1 comment!

@rockodoodle
Burnout is so awesome. It's a freakin' crime they don't make these games anymore.

No mention of Xenoblade? Yikes.

@Akimi I am new to this game. I have only played NFS Most Wanted on the WiiU and later on the Vita. Supposedly NFS Hot Pursuit is also coming out for Switch soon. I will get it- just not sure if I should get it right away or wait for a price drop. Burnout is already $10 cheaper than release and will probably get to $30 before long.

1. Open World Game
2. 100% No Violences at all
3. Definitely Safe for Kids (PEGI 3 / ESRB Everyone)
4. Cheaper price.
5. Visually stunning in cartoonish style.
This is the game.

@Anti-Matter whoa whoa whoa. have never heard of this one, but you've got my attention. it's on sale and i have $15 in nintendo credits burning a hole in my pocket.

@abbyhitter xenoblade chronicles x is open world

Everybody likes Starlink but I found it so boring that even Fox Mc Cloud could not save it.. the generic story, characters and mission structure... Star Fox Zero was way better!!!

BotW was an anomaly for me. I played for probably 400 hours, it was the greatest gaming ever in my 36 years, and have almost no desire to play it ever again.

@Optimist80 I'd say you got your money's worth.

I played BOTW and was floored how big the game was. Then I played Witcher 3 for the first time. That game is massive!!

Just curious, which game do people think has the biggest world??

@rdm22 it isn't, it is made up of many separate but connected areas. Great game still, and there is plenty of exploration within the areas (some of which are still quite large and non linear)

@San_D I can recommend Don't Starve, but not the Switch version. It has not been patched or updated in over a year, and does indeed have serious bugs.

My save file, only 90 or so days in, and without any very elaborate base built up, crashes shortly after start-up. I like many others have had significant problems when entering or exiting caves, which are an integral part of the game. In addition, the Switch version is missing some of the newest iterations of the game, like Hamlet, though it includes older ones like Shipwrecked.

I've been very disappointed in Klei, the developer, for their treatment of Switch fans, especially the lack of communication.

@timp29

I think Just Cause 3 was huge. Older Elder Scrolls entries were massive as well. But big doesn’t rhyme with fun. I’d rather have something smaller and filled with interesting things to do, rather than a huge empty map (kind of like BoTW).

Dragon's Dogma is on sale until the 7/30 and it is so very very worth it. The exploration and combat is great and the npc/Pawn customization is very fun also. Other players NPC helpers will populate the world too.

Anyone else find this game weird and charming? Its not like Dark Souls in tone, but before the souls-like genre became mainstream, it reminds me a bit of Demon's Souls. The game has these things going for it like stylish combat, huge creatures, wide explorable area but also wierd things like obtuse item crafting and obscure NPC helper cultivation.

I mean that it reminded me how a japanese company was trying to do western RPGs and this is Capcom's take on it I think. A bit of monster hunter and devil may cry, much less story, but still, quite fun. I think this emulates a bit of the MMO feel but its really just offline.

@FlameVisit easy to pick up and learn?

@VegasKeith The thing is, no, its not easy to pick up and learn. It kinda gives you these tutorials when you pick up a quest or an npc talks about a quest. It has this day and night cycle where even more enemies show up, it has a quest log with a map that vaguely shows you where to go and sometimes you'll just be completely confused. You may end up killing everything in the area trying to figure out where something or someone is or being killed yourself.

Its not hard though in a sense, even though it has real time combat you can pause to heal up with items and the npcs that help, some of the player created ones, some are uber strong and kinda take away from the challenge if you want. Once you know what things are weak to of if they are too high level you can plan and still kill them.

@VegasKeith CO-SIGN!!!! I was even considering getting Star Valley.

@COVIDberry Thanks a lot, you saved me some dollars. I already own it on Steam (haven't got Hamlet though), and wanted to double dip to play it portable, but doesn't seem like a good version of the game.

@Juga Depends on your taste actually, I can vouch for Fire Emblem if you like strategy RPGs, although it has its fair share of exploration and minigame-based parts. Its battles are quite accessible on lower difficulties compared to its predecessors, the characters and dialogue are really good, but exploration can get a bit samey towards the end. For the other two, I am not interested, so can't really comment on those.

The Numbers One spot goes to best game Ever made aka The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt

@GX_64 Thanks! I guess it's been a while since I read the NL post on the game, because I was misinformed. I definitely intend on playing the game — I just keep getting distracted by other backlog projects. Thanks, again.

I am actually a bit confused now, so xenoblade is not open world but hyper light drifter is?So open world is basically when you can access the whole world from the beginning or after the tutorial, have i got that right?

"You see that mountain?..."

On the One X version I can lol

Digital Foundry breaks down why the switch version runs so poorly

No Man's Sky should be a switch game, how is it not? Even the graphics and mechanics straight up look like it should be a Nintendo exclusive... I don't even play it that much, but if it was on my switch, I could see myself playing it all the time, especially if they added fuctionality where if you were at space stations and rest stops you could go to a terminal type in someone's nintendo friend code (coordinates) and go through a teleportation device and meet up with people on local and online connection.

We all the top 3 by now

1. The Witcher 3
2. Skyrim
3. BoTW

In that order too 😉

"In the continued absence of the 3D Grand Theft Auto series on Nintendo consoles"

@rdm22 kinda yeah but it’s broken apart into multiple “worlds” (levels)

After seeing this, part of me wishes that Age of Calamity took the open world concepts from Dynasty Warriors 9. After all, Breath of the Wild is an open world, so why not?

But then again...how much could the Switch hardware handle it?

Missing out Kingdoms of Amalur is criminal!

OK, it didn't review well but it's incredibly fun, while things it was criticised for like dated menus I found a plus point. The (cut scene) graphics aren't up to modern games but the open world stands up and the lore is actually interesting.

I'd also place Saints Row 3 above 4, the performance is good enough and I preferred the gameplay with no superpowers.

Is HLD really an open world game? I played it a few years ago, so I don't remember the entire game...however I don't remember it being open world at all. Still a phenomenonal game zelda fans should check out.

No Lego City Undercover? Seems a bit of an oversight. Hyper Light Drifter is open world? Saints Row 4 over 3? So. Many. Questions.

"closest thing to an open-world Star Fox game out there." Way to powerful to run on the Switch but Chorus what released last year is pretty much that as well though mores serious and story focused, anyone with PS or Xbox console should check it out as its fantastic.

Decent list and i'm happy Dragon's Dogma is there as its fantastic and extremely underrated, really hope that rumoured sequel is happening especially now that Hideaki Itsuno is free from DMC for now.

@Parker75 SR3 is pretty bad on the Switch though, SR4 on the other hand is a solid port and is also one of the very very few superhero type games on the Switch.

You omitted these great games:

Kingdoms of Amalur
Oceanhorn II
Ni No Kuni
Ni No Kuni II
Monster Hunter Stories II

and to a lesser extent:

Ashen
Ari & the Secret of Seasons
Ravensword: Shadowlands (a good, albeit smaller Skyrim clone)

LEGO City Undercover (which is missing from the list) is still a great game, but not with the performance of the Switch version.

How many times have I had crashes during normal gameplay on that version?
Granted on the Wii U version I also had crashes, but that was because I was forcing the game to do unintended actions and overall just messing around.

If you get motion sick at all from video games avoid Starlink. The camera in that game is awful, I get worse motion sickness from it than Sonic Adventure.

Prayers for a Fallout 3 / New Vegas remaster

Saints row was 3 bux for almost all of Xmas. I picked it up. Makes me happy I did.

“ not simply in animal crossing portal“ Pfft, speak for yourself, bro. 😜

Missing quite a few games here, especially Xenoblade and DQ11 which is just silly considering how freaking huge DQ11 is when you access all the locations.

Witcher 3 is the best game here, followed by Skyrim then Breath Of The Wild.

@Juga Astral Chain is decent. Not too sure about the others, never touched them.

Astral Chain looks really good though, the realistic cell shaded graphics gives the game a very cool unique comic book style which makes the game definitely worth half the price just for the style.

If only Dying Light would come to Europe... bloody Germany

No GTA? Hahaha! Personally I bought it day one and regret it but sure with continued updates it will get better, staying optimistic lol

Saw Dragons Dogma on here, got intrigued, checked the eshop, saw it was 50% off, bought it!

Updated with new additions, but still insisting on "the continued absence of the 3D Grand Theft Auto series on Nintendo consoles". Fanon discontinuity or honest oversight?😄

@WallyWest several dozen hours in, outside the only time "infinite loading screen after mission" issue (which some also accuse SR4 of anyway) SR3 has run fine for me, even before the bunch of patches received.

@Obi-Juan
Amazing game and with team starfox on board it actually feels like a starfox game.

@daebiya you should watch "originality in video games" on youtube by videogamedunkey. I think you would get a kick out of it after making this comment.

@WallyWest Well, only in the sense that you have be 'gud' and know where to go before you can wander. from Firelink you can pretty much go anywhere if you choose the master key. Yes the paths are linear but they are circular and therefore pretty much open. Regardless of strict classifications, it's hands down worth mentioning, considering it is one of the best games ever made, it's arguably open, and it's on switch.

@Rogueleader Dark Souls is as much as an open world game as a pre-BotW Zelda game is. Its non linear and you can choose your path but the world layout is still follow this path its just there's usually multiple paths to pick from. Open world games are Skyrim, BotW, Red Dead 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, GTA and so on and the world of Dark Souls is not like that at all. You know From even agree with me considering they themselves call Elden Ring their first open world game.

@WallyWest I completely agree that it's not an open world game like those mentioned. Can you post the From quote source? There are plenty of debates online about the open worldness of dark souls. I also think it's a metroidvania! But I don't really ascribe to hard boundaries between these genres, and clearly dark souls both creates and defies "genre" in different ways. My point is merely that it's worth mentioning here. Most Nintendo life articles have a "well this doesnt fully count but we better mention it" game.

@Rogueleader Can't find the exact quote as everything i find is recent while the quote came from years back.

I feel the reason its not mentioned is because if someone what didn't know Souls read this list and decided to try it expecting a big open world they are going to be in for a hard and rough shock haha.

Skyrim is clumsy, buggy and generic to the point of robotic. It doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with BotW.

I guess this doesn't count as an open-world game, but I'm currently playing Dragon Quest XI and the experience of playing this reminds me a lot of Breath of the Wild. Much more so than Witcher 3 or Skyrim in fact. Or is this just me?

Obviously the combat is totally different w/ DQXI being as JRPG as you can possibly get, but exploring the overworld, towns, etc feels very similar to BotW. Even the side quests feel like they are more "progress" than distraction as they tend to teach you core game mechanics.

Highly recommend this

Star link is just not a good game