In recent years, gaming has become known for a ton of standout open-world games that are both gorgeous and gripping. Players openly admit to spending hundreds of hours at times roaming these open worlds, sometimes even after all the quests have been completed, looking for secrets, taking in the environment, or messing around with mods.
Players often seek out open world games not just because they want a beautiful world, but because of just how much there is to do. While some fans might find it overwhelming, open world games continue to sell because so many fans just want to immerse themselves in a different world.
Updated by Sage Ashford, June 23th 2023: The open-world genre has been around long enough to have great games in several generations. We've updated this list to add more classic open-world games for fans who are new to the genre.
This article contains gameplay clips from various video games. Some include intense action sequences and strong language.
20 Dragon’s Dogma
Capcom created one of the best fantasy RPGs of the PS360 era: Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen. In the world of Gransys, the player takes on the role of the Arisen, a warrior destined to defeat the Dragon Grigori.
Though Dragon’s Dogma’s story sounds similar to a certain Elder Scrolls title, everything else about the game couldn’t be more different. Dragon’s Dogma feels like a Dungeons & Dragons campaign come to life. Its focus on combat, punishing difficulty, and epic boss battles create a fantasy experience that can’t be found anywhere else.
19 Batman: Arkham City
With Batman: Arkham City, Rocksteady created a perfect version of Batman,of Gotham City, and its denizens. Taking place months after Arkham Asylum, Arkham City expands into an open world after part of Gotham’s slums get locked off and given to Arkham's residents. Forced into Arkham City after being kidnapped as Bruce Wayne, Batman finds himself up against his biggest challenge yet — Hugo Strange and his Protocol 10 plan.
Arkham City allows players to truly feel like Batman as they take to the skies, becoming a terror to criminals everywhere. The rhythm-based combat system has a low enough floor for anyone to play, but a high enough ceiling for nearly anyone to find challenging. Combine that with some superb character writing for the main story, and it's easy to see why so many people think Batman: Arkham City is one of the greatest video games ever.
18 Yakuza 0
In a franchise full of incredible games, Yakuza 0 still stands above most of its peers. As hinted by the name, Yakuza 0 is a prologue to the entire series, taking place in the late ‘80s. When young yakuza member Kazuma Kiryu is framed for murder, he’s pulled into an intricate web of lies and conspiracies that threaten both his freedom and his life.
Yakuza 0 captures the flair and excess of 1980s bubble-era Japan with its two cities, Kamurocho and Sotenbori. As a prequel, it’s the perfect entry point for newcomers, providing an easy in to a complex world that’s existed across eight games. Like with any good open world title, players should expect to get lost amidst a sea of quirky yet well-written side stories and addicting minigames.
17 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
In 2011, Bethesda set a new bar for fantasy RPGs with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Set hundreds of years after the previous Elder Scrolls, the player is the Dragonborn — the only being with the power to kill a deadly dragon threatening the world.
Skyrim isn’t lauded for its main story, but for everything else about its world. Players had endless options in combat thanks to the ability to dual wield both weapons and spells. Meanwhile, every nook and cranny of the world seems packed with new challenges, quests, and opportunities for treasure — making Skyrim a bestselling game.
16 Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is often overlooked because it released in a crowded year — competing with titles like Bloodborne and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. However, Hideo Kojima’s last entry in the Metal Gear Solid franchise delivers an amazing open-world stealth adventure. Taking place in Soviet-controlled Afghanistan in the 1980s, The Phantom Pain features Punished Snake looking for revenge after the events of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.
As an open-world stealth game, Phantom Pain presents players with unique challenges not found in any other stealth game. However, it also provides them with enough tools that there’s rarely any “right” way to complete missions, resulting in a game that can be replayed endlessly. Though Kojima’s storytelling may leave more questions than answers, Phantom Pain keeps players hooked from the very beginning.
15 Death Stranding
Death Stranding was met with mixed reception upon release, but over time, its unique gameplay elements and story pacing have become appreciated overall. After an event of cataclysmic proportions befalls the United States, giant monsters begin roaming the Earth.
Those who are left must survive in isolated colonies. It's up to the player, a courier, to deliver packages to various isolated characters and reconnect them to a larger network. While doing so, players traverse a wide variety of beautiful yet haunting landscapes, which add to the overall feeling of isolation.
14 Minecraft
The best-selling game of all time, fans have been in love with Minecraft's blocky sandbox world for over a decade now. The enjoyment comes from the freedom the game provides to the players. If players want, they can just spend all their time building an adorable home for themselves and their friends.
Or they can make a mighty, awe-inspiring castle. Or they can do none of the above, and just explore Minecraft's world to see everything it has to offer. Whatever the case, there's a reason Minecraft's been a #1 game since the moment it officially released.
13 No Man’s Sky
It might have taken years, but No Man’s Sky has long been at a place where it delivered on most of the promises from the original trailer. It isn’t just an open-world, but an open-universe game, where players can travel from one star system to the next hoping to make it to the center of the galaxy.
Even now, No Man's Sky continues to get massive updates that add new content and new things players can enjoy in their enormous sandbox. While the game might not tell a traditional narrative story, the fact that this game allows sci-fi fans to do literally everything else makes it a must-play.
12 Cyberpunk 2077
While Cyberpunk 2077 's launch left much to be desired, the past two years have been filled with updates and patches to improve the overall player experience. Even with all of its flaws, there's no other cyberpunk experience that's as visually impressive and immersive as that of Night City.
Players take on the role of V, a mercenary whose background, appearance, and overall outlook completely depend on player choice. While going through the story, players traverse through four distinct Night City districts, each with their own visual style and unique atmosphere.
11 Genshin Impact
For a free to play game, Genshin Impact feels like too good of a game. MiHoYo gives players a massive world to explore, one that’s constantly adding new characters, cities, and countries as the game goes on.
At this point, the player can go through a story lasting dozens of hours long, all without paying a cent. Every new country is beautifully rendered, offering breathtaking sights that will stick with players long after they stop playing. The only real flaw is the grindy nature of the game’s leveling system, and how difficult it is to pull that next five-star character.
10 Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
Ubisoft's open world formula peaked with the release of the 2018 game, Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Taking place long before the Assassin Order was formed, Odyssey goes all the way back to Ancient Greece. There, the player controls the Misthios, a mercenary caught in between a war between Athens and Sparta.
This title improved on everything from Assassin's Creed Origins, offering a wider enemy variety, better-written sidequests, and more options in combat. This game's only flaw is it strays pretty far from the original idea of Assassin's Creed. However, for fans looking for a great open-world RPG experience, few can compete with Odyssey.
9 Ghost Of Tsushima
Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima represents the Japan-based Assassin's Creed style game fans had been begging Ubisoft to release for years. As Jin, the player must liberate the island of Tsushima from the Mongol Invasion. While going it as an honorable samurai might make this impossible, Jin learns of another way — the way of the "ghost," that may save his home.
Everything about Ghost of Tsushima is built to look as cool as possible. Under the right circumstances, duels can take place in wind and rain-swept conditions, creating every samurai geek's perfect Kurosawa fantasy. Above all else, it's a fantastic experience, one that elevated Sucker Punch into one of Sony's top developers.
8 Sleeping Dogs
Exploring the streets of a metropolitan city have never felt so cool. United Front Games' Sleeping Dogs is a minor masterpiece in terms of the overall feel of the world, but also in character development and storytelling. As undercover agent Wei Shen, the player must investigate the Sun On Yee criminal mafia. Though the risk of getting caught is ever-present, the bigger issue is Wei Shen growing closer to the mafia, all people he knew before going overseas to America.
In Sleeping Dogs, it feels like there's something new and cool around every corner. Underground street races and fighting arenas are all over the city, while other missions might demand helping a Sun On Yee member get away from a smash and grab. It's addicting, but the smaller size of the world keeps things from being overwhelming.
7 Marvel’s Spider-Man
With Sony’s Spider-Man game, open-world fans get something most games don’t know anything about: incredible traversal. Swinging through the streets of New York City literally never gets old, and players will only get better at it the longer they play.
Insomniac does a great job of putting players into the world of a Peter Parker who’s had his powers for years, but is still struggling to keep his head above water. They nail every Marvel character from supporting cast to super-villains, making this the best Spider-Man video game ever made.
6 Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Breath of the Wild debunks any notion that the Nintendo Switch's hardware simply isn't good enough to handle gorgeous, open-world environments. This open-world, non-linear title is a breath of fresh air for the franchise that paid off tremendously.
Rather than following a linear storyline all the way through, players are released into Breath of the Wild's world with little hand-holding. Players can complete the main story however they wish, creatively solving puzzles, all while traversing BotW's gorgeous, stylistic landscape.
5 Elden Ring
Elden Ring is meant to act as an evolution to the original Dark Souls game, and it skyrocketed in popularity well before its release. This popularity only continued to grow after Elden Ring officially launched, due to both the accessibility and the creativity of the combat system, as well as the atmospheric and gripping environments.
The player takes on the role of the Tarnished, someone who returns to the Land Between, on a quest to repair the Elden Ring and become the next Elden Lord. From the Moonlight Altar to the Eternal City of Nokron, there's no shortage of unique and unforgettably beautiful environments for players to traverse.
4 Grand Theft Auto 5
At 175 million copies, Grand Theft Auto 5 is the second most successful video game of all time. It’s easy to see why. The sheer amount of effort Rockstar put into crafting Grand Theft Auto 5 is astounding. The game doesn’t just present a fully realized world, but one where players can switch between three different characters, each with their own supporting cast and narrative.
That’s a scale which other games have tried, but none have come close to achieving at this level of fidelity. Even when players have finished GTA V’s story, they can lose themselves for hundreds of hours to the game’s Grand Theft Auto online mode, where seemingly anything is possible.
3 Red Dead Redemption 2
Players take on the role of Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, an outlaw who attempts to survive the gradual decline of the Wild West. Through either a first-person or third-person perspective, players can freely explore the world, taking part in activities such as hunting, robberies, and shootouts.
Part of what makes Red Dead Redemption 2's vast open worlds so mesmerizing is the real-world attention to detail paid to them. The development team spent eight years building the world based on real-life areas at the time, which helps add to the game's overall immersive feeling.
2 The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
Breath of the Wild was considered one of Nintendo's greatest games, and one of the best games ever made. Despite that, some of the games' biggest fans seem to be even more enamored with its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom. In the aftermath of Breath of the Wild, Link and Zelda work to rebuild the kingdom of Hyrule, only to learn of a corruption threatening the land.
When investigating this corruption leads to the awakening of the mighty Ganondorf, Link must save Hyrule once more. He must also learn what happened to Princess Zelda, who separated from him in Ganondorf's awakening. Though Tears of the Kingdom presents a familiar world, Nintendo gives players tons of new creative tools to experience that world, creating an open world experience unlike anything in gaming.
1 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a master-class in writing and world design. Based on the popular novel series, the game is the final chapter in monster hunter Geralt of Rivia’s story. Yet despite being the third entry in the franchise, the game is welcoming enough to be players’ first entry into the universe.
Despite having a massive map, players will find themselves exploring every nook and cranny to immerse themselves deeper into the role of being a Witcher. Though the combat may not be top-notch, The Witcher 3 handles everything else at such a high level it’s difficult to view the game as anything but perfect.