Open-world games have a bad reputation foradding a ton of meaningless contentthat fulfills the sore objective of padding out the game with as much content as possible. This can prove to be quite an annoyance further down the line when players end up getting bored of carrying out the same repetitive actions over and over again just so they can satisfy the completionist within them.
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So, it’s nice to seeopen-world games that take their audience seriouslyand don’t waste their time with meaningless content and the like. The following video games do a great job of showing just how to craft a great open world that is full to the brim with worthwhile tasks to carry out that don’t chip away at a player’s patience over and over again.
10The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The launch ofCyberpunk 2077might’ve soured CD Projekt Red’s name a bit in the market, but there’s no denying that the company was revered by the masses after the launch ofThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The game capped off Geralt’s journey in a manner that was pretty satisfying indeed.
It helped thatthe world was vast and full to the brim with meaningful content.The Witcher 3: Wild Huntactively made fun of fetch quests and always had entertaining scenarios, memorable side characters, or a combination of both to make the act of exploring the world pretty rewarding.
9Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium’s world isn’t massive by any stretch of the imagination. However, the game takes a quality over quantity approach and succeeds immensely in this regard.
Disco Elysiumshows that games don’t need action-packed gameplay to be classified as an RPG. Sometimes, a great narrative and meaningful choices are all it takes to make a game truly riveting.
8Grand Theft Auto 5
Rockstar Games are masters of their craft indeveloping open-world games. The fact thatGrand Theft Auto 5is still going strong to this day almost a decade after release shows just how groundbreaking this title really was.
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Sure,GTA Onlinemight be carrying the entire experience, but the game’s single-player is also in a class of its own. Controlling the three meaningful characters and exploring the wealth of meaningful content that can be accessed in the game is pretty engaging indeed.
Speaking of Rockstar Games, it would be impossible to not mention the brilliance ofRed Dead Redemption 2as well. Everything from taming horses to befriending strangers is an absolute blast in what most people consider to be Rockstar’s best open-world game.
Red Dead Redemption 2isa vast game with heaps of contentaside from its fleshed-out story mode. It’s a great title that any fan of well-developed open-world games should check out, with its narrative and characters being a much-welcomed bonus too.
6Elden Ring
Elden Ringis a title that took over the gaming world by storm when it was released. The game is the culmination of everything that FromSoftware had achieved up to that point, and it managed to do so with incredible success.
The game’s open world is massive and lets players tackle a bunch of bosses, explore dungeons, and fish out valuable items too. Hidetaka Miyazaki has crafted a truly wonderful game that fans absolutely adore.
5The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
The Legend of Zeldawas in need of a dire overhaul after the recent mainline entries received more of a mixed response from fans and critics. The solution to this was a complete reimagining of theZeldaformula that brought with it a proper open world as well.
Breath of the Wildis one of the best video games of all time that brought the series over to a new generation in a truly incredible manner. It’s a step in the right direction for the series, and fans can only wait and see howBreath of the Wild 2improves upon this concept.
4Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegasis a monumental achievement of a game that should be commended for being so brilliant despite its rushed nature. Obsidian Entertainment wasn’t given nearly enough time to polish the game before release, leading to an extremely buggy and unstable launch.
In retrospect, many people have come forward to speak positively about the wondrous depth of the game’s role-playing chops. IfFallout: New Vegasgot the time in the oven that it deserved, then it would’ve been a truly magical experience.
3Batman: Arkham City
Arkham Citywas when Rocksteady took everything they learned fromArkham Asylumand applied it to an open world with bigger scope. The end result is one of the greatest superhero video games of all time.
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Everything from the gameplay to the story ofArkham Cityis in a class of its own. The fact that the open world ties all of the game’s elements up in a neat little bundle makes it the perfect icing on this loaded cake.
2Divinity: Original Sin 2
Divinity: Original Sinwas a strong starting point for Larian Studios when it came to crafting this CRPG. However, while the first game was pretty great in its own right, no one expected its sequel to blow it — and every other modern CRPG — out of the water.
The amazing scope ofDivinity: Original Sin 2coupled with its strong story and memorable characters made it one of the best CRPGs ever made. The sheer amount of meaningful things to do in this game is pretty immense indeed.
1God Of War
God of War’s reboot saw a mature Kratos take over once again ina pulse-pounding action RPG. The Metroidvania-style exploration makes every powerup an absolute joy to attain.
Sure,God of Warhas its fair share of backtracking and some grinding that is required to get certain rare items. However, on a whole, the game’s main and side content is incredibly fun to engage with and makes God of War an amazing — if somewhat unconventional — open-world game.
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