Best Open World Games

Virtual entertainment that lets you explore entire worlds is one of the gaming industry's biggest trends. But such projects are nothing new — they’ve been released for decades. And over the years, so many fascinating games have come out that picking the right one is quite a challenge. To help you navigate this variety, we’ve compiled some of the most successful titles where you can lose yourself in captivating open worlds.

A rather hardcore RPG with a large and unforgiving world. In Gothic 2, enemy levels aren’t scaled to the player’s. This means you can easily stumble upon a zone where you’ll be sent to the afterlife in seconds. This system is incredibly satisfying — without real danger, there’s no sense of true adventure.

Even in 2025, Morrowind manages to captivate. An open-world game that doesn’t hold your hand is a rare find. The Elder Scrolls 3 won’t guide you with a GPS — it only gives a rough idea of where to go next for a quest. From there, the player must find the location on their own, getting into all sorts of trouble along the way.

San Andreas still impresses with its scale. Three massive cities, deserts, forests, mountains, small towns, and military bases — fully exploring the map takes several real-life days. The world is packed with things to do: working out at the gym, learning martial arts, grabbing fast food, visiting casinos, barber shops, and much more. In short, there’s no time to be bored.

Like many other Obsidian games, New Vegas feels a bit rough around the edges. However, it more than makes up for that with its brilliant quests. Across the Mojave Desert, you’ll meet all sorts of quirky characters with fascinating tasks — most of which can be completed in multiple ways.

Even after the sequel’s release, the original Red Dead Redemption is still worth experiencing — if only for its story. It also stands apart from the second game thanks to its atmosphere, focusing more on stereotypical Western-style desert landscapes.

The city of Empire Bay, where Mafia 2 takes place, isn’t just a backdrop for fun — it’s a narrative tool. A stage for Vito Scaletta’s dramatic story. Mafia 2 features no side quests or filler content — the focus is entirely on the main storyline, which is quite unusual for a game of this type.

Gotham City in Arkham City is one of the most memorable game settings ever. With its gothic skyscrapers and moonlit, dangerous streets, the grim city feels like another character — no less important than Batman or the Joker. If Rocksteady hadn’t nailed Gotham’s atmosphere, the entire game would have crumbled.

All these years later, Skyrim is still going strong. Sure, mods help keep interest alive, but many players return to the harsh land of the Nords for more than just that. Often, it’s to once again lose themselves in the mesmerizing virtual world crafted by Bethesda. Despite the constant threats like aggressive dragons, Skyrim still feels oddly cozy and atmospheric.

Pirate games are a rare treat — which makes each of them precious, especially one as well-made as Black Flag. For many fans, this fourth installment of Assassin's Creed is their favorite. It captures the romantic spirit of the buccaneer life: you sail the ocean with your crew, sing sea shanties, hunt for treasure, and take part in thrilling naval battles.

There’s a reason GTA 5 smashed every imaginable sales record. Rockstar delivered the perfect adventure: a gripping story about desperate, charismatic criminals, a deeply detailed world, and fantastic humor. And let’s not forget GTA Online, which brings thousands of players back every single day.

The developers of Wild Hunt gave just as much attention to side content as they did to the main story. Before its release, few studios matched CD Projekt RED’s focus on side quests. But after the game’s success, more and more developers started treating optional content with the importance it deserves in open-world games.

An unusual stealth sandbox set in an open world, packed with gadgets, weapons, and the option to bring different companions on missions. Metal Gear Solid 5 offers players countless ways to complete objectives — and the beauty is in choosing the most entertaining one.

If you evaluate Fallout 4 purely as an RPG, it has plenty of flaws. But if you approach it as a post-apocalyptic shooter, those shortcomings quickly fade. Sure, the quests and dialogue could be better, but shooting and exploring the vast, secret-filled world is an absolute blast.

If you're looking for a game to disappear into for a couple of months, No Man's Sky is a perfect choice. Its world consists of an endless number of procedurally generated planets with bizarre flora and fauna. The variety is so staggering that the game can still surprise you even 500 hours in.

Frequently ranked among the greatest games of all time, Breath of the Wild continues to earn praise for its realistic physics and responsive world. The game reacts dynamically to everything the player does. BOTW is a powerhouse of unscripted moments — which is why exploring its massive map remains exciting even after 100 hours.

Whether Shadow of War is a faithful adaptation of The Lord of the Rings lore is up for debate — some fans aren’t fond of how freely it treats the source material. But one thing’s certain: it’s a high-quality game. It offers satisfying combat, great visuals, and the innovative Nemesis system, which remains unmatched to this day.

Ubisoft’s attempt to mimic The Witcher 3 — and to be fair, it’s not a bad one. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is not only colorful and easy to get into, but also a decent RPG in its own right. Not all side quests are top-tier, but there are enough good ones to make it worthwhile.

Unlike previous entries, Far Cry 5 is less linear — you can tackle regions and missions in any order, which enhances the feeling of freedom. The game also stands out with its unusual setting: rural Montana, overtaken by a fanatical cult. The world feels alive thanks to random encounters, wild animal attacks, and ambushes by cultists.

Sea of Thieves offers endless opportunities for fun — especially when playing with friends. There are almost no scripted events here; everything unfolds naturally through exploration, teamwork, and interaction with other players across the massive map.

In every sense, an epic game — and home to the most believable virtual world to date. Red Dead Redemption 2 delivers an unmatched level of immersion, thanks to its obsessive attention to detail. We're talking about a game where animal corpses decay over time and food on an NPC’s plate disappears bite by bite during a meal. You won’t find anything quite like it anywhere else.

A stunning ocean survival sim set on an alien planet, delivering a wide range of emotions. Subnautica can be soothing and mesmerizing as you glide through sunlit coral reefs, or terrifying as you dive into pitch-black depths inhabited by nightmarish creatures.

Maybe not the most innovative game in the world, but still a solid and engaging experience. Days Gone tells the story of a brave biker trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. Danger lurks around every corner — from hostile humans to massive hordes of infected.

Night City is a dream come true for anyone raised on sci-fi movies, books, and anime. The world of Cyberpunk 2077 is a giant, multi-layered metropolis that, despite its futuristic style, feels completely real. To achieve this effect, CD Projekt RED went all in — in true Rockstar fashion — and filled Night City with an insane level of detail.

Many joke that Ghost of Tsushima is the best Assassin's Creed game — even though it has nothing to do with the franchise. And there’s truth in that: Ghost of Tsushima borrows the AC formula and executes it better than most Ubisoft titles.

At its core, Death Stranding is a walking simulator — but that label only scratches the surface. It’s also a unique sandbox packed with complex gameplay mechanics, where the goal is to find the most efficient ways to move across the map — ironically, to reduce walking to a minimum.

FromSoftware’s first — and highly successful — attempt at adapting its signature Souls formula to a fully open world. Elden Ring is a tough yet incredibly captivating game of monumental scale, packed with enough content to fill three new Dark Souls titles.

Like the first game, Horizon Forbidden West builds on the familiar Assassin's Creed formula while managing to maintain its own identity — thanks in large part to its one-of-a-kind setting. After all, how many other games let you play as a tribal warrior hunting robot dinosaurs in the ruins of ancient San Francisco?

Tears of the Kingdom builds upon the foundation of Breath of the Wild, then completely reshapes the gameplay with a host of experimental mechanics — like fusing items together. It also boasts a significantly expanded map. The sequel’s world has multiple layers: you can explore not only the surface, but also underground realms and floating sky islands.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it improves many aspects of the first game. Combat feels better thanks to a refined system, and moving through the virtual New York is even more dynamic. All in all, it’s a “safe sequel” — which is totally fine. Sometimes, developers don’t need to start from scratch to deliver a great experience.

One of the best RPGs in recent years — a must-play for fans of the genre. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 builds on the foundations of the original and sets a new standard for first-person role-playing adventures. The game’s world is truly breathtaking: medieval Bohemia is recreated with such loving detail that you’ll find yourself saying “I believe it!” around every corner.

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That’s all for now. Let us know in the comments what other open-world games you’d add to this list.