Summary
- Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom innovates with new sandbox building mechanics, allowing players to construct unique contraptions.
- Black Skylands seamlessly transitions from shooter to base-building RTS, offering crafting options and strategic gameplay.
- Deadly Premonition combines detective simulation with survival horror for a unique and absurd gaming experience.
Most open-world games have a style and stick with it, like an increasingly challenging action-RPG or a survival sim growing in complexity. But some titles break out of this, flipping the script midway through and either becoming something else entirely, or adding a whole new genre into the mix. These genre-shifting open-world games pivot and pull players into unexpected turns.
These are some of the best open-world games that change genres throughout the game, either by unexpected mechanics or storytelling formats that feel like an entirely new game inside the original.
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8 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Unexpected Sandbox Building Adventure
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Released
- May 12, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Action, Open-World
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
While Tears of the Kingdom is traditionally an open-world RPG with combat and puzzle elements, it introduced a new mechanic that makes this game stand out from the rest of the series. Leaning into crafting and programming mechanics, players can ignore the story if they wish and spend hours building machines like in Besiege.
A new form of gameplay arises when, in between fights or exploration, Link utilizes his Zonai Arm abilities Ultrahand, Fuse, and Autobuild in order to save materials and blueprints, and construct contraptions. These moments end up being player-made puzzles completely different from the usual dungeon-diving adventures, like figuring out how to successfully create a machine that can fly or piloting a tank with lasers.
7 Black Skylands
Shooter Becomes Base-Building RTS
Black Skylands
- Released
- August 15, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- Publisher(s)
- tinyBuild
- Genre(s)
- Sandbox, Action-Adventure
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Black Skylands is a great example of a game changing genres gradually throughout. The game presents an open world with a top-down view, and begins first as an action-adventure shooter following Eva as she defends the land of Aspya from a band of raiders and The Swarm.
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As the game continues on from exploration and combat, Black Skylands gives players the ability to customize their airship, build bases, and expand their territory — turning into a mix between Hotline Miami and Stardew Valley. On top of the action and adventure, this game houses a ton of crafting options and base-building strategies that unfold over a long period of time.
6 Deadly Premonition
Detective Sim Collides with Survival Horror
Deadly Premonition
- Released
- February 23, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Access Games
- Publisher(s)
- Ignition Entertainment, Marvelous Entertainment, Rising Star Games, Aksys Games, Numskull Games
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
Deadly Premonition is one of those cult classics renowned for its absurdity. It begins as a detective adventure where players drive, walk, and interact with NPCs to collect evidence. Most of the game revolves around a sim-like structure where the world runs on a routine, and there are mini-games like darts and fishing to pass time.
Then, borrowing from games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, the game takes a hard mechanical and tonal shift into survival horror territory. Midway through the game, the player will start to enter Other World scenarios, where they will have to collect evidence while surviving terrifying supernatural enemies.
5 Brutal Legend
Hack-and-Slash Guitar Hero
Brutal Legend
- Released
- October 13, 2009
WHERE TO PLAY
Brutal Legend plays mostly as an open-world action-adventure game, with spellcasting coming in the form of Guitar Hero-esque mini-games. The game features a large open-world where the player controls Eddie Riggs, a roadie who finds himself in a heavy metal-themed fantasy world.
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As the story progresses, the game introduces real-time strategy scenarios in semi-open world stages. There are also side missions that take the player through several other game genres, like hot-rod races against demons or participating in battles through a variety of mechanics.
4 Spore
Evolution Sim Turns Space Strategy
Spore
- Released
- September 7, 2008
WHERE TO PLAY
This classic game Spore from 2008 doesn’t necessarily start off in an open-world format, but passes through a number of mechanical phases that become an open-world real-time strategy game. Spore allows players to control the development of different fantastical species from their beginnings as microscopic organisms to intelligent creatures capable of interstellar travel. This game constantly evolves in mechanics as much as the Spore species do.
The Cell Stage involves a gathering game from a top-down view; then, the Creature Stage opens up to an open-world where the grown creature interacts with the world to form allies and encounter threats. The Tribal Stage becomes a real-time strategy game where the species develops musical instruments and weapons, and the following Stages increase the scale of the real-time strategy playing field.
3 Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Stealth Meets Strategic Sandbox
Metal Gear Solid 5 The Phantom Pain
- Released
- September 1, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain opens up as an action-adventure stealth game similar to its predecessors, set nine years after the events of Ground Zeroes. As players continue past the intro and explore the open world, they will find resources to transport back to headquarters, which allow them to expand and develop better technologies.
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Similar to Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, The Phantom Pain features a more robust version of base-building, allowing Snake to view and build everything on foot in real time. Because of how open-world and non-linear the game is, this game’s genre shifts seamlessly depending on one’s playstyle.
2 Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Action-Adventure RPG With Absurd Surprises
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
- Released
- February 21, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
- Publisher(s)
- Sega
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii comes from a long series of spinoffs and remakes of the Yakuza series, featuring an open-world where the players control an antagonist-turned-protagonist who awakes on an island with missing memories and now leads his own pirate crew on adventures. This game features a casual action-adventure experience in Hawaii complete with beat-em-up combat.
But like most other Yakuza games, this game shifts hard on genres through several returning minigames, like Karaoke, Dragon Kart, and Crazy Delivery. And on top of the usual gameplay, players can assemble a pirate crew and upgrade their ship to explore the open sea in ship combat.
1 NieR: Automata
Pure Genre-Bending Action
NieR: Automata
- Released
- March 7, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Platinum Games
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
Nier: Automata is a surprising game that is impossible to take at face value. It features an open-world where players assume the role of 2B and engage in real-time hack-and-slash combat with bullet hell elements, complete with unique intricacies like counterattacks and the assistance of a flying robot that launches ranged attacks.
This game not only bends genres through subtle changes like hacking sequences when playing as 9S, or switching to a side-scrolling platformer. The game also breaks the fourth wall in a way, and surprises players with twists in both mechanics and narrative. Nier: Automata uses these genre shifts as a storytelling tool on top of creating mechanical complexity to create an emotionally impactful game that is also very fun to play.
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