Summary
- Red Dead Redemption has easy shooting mechanics, making it simple for new players to beat.
- The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion offers console-friendly menus and easy gameplay, perfect for beginners.
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt allows players to feel powerful with combat options, making it accessible for new players.
The very notion of an open-world game is daunting. Even games where players merely have to go in a straight line until they find the end of the level can feel challenging under the right circumstances, so there's no shame in being afraid to try a game out of fear of getting overwhelmed.
Luckily, there are plenty of open-world games that feature surprisingly small worlds. There are even those that feature incredibly huge worlds — or even star systems — and still remain pretty friendly when it comes to the challenges they put in front of players. It's time to look at some of the best open-world games that aren't too hard for even new players to beat.
Best Indie Open-World Horror Games, Ranked
For fans of open-world horror games, here are some great titles to check out from indie developers.
Red Dead Redemption
The Best Shot In The West
Red Dead Redemption
- Released
- May 18, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar San Diego
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Adventure
The original Red Dead Redemption is, as many would state, the best game in Rockstar's history. What it isn't, however, is its hardest. Whereas Red Dead Redemption 2 made shooting more complicated, the original game makes it a breeze.
The game has since been released on PC, where players can go without the automatic aim assist options and see how being an outlaw in the Wild West would pan out. However, the original version featured such a powerful aim assist that all players had to do was press up and shoot to get an instant kill on any enemy. The dead-eye mechanic is cool, but the game's shooting is so easy that it's barely ever necessary.
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion
One Of The Easiest Campaigns Ever
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
- Released
- April 22, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Action, RPG, Open-World, Adventure
One of the reasons Oblivion became Bethesda's first truly earth-shattering RPG was the console-friendly menus. The other was the ease of the gameplay. One of the biggest challenges in Morrowind, Oblivion's predecessor, was learning where to go next. Oblivion makes that a breeze, and even lets players fast travel to most places with no hassle.
On top of that, this is the first game in the series to feature enemy level scaling, which means the enemies will only get stronger if the player does. Entering a new area where a new enemy will obliterate the player in one hit is commonplace in RPGs, but that will never happen here.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Taking Players By The Hand
Even though the great majority of players love Skyrim, there's still some dissent among the ranks of older Bethesda fans who don't enjoy the amount of hand-holding Skyrim does for players. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as being stuck without knowing where to go in the massive world of an RPG is never a great feeling. Still, there must be a sweet spot between being completely in the dark, and having an arrow on top of the main character's head telling them exactly where to go.
Also, this game is about fighting dragons, but at no point do players have to find smart ways to climb on top of them or to bring them to the ground to avoid getting burned to death in a simple fly-by. The dragons land so that they can do battle with the player, out of a misplaced sense of honor, perhaps.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Geralt Is Overpowered, And So Are The Game's Options
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Released
- May 19, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
One of the few complaints that few people have against The Witcher 3 is that its combat isn't as deep and challenging as the combat in Dark Souls. That's true, but it's not necessarily a drawback. Geralt is meant to be a sort of superhuman, and the game is meant to let players feel powerful.
The Best RPGs That Make You Feel Truly Heroic
Plenty of RPGs provide players with a wealth of choice and freedom, but these quests are positioned to make the player feel like a real hero.
Better yet, players who want to feel like they have main character plot armor can choose the game's "story mode," where they can rest assured they'll get to spend all their brainpower absorbing the story. In this mode, all combat-related elements will become so easy everything will almost feel like it has been staged to make Geralt look good.
No Man's Sky
The Universe Is Yours
No Man's Sky
- Released
- August 9, 2016
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Fantasy Violence, Animated Blood
- Developer(s)
- Hello Games
- Publisher(s)
- Hello Games
WHERE TO PLAY
No Man's Sky has had one of the most interesting life cycles in the history of gaming. It began as a very promising title, then got accused of being an absolute lie upon release, then gradually grew into something arguably even better than what had originally been promised.
8 Best Games That Let You Figure Things Out On Your Own, Ranked
Today, we will be ranking our favorite games that take off the training wheels and drop you straight into the action without telling you what to do.
No Man's Sky has always been great at providing players with a soothing interstellar exploration experience. There's never any huge threat here, and there's so much cool and colorful stuff to see, with a nearly infinite number of planets to relax on. Avoiding getting sidetracked is the biggest challenge at play.
Fallout 4
One Man's Armageddon Is Another Man's Win
Fallout 4
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 87 /100 Critics Rec: 89%
WHERE TO PLAY
- Bethesda's divisive streamlining works for many
When Fallout 4 was first shown to the public, many complained that it didn't look good enough for a game of its generation. That was a pretty mean backlash, as the game looks way too gorgeous for a post-apocalyptic landscape.
A more poignant critique that came about upon the game's release referred to the game's simplicity. Fallout 4, despite its inhospitable setting, provides a simple combat experience that most will master in no time. It also features a more streamlined kind of dialogue that put many off, but that actually felt more intuitive for many others. In the end, Fallout 4 is a different Fallout experience — an easier one, but definitely not a worse one than Fallout 3.
The Forgotten City
The Small Open World Greatly Helps
The Forgotten City
- Released
- July 28, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen due to Alcohol Reference, Blood, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
The Forgotten City was originally a Skyrim mod, and is one of the best sleeper hits in recent memory. The game tasks players with finding out what's happening in the ancient Roman-themed town they've found themselves stuck in. The player will have to find answers by talking to the inhabitants, but everything will feel much more like the best history and philosophy lesson ever, and less like the job of a desperate detective who needs to find well-hidden clues to escape their doom.
The Forgotten City's greatest triumph is featuring a mystery that will truly have players invested in learning about the town for the sake of it, and not just so they can finish the game. It is possible to rush through and finish a playthrough in less than an hour. However, that would be a total waste of a game.
Gritty Open-World Games That Become Cozy When You Ignore the Main Story
From card games to hunting and other relaxing side activities, these open-world games are surprisingly cozy outside of their main stories.