Best Open-World Superhero Games

One of the best ways to experience being a superhero is through video games that allow players full control of their favorite spandex-wearing crime fighters across an open world. Such games provide freedom for players to go a mile or more in the shoes of their favorite superhero and see what it would be like if they possessed the power of flight, super strength, mystical or arcane prowess, and everything in between.

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From quick-witted, web-swinging crime fighters, to vigilantes who strike fear into the hearts of wrongdoers, the following open-world games offer players the best taste of having such power at their disposal.

10 Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2

Metacritic Rating: 73

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 follows up on the fun and zany adventures of well-known Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, the Avengers, and the Guardians of the Galaxy as they travel through space and time across various Marvel Universes to stop Kang from destroying all realities.

The game is a semi-open world, since each Universe is vast, vibrant, and has various puzzle sections that up to four players can explore and solve. For more competitive players, a four-player Super Hero battle mode is available for some fun free-for-all brawl with friends.

9 Prototype

Metacritic Rating: 78

In Prototype, players take control of Alex Mercer, an amnesiac who possesses shapeshifting powers that let him create symbiotic constructs like blades, claws, spikes, and tendrils to take out targets. He also can consume people to regain health and transform into them to sneak into bases before wreaking havoc and mayhem.

Story-wise, Alex is out to uncover his past while trying to quell the outbreak of the Blacklight virus from infecting the general populace. Amid this, Alex also needs to deal with two factions: the US Marine Corps and Blackwatch, who consider Alex as a threat that needs to be contained or eliminated.

8 Infamous: Second Son

Metacritic Rating: 80

The Infamous games provided a unique mechanic in superhero games when they introduced a morality system that affected the main characters’ powers and tendencies to either a good or bad side, depending on players’ choices. Infamous: Second Son has players control Delsin Rowe, a graffiti artist who is also a Conduit who possesses the ability to absorb the powers of fellow Conduits that he touches.

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Delsin battles the Department of Unified Protection, as they deem Conduits to be bioterrorists. Infamous: Second Son has two endings, and depending on whether Delsin has good or bad karma, players can either see their version of Delsin become a hero or a villain.

7 The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction

Metacritic Rating: 84

• Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube
• Released: August 23, 2005
• Developer: Radical Entertainment

The Incredible Hulk has been a part of various games in different genres, but Radical Entertainment’s The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction places the Green Giant in an open world where he can smash through and blow up anything that stands in his way.

As The Hulk, players can rampage through military bases and cities, destroying tanks, robots, and other hindrances foolish enough to try and stop the devastation. Hulk’s moves showcase how much power he possesses, and the battles with Abomination feel like a straight-up kaiju match due to the utter destruction players can inflict.

6 Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Metacritic Rating: 85

Miles Morales was introduced in Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Insomniac Games wanted a spin-off title that explored his character in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Players are treated to a short yet gripping story about Miles and the trials and tribulations of growing up in Harlem and balancing his social life with his Puertorican heritage on top of being a superhero-in-training.

The game gives Miles the same traversal and web-swinging prowess as the first Spider-Man title, but also grants Miles his own unique set of powers, such as the ability to turn invisible and incapacitate bad guys with his Venom Blast.

5 Saints Row 4

Metacritic Rating: 86

As the fourth title in the Saints Row franchise, Saints Row 4 ramps up the silliness and fun with its open-world setting that players can explore and cause as much mayhem and destruction as they please. Upping the fun factor is its zany story, where the player, who is the leader of the Saints gang, is elected as President of the United States and gains superpowers.

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For players who want to see how crazy the story gets, they have to complete the main and side missions where they will find out about alien invasions, time travel, and tons of nerd culture references and Easter eggs strewn across the game’s open world.

4 Batman: Arkham Knight

Metacritic Rating: 87

The fourth installment of the Arkham games, and the third entry made by Rocksteady, Batman: Arkham Knight is the sequel of Batman: Arkham City, where the Caped Crusader takes on the mysterious Arkham Knight, who pops out of nowhere and plans to take control of Gotham City with his army of heavily-armed militia.

Players get to explore Gotham City, which has significantly increased in size, by gliding, grapple-hooking across buildings, and driving around with the Batmobile, taking out bad guys along the way. Arkham Knight continues the series’ exemplary combat system and further fleshes out more compelling stories from Batman’s rogues gallery.

3 Marvel’s Spider-Man

Metacritic Rating: 87

Insomniac Games’ first foray into the superhero genre, Marvel’s Spider-Man adds to the web-head’s list of amazing games. This title has a self-contained narrative that centers around Peter Parker who is a couple of years into his web-slinging ways. He moonlights as a research assistant to pay the seemingly never-ending bills, while keeping New York safe from crime as Spidey at night, and trying to maintain his relationship with Mary Jane Watson and Aunt May in between. This balancing act, however, takes a turn for the worse when a new threat emerges to wreak havoc in the city.

Marvel’s Spider-Man is widely regarded as one of the best superhero games in the waning years of the PS4, and eventually, its remastered version was released on the PS5 and PC as well.

2 Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Metacritic Rating: 90

Following the success of their two Spider-Man games, Insomniac Games released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, the official sequel to their first Spider-Man game. Set ten months after Miles Morales’ game, Spider-Man 2 sees players control Peter Parker and Miles as they combat a multitude of supervillains in the Lizard, Kraven, and Venom.

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Players get to seamlessly switch between Miles and Peter in the open world, and they have the whole of New York, including Queens and Harlem, to explore and deal with various bad guys and superpowered enemies. Spider-Man 2 further showcases the power of the PlayStation 5 as it has low load times when fast-traveling, and its action set pieces are truly a marvel to experience as both Peter and Miles.

1 Batman: Arkham City

Metacritic Rating: 94

Following the success of Batman: Arkham Asylum, the next logical step was to bring its ground-breaking gameplay into a bigger space, and Batman: Arkham City delivers. After deeming the eponymous asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary ill-suited to house Gotham’s most dangerous criminals, the powers that be enacted to transform Gotham City’s slums into the titular Arkham City.

Navigating Arkham City immerses players to the constant dangers Batman deals with like never before. Criminals are everywhere, and it’s up to Batman to deliver his brand of justice. The game retains its crisp combat, stellar traversal mechanics, and engaging storyline and subplots that have players zipping around rooftops and alleyways to find clues and thwart the nefarious schemes of Batman’s notable villains.

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