Summary
- Open-zone vs Open-world debate.
- Classic games like GTA and Sonic inspired modern open-zone games.
- Bloodlines, Borderlands, and The Outer Worlds are examples of popular open-zone games.
Sonic Frontiers was called the first ‘open-world’ Sonic game, though the developers preferred to call it ‘open-zone’, as it had multiple free-roaming maps instead of one big one. Even so, this approach isn’t something Sonic Team invented. Before Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas became individual worlds in separate groundbreaking games, they were different maps in the original, top-down Grand Theft Auto game.
Open-zone games are still around today, as some free-roaming games still use a hub world to access new levels or require checking off goals in a linear fashion before the next map opens. Players can race anywhere in GTA5 and can complete Yakuza/Like a Dragon’s main campaign before polishing off its substories, but these are the best games that are more open-zone than open-world.
7 Great Open World Games That Are Older Than GTA 3
These classic open-world games were released even before Grand Theft Auto 3.
8 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Plenty For Players To Sink Their Teeth Into
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
- Released
- November 16, 2004
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Troika Games
- Franchise
- Vampire: The Masquerade
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
- Platform(s)
- PC
As popular as the TTRPG is, many fans likely got into its clandestine world of bloodsuckers via Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. The game was ahead of its time back in 2004, becoming a cult classic despite its bugs and issues. It lets players pick their vampire class, and whether to play the game in first-person or third-person mode, then it lets them loose in Los Angeles.
The fledgling vampire can wander wherever they like in its four maps, but if players want to progress through the story, they’ll have to complete their objectives in order. Players must finish up business in Santa Monica before they can flit off to Hollywood, then beat their story goals there before heading Downtown, etc. But they're in no rush, as each map offers different activities and side missions to do before they move on. Fans have since managed to iron out many of its kinks, so it might be worth revisiting the original Bloodlines before its long-awaited sequel arrives.
7 Borderlands 3
How Open is This Looter Shooter?
Borderlands 3
- Released
- September 13, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Franchise
- Borderlands
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
People still debate whether the classic Borderlands games are open-world or not. Players can roam in open levels as they blast foes and loot whatever they can get. Yet as large as its levels get, players still progress through the game map by map, rather than by traveling from one end of a vast sandbox to the other. That's not exactly the same as, say, Fallout 4 or Cyberpunk 2077.
The same is true of Borderlands 3, generally considered to be the best in the series (though one’s mileage may vary). Players can save the side missions until last as they blast through the main story, or tackle them location by location until they've completed the game in full. But as exploratory as the game gets, it's still a bunch of interconnected little worlds rather than one big world. Which might be for the best, as some open-world games make exploration feel like a chore.
6 The Outer Worlds
How the Unreliable Became Reliable
The Outer Worlds
- Released
- October 25, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Obsidian Entertainment
- Franchise
- The Outer Worlds
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky were responsible for the classic, isometric Fallout games, which some players still prefer over their later, first-person exploration-based sequels. Still, it doesn’t seem to have irked Cain and Boyarsky as much, as they aimed to make their own first-person RPG in The Outer Worlds, which trades in the wasteland for a brighter take on atompunk.
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The "atom punk" aesthetic has appeared in several famous games. These examples are the best of the bunch.
Like Fallout, players create their avatar, assign its stats across different categories, then take to the stars to explore the cosmos. But instead of zooming from one end of the galaxy to the other, they access different worlds via fast-travel from their ship, the Unreliable. Each quest, be it part of the main missions or side stories, will affect their playthrough in different ways, so while the game is shorter in scope than other RPGs, it offers plenty of replay value.
5 Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Poké-Monster Hunter
Pokemon Legends: Arceus
- Released
- January 28, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Game Freak
- Franchise
- Pokemon
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Pokémon has an its indelible mark on the world, though that hasn’t stopped it taking pointers from other series. When players picked up Pokémon Legends: Arceus, its biome-based open world and more action-based take on capturing Pokémon showed resemblance to the Monster Hunter series. Its world is cut up into five biomes, which players can fast-travel to via their camps.
The Pokémon skip the usual series' approach of going into a turn-based battle, and attack the player character directly, especially the more aggressive types. So, players have to think more carefully about catching them all. They must pick the right 'mon to travel across water, up mountains, or through the sky, or figure out how to avoid getting sent back to the nearest camp via an attack from the last Legendary they need for their collection.
4 Dragon Age: Inquisition
Choose Your Own Adventure, If You Dare
Dragon Age: Inquisition
- Released
- November 18, 2014
WHERE TO PLAY
Many games that take up the open-zone format tend to be action RPGs, as they resemble its old-school formula of separating early, low-level starter locations from its more testing areas. However, a few have gone with a more open scope and let players suffer if they dare take their Level 5 party to a location full of Level 30 baddies.
Dragon Age: Inquisition has it both ways, as its maps are separated from each other in an open-zone style. But once players get access, they can travel freely between them and complete all sorts of side missions if they want to venture off from the main campaign. However, the encounters don’t scale with their levels, so unless they know the game inside and out, players might want to avoid some sections until they’ve gained a few levels or some better equipment.
3 Monster Hunter World
Wild or World, The Hunt Is Still On
Monster Hunter World
- Released
- January 26, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Capcom
- Franchise
- Monster Hunter
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Monster Hunter has gone from a quirky Japanese favorite to a global phenomenon. Instead of offering a standard stat-based approach like RPGs, or skill-based upgrades, the player’s abilities depended on their gear. Weapons and armor offer different bonuses, offensive and defensive properties, elemental effects, etc.
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Each game follows the open-zone formula, where each location offers different quests based on killing monsters, capturing them, or gathering supplies. The recent MH: Wilds offers seamless travel between its hunter villages and its wide-open biomes. However, some fans prefer Monster Hunter: World, as it offers similar quality-of-life improvements like better crafting and in-game monster drop info, while retaining the challenge of the classic entries, making players sweat a little more to avoid becoming their mark's prey.
2 God of War Ragnarök
Roaming Through The Realms One at a Time
God of War Ragnarok
- Released
- November 9, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Santa Monica Studio
- Franchise
- God of War
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
The Norse God of War games still show signs of their linear hack-and-slash roots, as their realms largely consist of interconnected paths with different monsters, loot, and items hidden in their nooks and crannies. Kratos rarely gets to step off the beaten paths into one valley or another. Yet there are some open-world-inspired traits, like completing side objectives for extra lore, loot, or XP, and collectibles to get for goodies or a trophy/achievement.
Many players prefer the more focused scope and story of God of War (2018), but God of War Ragnarök fits the open-zone bill better, as it offers more places to travel to via its special fast-travel gates. They all reward players for holding off the end of the world by going through every corner of the Nine Realms, even if some offer more to do than others. Those players won't have as much to do in Helheim or Niflheim as in its predecessor, but they will spend hours in the jungles of Vanaheim or the swamps of Svartalfheim to see everything they have to offer.
1 Super Mario Odyssey
Stepping Forward and Backwards at the Same Time
Super Mario Odyssey
- Released
- October 27, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Franchise
- Super Mario Bros.
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
- Platform(s)
- Switch
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Many early 3D platformers could count as open-zone games. Titles like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie let players run around one part of its world or another in any direction to grab all the Power Stars or Jinjos, etc., before going onto the next one. But over time, some of them got more linear, where players still had to get from A to B, even if it now involved jumping up and down and all around, rather than just left to right.
However, Super Mario Odyssey went back to a more free-roaming formula. Some sections might still require going from A to B, but it’s also packed with more varied objectives that reward going off the beaten path, like jumping the rope in New Donk City, or tracing patterns in Tostarena. Each gives Mario more Power Moons, and the more moons he has, the more locations players can travel to and explore. So, the game encourages exploration. It's just in sections and chunks, like its RPG and adventure counterparts, or like Mario did back in SM64.
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Open-world games can be some of the most unique and memorable games out there. However, sometimes instead of fun, they can be frustrating.