The issue with open-world games is that, if they don’t fill those worlds sufficiently, they can feel utterly lifeless. On the flipside of this, it can result in a lot of busywork to complete. Rather generic collectibles, uninspired fetch quests, and so on. Open-world titles can seem exhausting sometimes. As a result of all this, these enormous games of 100+ hours might be very intimidating.
Best Open‑World Games for Casual Players, Ranked
Not every open-world game has to be intense and complex. These titles are perfect for casual players who just want to relax.
It can feel as though you’ll need to clear your schedule and settle in for a whole weekend in order to make significant progress. This isn’t necessarily the case, though. The format of these open-world titles can make them a good fit for bite-sized sessions, if you only have a spare 20 minutes or so to play.
Ghost Of Yotei
Each Mission Is A Bite-Sized Chunk Of A Delicious Whole
Ghost of Yotei, Sucker Punch’s follow-up to the acclaimed Ghost of Tsushima, is a classic revenge story in many ways. Atsu’s unerring pursuit of the Yotei Six is fueled by the brutal killing of her parents, and it threatens to consume her as she seeks them. Many players, however, found that they weren’t nearly as focused on the pursuit as the protagonist, because there are so many collectibles and sights of interest to seek out, not to mention the many sidequests.
The game’s bounty quests and Tales are numerous and, crucially, enjoyable and worthwhile to pursue. If a player only has twenty minutes at the end of a long day to play, they can simply check which mission cards they currently have available to activate on the map menu. This should be ample time to complete a Tale, and the stories they tell are typically self-contained, wrap up nicely, and often touch the heart. There’s surprising insight about the most seemingly insignificant of NPCs hidden away in these missions.
Monster Hunter Wilds
How About A Quick Hunt?
Series veterans diving into Monster Hunter Wilds surely knew what they were letting themselves in for. The gameplay loop revolves around tackling foes, accruing materials from them to upgrade the hunter’s gear, and then using your improved weapons and armor to tackle stronger, more threatening enemies. Monster Hunter fans are also familiar with the so-called “desire sensor,” the belief that the game knows the last drop they need to complete an armor set and will refuse to give it to them.
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While not impossible to beat, these RPGs are some of the hardest games in their genre. The fact that they're open-world just amplifies the difficulty
As such, it might be necessary to fight the same monster dozens of times before getting everything you need. Lots of fruitless attempts in a row can be incredibly disheartening, so instead, if you only have 20 minutes to play, why not set off on a single hunt? It can even be a nice palette cleanser to end a gaming session for the night. If you have a friend along for the ride, you can catch up along the way, reducing some of the tension around the whole affair. Even if you’re not hunting, 20 minutes can be ideal for organizing your boxes, getting your items and gear ready for the next session, or creating new armor sets.
No Man’s Sky
A Wealth Of Content To Experience As You Wish
No Man’s Sky, long-time players will remember, had a very unfortunate launch in 2016. Over the years, though, it has been updated and improved so much that it’s almost unrecognisable. Its player count may not be what it was, but there’s nothing quite like its mix of interstellar exploration and freedom to scale a game session to the time that a player currently has to play. There’s always something new to see in the procedurally-generated universe (and beyond) of No Man’s Sky.
You can settle in for an hours-long session of planet-hopping exploration, or you could get your fill in a quick play session by voyaging over to the one nearest you. Or perhaps make some customization tweaks to get a head start on longer trips. Just twenty minutes with the ship fabricator can be a blast.
Elden Ring
Brief Practice Sessions Can Go A Long Way
As the industry knows all too well, the Soulsborne games aren’t to be taken lightly. Each one presents a steep challenge in a dark fantasy world, characterized by some devious boss battles. Elden Ring certainly isn’t an exception there, but there is an important factor that sets it apart from other FromSoftware titles: The Lands Between is an open world. According to How Long To Beat, it offers a main quest of around 60 hours, and a completionist run will take approximately 135 hours.
The Tarnished's quest to recover the pieces of the Elden Ring, then, is going to be a lengthy one, especially so for those who seek to defeat every foe and gather every crumb of lore FromSoftware has offered throughout. There’s no need to hurry, though. Just as with pursuing a rare drop in Monster Hunter Wilds, twenty minutes is ample for an attempt or two at a boss, or to collect materials to power up a little for a subsequent attempt. By doing so, it’s possible to ease frustration, cool down, and take a break.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
One Shrine At A Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s open world leanings gave Nintendo the chance to craft the most ambitious take on Hyrule to date. It also meant it was necessary to fill it with a huge array of enemy outposts, shrines, and the obligatory collectathon. 900 Korok Seeds and almost 140 shrines represent astonishing feats, and again, ones that are perhaps best tackled in short sessions. With around half an hour to play, fans can head straight over to that shrine marked on their map and see what’s what.
7 Open-World Games That Mastered The Art Of Slow Exploration
There have been some truly breathtaking open-world games over the years, and these titles let you explore at your own pace.
With a longer trial like one of the Divine Beasts, it may be better to wait until you can really immerse yourself, but activities like finding some Korok Seeds or gathering and cooking up some ingredients for that next expedition are ways to really achieve something before you have to quickly switch off again. The convenient sleep function of the Switch family is helpful here, too.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Just A Sidequest Or Two
Marvel’s Spider-Man and its sequel are two of the most accomplished licensed titles in recent memory. The critical thing about the games is that they capture that ‘New York City as a playground’ feel that is a requirement for a successful Spider-Man game, but amidst all the web-swinging, it’s got to be able to compete with other open worlds in the collectibles stakes. To do so, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 fully embraces the District Completion concept, making its large map an intimidating multi-part checklist of Photo Ops, Memories, Nests, and other sidelines. Sidequests, happily, are quite varied and generally rather short, as are the various challenges on offer.
As with other titles on this list, then, it lends itself well to the time you currently have available, whether you’re settling in to hunt every pesky little Spider-Bot (quite the tall order) or just want to quickly tackle a Symbiote Nest or two before work. Just swinging around the city briefly and seeing which dynamic events pop up can be very relaxing. We don't know if Insomniac will make the next Spider-Man title, but they've taken the character a long way.
Grand Theft Auto Online
Build Your Reputation As You See Fit
As players eagerly await the monumental launch of Grand Theft Auto 6, the last game still has an awful lot of content to offer. Grand Theft Auto Online has grown exponentially since it arrived in October 2013 (to mass server problems as everybody tried to log in at once), with new activities to partake in, new vehicles to customize as players see fit, and increasingly elaborate ways to make absurd amounts of money.
It’s a game in which you can while away hours doing nothing in particular (especially fun if friends are in a lobby together and everyone’s chatting away), but in which the diligent can focus on accruing money in the most efficient ways and spending it in the most extravagant. A few races or a heist are just a couple of the ways to spend twenty minutes in the game, and all of them contribute to the growth of your criminal empire in their own ways.
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