Some of the best games of all time have flaws. It is inevitable whether they have flaws out of the gate or over time. For example, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece on many levels, like the way players can explore, including the ability to glide and climb surfaces. Not everyone loved the weapon durability, though.
7 Open-World Games That Change With Every Journey
If you want to find your forever game, these open-world experiences can offer new ways to play each time you boot them up.
So, even the best games have flaws, and with the following examples, they all have one thing in common. While they have worlds that are full of life and interesting places, actually exploring them can be tedious for a number of reasons, from a slow pace to a lack of transportation.
Death Stranding
Watch Your Feet
Death Stranding
- Released
- November 8, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- Action
The first Death Stranding was an ambitious game from Hideo Kojima as his first big outing after leaving Konami. The game focused on Sam, a courier who was tasked with physically walking from bunker to bunker to reconnect the ENTIRETY of the United States. Of course, this map is not accurate, but regardless, it was grueling work because players could not simply walk.
Based on weight, players would constantly have to rebalance their load, and if they fell, it would hurt the cargo and often make Sam’s BB cry, which could attract ghost-like entities. Vehicles and better gear could help the traversal process, but the first game is indeed the definition of rough.
Fallout 4
Sand Land
Fallout 4
- Released
- November 10, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
It’s wild that, with as many innovations as Fallout 4 brought to the Fallout series as a whole, it didn’t add vehicles or mounts. Players could build entire houses and customize their weapons to wild degrees. Even so, they still had to walk everywhere they went, which was not difficult as the terrain wasn’t full of traps, and the fast travel system was good.
Still, the pace of exploring made it a chore, especially if players kept coming across radiation patches or hard-to-kill enemies that slowed things down even more. The only “vehicle” players could obtain was a set of Power Armor, which could fly around, but keeping that thing fueled was difficult, and walking around was clunky without the ability to fly.
Days Gone
Gas Troubles
Days Gone
- Released
- April 26, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Action, Adventure
Days Gone is set within a post-apocalypse in the great state of Oregon. Thanks to the state’s beauty, this is one of the best-looking end-of-the-world games in existence, but exploring the rich side of nature can be tedious because gas is a commodity. Players can explore on foot, but the zombies in this game are more dangerous than most zombie games, and ammo is scarce, so it’s not always easy to take care of them.
That’s why it’s best to explore most of the game on a motorcycle, but gas is not easily obtained either, meaning players have to do a lot of scavenging on foot. Between the low resources and the great danger of the zombies, Days Gone almost discouraged players from exploring.
Deadly Premonition
The Worst Open-World Driving Ever?
Deadly Premonition
- Released
- February 23, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Suggestive Themes
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
Deadly Premonition has two things going for it: the wild cast of characters and the story. Everything else is not that great as an open-world horror game, with the worst thing about it being the driving. First, cars are incredibly slow, and the town, Greenvale, is realistically spaced out as a small place in the mountains.
This means going from place to place can seemingly take years, and what’s worse, gas is a factor. The townspeople run on a set schedule, so if players want to do side quests, they need to learn their patterns, which can also be a tedious task. Again, Deadly Premonition is a must-play experience because of the narrative, but it can be hard to recommend due to these slow-paced mechanics.
No Man’s Sky
Just Keep Scanning
No Man's Sky
- Released
- August 9, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
No Man’s Sky is one of the most expansive open-world games of all time, with an endless number of planets all waiting for players to visit. After visiting a few, though, it can start to feel formulaic since it is all based on random generation. Players will fly to a planet from space, land, and then start exploring.
They can use their scanning to tag plant life and animal life, and then use tools to gather resources. Unless players want to establish a house on that planet, they will likely get back in their ship and repeat the process, which can be a satisfying gameplay loop for some but mind-numbingly dull to others.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Terror From All Sides
Xenoblade Chronicles X
- Released
- December 4, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Animated Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Open-World
Xenoblade Chronicles X takes place in a future where Earth is all but abandoned, and players are part of an exploratory crew that lands on a foreign planet and establishes the colony of New L.A., which is a funny Earth location to mirror. Players have free rein to go wherever they want, and the game is absolutely massive. Unfortunately, in each zone, there will be monsters ten times stronger than players, and sometimes they will ignore them, and other times they will hunt players down.
Best Open-World Games That Let You Customize Everything
These open-world games offer freedom beyond expansive areas to explore by letting you customize almost everything in sight.
Thankfully, progress is never lost upon death, and players will just wake back up at the last checkpoint. That said, when trying to complete quests or establish waypoints in the world, constantly getting harassed and killed can be exhausting. About twenty hours in, players will get a mech called a Skell that will make exploring better, but it’s a long trek to get there.
Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning
Great Combat, Hard On Your Feet
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
- Released
- February 7, 2012
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Suggestive Themes
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has one of the best combat systems in an open-world game ever, and it was released in 2012. With many weapons to choose from and a great skill tree to get new powers from, players will never be bored with fighting monsters.
Unfortunately, there are no mounts or vehicles in the game to help with traversal, so running around on foot is the best form of travel. Like Fallout 4, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning does at least have a fast travel system, but that doesn’t help when exploring areas initially. The other positive is that the areas are not too massive compared to other open-world games.
Diablo 4
My Kingdom For a Horse
Diablo 4
- Released
- June 5, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Hack and Slash
Diablo 4 is the first game in the franchise to feature an open world, which is one of its better qualities. Areas were vast in previous Diablo entries, but now players could freely explore without dropping into loading zones, which also meant there were more world events to bump into.
Players could get a horse, but they had to wait until Act 4 to do so, which could take anywhere between twelve to twenty hours, depending on how many side quests players engaged in. It’s a shame when open-world games like this hold back on mounts for unnecessary reasons, as exploring on foot is a slow and arduous process, even with acknowledging that fast travel is a feature.
Upcoming Open-World Games That Will Let You Do Anything
These upcoming open-world games are packed with a ton of activities and gameplay features for players to enjoy.