Linear Video Games That Feel Like An Open World

Video games allow players to escape into fantastical worlds filled with dangers, puzzles, and treasures. With technological advances, these worlds have expanded, with developers creating rich open worlds that can take many hours to explore fully. However, this open feeling is not limited to open-world games.

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Many developers tell linear stories where only one path is available to players. While some of these games feature some open-world elements like an interconnected map, false paths, and optional encounters, the main story is told in a straight line. While this limits the player to a single path, the scope of these games can be vast. These games feel open, with active worlds filled with history and culture. These are immersive titles where the world is as much a character as the enemies inhabiting it.

7 Tomb Raider

A Standout Reimagining

Lara Croft is undoubtedly one of the most iconic heroes in video game history. In 2013, Crystal Dynamics released the critically acclaimed reboot of her famous series, Tomb Raider. This new vision of the franchise brought grittier gameplay, with an emphasis on survival and exploration. While the game features a large island, the game and story are linear, with new areas opening up as players progress.

Tomb Raider feels like an open world, with epic set pieces blending into large areas filled with secrets and treasures. The island is diverse and varied, and feels like a living, breathing world. While subsequent releases in the series leaned more into open areas, Tomb Raider remains a strong linear game that feels a lot bigger than it is.

6 A Plague Tale: Innocence

A Grim, War-Torn Land

Set in 14th-Century France, A Plague Tale: Innocence takes place in a disease-ridden land scorched by war. The game follows Amicia de Rune, a young noble girl who attempts to flee the Inquisition with her younger brother after her family is killed. A Plague Tale’s gameplay incorporates both stealth and puzzle-solving, creating a challenging and immersive game that became a sleeper hit.

The real star is the landscape though, as the world feels broken and rotten, with death and destruction around every corner. The effects of plague and war can be seen everywhere and give the feeling of an active world. Rats infect every corner and are one of the biggest dangers in the game. A Plague Tale is a very linear game that never feels this way. Its design is rich in detail and always immersive.

5 Resident Evil 4

A Complex and Corrupted World

Released in 2005, the original Resident Evil 4 was a groundbreaking horror release. It gave the series a more linear style than the previous single-location games and added a heavier emphasis on action. With the highly successful remake in 2023, a new generation of gamers discovered one of the standout releases in the long-running series.

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While the remake brought in more open-world elements and interconnected pathways, the story remains a linear experience, with players constantly progressing forward. Resident Evil 4 has a strong feeling of exploration, with many secrets hidden around the map. Players move between ramshackle villages, underground caverns, dilapidated churches, and a large foreboding castle; each location feels new but still part of a larger region. Resident Evil 4 offers a mysterious world to experience while maintaining its focused and linear story, and is one of the best horror game experiences in recent years.

4 Black Myth: Wukong

Ancient Mythology Comes Alive

Black Myth: Wukong took the gaming industry by storm, becoming an instant success. Billed as China's first AAA game, Wukong is steeped in Chinese mythology and features stunning visuals, action-packed combat, and immersive storytelling.

While the game features a few optional paths and large areas with hidden boss fights and treasures, Wukong is a linear experience. Players follow a single path through the game, fighting many strange and dangerous bosses and interacting with various characters. Wukong never feels small, though. It tells a grand tale, spread across an expansive land filled with dense forests, snow-capped mountains, and choking swamps along the way.

3 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Travel The Road Of Revenge

While not officially a Souls game, FromSoftware’s stunning samurai action title features many of the mechanics found in the developer's other famous titles. With some of the best combat found in modern gaming, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a challenging journey through a mystical, ancient Japan.

Sekiro is also one of FromSoftware’s most linear games. Where in Dark Souls, players can often choose their own path on a large interconnected map, Sekiro follows a single path. However, this takes nothing away from the game. Mysterious canyons, towering mountains, lush forests, and ancient temples fill the game. The world is rich and diverse and feels vibrant and alive. Sekiro is stunningly designed, with each new area feeling like a fresh discovery.

2 Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Epic Battles In The Grimdark Future

Space Marine 2 has quickly become one of the most successful video games set in the Warhammer 40k universe. Its blend of no-nonsense action with spectacular visuals makes it an addictive gaming experience many have long been waiting for. The game follows Lieutenant Titus as he fights to regain the trust of his Space Marine brothers while battling the swarms of Xenos and Chaos invading the three planets in the system.

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Space Marine 2 is epic on every level and feels larger than its linear gameplay lets on. Hordes of enemies swarm from across the map toward players while devastating battles rage in every corner. The game has a scope far beyond the playable areas, which makes the world feel open and alive. Each level is filled with detail, creating one of the most complete pictures of the Warhammer 40k setting to date. This level of detail, mixed with the game's stunning visuals, millions of enemies, and expansive narrative, creates a feeling of depth often lost in true open-world games.

1 The Last Of Us

Travel The Ruins of America

One of the most critically acclaimed games of the modern era, The Last of Us gets almost everything right, from its emotional storytelling, to its fun stealth action gameplay and immersive world-building. However, for all its expansive scenery and heart-pounding set pieces, The Last of Us is a linear game, with often only a single path to follow.

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The game follows Joel and Ellie’s travels across America, avoiding dangerous bandits and the ever-present infected. The game never feels linear, though, as the path takes players through broken cities, dense forests, and dark tunnels. The Last of Us is vibrant and alive, with every section feeling like another part of a larger world.

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