Open worlds have become pretty commonplace in gaming, with many people expecting the biggest games around to feature massive worlds that they can get lost in for hours on end. However, given how mainstream this genre is, it's only a given that many open-world games feel like they're cut from the same cloth and don't really do anything innovative to separate them from the rest of the pack.
This is a shame since the genre has attained a bad reputation for being pretty cut-and-dry without really bringing anything new to the table. However, this isn't even remotely the case, and players can check out some truly great open-world titles that manage to keep things fresh and interesting with their sandboxes.
6 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Many people were worried that the shift to an open-world structure for Breath of the Wild was not going to pay off well for the Zelda franchise. However, Nintendo was serious about modernizing one of their biggest franchise and did so in spectacular fashion, with players being blown away by how incredible this game is.
The lack of waypoints and a clear visual design made Breath of the Wild a different and engaging video game that is unlike any open-world title out there. The simple act of exploration has been refined so brilliantly that players can't help but marvel at the sheer brilliance of this game.
5 Death Stranding
The open world of Death Stranding is truly massive, and many players wrote this title off as nothing more than a walking simulator. However, players are finally realizing just how brilliant this game is years after its release, with the title turning the simple act of walking into a fun and unique gameplay loop that no other open-world game has ever tried.
Simply running around the world is easier said than done, with the player constantly tripping up and having to maintain their balance if their load is too high. It's easy to write this game off as a highly experimental title, but fans who check this game out will find themselves enjoying a truly beautiful experience indeed.
4 Shadow Of The Colossus
Shadow of the Colossus is a game that needs no introduction, this amazing title features a world that is truly beautiful, yet completely desolate, with the only open-world activities players can do stemming from the apples and lizards they can obtain in the game to improve their health and stamina respectively.
There are no enemies in the game aside from the sixteen Colossi that players need to hunt, with the empty nature of this world indicating just how peaceful the area is. If anything else, Wander is the intruder who starts killing Colossi for no reason until the truth of the game is revealed near the end of this title.
3 Elden Ring
Elden Ring is a masterclass of open-world design, showing just how much FromSoftware had learned about world design. Dark Souls was a masterclass in how to make an interconnected world, and no other game that this studio released since has captured the same magic of exploration. That is until Elden Ring was released.
The Lands Between is truly one of the best worlds in video game history, with the wondrous sense of exploration being palpable in every corner of this massive game world. Every nook and cranny hides a secret, enemy encounter, or boss fight that is pretty intense and quite rewarding in its own way.
2 Yakuza
The Yakuza series features several small yet densely-packed open worlds that are rife with content across the board. While these hubs may be smaller, these games more than make up for the confined nature of their explorable districts by housing something unique and interesting in every corner of the map.
The fact that Yakuza doesn't feature a massive sandbox like most other open-world titles doesn't hurt these games in the slightest. If anything, these games feel less overwhelming to explore and don't make the player feel like they're banging their head against a brick wall — something that many other open-world titles are guilty of.
1 The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
Many people consider The Elder Scrolls to be Bethesda's biggest and most popular franchise to this day, with the wait for the sixth game being downright unbearable. While Daggerfall did a decent job of bringing more eyes toward this series, the truth is that Morrowind is the title that put The Elder Scrolls, and Bethesda themselves, on the map.
This open-world title is amazing to explore even now, not featuring traditional forms of fast travel and allowing players to do whatever they want if they understood the game's mechanics and how they worked. Players were encouraged to make notes about the places they went to in the game, which was pretty impressive in and of itself.