Open-World Games Where The Map Is Open From The Start

People come to open-world games for a variety of reason. Some want full immersion into the world while others are more interested in endless exploration and hundreds of hours of content. Those in the latter category would prefer if the map was open to them from the very start or after a short prologue.

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The games below would be right up their alley. Not only is the map open in these games from nearly the opening moments, but players can also ignore the main quest and go out exploring on their own, creating their own journey instead of following the path set by the developers.

7 Burnout Paradise

A Relaxing Open-World Racer

Burnout Paradise took the Burnout formula into an open-world environment. It traded a smooth difficulty curve with final challenges test even the best racer's skills for a more relaxing and casual format. Players drive around the world and activate races or other modes at any traffic light. Nothing about the game is particularly hard.

The fun instead comes in familiarizing oneself with the map and finding the collectibles. The multiplayer mode was also ahead of its time. Instead of jumping straight into races, players drove around the open map with other racers. This was even before games like Grand Theft Auto 4 let players explore the map together.

6 Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

All Of Hyrule At Your Feet

After a short prologue, Link's goal until the end of the game is clear. Become strong enough to enter Hyrule Castle and confront Calamity Ganon. It takes less than an hour to get off the Great Plateu opening area.

From here, players just need to explore the map to find shrines, uncorrupt the Divine Beasts, and get better equipment until they can do the game's final challenge. The game is so open, one could theoretically beat the game right from the start if they were skilled enough to do so with minimal equipment and hearts.

5 Marvel's Spider-Man

Swing Through The City Like Only Spider-Man Can

If one wanted to convince another how great AAA gaming could be, they would put them into the open-world Manhattan in Spider-Man and just let the other person swing around for a few minutes. Maneuvering through New York simply feels divine and this feeling of freedom is present immediately after finishing the opening mission.

As the game goes on players unlock more side quests to do in the world, but right from the beginning players are welcome to swing around the whole map and revel in the environmental design.

4 Grand Theft Auto 5

Los Santos Is Open From The Start

Every 3D Grand Theft Auto game up until 2013's Grand Theft Auto 5 kept portions of the map locked until players reached certain parts of the story. Grand Theft Auto 5 takes place on one solid landmass undivided by bridges or land. Though the game starts in the metropolitan area of Los Santos, they are free to journey to the northern parts of the map from the start.

However, there is not a lot to do there until missions start opening up that eventually lead to new side quests and collectibles. More than ten years after its initial release, there is a sizable fanbase who are just interested in GTA Online, so it makes sense for the whole map to be open from the start for them.

3 Fallout 3

The Capital Wasteland Is Huge And Open

Fallout 3 starts out with the main character being born. Then, a short montage of gameplay shows them growing up in the vault. Once reaching adulthood, their father leaves and chaos breaks out in the vault, eventually leading the protagonist to leave the vault in pursuit of their father.

This takes less than an hour to go through and then players are plopped into the giant world where the game takes place. Though some places are more dangerous than others, the entire Capital Wasteland is open from the start. The main quest gives some direction, but there is no reason why players cannot just pick a direction and walk, seeing what adventure awaits them.

2 Forza Horizon 5

Drive All Over Mexico

Forza Horizon 5 is the perfect answer for racing fans who prefer something with more arcadey sensibilities but still want gorgeous graphics. An introduction familiarizes players with the many features present in the open-world Mexico setting.

After that, they are free to race how they want and progress through the game through any means. One of Forza Horizon 5's strengths is how every action and event feels meaningful. Whether one is spending hours in a play session or just jumping in to do one event, time is never wasted. It is the ultimate open-world racing playground.

1 Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

The Dragonborn Goes Where They Want, When They Want

"You're finally awake" is one of gaming's most iconic lines, and it is how gamers were introduced to 2011's Skyrim. After a serendipitous dragon attack saves the player from execution, they are put into the game world and can complete various quests at their leisure.

Enemies scale to the player's level and the difficulty is adjustable at any time, so players should never feel like hard enemies are restricting progress and exploration. Skyrim and the Elder Scrolls series encourage both exploration in the world and in how a character develops.

Whether one wants to be a brute punching enemies up close or using magic to destroy them with spells, the game always accomodates.

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