Open-world games are massive by design, and because of that, it's easy for players to get lost in them. The best games in the genre encourage players to explore, and many titles have deep gameplay mechanics that allow players to approach the game's challenges in all kinds of ways.
Games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Skyrim are so vast that players can sink dozens of hours into them, even without mods. Many of these games give players a reason to replay them, even after they've reached the end credits, and players are still discovering new things about them years after their release.
1 Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's All-Star Creative Team Speaks for Itself
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning came out in February 2012, only a few months after Skyrim. With Bethesda's leviathan-like game dominating the public zeitgeist, Kingdoms of Amalur had to compete with one of the biggest RPGs of the generation for players' attention. However, Kingdoms of Amalur stood out thanks to the impressive creative pedigree behind its world.
R. A. Salvatore, best known for the Legend of Drizzt novels, served as the game's Executive Creator of Worlds, helping shape its setting and extensive lore. Ken Rolston, known for his work on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, served as one of the designers, while famed composer Grant Kirkhope, known for Banjo-Kazooie, co-created the game's score.
One of Kingdoms of Amalur's most fascinating features is its unique leveling system. Called the Destiny system, it functions as the game's character class system, allowing players to specialize in Might, Finesse, or Sorcery, or combine them. Players can follow one path, combine two, or create a hybrid of all three, and they can freely change their Destiny throughout the game.
Then there is the combat, which may look like basic hack-and-slash gameplay at first, but becomes much more satisfying as players experiment with different weapons and abilities. All of these systems give Kingdoms of Amalur something that many open-world RPGs struggle to achieve: the freedom to experiment without punishing the player for changing their mind.
2 Sleeping Dogs Is Like an Action Movie You Can Play
The spiritual successor to the True Crime series, Sleeping Dogs plays like any good undercover story, drawing comparisons to the hit 1985 Jackie Chan film Police Story. A former San Francisco police officer with a troubled past, Wei Shen, returns to his birthplace of Hong Kong and joins the police force. He then goes undercover to infiltrate the Sun On Yee Triad organization.
The game teaches players all of its mechanics before setting them loose in Hong Kong, where almost every corner of the city has something waiting for them. What makes Sleeping Dogs stand out is how it implements three different types of XP: Triad, Police, and Face. Triad XP is rewarded through melee combat, environmental kills, and complex attacks.
Face XP comes from the cosmetic items players obtain, including clothes and vehicles, while Police XP is earned by minimizing property damage and civilian casualties. Each type of XP provides its own benefits, although Triad and Police XP have more gameplay advantages, while Face XP is primarily cosmetic. These systems encourage players to approach each mission differently.
There are also plenty of collectibles, dateable women, races, gambling games, and other activities scattered throughout Hong Kong. While the main story remains linear, the city itself provides plenty of reasons to step away from it. Players can spend hours hunting down collectibles, upgrading Wei's abilities, exploring the city, or simply causing trouble on the streets.
3 Skyrim Was Many Players' First Elder Scrolls
If someone asked any gamer in 2011 what the most popular game of the year was, everyone would have answered: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and that universal recognition was deserved. The action RPG could be played in either first or third person, pitting the prophesied Dragonborn against seemingly insurmountable odds.
Not only does the player have to navigate the escalating war between the Imperials and Stormcloaks, but they also have to deal with the threat of awakened dragons that can attack at almost any time. The game introduces all of this within the first 15 to 20 minutes of gameplay, only to set the player free to do whatever they want.
Players don't even have to commit to the main story unless they want to pursue more Shouts. While Shouts are an important part of the Dragonborn's abilities, they aren't essential to enjoying the game. The player can even defeat dragons without relying on them. Skyrim becomes an open-ended adventure where the world is essentially an oyster waiting to be opened.
There are interesting side quests involving magical entities, villagers who need help, factions to join, dungeons to explore, chests to loot, and mountains to fall off of. The game also lets players develop their characters however they want, whether that means becoming a powerful mage, a stealthy assassin, a heavily armored warrior, or some strange combination of all three.
Players might set out to complete a specific objective only to find themselves halfway across the province several hours later, carrying a backpack full of loot they never intended to collect. The modding scene also helped extend Skyrim's time in the public consciousness, keeping players coming back years after its release.
4 Cyberpunk 2077 Is a Sci-Fi Labor of Love
Cyberpunk 2077 has made a name for itself as one of the most engrossing open worlds in modern gaming. Night City is a sprawling metropolis of the future, and, like any city, it can eat a person alive if they're not careful.
Players take control of V, a small-time mercenary who finds themselves with a stolen piece of Arasaka technology implanted in their head. The Relic is slowly overwriting V's mind with the consciousness of Johnny Silverhand, a legendary rock musician and terrorist played by Keanu Reeves. Suddenly, V has to find a way to survive while sharing their own mind with a man who died decades earlier.
From there, V can choose to make a name for themselves, showing Night City just what kind of person they can be. Whether it's taking on small-time jobs for various fixers and factions, dealing with Cyberpsychos and the chaos they cause, or building relationships and romances with various characters, there's plenty to do throughout the city.
However, some of the most memorable moments are the little ones connected to the story. V can check on Misty after Jackie's death, take on the tarot card quest scattered throughout Night City, or simply stop to see how a character's life has changed after one of V's choices. These are the surprising human moments that make Night City stand out from open worlds that exist primarily as sandboxes to play in.
5 Yakuza 0 Tells a Yakuza Story With Heart
Yakuza 0 is one of the best examples of a story told through two co-protagonists, with wo men who are as alike as they are different, each following their own code of honor down separate paths, yet destined to cross paths again. Kiryu and Majima's stories complement each other, showing two men struggling to maintain their identities within the criminal underground.
While the main story of Yakuza 0 plays out like a typical honorable gangster narrative, its dozens of side quests give the game a considerably wackier tone, depending on how much the player invests in its world. Real estate, cabaret club management, batting cages, bowling, pocket circuit racing, karaoke, are all activities scattered throughout Kamurocho and Sotenbori.
Most minigames also have their own side quests, which not only reward players with unique items but also give them opportunities to connect with the people who live in these districts. This is where Yakuza 0 truly shines, because the game's greatest strength lies in the stories of people Kiryu and Majima encounter along the way.
Kiryu becomes a real estate mogul, while Majima is tasked with running the Cabaret Grand. Yakuza 0 might be one of the smaller open-world games overall, but its strength comes from how cleanly it connects so many of its systems to its characters and stories. Players are given countless reasons to explore, whether that means finding a new substory or starting another minigame.
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