Open-worlds have become a dominant force of mainstream gaming in recent years. The level of freedom, variety in objectives, and value for money that most open-world games offer has made them appealing to casual and hardcore players across various genres, such as action, racing, and adventure.
However, open-worlds are certainly not universally beloved. Due to their popularity, many developers and publishers have implemented open-worlds into their latest titles to help market and advertise the game, despite lacking the funds, abilities, or time to make them enjoyable to play. This has led to the open-world genre being frequently criticized for favoring quantity over quality in its world design and gameplay.
Thankfully, there are more than enough fantastic open-world games out there to keep players occupied, many of which are successors to linear titles from the past. The fans of the ten franchises on this list may have been worried when it was announced that their beloved series was making the leap to open-world gameplay, though all of them managed to stick the landing with their execution.
10 LEGO
Once gamers realized that movie tie-in games tended to be of low quality in the mid-2000s, the genre began to die out. However, Traveller’s Tales were about to develop a game that would rejuvenate licensed games: LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game.
Traveller’s Tales’ now-iconic collectathon breathed new life into the movie-tie genre by creating a simple yet enjoyable gameplay style that offered great multiplayer and tons of replay value. Traveller’s Tales had to find a way to keep the gameplay style interesting following numerous other LEGO releases, which is why they implemented an open-world in Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes; an excellent decision that added even more content and replayability to the LEGO games.
9 Far Cry
The Far Cry series has become a cornerstone of the FPS open-world market. Along with the charismatic villains, the Far Cry series is known today for offering a quintessential Ubisoft open-world experience, in the sense that the map is clearly laid out for the player to roam freely around the area and complete a handful of re-appearing tasks.
The Far Cry franchise has implemented open-worlds in the vast majority of the franchise’s games, though the first game is an exception to this rule. Although the first game wasn’t open-world, it did have large levels that offered a decent amount of free-roaming, which was unique for the time.
8 Burnout
An embodiment of the phrase “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” the iconic street racing franchise Burnout unintentionally provided the decisive blow in ending the street racing genre’s impressive mainstream run.
Following numerous critically acclaimed titles, the Burnout series decided to expand its borders and offer players a beautiful open-world with Burnout Paradise. Criterion Games and EA did a fantastic job with Paradise, and the game is recognized today as a pioneer in modern open-world driving. The way the game put a stop to mainstream street racing titles was with data extracted from players; according to a producer for the game, Matt Webster, the vast majority of players weren’t competing in the game’s street races and events but were instead simply driving around the huge open-world.
7 Forza
One series that Burnout Paradise almost certainly inspired is Forza. The Forza franchise began life under the Forza Motorsport brand, offering realistic, professional-style racers. The Forza Motorsport series is still going, and a new title has been announced to be coming to the Xbox Series X|S.
Another style of racer accompanies Forza Motorsport under the same brand, Forza Horizon. The first Forza Horizon game was released in 2012 and differentiated itself from its Motorsport counterpart with its offering of an open-world. The latest Horizon release offered an excellent rendition of British countrysides, with a unique seasonal change system that provided some of the most beautiful racing visuals ever seen.
6 The Witcher
Considering that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is recognized today as one of the best open-world titles of the eighth generation of home consoles, it may surprise some people that the first two games weren’t fully open-world.
The games were similar to the first three Mass Effect games in the sense that they weren’t open-world, but players are never likely to feel too restricted due to the huge hub areas that the missions take place in and the variety of things to do in each area.
5 The Sims
Iconic life-simulation series The Sims was one of the pioneers of the modern casual gaming market. The first two games offered story modes that required players to complete objectives in hopes of improving their living conditions.
The Sims 3, however, differentiated itself from its predecessors by ditching the story modes and replacing them with an open world map that let players create their own narratives. It was a move that went down extremely well with fans, and the game is still regarded as the best entry in the series today.
4 Ori
In a sense, the original Metroidvania titles were like the open-worlds of their day, as they offered a level of freedom that was rare for the 80s when the first Metroid and Castlevania games were released.
The most recent Ori game, Ori and the Will of the Wisps showed gamers what an actual open-world Metroidvania title could look like, as Moon Studios’ title supplemented the game’s impressive level of freedom from around the half-way point with numerous side quests to complete. Ori and the Will of the Wisps was well-received by critics, scoring between 88 and 93 on Metacritic across its four releases.
3 Batman: Arkham
Batman was loving life in the late 2000s; not only did The Dark Knight become one of the greatest superhero films ever in 2008, but Batman: Arkham Asylum became one of the greatest superhero games the following year. Arkham Asylum impressed fans and critics with its level design, charismatic villains, and revolutionary combat.
Subsequently, Rocksteady Studios was pressured with high expectations when developing the sequel Batman: Arkham City. The studio clearly thrived under the weight of expectation, as the game surpassed its predecessor with a fantastic open-world filled to the brim with side activities and secrets.
2 Metal Gear Solid
When the original Metal Gear games were released they were still classed as action games, as the stealth genre hadn’t been formulated yet, exemplifying how groundbreaking the series truly was. The series was instrumental in the rise of open-world games with the release of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which wasn’t open-world itself, but did offer a unique level of freedom for its time.
The series finally joined the open-world market with Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros in 2014, followed by The Phantom Pain in 2015. Stealth sections are usually poorly executed in open-world games, but Kojima Productions did a fantastic job making stealth feel both enjoyable and realistic in the enormous map.
1 Grand Theft Auto
Considering that the Grand Theft Auto series is one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful franchises of all time, it’s a bit of an understatement to say that it adapted to open-world gameplay “well.” The games have been a benchmark for open-world action-adventure titles for decades, and the most recent game, Grand Theft Auto V, is still considered by some to be the best open-world release ever, over seven years after it initially hit stores.
The first entry in the series was very open for its time, but the map was separated into different stages with familiar names to anyone who has played a Grand Theft Auto game: Vice City, San Andreas, and Liberty City.
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