The open-world genre has become a cornerstone of the gaming industry, with the promise of enormous game worlds that offer 100+ hours of content making linear titles look inferior on paper. However, following a few years of open-world titles being in the spotlight, prominent cracks are beginning to show; with some gamers starting to revert to more linear titles, having grown frustrated at developers focusing on the sheer size and amount of content in their open-worlds, rather than how enjoyable it is to play.
Just a quick Google search will result in numerous opinion pieces where journalists are calling for developers to opt for a quality over quantity approach to their open-world maps, as the novelty of size over substance has started to wear off. The 10 games on this list show the true value of cutting down on the map size, as they offer meticulously designed worlds that are fascinating to explore despite their limited range.
10 Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor
When the open-world genre began to rise in prominence, J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth was on the top of many gamers’ wishlists as places they’d love to explore. Monolith Productions and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment fulfilled this wish in 2014 when they created an Assassin’s Creed inspired open-world game in the fantasy setting of The Lord of the Rings.
Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor has one of the largest maps on this list, but it’s still a small game-world by modern standards. Very few complaints were made about the map’s size when the game was released though, as Shadow of Mordor crams tons of well-crafted content into its reduced space.
9 The Simpsons: Hit & Run
The original “Grand Theft Auto for kids,” The Simpsons: Hit & Run was released in 2003 and took Rockstar’s GTA formula to the iconic town of Springfield. Radical Entertainment predominantly focused on the driving aspect of GTA, with the majority of Hit & Run‘s missions consisting of driving from A to B in a set time limit.
Although the mission variety is lacking, driving around the selection of Springfield maps is an absolute joy, earning the game a spot on this list. Calls for the game to be remastered or even remade have been heard for well over a decade now, but sadly there’s still no word on its return.
8 Grand Theft Auto III
Whether or not a Grand Theft Auto game would be featured on this list was never really in question, the choice was simply which one to include. Rockstar’s iconic series is the first name that springs to many gamers’ minds when thinking about the open-world genre, with the recent Grand Theft Auto V being considered by some to be the genre’s best entries.
Grand Theft Auto III‘s map was an incredible achievement for the time of its release, and the now-dated visuals don’t prevent it from still being great fun to play in 2021.
7 Mafia II
Mafia II was released in 2010 by 2K Games. The action-adventure takes players back to the US in the 1940s and 50s and puts them in the shoes of a Sicilian immigrant named Vito Scaletta, who soon finds himself working for and against a number of mafia families.
The game doesn’t hide its influences from the aforementioned Grand Theft Auto series, with players being free to walk or drive around the game’s map that is inspired by numerous US cities. Rockstar seemingly were fans of Mafia II‘s direction, as their detective adventure L.A. Noire takes place in a similar time period.
6 Batman: Arkham City
The Batman brand was in the midst of a winning-streak prior to Arkham City‘s release in 2011, with The Dark Knight and Arkham Asylum both being released to enormous praise from fans and critics.
Rocksteady Studios ensured that they kept the momentum going with Arkham City, which differentiated itself from its predecessor by offering a meticulously detailed open-world that was filled with easter eggs, side-quests, and Riddler trophies to find.
5 Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise has carved itself a comfy spot in the modern open-world genre. The series recently had a change of direction, when Assassin’s Creed Origins took the franchise’s formula and kicked it through The Witcher 3.
It’s safe to say that Assassin’s Creed Syndicate isn’t the most beloved entry in the franchise, but its wonderful take on Victorian-era England is one of the best in the series, particularly due to how a simple stroll through London’s streets can feel like an interactive history lesson.
4 Bully
The second game on this list that is commonly referred to as “Grand Theft Auto for kids,” Rockstar’s Bully was initially released in 2006 and is regarded as one of the companies best releases, despite it being somewhat rough around the edges.
Bully‘s school and town are both very compact, but they cram a lot into their limited space by having some of Rockstar’s most weird and wonderful NPCs tucked around every corner, who offer some of the most fittingly bizarre side quests ever conceived.
3 The Legend Of Zelda
It would be unfair to write a list such as this and not include one of the most influential open-world games of all time, the original Legend of Zelda. Although the map seems tiny by today’s standards, it was incredible to explore the game’s overworld in 1986.
The Legend of Zelda was particularly innovative in giving the player very little direction in terms of where to go or what to do, a style of open-world gameplay that has returned to prominence with the Soulsborne titles and the latest entry in the Legend of Zelda series, Breath of the Wild.
2 The Witness
Another game that utilizes The Legend Of Zelda‘s “show don’t tell” approach to open-world gameplay, Jonathan Blow’s The Witness puts players on a beautifully designed island that is reminiscent of Cyan’s Myst and tasks them with solving increasingly difficult puzzles.
Unlike Myst which had a ton of variety in its array of puzzles, The Witness sticks to line-puzzles. Impressively, the style of puzzle-solving never becomes tiresome, as the game manages to offer an excellent amount of variety between the separate areas.
1 The Yakuza Series
Following the Yakuza series’ arrival on Game Pass, Sega’s franchise is finally getting the acclaim that it deserves for being a cornerstone of the small open-world market.
Sega has done a great job of compensating for the series’ lack of map size by making many of the world’s shops and stores accessible; as players can take a break from the overarching story of organized crime to go bowling, play darts, compete in pocket circuit racing, sing karaoke, dance in clubs, and much, much more. The game also offers a break from the main story’s serious tone with a selection of side quests that ensure the Yakuza series doesn’t take itself too seriously.
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