There was a time when open-world games — a term that used to evoke a sense of awe around a decade ago — had fallen into a rut of sorts. The same cycle of completing missions, ticking off checklists, and hunting down collectibles had become agonizingly repetitive. This is exactly why the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is considered by many to be one of the most important moments in gaming history.
All of a sudden, people finally realized what open-world games had been missing for the longest time — a wondrous sense of exploration and discovery that was unparalleled and made the most of the medium. Breath of the Wild is nothing short of an absolute masterpiece, and there are very few open-world games that can elicit the same feelings as this game did… although there are some titles that do come really close.
10 Far Cry 5
While the idea of a Ubisoft game being even remotely comparable to Breath of the Wild might seem tantamount to heresy for some people, the fact of the matter is that Far Cry 5 is easily one of the greatest Ubisoft titles to have ever been released.
Ubisoft is a master of the open-world style of gameplay — to the chagrin of many worn-out gamers — and Far Cry 5 feels like the perfect application of a system that has been tweaked and toyed with time and time again. The end result is an open-world experience that feels genuinely enthralling in so many ways.
9 Days Gone
Upon release, Days Gone didn’t exactly receive the most glowing reception around. The title was stated by many to suffer from numerous technical issues, coupled with some annoying mechanics that could suck out most of the fun of the game as well.
However, post a few patches and balances, Days Gone has now turned into a surprisingly enjoyable open-world title that no fan of the genre should sleep on. The story turns out to be a surprising highlight, with Deacon St. John growing on gamers after his initial unlikable disposition.
8 Horizon: Zero Dawn
The fact that Horizon: Zero Dawn released less than a week before Breath of the Wild is indicative of just how spoiled gamers were in 2017 when it came to choosing from a wealth of amazing titles.
The idea of fighting robot dinosaurs is amazing enough as is, but it’s the deft manner in which such a seemingly ridiculous system is integrated into the game’s story and lore that makes Horizon: Zero Dawn a magical experience from start to end.
7 Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
The Assassin’s Creed franchise might be facing an identity crisis right now, but there’s no denying that there was a point when this legendary open-world franchise had perfected most of its mechanics to a T.
The end result was Assassin’s Creed Syndicate — the last game to release before the franchise ended up taking a year to change up its mechanics. This decision has been met with a fair bit of criticism since Syndicate was a genuinely enjoyable title that showed the franchise heading in a promising direction… only for the brakes to be applied and the body to be plastered with a fresh coat of paint.
6 Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor
When Shadow of Mordor was initially announced, fans were equal parts excited and wary. After all, the game wasn’t exactly shown in its full glory before launch and players had no idea what to expect from an open-world Middle-earth title. Thankfully, they weren’t disappointed upon the game’s launch, which turned out to be one of the biggest surprises of 2014.
Shadow of Mordor is a brilliant open-world title that takes all the strengths of its predecessors in the genre to deliver a visceral and satisfying experience, with the Nemesis system being an obvious highlight that made playing through this brilliant title all the more memorable.
5 Watch Dogs 2
The first Watch Dogs ended up blowing everyone’s minds upon its initial appearance at E3… only to underwhelm and disappoint audiences across the board. Thankfully, Ubisoft decided to keep on working on the franchise, and people are glad they did since Watch Dogs 2 ended up being an improvement over its predecessor in every way, shape, and form.
All of a sudden, the main characters were likable, the story wasn’t a complete snoozefest, and the hacking part of things actually took center-stage. All this made for an experience that somewhat made up for the lies that marred the release of the first Watch Dogs.
4 Genshin Impact
A person with zero knowledge of video games would not be at fault for failing to distinguish between Breath of the Wild and Genshin Impact. The free-to-play gacha game definitely didn’t hide its inspirations in the slightest… and that turned out to be a brilliant move, in hindsight.
After all, Genshin Impact is a brilliant title with great combat and an addictive gameplay loop, which definitely makes it quite amazing that a title packed with so many features… is free!
While it’s true that most of the fun with the game can only be enjoyed by investing some real money, the title itself is fairly solid from every standpoint.
3 Immortals Fenyx Rising
Another title that definitely doesn’t hide the fact that it was heavily influenced by Breath of the Wild‘s open-world design is Immortals Fenyx Rising. A Ubisoft title that actually tries to do something different, one must admit that Immortals Fenyx Rising definitely succeeds on many fronts.
The open-world is design is brilliant — as expected from a game inspired by Breath of the Wild — but the narrative also manages to be fairly compelling in its own right as well.
2 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
One of the greatest titles of all time, it must be said that The Witcher 3 is easily a masterpiece that deserves a recommendation in pretty much any list discussing great open-world games.
The story of Geralt is capped off in an extremely satisfying manner, featuring some riveting main and side content along with a generous helping of combat that helps keep things moving at a satisfying pace up till the very end.
1 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
But of course, it would be impossible to talk about games similar to Breath of the Wild — a title that excels mainly due to its sense of freedom and awe-inspiring exploration — without mentioning what is easily one of the greatest open-world titles of all time.
The release of Skyrim in 2011 was widely anticipated across the board, and fans were more than pleased when the game finally hit store shelves. The adventures of the Dragonborn in the vast land of Skyrim have become iconic in the realm of gaming, and one need only look at the sheer number of times that Skyrim has been released on modern consoles and devices to understand the rampant popularity of this title.
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