Summary

• The best open-world games excel in creativity, design, and world-building, offering engaging narratives and meaningful exploration.
• Different game genres, from action-adventure titles to RPGs, are viable contenders for top open-world games.
• Titles like Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Elden Ring showcase the best of open-world gaming.

Open-world games have increasingly become the norm over the past decade or so, with games like Red Dead Redemption 2 helping to show how engaging expansive exploration can be. At the same time, a lot of open-world titles end up falling prey to repetitive design elements and lackluster environments. When an open-world game does click, it's because it rises above these pitfalls with consistent creativity and a meaningful world to explore.

Although RPGs are particularly common among the greatest open-world games, they certainly aren't the only option, with action-adventure titles and more proving viable contenders. All of these games would be great even if they offered less freedom and content, but the fact that they're bursting at the seams with things to do helps them rise to the top.

10 Xenoblade Chronicles 3

An Expansive JRPG

The Xenoblade Chronicles series has always pushed boundaries with huge worlds to explore, starting with the absurdly impressive showing that the first game made on the Wii. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 might be the most show-stopping yet, with an enormous map full of gorgeous vistas and varied terrain. It isn't the biggest in the series, an honor that still belongs to Xenoblade Chronicles X, but it feels like the most complete package overall.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 follows the series tradition of marrying philosophical concepts with familiar Japanese RPG narrative elements, and how appealing that package sounds will definitely define how enjoyable the game is. For anyone who loves that sort of thing, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 packs in engaging combat, excellent music, and a lengthy adventure. Whether it's the best game to ever bear the Xeno tag is a hard question to answer, but as far as open worlds go, this one's hard to beat.

9 Horizon Forbidden West

Refines The Formula

The Horizon games didn't reinvent the open-world wheel, building off the basic formula popularized by Ubisoft games like Far Cry and Assassin's Creed. They did hone it into something that stands out, however, and Horizon Forbidden West might be the best game of its sort. A post-apocalyptic future where machines roam like wild animals makes for a unique setting, and the protagonist, Aloy, is an engaging character with plenty to do and discover throughout the course of her journey.

Horizon Forbidden West is also a technical showcase of the highest order, and it's easy to spend hours in its photo mode capturing the stunning detail of its world. It might not be the best place to start Aloy's story, so playing Horizon Zero Dawn first is definitely the way to go, but it's a sequel that improves on many of the first game's strengths.

8 Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Sandbox Stealth

The Metal Gear Solid series is iconic for a reason, and the massive open-world finale of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is no exception. The game might not feature as tight of a story as other entries in the series, but it more than makes up for it with endlessly engaging gameplay opportunities. Stealth can often be at its best in tight corridors with linear design, but The Phantom Pain proves that a stealth-oriented sandbox can be an incredible alternative.

The open world of The Phantom Pain isn't the most impressive ever created, and a lot of it basically comes down to outposts strewn across a desert environment. What keeps it from ever feeling stale is how much ingenuity can be put into progressing across that landscape, and deciding to experiment with the tools at hand is almost always rewarding.

7 The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

Defines Open-World Gaming

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim might be the ultimate mascot of open-world games, releasing to enormous popularity in 2011 that's been sustained across years of ports and re-releases. All this time later, it's still easy to see why it made such a splash. An interesting fantasy world is filled to the brim with memorable side quests and characters, and although it might not be quite as richly complex as The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, the streamlining of the formula only enhances its broad appeal.

What really elevates Skyrim is its vast world of modding, with a community that's constantly coming up with new add-ons and changes for the game. It's possible to play Skyrim over and over and never get bored thanks to these options, and it's unlikely that the well will dry up anytime soon.

6 The Witcher 3

A Carefully Crafted RPG

Like Skyrim, The Witcher 3 is a vast, open-world fantasy RPG, but it's also a very different game in ways that matter. The Witcher focuses on a more intimate, character-driven story that picks up after the events of both Andrzej Sapkowski's book series and the two previous video games, telling the tale of Geralt of Rivia as he slays monsters and navigates a complex world of politics and schemes that he'd rather stay out of.

Among open-world games, The Witcher 3 stands out thanks to its surplus of bespoke content, with locations, quests, and challenges that consistently feel unique and exciting. Years later, it also remains a gorgeous game, with a saturated world that has just enough style to stand out and just enough realism to convey the gritty and grounded aspects of a setting that isn't always as fantastical as it might seem.

5 Fallout: New Vegas

Tells A Great Open-World Story

Fallout: New Vegas was well-received upon its release, but it wasn't immediately heralded as one of the greatest open-world games of all time, with poor performance and bugs that resulted from a rushed development distracting from its strong points. Time has been kind to New Vegas, however, and the excellence of its storytelling is now more commonly recognized than its faults.

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Published by Bethesda but developed by Obsidian Entertainment, Fallout: New Vegas is the perfect blend of systems set in place by Fallout 3 with the rich identity of the original isometric Fallout games. If excellent dialogue, meaningful choices, and fascinating factions sound like the best way to fill out an open world, it's hard to do any better than Fallout: New Vegas, and there's a reason why it remains a common favorite in the series today.​​​​​​​

4 Grand Theft Auto 5

A Bit Of Everything

The Grand Theft Auto series has been a big part of pushing open-world design forward since GTA 3 rocked the market in 2001, and Grand Theft Auto 5 might be the most impressive open-world experience that the franchise has yet offered. The unbridled nature of GTA makes for an incredible amount of potential mission diversity, and GTA 5 fully capitalizes on that with a lengthy campaign and plenty to do on the side.

GTA 5's sense of variety is heightened by the use of three protagonists, all of whom have very different personalities and satirize American culture in unique ways. The GTA series has been so consistently great that there's no easy way to crown an uncontested winner, but GTA 5 certainly makes a strong case. Whether GTA 6 can sur the franchise's past heights remains to be seen, but for now, it's hard to go wrong with this one.

3 Red Dead Redemption 2

A Western Masterpiece

Although GTA 5 can be incisive at times, it's also a fundamentally goofy game, and its main intent isn't to tell a deeply compelling story. For that, it's better to turn to another hit from Rockstar Games, Red Dead Redemption 2. The tale of Arthur Morgan is complex, emotional, and consistently engaging, and the other characters that fill out the narrative all have their own nuances and memorable qualities.

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The American West is also an inherently great setting for an open-world game, and Red Dead Redemption 2 leans into all of its strengths, delivering stunning landscapes that make even a quiet horseback ride feel worthwhile. Of course, there are plenty of exciting chases and action-packed shootouts to be found as well, and Red Dead Redemption 2 can be as relaxed or as fast-paced as any player wants it to be.

2 Elden Ring

Tough But Beautiful

FromSoftware's challenging games have been consistently garnering critical acclaim since the release of Demon's Souls, and Elden Ring is no exception. As the studio's open-world flagship, Elden Ring takes grueling, intricately designed enemies and litters them throughout a less linear landscape, offering the opportunity to meet many of its difficulties in whatever order feels best.

Equally important to the FromSoft experience is how good the studio is at managing the quieter, smaller moments, and there's a consistent beauty to be found in the harsh world of the Lands Between. Rich lore that George R. R. Martin contributed to can be carefully reconstructed to paint a fascinating bigger picture, but there's plenty to enjoy based on atmosphere alone. Elden Ring is worth playing even for those who don't love hard games, but for those who do, it absolutely can't be missed.

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1 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

An Iconic Entry To A Legendary Series

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild felt like a leap into the future for open-world games when it released in 2017, but it's possible that the wider industry will never catch up. While many open-world games can come across as a jumbled bag of parts, the game design of Breath of the Wild is extraordinarily unified. Features like weapon-breaking might not be for everyone, but there's enormous intention behind every piece of the equation, and they all add up to something that works in perfect harmony.

What really makes Breath of the Wild special is how even empty fields don't feel like a waste of time, with slower moments tapping into a hypnotically meditative cadence that's always syncopated by new discoveries. When it comes to its challenges, a robust physics system and enormous player freedom make it possible to overcome even seemingly linear puzzles and straightforward fights in unexpected ways.

Tears of the Kingdom throws even more on top of the open-world Zelda experience, but Breath of the Wild took the initial plunge and emerged as something that might ultimately be closer to cohesive perfection.