Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
While they all have their strengths and flaws, picking the best one is likely to come down to someone’s personal preference in regard to the setting. Odyssey takes place in Ancient Greece, and it is a gorgeous and huge game that features a storyline that starts and ends strongly. The side quests are also quite good, far superior to anything Ubisoft’s franchise had produced up to that point. While a touch bloated, Odyssey overall does a stellar job of highlighting why Assassin’s Creed has managed to remain so popular.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Warhorse Studios’ Kingdom Come: Deliverance takes an authentic look at history, presenting a campaign set in the Middle Ages that feels suitably dirty and unforgiving. As Henry, players go on a revenge-seeking mission following the slaughter of his village, but this journey proves to be anything but straightforward.
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Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s open-world is huge and realistic, the latter of which still allows some room for jaw-dropping vistas. The game prioritizes immersion above nearly everything else; Henry’s life might not be typical for someone from this era, but he faces many of the same hardships that an average person would have.
Far Cry 6 Ultimate Edition
Set on the fictitious tropical island of Yara, players are cast as Danji Rojas, a warrior looking to free this country’s people from the shackles imposed by a dictator. As tends to be the case with Ubisoft’s franchise, Far Cry 6’s villain, Anton Castillo, steals the show, and Giancarlo Esposito delivers a delightfully intense performance as the dictator.
Watch Dogs 2 Gold Edition
An argument can be made that Watch Dogs never quite managed to fulfill its potential, with the series failing to reach the lofty heights experienced by Ubisoft’s Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed properties. That said, this trilogy is quite a unique beast since all three games feel relatively distinct from each other, even if they still adhere to the publisher’s general open-world formula.
In stark contrast to the humorless but still enjoyable Watch Dogs, its sequel offers a vibrant and lighthearted adventure. This time around, players step into the shoes of Marcus Holloway, a hacker who is recruited by a rogue group called DedSec in their quest to disrupt the surveillance system that monitors San Francisco. The story is perfectly serviceable, however, Watch Dogs 2’s world is its true selling point. San Francisco is huge, gorgeous, and lively.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands
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Wildlands has an absolutely massive map, overwhelmingly so. However, this world does offer a fair amount of variety in terms of terrains and locations, so the game puts the map’s size to good use. The shooter grants players quite a bit of freedom in how they can approach missions, and there is even a co-op mode.
Immortals Fenyx Rising Gold Edition
Immortals Fenyx Rising has all the qualities of a standard Ubisoft open-world, albeit presented in a more condensed manner. Rather than seeking to keep someone playing for 100+ hours, Immortals Fenyx Rising focuses on supplying a more streamlined experience with only a handful of secondary content to distract from the main quest.
Consequently, this game lives and dies on whether a player enjoys its central story and gameplay loop, the latter of which combines hack and slash action with puzzles and exploration. The combat system is fast-paced and accessible, offering flashy visuals along with a decent sense of progression. Immortals Fenyx Rising’s Greek Mythology-infused world is vibrant, gorgeous, and diverse; unlike most of the publisher’s projects, this title does not aim to be realistic, a decision that allows it to stand out from the crowd.
Metro Exodus
4A Games’ Metro Exodus does not have a fully explorable open-world like, for example, Assassin’s Creed, and anyone looking specifically for that type of map might be disappointed with this challenging first-person shooter. The campaign is divided into different zones, some of which are quite large. While the majority of these sites do not place much emphasis on exploration, the Caspian Sea and Volga sections remove most of the restrictions.
Essentially, Metro Exodus sought to combine the linear levels of the previous entries in the series with a handful of open areas. The result is a game that remains focused for most of its runtime, except for a couple of refreshing stretches that relax the pacing.
Lost Judgment
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Compared to some other open-world games, Lost Judgment takes place in a relatively small sandbox, which is the standard for a Yakuza project. Sega’s franchise has always prioritized quality over quantity, and this extends to Lost Judgment’s map. Isezaki Ijincho might not be huge, but it is absolutely overflowing with content around every corner. Along with a lengthy main story, the campaign also has plenty of side quests that can range from heartbreaking to absurdly hilarious.
Saints Row: The Third Remastered
Saints Row always had a comedic edge, but the third entry is a full-blown cartoon. Set in the quite impressive city of Steelport, players engage in gang warfare as they seek to establish the Third Street Saints as the rulers. The narrative goes to some pretty weird and out-there places, which is saying something considering the open-world game opens with a very over-the-top mission.
Saints Row: The Third is ludicrous, periodically stupid, frequently obnoxious, and irresistibly fun. It imagines the Grand Theft Auto formula through a cartoon lens, all the while delivering satisfying basic mechanics like gunplay. This is one sandbox that expects players to really make a mess, and it gives them all the tools they could possibly need to do just that.
Ys 8: Lacrimosa Of Dana
Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana is a special case as it is not a typical open-world in the sense that the entire map is immediately accessible. Rather, the world gradually opens up as players unlock party members and discover special items. Essentially, this JRPG is structured similarly to a Metroidvania, albeit one filled with open eras rather than linear corridors.
More importantly, Ys 8 is awesome. Adol and a group of other people are shipwrecked on a mysterious island, which they will need to explore if they want to be able to leave. While nothing special graphically, Ys 8 makes up for it with satisfying combat, likable characters, and a decent story.
Riders Republic Ultimate Edition
Open-world games tend to be life-consuming as they demand full commitment from their players. Basically, they are the exact opposite of pick-up-and-play; however, Riders Republic is kind of an exception. This sports game lets players loose on a huge map where they can race to their heart’s content.
That’s not to say Riders Republic lacks a sense of progression, but it is a far more leisurely experience than is typically the case for the genre. Ubisoft’s 2021 title comes with four extreme sports: Biking, Snowboarding, Skiing, and Flying Wingsuit. In the career mode, players can follow six disciplines based on the included sports. Along with multiplayer, this release also supports single-player, so there should be something for everyone.
