Best OPEN WORLD Games | TOP10 OpenWorld Games for PC

Best OPEN WORLD Games | TOP10 OpenWorld Games for PC
We're living in a golden age of sprawling and exciting open world games. Here are some of the best on PC. Filled with the kind of places we can currently only dream of travelling to or experiencing, these best open world games give you great stories to undercover, all the while tempting you with side quests galore.

These days, open world can be considered its own genre. You can find accurate depictions of real-life cities or countries, huge fictional expanses with their own landmarks, complete worlds to check out – or even entire galaxies, depending on where you want to go on your next open-world gaming adventure.
NoChatBot
NoChatBot
Gamer

Subnautica

Subnautica is the first survival game that really excites me, because not only the idea but also the execution is great. Exploring the magnificent ocean, gathering resources and improving my equipment mesh like perfectly oiled gears.

The developers have woven a nice story around it. It develops very slowly, but it always arouses my curiosity and gives the open game a certain structure. In this respect, Subnautica does indeed have many parallels to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Subnautica doesn't come close to its genius, but Unknown World have delivered an excellent underwater adventure that I can only recommend to explorers.

Great Storytelling: For example, during one of my dives I come across a sunken escape capsule. The gaping hole in its side makes it clear: The occupants of this barge were less lucky than me. More details are then provided by a PDA with a voice recording, practically the black box. This is how I learn that one of the passengers waved a magnesium flare too close to the fuel line. How stupid!

Grand Theft Auto 5

For me, this game world, rather than the well told and exciting plot, is the great triumph of the game. Stable frame rates, high visibility, first-person perspective, many landscape details as well as beautiful effects - and all this can be easily adapted to the installed hardware thanks to sophisticated graphics options. Of course, GTA 5 is not a new game in terms of content, you drag along the same numerous strengths in the campaign staging, but also the weaknesses that you know from the old systems, whereby the character behavior is greatly improved as on the HD consoles. For those who haven't had the pleasure of playing with Michael, Trevor and Franklin in Los Santos yet, this is an excellently entertaining action drama from start to finish, with only minor flaws in content, as well as a successful online mode. And on top of that, the Rockstar Editor and the Director Mode are two powerful tools to produce your own stories. Sandbox heart, what more do you want?

No Man's Sky

Multiplayer, base building, a new crafting system, a story campaign, exosuits, huge freighters, vehicles, VR and, and, and. Long before Origins, the developers fed their space universe with dozens of new content via patches. This alone made No Man's Sky a much better game.

But as much fun as I had with all these features - somehow the foundation underneath was still shaky. Imagine it like a painting: If the sketch already suffers from a wrong perspective, the landscape will look crooked later on. No matter how many detailed painted flowers, trees or houses are on top of it. But the Origins-Update now reworks exactly this basis.

And this is important: Because exploring this vast galaxy is the core of No Man's Sky for me. I can build, craft, trade or fight in dozens of sandboxes, but nowhere else do I experience such an infinite universe to discover as vividly as here. If I suddenly encounter exotic creatures like flying giant beetles on my journey or if I can stand at a kilometer deep abyss, then this amazement, this speechless enthusiasm from the first trailers finally returns.

And Origins promises me so much more: I want to dive deep into extraterrestrial oceans right now, witness lightning strikes, volcanic eruptions or meteorite showers somewhere in space, explore mysterious alien constructions and share all these wonders with my friends. For me, the developers have not only kept their promise from back then, but even exceeded expectations.

Horizon Zero Dawn

It took me 30 hours to play through Aloy's adventures, I wasn't bored for a single second. This is mainly due to the harmonious gameplay menu that the developers presented to me in their first open-world game and where many of the ingredients taste great to me. The combat system, for example, which can be wonderfully tactical against the machines and just feels great. The proper portion of stealth, which in many places gives me more than just blunt slapping on it. Add to that the elegant crafting, the reduced but very satisfying skill system and much more. All elements are wonderfully intertwined and the story, which ignites quite late, but is also very exciting, ensures that I always want to return to the world.

And oh, this world is beautiful! Maybe it's even the most beautiful one of this generation so far, which is quite extraordinary considering that guerrillas have only made straight tube shooters for almost a decade. Only those who have ever seen a herd of grasers in a sun-drenched valley, while a long-necked man struts around in the background, will be able to understand this fascination. I was completely blown away by Horizon, at least optically. The fantastic, multi-variant machines and the great contrast between old-fashioned and high-tech elements also give Horizon the originality and quality we love about open world games.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Equipped with just the bare necessities, you will roam the beautiful landscape of "Skyrim". The path leads you first to Flusswald, a small settlement surrounded by mountains. There, evil crooks have attacked the merchant Luken. He is surprised that the thieves only stole a golden jewel in the shape of a dragon's claw, but he doesn't want to let the matter rest and promises a reward to the one who returns the good piece. For dragon blood a nice job to start with. The villains flee with their loot to a nearby ancient ruin, which turns out to be a full-grown dungeon with undead and huge spiders. When Dovahkiin enters the scene, it quickly becomes clear that the claw is more than just a piece of jewelry ...

"Skyrim" looks damn good! The great look shows especially in the outdoor areas: The huge living game world fascinates at all corners and ends: Gusts of wind whirl up snow, plants move gently in the wind. It is one of the few games in which the vegetation also deserves its name. Unlike in "Oblivion", there are no computer-created landscapes - level designers created the entire game environment by hand. A lot of work went into animating the game character. If you prefer the shoulder perspective, you can follow your hero, who moves realistically. Of course, like its predecessor, "Skyrim" can also be experienced from the first-person perspective.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is an epic not only in terms of the size of the game world, which covers the entire western Aegean Sea from Kefalonia to Lesbos in the north and from Messinia to Pefki in the south. Above all, the story, which at some point spans three cleverly connected strands and convincingly combines historical events with fictional occurrences in the manner typical of a series, is one of the best that Ubisoft has put down on paper about the perpetual battle between Templars and Assassins. The dialogue system based on many of the varied main and some side missions with decisions and sometimes far-reaching consequences is also responsible for the fact that you invest hour after hour. Other elements such as the highly respectable scenery, which cannot completely erase the weak points typical for open worlds, do their part to draw you further and further into the Peloponnesian War, against the background of which a thrilling family drama takes place, but where you have very little influence on politics.

Mechanically, however, the progress made compared to Origins is far from being as great as narrative. Particularly in the early stages, despite improvements in detail, the conflicts play out almost identically to those in Ancient Egypt - although historically inappropriate even the shield was removed. Inventory management and the basic standard missions are also known and can be further improved. One of the most popular mechanics from Black Flag returns with the seafaring and intensively staged battles, but it has similar problems as in the past: As in the Caribbean, there are too many sea creatures and especially ships in the Aegean Sea to make an impression.

But despite all the shortcomings such as clone NPCs, largely predictable AI or the seemingly artificial large-scale battles between Sparta and Athens, Odyssey can overcome many of these problems with its wide range of varied content and focus on a successful narrative. The next step towards a pure action role-playing game has been taken. And even if you are clearly behind The Witcher 3 in crucial details and Horizon Zero Dawn has to give way in one or the other point, the bottom line is that this is the best and most entertaining Assassin's Creed since Brotherhood.

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt

This role-playing game achieves a tremendous atmospheric density in an open world, because it not only stages the spectacular and combative, but also hits the quiet tones and rewards attentive exploration. It impresses with its enormously high quest quality as well as narrative class including direct and later effective consequences, which always surprise or horrify you. Yes, there are counterpoints: The fact that there is no reaction to theft in people's homes is even more annoying to me than the stupid static of human enemies under fire. The menu design is insipid, the font is too small, the dialogues are not particularly nested, the inventory quickly becomes overcrowded and there are small technical quirks.

The Poles not only succeed very well in showing a medieval fantasy world, which is marked by military and social conflicts and is full of moral contradictions. Added to this is this almost astonishing devotion in the staging of village milieus as well as the great city of Novigrad. It is simply fun to walk very slowly through this world. When you've had enough of it, you plunge into the next dramatic quest, in which you decide the fate of tragic figures, or you chase mythical monsters into dreamlike scenery. And not over ten, but a hundred hours.

Kingdom Come Deliverance

The highlight of Kingdom Come is its beautiful game world, in which one postcard panorama chases the next: Graphically implemented with tremendous attention to detail, the open game environment shines with enormous foresight, sweeping landscapes, credible forests, dense vegetation, chic water and a magnificent lighting including harmonious day and night changes! No less impressive is the convincing architecture of the castles, courtyards and villages, which we only explore from the first-person view - unfortunately there is no chaser view.

Yes, there are elements like hunger and fatigue, crimes are punished and in the fights I often end up in the grass faster than I can swear about it. But once you have wormed your way in a little, you quickly realize that there is nothing bad behind many of the mechanisms. Then I could finally get involved in the wonderfully designed game world and the motivating quests! Even the sometimes awkward combat system doesn't change that much, even though I had hoped for more of it.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Already on the consoles Red Dead Redemption 2 is a very, very nice game. Especially on PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X - the stronger versions of the current console generation - the look is fantastic. The view wanders far and wide over the huge landscape, which with lots of vegetation and wild animals almost looks like the real thing.

Speaking of animals: What GTA 5 his cars are Red Dead Redemption 2 his horses. And apparently the designers have taken the same care with fur and mane as they have with bodywork and chrome. Whether it's the bridle, saddle or bed roll tied behind it - everything is brimming with details and thus contributes to the unique atmosphere of the game.

What is true for the horses is even more true for the characters: hair, stubble and skin impurities give the people in the game a dirty, real look - no comparison to the plastic faces in many other games.

Even the last mute extra cowboy in the saloon of the Prairie Coffee Valentine is still designed with a lot of love for detail and often even has his own dubbing voice - even if he only says "Howdy" for a short time. So the presentation is bombastic, but it was already like this on console. The improvements lie, as so often with PC implementations, in the detail.

Death Stranding

More interesting is the crossing of the unruly nature. Whether it is extensive meadows, snow-covered peaks or sandy volcanic areas: The most fun we had was planning our route from bunker to bunker, avoiding the rain of time that damaged our freight containers, and taking a break by a raging river. This is partly necessary, because some of our cargoes have enormous dimensions and the tugging is accordingly exhausting.

Fortunately Bridges can stack containers, boxes and consorts relatively high on his back. However, the higher the tower, the more likely we are to stumble and have to lean in one direction or the other by holding the left or right mouse button to keep our balance. Here, message and mechanics go well together: Transporting a package of 100 kilograms of ceramic tiles past enemies, over mountain peaks and through rivers is exhausting and tiring. Just as exhausting and tiring as bringing people together who have lost faith in the community.

It is rather the feeling of building highways with other parcel carriers on the one hand and trotting through rugged landscapes on my own on the other. Usually I find it difficult when nothing happens in open world titles. But here it fits and makes up the lonely charm of the game.

Maybe you are also interested in the TOP10 Survival Games which also have great Worlds and cool landscapes.

You may also like...

Leave a Reply