The best open world games provide a sense of limitless freedom, with developers finding cleverer ways to mask the boundaries of their game worlds. As the open world genre has matured, side content has become much more enveloping, player choice has grown to have a more significant consequence on the world, with developers chucking in surprising elements that make these worlds feel like they’re alive. These 15 open worlds are that continually give reason to keep exploring long after the story’s done.
Cyberpunk 2077
Stuffing an open world with overabundant icons and waypoints usually hinders immersion, but Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City is such a superbly designed game, that constant signposting doesn’t affect the experience. It’s dense, labyrinthian, a steaming cesspool, gorgeous and bleak; its a city with many mysteries. Night City teaches us that regardless of cyber-genetic augmentation, its citizens are still people with thoughts and feelings. The same can be said of V, who through companions met during Night City’s plentiful and varied main missions often displays tenderness and empathy beyond their chrome. How V resolves side quests and the choices they make, it all impacts the conclusion to their story too.
