Ghostrunner 2

Don’t let the fast-paced motorcycle sections, larger levels or cyberspace fool you – Ghostrunner 2’s Jack is still very much the cyber-ninja bad-ass as in the previous game. Deflecting attacks, slicing through foes, parkouring through neon-lit environments, and one-hit kills are still part of the gameplay loop. The new abilities and rogue-like mode further add to the experience, even if there’s a lot of trial and error involved to progress forward.

DRAGON’S DOGMA 2

Most companies developing a long-awaited sequel to a relatively niche game that was considered too opaque by many who played it would have tried to streamline things to appeal to a broader crowd, but with Dragon’s Dogma 2, Capcom not only stuck to its original vision, it doubled down on it. Whether its through its lack of quest guidance, the by-design unreliability of its autosaves, its limited fast travel options, or mechanics such as Dragonsplague, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is all about creating engagement and memorable gameplay through an abundance of friction. Something like that can easily break an entire experience, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 thrives with that approach.

ELDEN RING

Elden Ring obviously had to be on this list. FromSoftware’s design ethos has always revolved around offering players as little guidance as possible, something that has enabled some truly excellent experiences over the years, and that same philosophy enables Elden Ring to craft a spectacular open world. Funnily enough, with its generous checkpointing and fast travel system, Elden Ring actually feels more hospitable than previous From titles in some regards, but the feeling of absolute freedom to go anywhere in its massive, gorgeous, intimidating world isn’t something that many other games have been able to nail in the past- or at least not nearly as well as Elden Ring did.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

Even if Tears of the Kingdom had been a cut-paste follow-up to Breath of the Wild, its open world experience would have merited it a place on this feature, with the whole point of these games being to place no restrictions and offer no suggestions to players about how they should play. All of that is, of course, present and accounted for in Tears– but this is also a significantly larger and more complex game than its predecessor, which makes it that much more impressive to see how well it balances its lack of handholding and how easy it is to grasp its core concepts. Tears of the Kingdom very rarely nudges you in any specific direction, because it has the confidence that no matter what you do, you’re going to end up having fun- and honestly, that confidence is well earned.

OUTER WILDS

Outer Wilds is obviously not your typical open world game, to the extent that labelling it as an open world experience almost feels inaccurate, even if it isn’t on paper. How it’s structured has a huge hand in that. As you go through multiple, repeated 22-minute loops and explore more and more of its mysterious space setting, the pieces of its narrative puzzle slowly start falling into place, and as its many fans will tell you, that’s only as effective as it is because the game goes out of its way to stay out of yours. You’re the master of your own destiny in Outer Wilds, and the game simply cannot be praised enough for how confidently it gives you the freedom to unravel its tantalizing mysterious however you wish.

SUBNAUTICA

In Subnautica, you crash on an alien planet and find yourself in hostile underwater locations. Your only objective? Survive, and find a way off-world. How you choose to do that in its oceanic setting is left up to you. Braving the surreal yet alien depths of its underwater locations, you constantly have an abundance of choices to make, with very little restrictions placed on you in where you want to go, what you want to explore, or what you want to build. The fact that the game manages to have the balanced progression curve that it does in spite of how hands-off it is for the vast majority of the times probably doesn’t get as much recognition as it should.

SONS OF THE FOREST

Sons of the Forest isn’t a friendly game. It’s setting is brutal and harsh, it’s brimming with nightmare-fuel of the scariest kind, and mechanically, it’s not afraid to piss you off with how opaque it can be from time to time. But though all of that could easily turn many people off, its harshness is exactly what makes Sons of the Forest the brilliant game that it is. Every second you spent on its cannibal-infested island is the definition of a waking nightmare, and the fact that the game makes no effort to make that experience even slightly pleasant for you only makes its terrifying offerings stand out in memory that much more.

OUTCAST

Easily one of the oldest games on this list, but a feature like this one would be incomplete without any mention of Outcast. Recognized as one of the first true open world games ever made, above all else, Outcast emphasized immersion. A lot of that came through the use of diegetic elements rather than the overreliance on UI that modern open world titles have become known for, which, paired with the game’s focus on player freedom and agency, made for a game that, for its time, felt truly limitless. Obviously, it had a great deal of technical issues (especially if you play it today, even if you’re playing the remaster), but from a design perspective, it was very much ahead of its time.

METRO EXODUS

Metro Exodus isn’t a fully open world game, instead letting players explore a series of larger, semi-open maps, but it uses its openness to great effect, because never does it feel like it’s inundating you with pointless, filler content, or offering excessive guidance in what to do, or how to do the things that you’re doing. That was, of course, the case with its predecessors as well, but Metro Exodus takes those elements and cranks them up to eleven. Conserving ammo, dealing with the dangers of a post-nuclear wasteland, finding your way around environments, and hell, even using a map- almost nothing in this game feels “gamified”, for the lack of a better word.

KENSHI

Kenshi is definitely a flawed game, especially from a technical perspective, but if you’re aching for an open world RPG sandbox that lets you have whatever kind of adventure you want, it’s well worth a look. The level of systemic and mechanical depth on offer here is almost staggering, to the extent that it can be a bit much in the early hours, but once you get to grips with it, it’s hard not to be taken aback by the agency that you as a player are constantly afforded in Kenshi.

ARK: SURVIVAL EVOLVED

Like a few other survival games (some of which are on this list), Ark: Survival Evolved prides itself on being almost entirely devoid of handholding, to the extent that it can be almost intimidating to completely new players jumping in for the first time. Its large, unforgiving open world is brimming with a variety of different challenging, and figuring out not only how to get past them, but even learning what those challenges are, is left entirely to you and your ability to explore, discover things, and improve at the game.

VALHEIM

Yep, another survival game- this is a a genre that lends itself incredibly well to the no-handholding philosophy. Valheim is admittedly a little bit more welcoming than a lot of the other games we’ve spoken about on this feature, but even so, when you first jump in, the game tells you awfully little about how to move things forward. Thankfully, everything from combat to exploration to gathering resources to building your bases is a hell of a lot of fun in Valheim, so even when the game’s being a bit opaque about what it wants you to do, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Developer Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 is an unforgettable adventure that can easily take up to a hundred hours even if you are rushing through the campaign. But the essence of the game lies in experimentation and seeing how your choices in not only the story but also the combat encounters play out in the long run. It’s a truly ambitious game with tons and tons of different possibilities, and there’s plenty of incentive to explore the game in depth which can take up to 1000 hours if not more.

Monster Hunter World

Monster Hunter World has established its reputation as a top tier action RPG that consistently delivers years after its launch. While the gameplay loop essentially revolves around collecting the proper gear before diving headfirst into a battle with a monster and doing it all over again, the sheer variety of the enemies and the engaging progression loop is what keeps it all enjoyable right through to the end. In addition to an already meaty base game, you also have plenty of DLC and the Icebourne expansion to extend your playtime even longer.

No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky might not have started life on the best foot forward, but Hello Games was able to turn the game’s fates around with a steady stream of meaningful content updates through the years. No Man’s Sky currently features an insane amount of planets to explore, wildlife to find, and bases to build which can easily eat up thousands upon thousands of hours thanks to a strong procedural generation system underpinning every moment of the gameplay.

Fallout 76

Talking about games that turned their fates around for the better, we have Fallout 76. Through its consistent efforts, Bethesda has turned this live service game from a massive failure to arguably the best way to experience the franchise. There are just swaths of content available at your disposal to keep you entertained for hours and hours upon end, and a constant slew of new updates make sure that Fallout 76 is a game worth sticking around with in the long term.

Terraria

Re-Logic’s Terraria offers players a sandbox filled with virtually unlimited possibilities, and its tagline of the world being your canvas stands true in every sense. You can explore the randomly generated worlds at your leisurely pace, craft all sorts of things with the many resources at your disposal, and fight a wide array of bosses peppered among a whole host of other activities. It’s not a really complex game but the engaging gameplay mechanics make you want to keep playing for hours and hours on end.

The Elder Scrolls Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim was released well over a decade ago, but it continues to serve as a shining example of how to really capture the sense of thrill and adventure in an open-world setting. Set against the backdrop of a large kingdom adorned with mysterious caves, towering peaks, and lush jungles, Skyrim presents a compelling opportunity at every turn with loads of quests peppered throughout the map. In addition to the staggering amount of content itself, the game offers plenty of choices in terms of the gameplay ranging from different weapons to different skills and builds, and experimenting with that can easily eat up a ton of time.

Forza Horizon 5

Playground Games’ latest Forza Horizon 5 is a virtual playground for fans of car lovers. It’s a really enjoyable game on even a basic level with its quality driving mechanics and huge open world, but what makes it worth sticking around till the end is the quality and the variety of content on offer. You can take part in all sorts of events and races scattered across the map, and the progression systems always make sure to generously reward you for the effort – which can become a driving motivation to spend hundreds upon hundreds of hours.

Elden Ring

FromSoftware’s Elden Ring is the game that has catapulted the Soulslike genre to the mainstream with its impressive open world, and it’s precisely the reason why the game is on this list. The Lands Between is chock full of secrets ranging from hidden dungeons to abandoned fortresses to an entirely optional underground realm, and the fact that none of it is presented to you on a silver platter makes the exploration all the more engaging. Beating it alone can take up to a hundred hours, but seeing all the game has to offer while experimenting with different weapons can cost you more than a thousand hours without an inch of boredom.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t an extremely long game in terms of content; beating the main story will only cost you a hundred hours at maximum. But the beauty lies within the immaculately detailed open world, exploring each nook and cranny at a leisurely pace. Rockstar has employed a bunch of subtle design tricks and systems to reduce the pace of gameplay, and the game becomes all the more rewarding when you take every opportunity to smell the roses and soak in the sunsets – and that alone can skyrocket your playtime by an exponential margin.

RimWorld

RimWorld thrusts players into a sci-fi world inhabited by colonists and space pirates, and tasks you to forge your own destiny in a world wrought by all sorts of dangers and threats. At the heart of RimWorld lies an intelligent AI storyteller who carves out a tale based on the decisions that you make throughout your journey, and that level of unpredictability is what ultimately makes it hard to put dow

Stardew Valley

Eric Barone’s Stardew Valley is an innately therapeutic experience where the fun comes from seeing your farm transform from its humble beginnings to a full-blown mechanized magnum opus, and that journey can take you anywhere from just a few dozen hours to hundreds upon hundreds of hours depending on your personal goals.

Factorio

Factorio is a game about building Factories, and while it doesn’t sound all that exciting at first glance – it is anything but. You start out simple by building humble manufacturing plants, but the game soon ramps up the intensity by tasking you to build towering monuments of capitalism and use your intelligence to optimize the manufacturing flow and cut down costs wherever possible. It has a steep learning curve to its many aspects, but Factorio is definitely worth a try if you are looking for an engaging game to really sink your teeth into.

Destiny 2

Bungie has been doing a fantastic job with Destiny 2, and it’s one of the very few live service games that have managed to not only survive but consistently thrive in the modern AAA gaming space. And a lot of that could be credited to the immensely satisfying gameplay, a compelling progression loop, and interesting world design that will keep you coming back for more with each new expansion. It’s a game overflowing with swaths of content to the point that the developer is vaulting off old content, but what’s here will serve you well for thousands of hours and well beyond that.

Escape From Tarkov

Escape From Tarkov is a first-person shooter with some pretty brutal shooting mechanics, and despite the game having a rather simplistic suite of game modes – the fun comes from dynamically creating strategies for and applying lessons from past runs to make it to the finish line. There’s quite a steep learning curve to Escape From Tarkov, and add up an even higher skill ceiling – and it becomes a game that’s worthy of your undivided attention.

Kenshi

Lo Fi Games’ Kenshi is a really ambitious RPG where you get to create a custom character and forge your own destiny in an open world that spans over 800 square kilometers. Kenshi offers a ton of freedom to build out your character how you see fit, make critical decisions in quests, and much more. The primitive graphics hide a ton of depth beneath them, and fans of flexible RPGs should definitely give this one a try.

Gears 5

Compared to Gears of War 4, which simultaneously felt like a throwback and a new beginning, Gears 5 is a big step forward. The world is collapsing under the scourge of the Swarm and Cait must ultimately confront the COG’s secrets and overcome her past. This journey takes her from gorgeous snow-covered landscapes to the sandstorm-ridden Vasgar desert with new enemies, side objectives and more as the series’ signature cover-based gameplay still proves immensely entertaining.

Dark Souls Remastered

Combat in FromSoftware games always has a straightforward explanation – hit this button to attack, this button to dodge etc. However, the greater nuances like stamina management, invincibility frames while rolling, the significance of certain stats and what to build towards take more time to understand. That’s not even considering the design of bosses in games like Dark Souls Remastered or the order to go to certain areas given the game’s world design. Suffice it to say but if this or the original was your first Dark Souls, it was a struggle.