Open-world gameshave been “hot” sinceGTA 3arrived on the scene, and the genre’s relevance and popularity have only strengthened since the mid-2000s. Nowadays, each month produces at least one major project that drops players into a massive map and allows them to go wild. 2025 alone has hadAssassin’s Creed Shadows,Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, andXenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, whileDeath Stranding 2,Ghost of Yotei,Mafia: The Old Country,Dune: Awakening, andDonkey Kong Bananzaare expected to launch by the end of the year.
While some genre fatigue has set in over the last few years, the 2020s have generally been fantastic for open-world releases. The decade has supplied both quantity and quality, and there are enough games to keep players engaged indefinitely. Let’s take a look at thebest 2020s open-world games.
Some criteria:
Honorable Mentions
The 2020s have had so many memorable open-world games, an honorable mentions section is required.
Although not as recognizable of a name as some other2020s open-world games,Echo Point Novais an absolute delight that should be a must-play for anyone craving frantic but controlled FPS action. Coming from the same developer behind theunderratedSevered Steel,Echo Point Novaessentially transposes that game’s fluid movement into a sandbox.
While not devoid of a story, the campaign mostly leaves players to their own devices, letting them loose on an island-based world where every small biome can be reached, regardless of how far away it seems.Echo Point Nova’s combat is intense, satisfying, and stylish, and the gameplay maintains a ridiculously quick pace that is unusual for an open-world project. The game even has 4-player co-op.
Frankly, Playground Games has yet to produce anything but pure gold when it comes toForza Horizon. Each entry represented theopen-world racing genreat its best during its era, and the fifth entry will be extremely difficult to beat. The game delivers over-the-top gameplay, events, accessible controls, and a ludicrous roster of unlockable cars across a wide range of classes, along with building upon the four-season system introduced inForza Horizon 4.
While someone’s favorite game might be dictated by their preference in location,Forza Horizon 5’sinterpretation of Mexico arguably resulted in the most diverse map in the franchise. The open-world is huge but not exhausting, and its activities are consistently fun due to the pitch-perfect arcade gameplay.
Horizon Zero Dawn’s success pretty much guaranteed that a follow-up would be put into production, andHorizon Forbidden Westlargely succeeded in living up to those high standards. Admittedly, the sequel does not quite have the original title’s novelty or sense of mystery, but it manages to improve nearly everything else. With more weapons, improved AI, and a few new enemy types,the combat offers more variety and depth, and battles against massive mecha dinosaurs are still exhilarating. Sadly, encounters with human enemies are still not that great, but they are also slightly better than inHZD.
Taking Aloy and players to another part of the fallen world,HFW’s map is impressively massive, to the point that it can be overwhelming at times. However, the game constantly shakes things up to ensure there is always something new to experience, despite otherwise maintaining a fairly standard open-world formula.
Open-world games are ultimately rare, but due to so many of them being relatively similar and usually requiring significant investment, they can seem like they are a dime-a-dozen. A lot of positive things can be said aboutSatisfactory, but arguably its greatest success is that there are almost no other open-world games like it. After spending half a decade in early access, Coffee Stain finally released version 1 toward theend of 2024, and the time and effort spent on the project completely paid off.
Satisfactorytakes place on an alien planet, with players being charged by their company to set up a factory that can mine for resources. While the sense scale starts relatively small, things expand with every passing hour, and the game does a fantastic job of making players feel like they can create almost anything that they set their minds to. Honestly,Satisfactoryis primarily for people craving a factory sim rather than an open-world, but the latter is present through first-person exploration sections. This element is not bad either, even if it is not as addictive as setting up a factory’s pipelines.
Building on the success ofFF7 Remake,Rebirthis the definition of “bigger is better.” Unlike its predecessor’s fairly linear campaign, the sequel opted to go full open-world, delivering by far the most complete and expansive look into this universe. Along with incorporating the typical high-quality cutscenes associated with Square Enix’s franchise,FF7 Rebirthfeatures multiple vast regions that are just begging to be explored, all of which look great and are stuffed with content.
Be it Queen’s Blood, side quests, optional boss fights, or Chocobo races, players pretty much always have too many things to do. Now,Rebirth’s open-world content does, at times, seem to prioritize quantity over quality, but the latter is not completely absent either. The main narrative is also great, and it is backed by acomplicated but satisfying combat systemthat benefits greatly from having a versatile party of characters.
WhileYakuzais the best open-world franchise forgames based in modern Japan,Ghost of Tsushimais the definitive project for those yearning to take a historical trip into the country’s past. Sucker Punch’s PS4 swansong casts players as Jin, a samurai who goes into hiding after his home, Tsushima Island, is taken over by Mongols. Although some liberties are taken, the story is based on legitimate history, and the game goes to great lengths to deliver an authentic experience.
An argument could be made thatGhost of Tsushimais themost beautiful open-world game of the 2020s, at least in terms of environmental presentation. Despite incorporating quite a few conventional design decisions associated with the genre,GOTemphasizes immersion above nearly everything, including one of the smarter guidance mechanics in the genre. The combat is designed around managing crowds and improves substantially as more skills are unlocked and when played on the highest difficulty setting.
Focusing solely on open-world IPs,Yakuza/Like a Dragonhas had the most fruitful decade so far. Since 2020, the franchise has droppedYakuza: Like a Dragon,Lost Judgment,Like a Dragon: Ishin!,Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name,Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, andLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. That is a game per year, a ridiculous return for any genre, let alone open-world. Sure, not all these releases are masterpieces, but they are all good and worth playing.
Infinite Wealthis, by far, the biggestLike a Dragongame of all time. Featuring two playable characters and three cities/maps, the 2024 sequel manages to deliver quantity without sacrificing quality. While recycling some content,Infinite Wealthis primarily set in Hawaii, an area that is not only new for the franchise but also for the gaming industry in general. The narrative is long, dense, and periodically brilliant, while the turn-based combat improves upon the rock-solid foundation set byYakuza: Like a Dragon.
Warhorse created something special withKingdom Come: Deliverance, a hard-as-nails medieval RPG that completely commits to simulating an era-appropriate life. As great as that game is, it is the definition of niche, and some people might struggle to get through its opening few hours.
Somehow, Warhorse accomplished the impossible with the second game. The developer succeeded in enhancing accessibility without sacrificing anything that made the original game so captivating to a specific audience.Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2should be studied as the ideal example of how to create the ultimate sequel. Even moving beyond comparisons to the first game,KCD2is one of the decade’s most gorgeous, ambitious, and self-assured releases of any genre, a title that knows exactly what it wants to be and believes in that vision.
Breath of the Wildwas among the best open-world games of the 2010s, and its successor could be argued as the current decade’s crowning achievement. While set in the same general areas asBOTW,Tears of the Kingdomadds a ridiculous amount of content, including two vast new areas that exist parallel to the main map.The Depthsand Sky Islands can be somewhat frustrating at first, but they both get better as they are explored further, particularly the former.
LikeBOTW,TOTKencourages players to go out into the unknown and discover. See something interesting in the distance? Well, grab a horse and start working towards it, although Link might need to prepare some food or find weather-appropriate outfits to make the journey. Also, the game introduces an incredibly versatile building system designed to inspire and reward player creativity, allowing them to design all sorts of technology that facilitates exploration.
FromSoftware spent the entirety of the 2010s perfecting the Souls formula, creating some of the best 3D Metroidvanias of all time. Whilegames likeDark SoulsandBloodborneoffered quite a bit of freedom, they were not open-world, nor did it seem like their gameplay loop would be a natural fit for a sandbox. Yet,Elden Ringproved that the Soulslike concept could not only adapt to an open-world but also excel within it.
Set in The Lands Between,Elden Ringgives players enough direction to have a general idea of where to go next for the main quest but otherwise leaves them to their own devices. Taking some ideas fromBOTW,Elden Ringhas arguably the most addictive sense of discovery in the open-world genre, where every step could lead to a surprise boss fight, catacomb, or valuable loot. While not particularly beautiful, the game nails its atmosphere, delivering an experience that can be haunting, intense, and even silly. The sandbox aspect is pretty great, butElden Ringalso caters to players who crave more traditional level design by incorporating a few major dungeons that are reminiscent ofDark Souls.
