Summary
Video games used to be small and simple, a collection of levels or stages divided up throughout the experience. But having games with vast, open worlds to explore is a concept developers have constantly been trying to push the boundaries of ever since the early days of gaming.
Today, there is a wholewide range of open worlds to experience, each having its own different themes, time periods, and art style. From the dry plains and small towns of the wild-west, all the way to the busy streets and towering, high-tech skyscrapers of a cyberpunk city. Suffice to say, there is no shortage of expansive open worlds to venture out into, and players have been given some truly fantastic examples over the years.
Games with procedurally generated maps won’t be considered, and only one game per franchise will be allowed.
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flagis commonly held in high regard by fans of the series as one of, if not the best, it has to offer. A major component of what made this title stand apart from the otherAssassin’s Creedgames before it was the new ideas it brought to the table, especially with its heavy focus on ship exploration.
This time around, Black Flaghad a pretty unique theme and feeling forthe franchise, allowing players to quite literally take on the role of a pirate named Edward Kenway in the 1700s. Now, with the ability to freely traverse the vast, open waters of the Caribbean Sea and its huge variety of different tropical islands, both large and small. Containing the three main cities of Havana, Nassau, and Kingston, based on their real-world counterparts. The new locale made the game feel much larger this time around. It was a breath of fresh air for the series, and the map worked in tandem with the new ship gameplay elements, making it feel like the most open-endedAssassin’s Creedtitle at the time.
Far Cry 3was when Ubisoft seemed to really hit the nail on the head for the series and established the well-known gameplay loop that all of its other games have adopted since. This time around, instead of the wide-open African plains featured in the previousFar Cry 2, players are dropped into the bright and tropical Rook Islands.
Thought to be located somewhere in Indonesia, the cluster of islands features dense, lush forests, white, sandy beaches, and, well, wildly violent pirates and mercenaries looking to terrorize its inhabitants.Far Cry 3was already a gorgeous-looking game back in 2012, and the Rook Islands were definitely a big part of that. The map is chock-full of things to do: raiding enemy outposts, hunting animals, and discovering long-lost relics, just to name a few examples. Not to mention, the islands are also home to one of the most memorable villains in gaming,Vaas Montenegro. Even well over a decade since the game’s release in 2012, fans still hold the third installment and its map in high regard as some of the best the series has to offer.
WhenGrand Theft Auto: San Andreasfirst hit store shelves back in 2004, it was pretty clear Rockstar Games wasn’t playing around. Now, being the third ofGTA’sPS2 installments, it was slated to be the company’s most expansive and ambitious project yet, which is easily shown in the design of its map.
Instead of focusing on one city or area like all the previous titles,San Andreasbrought players an entire state to explore this time around, containing three massive cities, each distinct from one another. There’s Los Santos and its gang-controlled neighborhoods, San Fierro’s rolling hills, and Las Venturas with its brightly-lit strip of casinos. Even between its main cities, the state of San Andreas has many other small towns sitting in between, like its many different counties and large sprawling deserts.
Aside from its fun story, huge map, and many things to do, what makes the open-world of San Andreas so impressive is the fact that it was all running on a PlayStation 2, which is still mind-blowing to this day. And while the map did see a great revamp forGrand Theft Auto 5in 2013, the original version of the map has to take the cake due to just how revolutionary it was for its time.
Cyberpunk 2077might’ve gotten off to a rough start upon its initial launch in 2020, a story everyone knows of all too well at this point. Alas, CD Projekt Red has put in work over the years byvastly improving the gameand introducing even more depth to its map location of Night City.
Located in Northern California, Night City is an expansive futuristic metropolis, filled with large tech corporations, violent gangs, and all manner of other corrupt entities. Surely, it’s a bit of a depressing backdrop in many ways, but undeniably intriguing in its own right. Divided into seven different sectors, Night City has a ton of variety to offer in exploring past the average high-rise buildings. For example, the City Center is home to large businesses and corporations, whereas the Badlands on the outskirts of the map is a barren desert, mostly inhabited by the Nomads.
Cyberpunk 2077isn’t the first game to take on the futuristic, tech-forward theme, but it’s one of the first experiences gamers have been able to have with the cyberpunk universe in a full open world, making it that much more interesting to explore its many bright, neon lights and dark, gritty corners.
Based on the novel series of the same name,Metro Exodusmarked a big shift in design for the game series. Theprevious two titleswere much more linear, mostly taking place underground within Moscow’s vast subway lines, with only a handful of sections taking place on the surface.
ButExoduscompletely changed the formula this time around, not only by having a much more open-world focus but also by taking place almost entirely on the surface instead of underground. Players will travel across depictions of real-world parts of Russia and Kazakhstan, along with their group of Spartan companions, via a steam locomotive dubbed “The Aurora”. Split into multiple levels,Exoduscontains three major open-world areas: The Volga, the Caspian, and the Taiga. While at the same time keeping the same pacing and flow intact by interspersing more linear levels to convey its story. Each of these areas has its own unique season and overall theme, containing different weapons, enemies, and even some tough moral decisions to make.
And, of course, doing what the series does in making the experience of exploring these areas uniquely eerie and sometimes downright terrifying. Not to mention, the game’s graphics this time around are absolutely fantastic, especially making its open-world areas shine even more.
The Witcher 3: Wild Huntis a game that certainly needs no introduction by now, sitting alongsideCyberpunk 2077as one of CD Projekt Red’s most famous titles. Based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s novel series of the same name, the action RPG has seen widespread critical acclaim since its 2015 release, even seeing an updated release for next-gen consoles in 2022.
Simply referred to as “The Continent”, the game’s sprawling and detailed map is partly to thank for this high praise. The world inThe Witcher 3is split into six different areas, each packing in so much unique detail and lore from Sapkowski’s original book series. Interesting characters to interact with, quests to take on, and areas to discover, just to name a few. It’s almost hard to know where to start when hopping in for the first time with just how much there is to do and see, making it easy to see whyWild Hunthas become so widely loved by its fans.
Red Dead Redemption 2has been touted for providing one of the most immersive open-world experiences in gaming since its release back in 2018. Due in large part tothe massive, incredibly detailed mapRockstar created for the game.
Dropping players into the boots of Arthur Morgan, the game takes place across multiple US States around the tail end of the American frontier in the late 1800s.RDR2’s map is absolutely huge, being made up of many different areas, but that’s not even the best part. The main selling point of its locale is the sheer amount of detail Rockstar Games managed to pack into it. Even the most seemingly insignificant locations have some sort of hidden story behind them.
Whether it’s the snow-covered ghost town of Colter, the muddy streets of Valentine, or the wet swamps of Lemoyne, nearly all the areas featured inRed Dead Redemption 2arechock-full of little details. Some of which are even still being discovered by fans to this day, making its beautifully-crafted open-world an easy pick for one of the top spots.
