Something like TOTK/BOTW/Horizon?
Preferably 3rd person too. Idk but I just don’t get the same feeling in FPS+Open world combo.
But if the game is good Idm 3rd person too
Maybe the Witcher 3 it’s one of my favorite games of all time and it’s on sale a lot.
Definitely the best for having believable, dense and bustling cities. While the scenery and nature in most open world games is great, a lot struggle with the cities not being super small and also boring. Where as in the Witcher 3, there is whole story arcs solely in Novigrad and it feels like a place that people would live in.
Witcher 3 is a really solid choice.
Witcher 3 is a fun game and an acclaimed one at that, so the following is just my personal experience. Not taking away anything from it… but playing a superhuman hunk constantly bumping into sexy young witches thirsty for you felt to me very, very cheesy.
RDR2
I absolutely loved RDR2, but it’s definitely not for everyone. Half of the people I know stopped playing because of the slow nature of the game, but it felt meaningful and was a nice change of pace. Great game to get immersed in, if that’s your thing.
RDR2 is a masterpiece. I “finished” it in the sense that I completed the story, but I maybe hit 30% of the extra stuff and side quests. I could dive back into it for a couple of hundred more hours before I got anywhere near completing it.
Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Daggerfall (😎)
Nothing wrong with that answer! Skyrim can even be played in 3rd person, and there are mods to make 3rd person combat more satisfying if you get it on PC.
I loved Death Stranding – it’s weird, beautiful, and the soundtrack is incredible (RIP Low Roar) but it’s kind of an acquired taste and you have to be cool with the “hiking simulator” aspect.
Might need to try Death Stranding. I’ve always thought its some weird game carrying around packs and never bothered lol.
I wish Death Stranding was even more hiking simulator and less ghosts
OP is looking for 3rd person
Geocaching can be 3rd person if you’re small enough to ride someone else around like master blaster.
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Wear Android AR goggles.
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Wear helmet.
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Attach selfie stick to helmet pointing backwards; counterweight on front if required for balance.
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Stick webcam on end of selfie stick facing self from behind.
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Fire up camera app on Android, select webcam as source.
My favorite game: Nausea Simulator
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If you’re into open world sandbox RPGs, you can’t get more open world sandboxy than Kenshi! It’s all third person point of view and you sort of manage a whole squad opposed to a single person. There is a whole base building mechanic, there’s a tech tree that you can research through, you can create and sell your own weapons, you can do you trading runs in between cities, you could be a lone Ronin wandering the desert sands, or a religious zealot being a xenophobic jerk who hate robot people (there are robot people), aliens (mhmm, them too) and women (ofc)! The possibilities are endless, especially since there’s no actual storyline! Oh, there’s a bunch of little Easter eggs about how the world (def not Earth, too many moons) got to this point but you’re not gonna spawn in a dungeon being pointed at the big bad (is the slave start in Rebirth canon? I have so many mods I’ve forgotten) you’re probably just gonna appear in the middle of the canyon, and then make the mistake of fighting goats, but the goats are stronger than you, so they beat you into unconsciousness, and while you’re lying there, waiting to become conscious once more some bandits rob you and a slaver comes by and picks you up and sells you into slavery. It’s a good time I promise. Oh, but be warned, there’s a lot of skills and it’s kind of grindy, a little like a single player MMO. It’s great and I love it.
Elden Ring
I feel like that’s significantly harder than any of the games OP mentioned. Although, my friend says he enjoys it.
Keep in mind that there are different schools of thought on what makes a good open world game.
I love exploration and discovery without much guidance, so point-of-interest markers and repetitive copy/paste events (as found in Horizon and Witcher games) bore me. Responsive controls and good user interface are also important to me, so Red Dead Redemption 2 was a miserable experience that drove me away, despite the great environments and character building. Some people consider those games masterpieces, though, so I have to assume their priorities are different from mine.
Subnautica is an outstanding example of what appeals to me. Beautiful world, unconfined exploration, excellent soundtrack, a story told through discoveries rather than exposition, multiple ways to accomplish things, and a departure from the usual “kill everything” approach to success. Fair warning: it is a first-person game.
Skyrim shares some of these strengths and can work pretty well in third person with mods like True Directional Movement and TK Dodge RE. Be aware that modding Skyrim is a deep rabbit hole that can quickly become a full time job. One way to solve this is using the Wabbajack tool to semi-automatically install a well-tested mod collection.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits looks like it shares some of its design with Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom, which is encouraging. I haven’t played it yet.
Modding Skyrim is a rabbit hole that leads straight into the Mines of Moria. And the Balrog has opened an adult bookstore.
Ironically skyrim is its own open world sandbox game
Ghost of Tsushima was really good!
I wish it would come to pc
Agreed! The fluidity of the controls and the overall ambiance of this game really hooked me.
If you haven’t checked out S.T.A.L.K.E.R. it is a really great world to get lost in. It is split into larger open areas so not seamless but for me doesn’t detract from the sense of living and surviving in the world.
Big yes on this one. Especially if you include the mods that that combine the maps of all three games. It becomes an amazing open world survival experience.
Loved Shin Megami Tensei V on the Switch. If you’re into Persona, other SMT games, or Pokemon, you might like it. It features turn-based combat with open world exploration and quests. I think it starts out a little slow so if you try it, maybe give it a chance for a few hours before giving up on it. I love how atmospheric it is too, very easy to get sucked into.
Pre-cata WoW
The best games which feature an open world and the best games for their open world are a very different list, imo.
For example, the Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk share a really awesome story-based rpg that happens to play in an open world but I don’t necessarily believe their open world is among the best in the industry.
I’d probably have to say that the Witcher 3 is my favorite game which features an open world and my favorite open world in any game has got to be Terraria. You could argue it’s a different class of game, but I feel that the tendency the game has to force you to explore and then introduce new stuff to the world that allows you to re-explore the same places is a really excellent take on the open world formula. Terraria really has very excellent exploration and reexploration which I think are the hallmarks of open world games. Not just inviting you to get to know the world, but changing it over time and asking you to get to know it again.
Outward absolutely nails the sense of adventure and discovery. It’s pretty low budget and janky but it is probably the best open world RPGs I’ve played in recent years
Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen is fun to play, although a bit more in the vein of classical RPG than what you’ve mentioned. Plus there’s a new DD game coming out soonish, so if you enjoy it you’ll have a new title to enjoy soon.
