Greatest Open World Game

If you were making a list of "the greatest open world games" what would you put on that list? I would offer up:

Red Dead

MGS V

BOTW

Saints Row 3

Grand Theft Auto 4

Far Cry 3

Shadow of the Colossus

No More Heroes

No, don't make me do this, I'm such an open world fanatic, it's too hard. It's basically guaranteed I will at least think a game is ok if it's open world, even when it has issues.

Order doesn't matter here, but my list of top 10 I can think of now would probably be:

GTA V

Saints Row 3,

Skyrim (+Morrowind, Oblivion),

Dragon's Dogma,

Red Dead Redemption,

Mass Effect 2 (it might not be seamless but I still consider it open world + ME1),

Witcher 3 ,

Fallout New Vegas (3,4 too),

Horizon: Zero Dawn,

NFS: Underground 2 (+Carbon)

There's so many more titles, and I'm just super thankful for the existence of open-worlds/sandboxes. It's the best genre (obviously genres are dynamic these days so lots of open world games might also be RPGs etc.), and I know a lot of gamers say they are fatigued with it, but I never felt that way and I doubt I ever will.

San Andreas

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 count? or do loading screens mean it's not open-world?

Arkham Knight

FFXV

Oblivion

Skyrim would be #1 for me and by a pretty wide margin

Would also have AC Brotherhood, Morrowind, AC Origins, GTA V, Red Dead, Far Cry 4, STALKER Call of Pripyat(I know it's not the most loved in the series but it's the one that hooked me) and Forza Horizon 3.

Fallout 4 might be on the edge of that list, I go back and forth on that game. Same with Dragon Age Inquisition and Watch Dogs 2

Elite, Pitfall II, The Legend of Zelda, Daggerfall, Shadowrun (1994), Dark Souls

I sort of have 2 answers to 2 slightly different interpretations of this question. The first being best open world in a game and the second being best game that has an open world.

Breath of the Wild

Far and away the best implementation of an open world in any game I've played. I have issues with other elements of that game, specifically the more Zelda oriented aspects, but the open world is far and away the best thing about that game. The construction of the world, the way it promotes and rewards exploration, the way content is integrated into the world rather than the world being a backdrop for filler content, and just the way the world itself is tied into the overall design of the game, it's truly a masterpiece of a game world.

The Witcher 3

My favorite game that just so happens to be an open world game. Don't get me wrong, the world is incredibly well realized and filled with meaningful and interesting content, but the game's open world nature isn't why it's one of my top 3 favorite games of all time. The story, characters, quest design, writing, and realization of Sapkowski's universe are why I love the game so much, the fact that it has a great and thoughtfully put together game world is just a bonus on top of everything else I love about the game.

Other Open World Games I love

• Horizon Zero Dawn
• Elder Scrolls series
• GTA V
• Fallout New Vegas
• Dragon Age Inquisition*

*I would say I enjoy Dragon Age Inquisition in spite of its open world, not because of it, but it's still technically an open world game I really enjoyed.

The Witcher 3 is one of my favorite games but probably not for its open world. There's just so many of those Skellige POIs that I can take...

I'd probably go with Fallout: New Vegas as my number 1. GTA: San Andreas and Oblivion coming in close.

In no particular order: Red Dead Redemption, San Andreas, GTA V, New Vegas, Oblivion, Skyrim, Just Cause 2, Breath of the Wild, Witcher 3, Assassin's Creed Origins. I like open world games a lot.

Since it hasn't been mentioned: SLEEPING DOGS! Love that game. One of the few I bothered to 100%.

Mount and Blade: Warband

Minecraft

Sword of the Samurai

Elite 1 - 4

Gothic 1 - 3

GTA: San Andreas

The Witcher 3

Tempest

MGS:V

TES 1 - 5

Oh boy, here we go. Tough decision time.

Xenoblade Chronicles X has some of the most stunning world design I've seen, Towering archways, wide open fields of snow, giant canopy of trees to run on top of. This game does things that no other open world game does, and it does it in a mech, so hell yeah! Xenoblade X!

The Assassin's Creed games have some ridiculous attention to detail. My Grandfather just got back from a trip to Italy and could immediately tell what city I was in while playing Assassin's Creed 2. Those games don't always hit, but I'm constantly impressed by the world design and attention to detail they put in. Proably the closest thing we'll ever have to a time machine in my lifetime.

The inFamous games have some of the best feeling movement in any open world game. Seriously, these games are basically the open world equivalent of Mario games the movement feels so good. The worlds are basically designed like Tony Hawk maps, letting you chain your special abilities across the big open world at speeds you'd think would melt a PS3 processor. Still has yet to be topped in some aspects.

Thinking of inFamous means thinking of Prototype, which means thinking of The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction! Perform an Elbow Drop from a skyscraper while the skyscraper comes crashing down! Jump on a helicopter midair, beat it up, then crunch it into a little ball and punt it at a different helicopter! Turn a bus into a makeshift skateboard and ride along the city streets! What I'm saying is Ultimate Destruction was a pretty good game.

Related to the first game on this list, Breath of the Wild uses its open world better than any other game. There's always an amazing vista just around the next bend, and the use of sightlines means that there's always something compelling to do or see. There's a level of cohesion to the world that few other games have, and that affects the mission design itself. From any corner of the map you can follow the river to find your way to Lake Hylia, and there's something very special about that.

world of warcraft played solo, not joking (granted I played it in a region where there was no monthly subscription, but time cards instead. For several years, I would buy a card for less than the price of mcdonalds for 60 hours play time.)

Few games have as interesting a world as WoW. There's so much to see: gigantic ancient guardian trees just walking around, random dinosaurs in the forests/waters, regions with extremely different looks. There's so many little touches, like what people praise in botw: items that are only revealed when a monster is skinned, crafting weird gadgets that might explode and kill you, hidden quest that is only accessible when the player repeatedly pretends to be a chicken trying to talk to a chicken npc, etc, a witch doctor that offers a potion that raises you into the air and kills you on fall damage, a tribute to a dev that passed away that is only accessible when the player is in the spirit realm, etc.

The game also had a lot to spend your time on. Different races, classes, skills, loot, etc. I would decide to work towards crafting a robot squirrel pet one day, and then sell the intermediate crafting parts for gold to work towards my 1000 gold raptor mount. I would just go around testing different builds on random enemies, and try out new loot that drops.

I have to vote on Horizon; Zero Dawn.

When it came out I had my doubts about the game but my brother bought it so I played it regardless.
-It was the first time I wasted a complete day playing it for 12 hours straight.
The story, graphics and concept alone were amazing for me.

Post Apocalyptic was like, sure alright but then..robot dinosaurs? Hell yeah.

Witcher 3, thread done.

Shout out to Skyrim.

Witcher 3 is definitely up there for me.

Breath of the Wild

Horizon Zero Dawn

Assassin's Creed (multiple games)

Witcher 3

MGSV

The Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Witcher games come to mind first. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is really great and unique too btw. I prefer open worlds where I can just head off in any direction and make my own adventure without hitting roadblock invincible(high lvl) inhabitants, or some world geographic restriction. An actual great story is a bonus and hard to come by. Red Dead Redemption deserves mention in that regard though.

I like the way Zelda, Dark Souls and Nier: Automata do open worlds, as opposed to wide open worlds. The level design still feels focused.

I can't think of a better open world experience better than Breath of the wild.

Just cause 2/3

GTAV

And Deus EX games if they count (Sorta open worldish?)

GTA V

The Witcher 3

...

I honestly think Breath of the Wild, as an open world game is truly superior to all other open world games. That is not to say it's my favourite game ever, but based purely on the merits of how it implements it's open world, it's just in a league of its own.

How you can navigate that world and do quests without pretty much ever looking at a map is astonishing. How the game sent me on treasure hunts where I had it solve riddles by just analysing the environment blew my mind. It does such a beautiful job with visually always putting something in front of you to aim for as well. It's got a good variety in geography, and the transitions to and from different areas always feel very organic but simultaneously impactful and "cinematic".

It's the first open world that I felt I was truly exploring, because I wasn't just following map and quest markers and the game did such a great job of rewarding me for poking around.

No particular order.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Grand Theft Auto IV

Red Dead Redemption

Fallout 3

Red Faction Guerrilla

Just a few of the most memorable ones I played.