What's the most beautiful open world game to you? And why?

To me it is Watch Dogs. I love the art style, clean and bright. Also it has some awesome details that are absent in most open world games, like destroying fences. The rain is also interesting. But it lacks, like most realistc vehicle damage. Oh well...

Edit: I moved the thread to the Open World concept's forums so everyone can find the thread more easily and pinch in from now on.

Just Cause 2 is a good pick. My choice would probably be GTA V. Even though I didn't end up liking the game very much, the world is undeniably amazing.

Far Cry 2

It is filled with stunning environments and just has so much atmosphere. Also, the foliage is really impressive.

Shadow of the Colossus.

Don't mean to be rude but Watch Dogs is....an odd choice to me. :p

The most beautiful open world will always be, in my mind, the DC Wasteland in Fallout 3. It is a perfectly realised landscape of sparse vegetation, rusty jalopies, towering ruins and irradiated desert. I spent hundred of hours in that world and loved every minute.

God damnit I would brutally sodomize myself with a cactus to get my hands on Fallout 4.

The Witcher 3. Technically probably Just Cause 2 just for the sheer size and spectacle, Red Dead for atmosphere.

Probably a tie between Skyrim and Wind Waker HD.

Skyrim is just downright beautiful, even today. Wind Waker HD is about as " perfect " as graphics can get. Just totally flawless in what it's trying to do. So smooth and beautiful.

Yeah, Far Cry 2 was fucking amazing back in the day. It's between Red Dead and Shadow of the Colossus for me, probably Shadow.

If the Bethesda games weren't so broken with jank, I might say Fallout NV or Skyrim.

Oh, Xenoblade was also really beautiful in its own way as well. And it's one of the only games that had a really great sense of scale. Would love to see a HD remaster of that at some point, which honestly doesn't seem too unlikely.

Xenoblade's world is phenomenal. The sense of scale and the art direction are top notch. And to think that Xenoblade Chronicles X will feature a world five times the size of the original really makes me eager to see it.

I had no idea that was the case. That seems crazy. I appreciate the scale in the first one, but I'm not sure how many unique and interesting environments and quests they can populate such a vast area with.

Also, to answer the thread, if Okami counts as an open world, then that. If not, then Red Dead Redemption for now (lots more good looking ones coming soon).

Okami

I think no open world game has a setting as fitting to the aesthetic and the character of the game as much as Red Dead Redemption. It's not that other games don't have great worlds, but the Wild West and the Western genre are so tightly linked together, and RDR gets that setting so right that I feel nothing else can compare.

That remains to be seen. But it's evident that they're giving plenty of room for the new mechs to be used as transportation.

The oceans in Just Cause 2 looked fantastic. I think the dusty mountain ranges in Red Dead Redemption looked great for that south-western style. The mountains and blizzards in Skyrim were breathtaking the first time I played it, and they only looked better with mods.

Nobody has played Metal Gear Solid 5 yet, but from what I've seen of the Afghanistan maps look pretty amazing.

Red Dead Redemption.

Wandering that desert, especially as the sun set, was pretty amazing. It was more the setting and the feeling it gave than true visual beauty I guess, but still awesome.

If we're discussing "beautiful", it'd have to be Oblivion for me. Memories of wandering through Cyrodill are gonna stick with me forever. Here's a blog about it.

Here's some comments people on youtube had written on the soundtrack for the game:

Standuble 2 ^

This song reminds me of melancholy, loss and grief. It's the feeling (especially at time when the song uplifts from the sorrow) that everything is always changing, what is lost is perhaps lost forever and for good or ill we must be strong and move on without it, hopefully into a new, yet different golden age of peace or happiness. This is what this song reminds me of, its so beautiful. I was in love with it as soon as I first heard it, far above the other songs for me.

How i would love to live in these times. Hunting with my brothers, Searching Unknown lands, Drinking ale with my Friends after a hard Days work, hiking mountains and hunting deers. Has anyone else looked up at the night sky in oblivion and seen its beauty and wished for a world just like it?

ForzaAguero12

I went back to Red Dead Redemption recently, and the first thing that came to mind was how great the game still looks. Some of the deserty areas look insanely good for a 2010 PS3/360 game. I'll go with that, I suppose.

For me it is Sleeping Dogs. United Front's realization of Hong Kong is beautiful, and I just love games set in current day.

I play games to relax after a challenging day at work and have no interest in being in conflict all the time, so I prefer an open world which I can explore freely without being attacked all the time.

Runner up is Skyrim, specifically with the Hearthfire DLC. Which is probably a weird thing to say -- but having your own home in the world where your character lives with his/her family makes the world a little more welcoming to me. Some of the Assassin's Creed games also have beautiful open worlds, but then they put all the fucking archers on the rooftops which makes moving around the world super annoying for no good reason.

I'd probably mention the GTA games if I had played any of them recently, but they're shit on PC and I don't currently have access to last gen or current gen consoles.

Assassin's Creed IV. Like there were times in that game where I would pause it, call people over, and just be like "Look at this."

EDIT: Okami is also a fantastic choice.

It's a tie between Red Dead Redemption and Far Cry 3. Both beautiful games.

Man, I completely forgot about Okami. Definitely one of the most beautiful games I've played, but like Wind Waker I feel it was more of a giant hub world than a truly 'open world'.

@afabs515: I second this. Ac 4 is gorgeous.

I'd also say Skyrim (While not technically the most amazing game I've seen, the world design looks astounding at times)

The great thing is there are so many to choose from, Red Dead, Sleeping Dogs,Xenoblade, Far Cry 2/3, Skyrim and while I know most will deride but I actually really liked Gransys in Dragon's Dogma

We haven't see it yet, But I'm really excited to see what the new Hyrule will look like in the WiiU Zelda that's eventually coming out. To me Zelda is the OG of open world games and I think Eiji Aonuma has something big in store, really big.

At the time I played it: Morrowind. It's ugly now, but I just remember that being the first game whose map had an sense of majesty. Seeing towering ruins in the distance slightly obscured by fog, and a giant floating moon that you could totally fly to if you wanted blew me away at the time.

More recently: Assassin's Creed IV. I like beaches.

There's no Wei I could vote for anything but Sleeping Dogs

I'm not sure anything will beat the moment I first played World of Warcraft. Size, scale, art direction, it was a pretty sublime experience.

Assassin's Creed 1 for me

Also awesome. Like many games on this thread.

@finaldasa: Yeah Red Dead is my favourite too, the scenery was so awesome, made you feel like you were in a clint eastwood movie

I am not a nautical, seafaring-type person. But sailing in AC4 had multiple moments where I just stop and stare at the horizon around me. I watch the water play and sag and heave.

I'm a little details guy. In FPS games set in office buildings, I look through the cubicles for detail, I try to read the memos on the bulletin board. In Dead Space 2, I spent a lot of time looking at future nightstands and future vacuum cleaners and future kitchenettes.

Sleepy Dawgz, the city streets, when it rains and all the Hong Kong neon is reflecting on the pavement, one turn down an alley leads to a filthy goods bazaar, another leads you to a convenience store with blinding fluorescents. That's a good Hong Kong.

If we count Minecraft, I'm kinda leaning towards that. Not the blocky graphics in themselves, but just the scope of it all when you explore the world.

Otherwise I'd say it's some of those space exploration games. I've always had a soft spot for Elite II: Frontier, and generally I think it's flat shaded art style still holds up more than 20 years later, but the upcoming Elite: Dangerous also looks absolutely beautiful.

@slag: Imagine just how good Gransys would look rendered in full 1080 with a stable framerate, man I wish they would do a "next gen" version or just a PC port. As much as I loved that game the image was so grainy and frame rate so all over the place it did make it harder to enjoy.

Still really enjoy the Hong Kong setting in Sleeping Dogs. That game is still a really pretty game.

Skyrim and Red Dead for me. Those are the only two games I've played that I occasionally boot up just for a hike. That's my criteria.

Just Cause 2 might be my favorite. Red Dead Redemption near the top of the list. AC2, 4, Far Cry 2,3. Damn, so many great worlds.

Red Dead Redemption for me. Some of scenes in the desert looked straight from a painting.

GTAV is such an easy choice. It is so detailed compared to anything out even today. The presentation is also amazing. As far as world building goes, nothing really comes close to it if you ask me.

That said, playing the game I found to be less fun. As beautiful as that world is, there is just nothing to do in it that is any fun to play. Go play darts! Yeah... no thank you. They should have made it more gamey and done a lot more heists. Those were awesome, but ultimately pointless because the entire preparation thing is wasted on the fact that you only use a driver like 3 times in the entire game. So why would you ever pick anyone less than very proficient to try and level them up?

Anyway, very conflicted about that game as you can tell. But the world is definitely the first thing that comes to mind when you ask which one is the most beautiful.

I'm not Red Dead's biggest fan by any means, but the world they created is absolutely stunning. After the story wrapped up, I decided on a whim to do the 'Collect 2 of every plant' thing (I never usually bother with collectibles or any thing like that) riding from one end of the map to the other and it turned out to be probably my favourite experience from that entire game.

Far Cry 2 is right up there too. Another world I was just happy to wander around aimlessly in enjoying the atmosphere.

I don't think any video game world will ever compare with the impact Morrowind had on me when that was first released though. That was a real 'I can't believe this is a game' moment for ~16 yo me. It just felt like a completely different and endless world, and came at a time when I badly needed to be anywhere except in the real world.

gta vice city. ac2. skyrim with mods.

Red Dead Redemption is probably my favourite to date. It still astonishes me today how good it looks and sounds. I don't even have any real affinity with westerns or American landscapes but the world in Read Dead Redemption took me aback. Something no other open world has ever done to me. Excellent atmosphere.

This may not count, but Forza Horizon 2 looks really good. I also love Wind Waker HD. And maybe Far Cry 3, just because of the sheer amount of chaos that can exist.

Red Dead's a good choice, as is Far Cry 3, buy I think my personal pick would be Assassin's Creed 1.

Haven't been completely enchanted by an open world the same way I'd been enchanted by Skyrim.

Just Cause 2.

Probably Skyrim for me.

As a snapshot in time, the first Just Cause. For a game I picked up because it was the cheapest in the bin I ended up being totally blown away by it's jungles and water.

I also remember being blown away by pretty much every GTA release for one reason or another.

Overall, with no forgiveness to time probably ACIV or Red Dead. ...or Just Cause 2. ...or FarCry 3. A lot of purdy ones out there.

That is a very interesting question and a hard one. I would say either Red Dead Redemption or Far Cry 3. But Assassin's Creed Black Flag is a VERY CLOSE third. I think MANY open world games are centered around having pretty worlds. I mean even games like Watch Dogs, Sleeping Dogs, and Infamous which are centered around cities have pretty worlds. I wonder if having a pretty or desirable looking world is more important than things like mission design or gameplay loop?

How am I the only one who listed Shadow of the Colossus? What the hell?