Summary
- Open-world games like Metal Gear Solid 5 and Minecraft f eature evolving gameplay based on player actions.
- Subnautica offers unique underwater survival gameplay with a focus on base building and resource management.
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chornobyl presents a hazardous world full of treacherous anomalies and threats to survival.
The best open-world games take strides to make their players feel immersed, as if they've truly stepped into a strange new world full of secrets and dangers. Storytelling in such an expansive and complex world, where players have freedom to go wherever they'd like, can be a challenge, and it's a challenge that some open-world game designers embrace enthusiastically.
6 Best Open-World Games Where NPCs Remember Your Actions, Ranked
In open-world games like Metal Gear Solid 5 and Minecraft, NPCs retain memories of the player's actions, leading to evolving and dynamic gameplay.
An open world can be a truly unique canvas for storytelling. While some games opt for traditional narratives, with cutscenes and NPCs conveying major story beats and directing the player through a conventional storyline, some take a more abstract approach. These games might not have NPCs at all, or they might have story information that the player must hunt out and piece together for themselves.
9 Subnautica
An Underwater World
Subnautica
- Released
- January 23, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
In Subnautica, the protagonist is an astronaut who crash-lands on a mysterious ocean planet known only as 4546B. Using only what can be scavenged from the wreck and what he can forage from the aquatic environment, protagonist Ryley Robinson must struggle to stay alive on an inhospitable underwater world and search desperately for a way to escape.
What seems at first to be a relatively straightforward survival sim quickly gives way to something more. Over the course of the game, Ryley learns that he isn't the first person to crash on 4546B, and that there's much more to the planet than it initially appears. Some truly strange mysteries lurk under the surface, and Ryley must contend with the planet's secret past if he hopes to leave.
8 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chornobyl
Entering The Zone
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chornobyl
- Released
- March 20, 2007
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol
- Genre(s)
- FPS, Survival Horror
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Takes its inspiration not only from the legendary Chornobyl nuclear disaster, but from classic works of literary science fiction like Roadside Picnic, and Stalker, the movie from which it drew inspiration. In the alternate history of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the region around the nuclear plant was struck by a second disaster in 2006, which not only killed more people but also mutated humans and creatures alike, creating a dangerous and hostile wasteland visited by only the brave and the foolish.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Stars an amnesiac protagonist sent into the Zone with a mission to kill a mysterious individual known as Strelok. As the character explores the hostile landscape, they'll begin to piece together the story of what truly happened inside the power plant, the source of the uncanny and sinister events happening throughout the Zone, and, of course, the startling truth about Strelok and his companions.
7 Dredge
Stirring In The Deep
Dredge
- Released
- March 31, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
Dredge is a decidedly sinister fishing game where players must trawl the waters for ever more disturbing and frightful fish. At the same time, they must survive the deadly sea creatures that prowl the deep, waiting to snatch up their fishing boats whole.
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The game takes place in the Marrows, a remote and inhospitable archipelago that's as rich in secrets as it is in menacing creatures. As the player progresses through their frightful fishing quest, they'll slowly begin to learn more about the origin of these grim isles and the terrors they harbor.
6 Pathologic 2
Fighting Death
Pathologic 2
- Released
- May 23, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood, Language, Partial Nudity, Violence
Pathologic 2 is a truly grim horror RPG set in a dying town succumbing to a horrible plague. The game doesn't make anything easy for players, who must struggle to keep themselves alive and try to save whoever they can by uncovering a cure. As the town's only doctor, they won't have much help in either regard. Nothing is spelled out, from the title's unforgiving survival mechanics to the story of what's really going on in this inhospitable little town.
Players' attempts to stave off the spreading plague are deeply one-sided, and fans will likely need multiple playthroughs to learn the ins and outs of this stressful world. As they immerse themselves further in the game, they will gradually uncover more about the plague, the secrets of the people around them, and the surreal mysteries lurking at the heart of this grim and surreal setting.
5 No Man's Sky
Secrets Of The Universe
No Man's Sky
- Released
- August 9, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
With a functionally infinite galaxy to explore, full of more planets than one could visit in a hundred lifetimes, players might be forgiven for ignoring the storyline of No Man's Sky entirely. Many of the game's story beats, especially in the early stages, are primarily built around teaching players the basics of the game and getting them to interact with major mechanics like scanning resources and crafting structures.
However, as the game goes on, players become more caught up in unraveling the ultimate secrets of this mysterious galaxy. Secrets abound, from the menacing Sentinels to the ethereal, ghostlike nature of the player's fellow Travellers, who seem to be an alien race all their own. In order to begin to grasp the true nature of the galaxy, players must pay close attention to obscure and cryptic bits of lore scattered throughout alien monuments and ruins, and piece together clues from the creation myths and legends told by the many alien species they encounter on their travels.
4 Death Stranding
Beach Trip
Death Stranding
- Released
- November 8, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- Action
Hideo Kojima has a well-earned reputation for bizarre and cryptic gaming experiences, and Death Stranding exemplifies this perfectly. The game takes place in a world ravaged by intrusions from an enigmatic, metaphysical realm known as the Beach, populated by deadly extraterrestrial creatures. As one of the last remaining couriers, protagonist Sam Bridges must travel the ravaged wastes and reconnect the isolated communities of survivors.
The plot of the game is full of Kojima's usual twists and turns. Virtually nothing in Death Stranding is as it seems, and the mysteries of the Beach only deepen over time. Fans will have to struggle to make sense of what's going on, connecting the dots of the story even as Sam connects these disparate, isolated cities.
3 The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
The Rise Of Ganondorf
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Released
- May 12, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Rated E for Everyone 10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Action, Open-World
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the sequel to Breath of the Wild, opens with a series of mysterious and terrifying catastrophes that leave the kingdom of Hyrule shaken to its core. Massive geological upheavals reveal a vast and hitherto unknown subterranean realm full of monsters and deadly Malice, while at the same time creating a series of floating sky islands rich with secrets and treasures.
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Coupled with these large-scale changes is the mysterious disappearance of Princess Zelda, swallowed by the void as she and Link confront a terrifying undead figure under Hyrule Castle. While Link works to undo the damage caused by these strange upheavals, the story of the ancient past concerning Ganondorf's resurrection will slowly make itself clear.
2 Outer Wilds
Caught In A Loop
Outer Wilds
- Released
- May 28, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ due to Fantasy Violence, Alcohol Reference
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
Outer Worlds sets players adrift in a doomed solar system. With only 22 minutes until the local star goes supernova and consumes everything, fans are on a tight schedule to solve the game's mysteries and find a way out. Luckily, whenever the protagonist dies, their adventure resets, giving players an infinite time loop in which they can explore the solar system and solve the game's mysteries.
These mysteries don't come easily, of course. Players must decipher the secrets of a long-dead alien civilization, whose ruins and memories are scattered throughout the game's various worlds. The shocking truth about the solar system's destruction is a long time coming, but the revelations are well worth the effort.
1 Elden Ring
Fixing What Was Broken
Elden Ring
- Released
- February 25, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
FromSoftware is not known for straightforward and easy-to-follow storylines, and Elden Ring is no exception. The game's intro cutscene establishes some very basic facts about the story, but there's a lot that players will have to figure out for themselves as they fight to claim the Elden Throne.
In true FromSoft fashion, the intricacies of the game's world and storyline can only truly be unraveled by paying close attention to item descriptions and cryptic lines of dialogue from NPCs. Even the most diligent researcher won't have the full story, however, as there's a lot of lore that is left purposefully vague and ambiguous. Players will have to speculate on some of Elden Ring's deepest mysteries.
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