Open-world games usually make you the center of the universe. The story bends to your will. Entire nations hang on your every heroic decision. You are the chosen one, the last hope, the one who can save them all. But then there are the other ones. The games that flip that entire formula on its head, making your character feel like just another face in the crowd, a tiny cog in a vast, uncaring machine.
Best Open-World Games More Beautiful Than Real Life
With this selection of open-world games, players are going to be immersed in worlds that are far more beautiful than real life.
In these worlds, you’re not special. You're fragile. Replaceable. A tiny, insignificant piece of a much bigger system that will keep on churning, whether you succeed or fail. And that total lack of control? It can feel refreshing. Liberating. And sometimes, it's just plain terrifying, as you’re forced to confront the cold, hard fact that the world does not revolve around you.
Kenshi
The World Doesn't Care If You Die Here
Kenshi
- Released
- December 6, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- nr
- Developer(s)
- Lo-Fi Games
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Open-World, Survival
- Platform(s)
- PC
Kenshi is the definition of sandbox freedom, a game that strips away every last illusion of importance you might have. You start with nothing. No name, no money, and so fragile that a strong gust of wind could probably kill you. The desert wastes are filled with slavers, cannibals, and warring factions, all of whom were busy killing each other long before you showed up, and who will continue to do so long after you're gone.
Survival is slow, it is cruel, and it is glorious. Because the real beauty of Kenshi lies in how utterly, beautifully indifferent the world feels. Villages grow. Armies clash. Raiders plunder. All without your input. You might rise from the dust to lead a powerful faction of your own, or you might just starve to death outside a town gate because nobody bothered to help you. In Kenshi, the world goes on. You’ll be lucky if it even remembers your name.
Project Zomboid
This Is How You Died
Project Zomboid
- Released
- November 8, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- The Indie Stone
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- Platform(s)
- PC
There is no sugarcoating here. No false hope. From the moment you start a new game, Project Zomboid reminds you of one simple, brutal fact: you are already dead. This is the story of how you died. The only question is how long you can manage to cling on before the inevitable happens.
The paranoia sets in fast. Every little sound risks drawing a horde of zombies that can tear you to shreds. And every single decision, no matter how small, has consequences that ripple through your fragile existence. But while you’re busy scavenging for tins of beans and reinforcing your pathetic little safehouse, the undead tide just keeps spreading, paying absolutely no attention to your efforts. You’re just another survivor, and your death won't even register as a blip on the bigger picture. It's this harsh, cold indifference that makes your tiny little victories feel so incredibly meaningful.
EVE Online
A Universe That Barely Knows You Exist
EVE Online
- Released
- May 6, 2003
WHERE TO PLAY
In EVE Online's galaxy-spanning MMO, you are not a hero. You are a speck of dust, engaged in a universe of impossibly complex politics, piracy, and interstellar warfare that plays out on a scale that most other games wouldn't even dare to attempt. Newcomers learn very quickly that they are not space gods; they are, at best, expendable cogs in a colossal, player-run machine that has been churning away for decades.
You might spend days peacefully mining asteroids, only to have your tiny little ship blown to smithereens by a group of bored pirates who will barely even register your loss. The real stories here are written by the vast, player-run alliances waging wars over entire star systems. You are insignificant. But you are also a part of something sprawling and alive, and that very insignificance is what makes the universe feel so terrifyingly real.
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord
Bannerlord: Just Another Sword For Hire
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord
- Released
- October 25, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- TaleWorlds Entertainment
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Strategy
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
You start Mount & Blade 2 as a nobody. A complete and utter nobody, wandering through a fractured medieval world with nothing but the rags on your back and a rusty sword. There is no grand destiny guiding your hand. Survival is your only motivator. You’ll take on odd jobs, you’ll fight in little skirmishes, and you’ll slowly, painfully scrape together enough coin to build your own ragtag warband.
And all the while, the world just keeps moving without you. Armies march. Kingdoms rise and fall. Nobles feud. And it all happens whether you’re there to see it or not. Watching two massive factions wage a bloody war while you’re barely strong enough to handle a handful of bandits really drives home how little you matter at first. It's this very insignificance, though, that makes your eventual triumphs taste so much sweeter.
Dwarf Fortress
Life Goes On, Even If Yours Doesn't
Dwarf Fortress
- Released
- August 8, 2006
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Roguelike, Strategy, Simulation
- Platform(s)
- Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows
Few games embody utter, cosmic insignificance quite like Dwarf Fortress. The game's simulation just doesn't bend for you. It churns away relentlessly in the background, generating entire histories, sprawling wars, and forgotten civilizations with or without your involvement.
Most Must-Play Open-World Games
It's hard to define what makes a game a "must-play," but for open-world fans, these games definitely make the list.
Your plucky band of dwarves can spend years building the most magnificent underground halls, only for a forgotten beast from the dawn of time to emerge from the deep and wipe them all out in a matter of minutes. In adventure mode, you're just one traveler in a world filled with legends that existed long, long before you did. The game's casual cruelty is what makes it so unforgettable.
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
The Zone Has No Favorites
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
- 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
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
The Zone. A radioactive, anomaly-filled wasteland in the heart of Chernobyl that does not give a second thought to your survival. It's filled with horrifying mutants, rival scavengers, and warring factions, all of whom have their own routines, their own goals, their own lives. You are just one more stalker, trying to get by, trying to make a quick buck without getting torn to shreds.
And it's that indifference that breeds such a perfect sense of paranoia. You’re not the main character here. A simple mission to recover an artifact can be interrupted by a sudden firefight between two other factions, or you'll just watch another stalker get dragged away by a Bloodsucker. The Zone is alive, and you're not its protagonist. You’re just another tourist.
No Man's Sky
A Universe Too Big To Notice You
No Man's Sky
- Released
- August 9, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Fantasy Violence, Animated Blood
- Developer(s)
- Hello Games
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, Nintendo Switch 2
When No Man’s Sky first dropped players into its functionally infinite, procedurally-generated galaxy, one thing became instantly, terrifyingly clear: you are small. Unimaginably, incomprehensibly small. Each world is massive, each system is vast, and no matter how much you explore, how many planets you discover, the universe remains utterly, cosmically indifferent.
The sheer scale of it all is so enormous that, even after years and years of updates that have added so much to do, that initial sense of profound loneliness still lingers. You might discover beautiful alien creatures, you might unearth the forgotten relics of a long-dead civilization, but the stars won’t shine any differently because of it. No Man’s Sky perfectly captures that cold, cosmic truth: you're just one tiny traveler in a universe that will never, ever know your name.