Video games seemingly work best when they find a creative blend of emulating real life and forging dynamic game systems. As such, most recent titles don't force players down endless rows of industrial corridors. Instead, vast open worlds have taken precedence as one of the gaming landscape's most prolific genres.
10 Open World Games With The Most Immersive Worlds
The scale and level of detail found in open-world games' worlds, can be make or break for the title.
As such, the open-world genre has an immense amount of variety; as the world itself can be shaped and molded to the whim of the developer — from gritty depictions of real-life locales and mystical fantasy realms to multi-platform (and console exclusive) genre-defining experiences. This list will delve into the vast gaming catalogs of the most popular consoles to determine which consoles are home to the best open-world game libararies.
7 Xbox
Microsoft's Original Console Library With Exclusive And First-Party Titles
- Console Launched: November 2001
- Open-World Title Highlights: The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, Fable
Microsoft's fledgling Xbox system may have been the 'new kid on the block,' but with its increased horsepower and exclusive titles, it was able to carve a legacy for the brand.
Gaining ports of the open-world genre-defining Grand Theft Auto 3, alongside its many sixth-generation sequels, Microsoft also had access to some chart-topping open-world exclusives. Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series first came to console with the console-exclusive release of Morrowind on the Xbox in 2002. Beyond that, with its dynamic karma system, Xbox's first-party franchise Fable also revolutionized the open-world landscape.
6 Xbox 360
The Most Stable Console Experience For Many Seventh-Generation Classics
- Console Launched: November 2005
- Open-World Title Highlights: Grand Theft Auto 5, Fallout: New Vegas
While open-world support for Microsoft's first Xbox console was impressive, their seventh-generation hardware — the Xbox 360 — proved itself as an open-world powerhouse.
Bethesda seemingly hit its open-world RPG stride as they enjoyed the groundbreaking successes of both The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Fallout 3 while producing the most stable console experience available on Xbox. Beyond this, the record-shattering sales of Grand Theft Auto 5 began on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2015, with a whole host of other Western and Japanese RPGs and other open-world titles elaborating on a blockbuster Xbox 360 library lineup.
5 PlayStation 5
Sony's Newest Console Bolstered By Next-Gen Updates And Experiments
- Console Launched: November 2020
- Open-World Title Highlights: Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West
As a result of Sony's domination of the eighth console generation, the PlayStation 5 has managed to incorporate many of its previous successes in open-world titles into the PS4 successor.
PS4 titles such as Marvel's Spider-Man and Horizon Zero Dawn not only received next-generation updates to boost performance fidelity but also received full-blown sequels. Beyond Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Horizon Forbidden West, FromSoftware — developers of the Dark Souls series — brought their hard-as-nails game design to the open-world genre with their widely successful Elden Ring.
4 PlayStation 4
The Dominating Console Of The Generation With Astronomical First-Party Content
- Console Launched: November 2013
- Open-World Title Highlights: The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Ghost of Tsushima
Dominating the console video game landscape in the eighth console generation, the PlayStation 4 played some of the most highly acclaimed open-world titles of all time. Beyond that, Sony bestowed several open-world first-party exclusives to gamers.
The Biggest Open World Games Based On The Size Of Their Maps
When it comes to open world games, more map means more places to explore, and these are the 10 games with the biggest maps of all.
Critical and culturally acclaimed titles such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Red Dead Redemption 2 brought many gamers to their worlds on PS4. However, the PlayStation 4 was also home to first-party open-world exclusives such as Marvel's Spider-Man and Ghost of Tsushima. Bolstering this lineup were more experimental exclusive titles such as Hideo Kojima's open-world courier-esque title, Death Stranding.
3 PlayStation 2
The Best-Selling Console Of All Time And Home To Many Open-World Classics
- Console Launched: October 2000
- Open-World Title Highlights: Grand Theft Auto 3, Shadow of the Colossus
As a result of being the best-selling video game console of all time — as of the time of writing — the PlayStation 2 not only revolutionized console gaming, but every genre available on it.
The open-world genre found its magnum opus in October 2001, when Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto 3 launched on Sony's console. Beyond GTA 3's success, the PlayStation 2 was also home to its multiple sixth-generation sequels and multiple first-party open-world exclusives. From artistic statements like Shadow of the Colossus to best-rated movie tie-ins like Spider-man 2, the PS2 was home to many genre-defining experiences.
2 Nintendo Switch
Home To Acclaimed Zelda Titles And Open-World Nintendo Experiments
- Console Launched: March 2017
- Open-World Title Highlights: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Xenoblade Chronicles 3
While the Nintendo Switch hybrid console is home to multiple genre-defining open-world experiences, the acclaim bestowed on the console's launch title, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, could be, seemingly, proof of the system's open-world legacy.
Redefining not only the Legend of Zelda series but the open-world genre, Breath of the Wild was bolstered by its much-loved sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, six years later. Beyond these releases, Nintendo's first-party open-world support extended to include the Pokemon series' first mainline console titles and the Xenoblade Chronicle s series' continued expansion with Xenoblade Chronicles 3. In addition to these first-party titles, many open-world classics — such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, and Minecraft — all came to the platform.
1 Xbox Series X & S
A Library Stuffed With Legacy Titles, Modern Classics, And Open-World Sequels
- Console Launched: November 2020
- Open-World Title Highlights: Halo: Infinite, Starfield, Forza Horizon 5
As Microsoft sought to create an overall Xbox gaming ecosystem, the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S systems not only provide players with recent open-world chart-toppers, but easy access to open-world masterpieces from throughout the generations.
As one of Xbox's flagship franchises, Halo saw the launch-window release of Halo: Infinite as its first steps into the open-world genre. Beyond this, Bethesda's new space-based IP, Starfield, bestowed the Xbox Series systems with two high-profile exclusives. With its incorporation of Xbox's Game Pass subscription service, gamers can play open-world greats such as Morrowind, The Outer Wilds, and Sea of Thieves, along with other landmark open-world games like Minecraft and the Forza Horizon series.
6 of the Best Open World Games That Didn't Get a Sequel
Typically, when a game is super successful, a sequel tends to follow. However, sometimes even the most lucrative and critically acclaimed games are standalone adventures.