When jumping into an open-world for the first time, players may follow the story just to get accustomed to things. After several hours, tutorials will usually be done, and players can decide how they want to proceed. In a game like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, players will probably stick to the story. As compelling as the side quests are, which are unreasonably too good, the main plot is the highlight.
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The question then is this. Are there any games where the story quests may be weaker, or where the set pieces aren’t as enticing? In the following open-world examples, the side quests and other activities make these experiences more whole.
Click or tap on the games that match the category
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
You Had Me At Fus Ro Dah
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Released
- November 11, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is the ultimate example for anyone hoping to get lost in a world that will never let go. By today’s standards, the story is basic and not that memorable, but it has a lot of cool dragon encounters. What fans loved about this adventure originally was the freedom they obtained soon after starting, with the vast world opening up.
Players can travel anywhere, doing quests for NPCs, or just exploring caves, temples, or keeps for the fun of it. A cave may have some normal treasure, or it could have something rare like a new Dragon Shout ability, and this sense of discovery is enough to make any story mission feel obsolete.
Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag
Believing In That Pirate Life
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
- Released
- October 29, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft Montreal
- Genre(s)
- Action, Open-World, Adventure
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360
For stories found in an Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag doesn’t rank that high, nor do its main assassination targets rival those of games with more recognizable historical figures. Instead, this is the entry that will let players immerse themselves in the pirate life at the height of the genre.
With their crew, they can sail around and take in the vast blues of the sea, dive for treasure, and even sing sea shanties. They can dock on islands to loot villages by freeing them from captors, or hunt animals to upgrade various pieces of gear. The more activities they do and the longer they sail, players will forget this is an Assassin's Creed game.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
Do A Wheelie In Hyrule
- 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 has so much land and air to cover since Hyrule is divided into three sections: ground, underground, and sky islands. Like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the individual Shrines are much more challenging and enjoyable to solve than the main story dungeons, with open-ended solutions to physics-based puzzles that test the very nature of gameplay.
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Players can also enjoy tinkering with the new building mechanics. Whether they want to build a car that can go through lava, a plane to take them up above, or a house to settle down in, there are plenty of options. There are some NPC quests too, but the Shrines and building mechanics are more than enough to keep players satisfied much longer than the story.
Ghost Of Yotei
See That Mountain?
Ghost of Yotei features a story about revenge against a group of samurai who killed the protagonist’s family. Atsu, now much older, is on a quest to find and stop them all, and the individual battles with these killers are exciting, but the overall narrative will feel cliché. There are so few open-world games that render ancient Japan this beautifully, so everything else players can enjoy in the Yotei region will be valued more.
For example, the best side quests will let players climb mountains in a series of platforming and grappling hook challenges, which rival the satisfying feeling of combat. Rescuing wolves from poachers, playing a coin-based mini-game, and discovering upgrade spots like hot springs are what make this game a soothing experience. Plus, Sucker Punch fans will enjoy hunting for Easter Eggs in Ghost of Yotei.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Mini-Games For Days
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth actually does have a tremendous story with surprising twists and set pieces that will amaze for days. The game gets top marks in nearly every category, with all of the side content being as good, if not better than the story. A lot of the mini-games could be spun off into their own thing, like the RTS battles of Fort Condor or the Queen’s Blood card game, not to mention some of the stranger one-offs like turning into frogs or the various shooting galleries.
Hunting for Summons and solving their puzzles, and just exploring on the backs of Chocobos, can be enjoyable too for old PS1 fans of Final Fantasy 7 looking to see what is new. Plus, getting intimate with the combat and leveling system will be fun for the action junkies out there.
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
Rebuilding The World One Literal Step At A Time
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is set between parts of Mexico and Australia in another journey where the hero, Sam, has to connect underground bunkers to link them up to a network. The story goes to some bizarre and enjoyable places, which should not be surprising for a Hideo Kojima-directed game, but just being a courier in the post-apocalypse and focusing on rebuilding is very satisfying, busywork.
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Players can grab additional package missions once bunkers are unlocked, and the more they deliver, the better their ranking will become, which can lead to unlocking new gear. There are bandit camps around, which are satisfying to take down fully in stealth, non-lethally, to then rob them blind of all their materials to then use to rebuild various structures like highways and the rail system. It may not appear to be the most exciting type of gameplay, but the loop of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is comforting in its own way.
Borderlands 4
It's All About The Guns
No one comes into a Borderlands game hoping for Shakespeare, as that’s not what the series was built on. There may be numerous scenes or fun characters/villains, but Borderlands 4 quadruples down on what makes these games compelling: loot. With one of four character classes, each with branching trees, players are free to explore the world and take on missions that will all lead them to new looting opportunities.
The randomization of the millions of guns available can be addicting as players search for that one cool new weapon that will get them through the next few hours of the game. Also, the co-op feature is truly where this game excels, and with four players at max, shooting up enemy strongholds or trying to take down world event bosses, players will forget there even is a main objective to help free the planet Kairos from tyranny.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A
Gotta Catch ‘Em All
Pokemon games don’t exactly have the most original or compelling stories, as they primarily aimed at kids. The point of Pokemon Legends: Z-A is to rank up from Z to A and become the champion of Lumiose City. That’s all, and while moving up can be fulfilling, Pokemon fans come to these games to catch Pokemon.
Even though the game takes place in one city, there are plenty of zones occupied with Pokemon to freely catch, including the rooftops too. The battle system is still technically turn-based, although players can now spam attacks that run on cooldowns, which gives it a hybrid feel with real-time action systems. Catching, battling, and leveling up: that’s the core loop of Pokemon Legends: Z-A that will keep Switch players occupied until the next major update.
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