Some of the most impressive open-world games of all time are The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Their worlds are open with very few restrictions on what players can do, but there are drawbacks, namely, the ground.
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Players are typically limited to traversal on solid ground or, if there is some variety, dungeons below the surface. There aren’t many that offer ground, underground, sky, water, or even space options, except the following. Perhaps with time, it’ll become more normal for open-world games to have more layers. Maybe that will be one of the many surprises of Grand Theft Auto 6 in terms of upcoming examples.
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The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
The Biggest Hyrule Yet
- 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 is the best example of an open-world game with almost TOO much to see. It’s built upon the overworld presented in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with slightly altered terrain. Players can now go underground via a large hole and explore almost a 1:1 conversation of the overworld, just with a lot less light. It’s a much more dangerous area to explore because lighting takes resources, there are big pitfalls, and monsters are more aggressive. In turn, players can find rarer treasures, so sometimes the risk can be worth it. Players can even pilot a mech down below, which is a novelty most Zelda fans will enjoy.
The sky is also explorable because there are floating islands. It’s not a complete layer, but there are enough sprinkled in to cover a good chunk of the map down below. One of the newest mechanics introduced in this sequel is the ability to build cars and other contraptions, which can help get around the overworld, underground, and sky islands more easily. Overall, this version of Hyrule is without a doubt the biggest in the series.
No Man's Sky
Exploring The Galaxy
- Developer(s)
- Hello Games
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, Nintendo Switch 2
No Man's Sky is perhaps one of the wildest open-world games out there, which is more like an open-galaxy game. When players load up their game, they will have a randomly generated planet that they can then leave with their spaceship. From there, the goal is all their own, besides a vague need to reach the center of the universe. Players can leave any planet, in real time, and fly there, exploring the deep vastness of space in between, which can be filled with asteroids, other spaceships, or enemies. By hopping between planets, players can establish a link system to reach the galaxy’s center if they want.
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Alternatively, they could also stay on planets to gather materials, scan plant life, tag animals, and even dive underwater if there are aquatic resources around. There are ways to break apart the earth and sometimes even dig deep within it. No Man’s Sky is the ultimate space simulator for anyone who values exploration and crafting over combat. That said, the random generation of everything can make the worlds feel less of a catered experience, which not everyone will appreciate.
Donkey Kong Bananza
Dig Deep DK
Donkey Kong Bananza is one of the biggest reasons to buy a Switch 2, which showcases the great destructibility of the console’s inner workings. As Donkey Kong, players can run, jump, climb some surfaces, and even surf around if they grab a piece of rubble and hop on. More importantly, they can use DK’s massive fists to carve into the earth. They can dig deep until they reach an impassable section, or simply carve out a mountain in the pursuit of treasure like Banandium, which can help DK learn new skills to become a better digger.
DK can also swim, but there are no deep-sea exploration segments. Some of the biomes have places to explore in the sky, like the Resort Layer, which has materials that will float DK into the sky, while others just have more towering features to climb, like in the Canyon Layer. When players switch between biomes, the earth will repair itself, so players don’t have to worry about permanently ruining worlds. Donkey Kong Bananza may not have as many layers to explore in each area, but without a doubt, it has the best movement and digging mechanics to really feel powerful as an explorer out of all of these games.
Minecraft
Just Keep Digging
Minecraft is a game for everyone, thanks to its simplistic blocky aesthetics and even simpler mechanics to learn. Without a story or proper tutorial, it can be hard to pick up at first, but through experimentation, players will have to learn fast. As their blocky avatar, players will be dropped into a randomly generated map where they can explore the world and try to gather materials that they can use for crafting. Punching trees and the ground with just fists will only get players so far, as equipment like axes and pickaxes can help so much more.
Players can dig deep, finding pockets of rare gems or lava worlds to explore below the earth’s crust. They can go into the ocean with the proper equipment to explore or even set up living spaces. When worlds generate, they will not create floating spaces up above to explore, but players can build steps to get up high and create floating spaces themselves. Based on the amount of time Minecraft has existed, players have really gone all out on creativity between undersea labs, underground mine cart labyrinths, floating archipelagos, and more. It’s easy to see why Minecraft eventually got so many clones.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
An Alien Restart
Xenoblade Chronicles X is one of the most freeing games in the Xeno franchise, as players get to create their explorer. The story follows humanity establishing a new colony on an alien planet, to hopefully start anew. As an explorer, players can travel around, fight monsters, and place beacons around that can mine for materials and serve as fast travel points. Players cannot dig into the earth or dive deep into the planet’s many water sources, but they can explore cave systems and swim.
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The cool thing about Xenoblade Chronicles X’s world is that it’s all seamless, meaning that players don’t have to worry about discovering a cave entrance to then load into it, unlike other open-world examples like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Also, later in the game, players can unlock their mechs called Skells, which makes ground traversal faster with the car-like form. Skells can also fly, allowing players to soar above and reach new heights that they couldn’t otherwise travel to. It may not be as open as other examples on here, but Xenoblade Chronicles X is, without a doubt, vast.
Subnautica
The Deep Blue
- Developer(s)
- Unknown Worlds Entertainment
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Subnautica is all about deep-sea exploration like no other game before or after it, not counting the upcoming sequel that is. When players crash into an alien planet’s ocean with their space colony, they are tasked with exploring the depths below. Finding materials and scanning for life can help players make new breakthroughs in their lab to repair the main ship or to dive even deeper.
As gorgeous as some of the tropical areas are, with the plant life and the colorful fish, Subnautica can also be quite scary. There is very little in terms of combat, meaning that running away is often the best strategy against the sea monsters that can stalk players. Again, the focus is on deep-sea diving, but players can also technically tread water on the surface to see if anything catches their eye, like islands that can crop up, but they don’t hold a candle to the ocean’s variety. Overall, it’s not as varied as other open-world games or survival games, but there is no cooler underwater world to explore than in Subnautica.
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