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The open-world genre of games has dominated the AAA gaming market and rightfully so. In theory, the open-world game presents an opportunity that seems endless with infinite amounts of exploration and immersion.
Some games tend to do better than others in utilizing the open-world structure and make it an integral part of the game. Games like GTA 5 come to mind with Rockstar's impeccable attention to detail, resulting in one of the most authentic open-world maps ever created in gaming.
Here, we take a look at games with similarly large open-world maps that manage to create an immersive and intriguing open-world.
Five best games with massive open-world maps like GTA 5
5) Fallout 4
While Fallout 4 might not have been able to gather the widespread critical and fan acclaim across the board like some of its predecessors, it is still a darn good game. Fallout 4 attempts to tell a much more personal story this time around as your character attempts to find and reconnect with their lost child.
The game is complete with all the Fallout goodness players have come to expect of the franchise. It maintains the level of challenge that fans of the series have come to love and adds a few necessary tweaks to the gameplay.
The shooting and gunplay seems far more polished in Fallout 4 than any of the games that came before, and the world remains as rich with lore, perhaps even more so than previously.
4) Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
The Ghost Recon franchise might not have the immaculate reputation it had a few years ago after the abysmal launch of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. Despite a stellar casting with Jon Bernthal as the main antagonist, the game could not live up to the hype and was quite the disappointment.
However, Ubisoft was able to execute the same concept quite wonderfully only one game before the release of Breakpoint. Ghost Recon: Wildlands is quite the underrated title from Ubisoft and deserves more attention than it gets.
It features an absolutely massive open-world that will have players simply in awe of its scale and scope. Helicopters aren't just a fun little addition to switch up traversal. They become a necessity to navigate the sprawling map.
Wildlands is a game best enjoyed when playing co-op with friends as communication becomes key. Planning out a mission and carefully executing it in Ghost Recon: Wildlands is a feeling that never gets old.
The best parts of the game come in the form of these missions, of which there are plenty. The open-world is simply one of the best ever seen in recent memory and will satisfy fans of large open-worlds.
3) Watch Dogs 2
It does seem like Watch Dogs is back in full force with fans firmly behind Ubisoft for the launch of the highly anticipated Watch Dogs: Legion. The franchise did not have the best of starts with the massively disappointing original.
However, Ubisoft quite brilliantly learned from their mistakes in the original and used their learnings to craft one of the best open-world titles of the last decade.
The game perfectly capitalizes on the best ideas of the original and polishes to the degree that it feels like an entirely new concept. The open-world itself feels much more lively and vibrant and ditches the greys for a sunny San Fransico.
The game will continuously shower you with plenty of activities to do around the huge map, and players will never get tired of the game's brilliant parkour traversal.
2) Just Cause 3
Just Cause taps into the destructive tendencies of players to constantly blow things up every 10 seconds.
The game doesn't just encourage the player to cause the biggest explosions; it even rewards them for it. That is not to say that big explosions and ridiculous fun is all that the Just Cause franchise is about.
Instead, the games are well-crafted open-world experiences that utilize intuitive game design to deliver one of the least-restrictive open-world experiences. The game revels in all its chaotic glory and combines it with a decidedly cheesy story that is the perfect amount of cliched a story should be.
Just Cause expects the players to let go of previously held beliefs regarding caution and careful planning from previous video games in similar genres. Instead, Just Cause wants you to shoot and grapple first, and preferably, never ask questions.
1) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the complete inverse of the type of open-world games like GTA 5 tend to go for. The open-world of MGSV is sparse, skeletal, with barely anything that catches the player's attention apart from the many enemy outposts.
If the world of MGSV feels lifeless, it is by design as the game expects you to utilize the vast expanse of the open-world to dispatch your enemies creatively. Think of enemies as not obstacles but merely a chess piece that you can move around to suit your purposes in MGSV.
The game hands the players all the tools to creatively tackle every situation given to the player. From being able to complete missions before they're handed to you to subduing enemies without ever firing a shot, Metal Gear Solid V is as freeing as it gets in open-world gaming.
Combining elements of stealth and the open-world in a way that they both complement each other instead of clashing is something only Hideo Kojima could've accomplished.
