For as long as gaming has existed as an entertainment medium, its worlds have been constantly growing in size and scope.
While a massive open sandbox isn’t required to make a game good, you can’t deny a gigantic world to run free in is pretty darn impressive.
10 Most Underrated Open World Games
Open world games are the norm when it comes to today’s Triple A experiences, but what about the unknowns that do just as well with this formula?
Different games approach the concept of sandbox worlds in different ways.
Some opt for smaller areas to explore with a greater density of landmarks and things to do, while others stretch things all the way out into the infinite reaches of space.
Whether in size or density, these are the worlds that make you want to stop and gawk from the top of a hill.
9Shadows Of Doubt
A Living Noir City
Shadows of Doubt
In classic noir detective stories, the cities they’re set in are almost like characters in themselves.
They have their distinct landmarks, and many people all going about their days and lives.
Shadows of Doubt emulates that aesthetic with a simulated city full of crooks and thugs operating on their own timetables.
If you’re able to reach an isolated nook of this city, you cansearch it for clues, whether it be the basement of a dive bar or the roof of a derelict apartment building.
8Fallout: New Vegas
Journeying Through The Mojave
Fallout: New Vegas
Even in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, you’d be surprised how much there is to see and do.
Fallout: New Vegas’ Mojave Wasteland, despite being a literal desert, has some pretty impressive sun-swept vistas to check out.
There are also plenty of people to talk to, quests large and small to uncover, and of course, no shortage of mutant beasties to shoot at.
Your decisions can also shape the landscape in various ways, such as blasting Helios One off the map for laughs.
The Wild West, Realized
Red Dead Redemption 2
The American west was the original untamed frontier, a massive swath of barely-touched natural land ripe for exploring.
Red Dead Redemption 2gives you the opportunity to explore this classic setting in its idealized state.
While there are plenty of towns and settlements to indulge civilized needs, there’s also no shortage of wilderness to take in both on foot and atop your trusty horse.
Thanks to Rockstar’s mildly-obsessive graphical engineering, every bit of this world is fully rendered, right down toyour horse’s poop physics.
6The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
Explore The Land, Sky, And What Lies Below
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
All the games in the Legend of Zelda series are pretty big in scope, but the biggest was probably Breath of the Wild.
We emphasize “was” there becauseTears of the Kingdomis pretty much just Breath of the Wild multiplied by two.
The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom: 15 Best Places In The Depths, Ranked
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Not only do you have the entirety of the Hyrule continent to explore, but there are also the many islands up in the sky and the dark depths below the surface.
Thanks to both Link’s prodigious climbing skills and the ability to create various vehicles, you’re able to go pretty much anywhere and everywhere in these biomes.
5Final Fantasy XV
Old-School Adventure With A Nicer Car
Final Fantasy 15
Nothing gives you a better perspective of the size of the world than a good road trip with the bros.
Final Fantasy XVhas that road trip energy in spades, and not just because you’re driving around in a slick car with the top down.
You can get out of the car to explore the wilderness on foot or atop a Chocobo, fighting monsters, uncovering dungeons, or enjoying some camping time.
There are also plenty of towns and cities to visit, many of which are resort-quality in their views and amenities.
4Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
Cruising The West Indies
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag
If the Wild West was the territory of land-based adventurers, the West Indies circa 1715 was the prime time of seafarers.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flagstill maintainsone of the best oceanic open world sandboxesin the biz.
Besides the various port towns, the open seas offer many opportunities for exploring and plundering, whether from rival pirate ships or ancient seabed shipwrecks.
You can also visit sweltering jungles, lost ruins of antiquity, and all the other vital checkpoints on a buccaneer’s bucket list.
3Elite Dangerous
Taking To The Stars
Elite Dangerous
As a wise man once said, when you run out of lands and seas to explore, the only other way to go is up.
Elite Dangeroustakes place in an enormous facsimile of the Milky Way galaxy and its 400 billion star systems.
Withyour personal spaceship, you can fly by stars, mine meteors for resources, roll across moons, and even come face to face with a black hole.
How much you engage with other players in this world is largely up to you, allowing you to curate your own map of the stars.
2EVE Online
An Entire Intergalactic Society
EVE Online
It could be said that human civilization is a world in itself. That’s pretty impressive for us here on Terra Firma, but even more so out in the deep dark.
EVE Onlineisn’t just made up of numerous star systems to explore and chart, it’s also full of its own player-made societies and power dynamics.
In just about any corner of the void, you’ll find something going on, whether it’s massive pitched battles between space frigates orbooming economic progress.
EVE also utilizes a proprietary single-shard system in its servers, so every single active player can meet and play concurrently across time zones.
1No Man’s Sky
A Truly Infinite Cosmos
No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky’s original launch promised us the moon and stars, but didn’t quite deliver on either.
However, afterextensive redevelopment and improvement, the game’s current state offers all that and more in its seamless intergalactic world.
Not only can you travel through the vacuum in a personal starship, every single planet you encounter is real and alive with flora and fauna.
The planets are procedurally-generated, which ensures that you’ll never encounter the same world twice and that every player has a unique experience.
Whether you start a research outpost or become a space pirate, the universe is your sandbox.
12 Best Open World Games On PS Plus
With so many lengthy open worlds to chose from, here are the few on PlayStation Plus we at Dualshockers think are worth checking out.
