#open-world

#open-world

Shaking up what fans have come to expect from the series, it tosses out the old formulas of straightforward missions and replaces them with an open-world twist that works shockingly well. In the midst of wandering the hidden corners of Japan, players will find fantastic secrets and evocative battles, but what's gained from this ambitious scope is just as often hampered by a surprising lack of challenge and a deadweight story that completely overstays its welcome.

There, developer Luckshot Games showed off a clearly Super Mario 64-influenced platformer starring an adorable frog who uses his tongue like a grappling hook to zip around levels. On top of a suite of expected platforming maneuvers like crouch-jumps, slides, and wall-runs, it also displayed a unique system that lets players use items to make their own paths through environments, setting Big Hops apart from every other platformer out there.

Revisiting Red Dead Redemption on the Nintendo Switch 2 has been the perfect opportunity to reminisce on everything it does so well. Its open world is barren yet fascinating and rewarding to explore. It has a memorable central cast of rogues and freaks typical of a Rockstar game. John Marston is as captivating as ever, especially after playing the 2018 prequel. Red Dead holds up remarkably well even 15 years later, and remains a benchmark for Rockstar's ascension to the top of the industry.

The core ideas of Watch Dogs have always been as engrossing as they are prescient. Playing as a hacker on the fringes of a surveillance state is an inherently cool setup for an open-world game, and when you add in a bunch of novel tech-based abilities that let you alter the world around you, you've got a franchise that meaningfully breaks away from more popular titles in the genre.

"I am desperate for there to be a third-person action-adventure, Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, that kind of open-world thing," Trachtenberg told IGN. "Concrete Jungle was something that I missed unfortunately. And that was a long time ago. And there's just so much fun to be had game wise, I think, with Predator. I hope it could happen."

After shaking up the Pokémon formula with Pokémon Legends: Arceus, its successor, Legends: Z-A, pushes things even further - and it's a very welcome change of pace. With , Nintendo and Game Freak demonstrated how much more vibrant, weird, and exciting the monster catching series could become with a few key changes to the classic formula. Arceus' historical story and open-ish world made the Pokémon universe feel like a bigger, wilder place, just as the revamped battling and catching mechanics turned the familiar process of filling out your pokédex into a completely different kind of experience.

This idyllic destination is located on a moon called Eden, and while it may sound lovely, it's embroiled in a three-way conflict between the game's primary factions: The authoritarian Protectorate, the ruthlessly capitalist Auntie's Choice, and the scientific church that is the Order of the Ascendant. Following The Outer Worlds 2's prologue chapter, this is where players become truly acclimated with the game's new and improved systems in an open-world setting.

Ghost of Yotei is a violent game about hunting down murderers on a quest for revenge. You kill a lot of people along the way. There are tons of sick showdowns in which you gracefully cut down foes as fountains of blood spurt from their slashed limbs. But what I actually love to do most in it is just occasionally stand still.

Fantasy games take you away from any semblance of the real world, instead trading in unique worlds and universes, often featuring magic, but sometimes lean into fantasy technology as well. These games are often in the RPG genre, and many of them feature open-worlds as well. The most important and defining aspect of fantasy games are their settings though, featuring magical creatures and special powers.

It's been only a, *checks watch*, casual 15 years since the last Skate game came out. Now, we finally have an early access release date for skate. (styled lowercase, with a period): September 16, 2025. The early access version is free and heading to PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store and the EA app.

Mafia: The Old Country features handsome visuals and rich environmental details, celebrating the 1900s Italian setting while receiving mixed reviews on storytelling and gameplay.

Grounded 2, the follow-up to the novel open-world survival game, takes players into a public park where they uncover the story behind Ominent and a rogue employee.

Valheim exploded in player count on Steam in 2021, offering unique features like architecturally sound base building, Viking atmosphere, and diverse map environments.

Vantage allows players to chart their own paths across over 800 interconnected locations and discover 900 unique cards, fostering deep exploration and creativity.

Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School combines classroom exploration with escape room puzzles, aiming to enhance the experience with a student role-playing vibe.