Ah, it’s the open world genre of video games. It’s the subgenre I spent the most time on myself, but I’ll be authentic with you.
That doesn’t mean that all open world games are bad. Some are very well done in their presentations and even showcase incredible worldbuilding elements. Games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2 are right there.
But what about open world games that have such a variety of maps, but feel dead? Well, that’s exactly why I prepared a list of open world games with huge maps that I found to be lively.
10
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
That’s not the apocalyptic Hyrule
Despite both this game and the sequel to the latter, I have to admit that I am Killjoy here and how lively Zelda’s open world is.
Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not here to taint the legacy of the game. I really liked the first few hours from the opening and set off with your glider and discovered NPCs, towns and villages during my journey.
The heavy chunks of Botw content revolve around the shrine, but at some point they become slow to go throughNo matter how unique each one is to design and execute the puzzle. Plus, there’s no meaningful content in this open world that will hang you badly.
Honestly, that’s why I prefer the old Zelda title, the modest one. Instead, there is a linear approach. Plus, they had multiple dungeons, special boss fights and meaningful puzzles.
9
Biological locality
That could have been special.
Biomutant was one of those games with plenty of possibilities written in all of them. I was looking at that development cycle briefly, but the final reception of the game became a mixed bag for people like me who had the opportunity to play day one.
It is scattered with star-studded elements such as the World faction/tribe, karma system, weapon craft system, etc. The game falls flat on your back with a large, dull open world map with tons of empty spaces and instances that don’t even have loot or fighting bosses.
Sometimes everything looks gorgeous with its lush, desolate forest scenery. And there’s a lot of fun for the first few hours until this game and most other cookie cutter common open world games finally reach the point where God tends to do it repeatedly.
8
Starfield
25 years after the drain
Before the GTA VI hype trains ran circles in the industry, Starfield’s big predictions were pissing the gaming world. So, with such an amazing development cycle, surely the game must have been delivered? right?
Despite most of the other decent features, the attractive open world is not one of them, so I’m grateful that I didn’t buy FOMO for this game on release. Those thousands of procedurally generated planets? A barren landscape in the same cycle as having resources and enemy post bases.
Ensuring players are immersed in a great open world thrives, and Starfield has a somewhat well-written nuance in the story and quest design, but the world itself begins to feel the same after about 20 hours due to the layout of the recycled buildings and the cleaned set design.
7
Just cause 4
There’s little imagination of mayhem
My teenage guilty pleasure was playing Just Cause Games. I turn my brain off, cause mayhem in the most absurd ways, tackling a seemingly endless amount of side content, slowly tipping on serviceable storytelling, especially in the third game where Medici was your playground.
But my friend and I were looking forward to what four causes might be cooked, and it ended up doing it A major loss to what made the series so popular– Removes popular properties such as destructive physics and lively visuals for the dark tones of open world sandboxes.
The world design of Just Cause 4 made me feel that the overall vibe of the game was dead and grey. Even if new elements were introduced here, such as these extreme weather conditions and more diverse map subregions, it didn’t make any sense since I felt the game’s core identity had been stripped.
6
Test drive unlimited 2
There’s no lively in Hawaii
The original Test Drive Unlimited felt like a forgotten gem from childhood on the PS2, so imagine the surprise of stumbling on a sequel while teenager on the Xbox 360.
Spoiler alert: I was immediately disappointed. TDU 2 had a massive open world that combined the first game, the new original take on Hawaiian Island’s Oahu and Ibiza, but The takeaway here was that, even on a visual scale, I didn’t imagine how the game felt as a sequel.
I understand that the first entry wasn’t groundbreaking either, but the sequel would have at least made the world feel more dynamic while racing. It was multiplayer that made the game feel temporarily alive, but this didn’t help the overall case of the game feel like a huge humble.
5
Hogwarts Legacy
A magical story without inspiration
I felt that Hogwarts legacy presented similar issues to the Biocooperatives for me. The vast landscape outside the Hogwarts campus is littered with puzzles and treasures, but it does not specifically solve the problems of the world itself.
For one thing, the game is very lacking in enemy diversity. I was about to smash my head against the wall when I came across the same recycled variation of a spider that the game throws at you in the dungeons and other remote areas of the map.
Activities such as broom exams, dark arts battle arenas, and enemy front post bases may give you a short burst of adrenaline, but even those tend to be repeated quickly in mini puzzles. There are many cozy villages and towns that look appealing, but protecting Hogwarts legacy from the common, lively open world titles isn’t enough.
4
Horizon Forbidden West
A visual astonishing with nothing behind it
I’m sorry to all passionate fans like me, but the bittersweet truth about Horizon Forbidden West is that it is one of the most bland open world games in the modern era. That’s despite having one of the most ray-on-ray graphical engines ever and a world full of robotic veterinarians at every level.
Naturally, the first game was intended to portray a sense of isolation and emptiness through its bygone dystopian world. Still, in the sequel I honestly expected more reactivity and encounters than other tribes and machines in the Forbidden Land.or some new types of machines lurking in the foundations.
The game has an unusual downtime moment in which a world with dynamic leaves and geometric systems feels like the most breathtaking thing ever. Still, aside from the adoration of the Decima engine’s prowess, I want them to make the third game feel dangerous and attractive.
3
Final Fantasy 15
Cross Country Chocobros Trip
While this may sound like a heresy, Final Fantasy 15 is an introduction to the series, and now you’ll experience previous games, from VI to my greatest favorite of all time, FFX. I sincerely adore FF15, but I don’t deny that the game had a rough reception and one of the most cursed development cycles.
It all led to a mainline final fantasy title, which was wonderfully presented thanks to the incredible beauty of the bright engine, but with promising stories and characters, One of the biggest obstacles to its success was EOS’s shallow and uninteresting world design.
Certainly, riding Noctis and Chocobos and his boy band in Regalia is a therapeutic experience, but there is nothing meaningful about the map outside of the usual dungeon entrances, boss encounters and bounty hunting. There are few reactive elements in the world, making it one of the most fascinating open worlds to explore in FF games.
2
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
The story of Snooze Fest Viking
As someone who spent hundreds of unnecessary time in Odysseys and Odysseys, I was looking forward to what I might recall as the Assassinian beliefs Valhalla, given my true interest and worship of Norse mythology and the Vikings themselves.
They reminded them of their most bloated, bland open world games, but it wasn’t surprising given the decline in track record at the time. Ac Valhalla’s map was slightly more condensed than Odyssey’s map, The historic European open world of late Vikings was the weakest map of the series.
In addition to the fact that the game’s story intentionally experiences everything for over 100 hours, the only comfort you can find in the world is the breathtaking sights you encountered in conquest, as well as the various puzzles and lore points that you can solve and interact along the way.
There is also the blessing of salvation in the construction and management of your settlement. Or, when you raid a castle or fortress with your Viking brothers, a short burst of serotonin can fuel your mind. But it was Ubisoft’s most lively open world game, especially considering how bland everything else is, and especially my personal aversion to its clunky combat and shallow skill system.
1
Forced
With my weird mind!
It’s hard to start discussing the silly da that this game brought to the industry and audience when it was released. I tried to be positive and give this game the bounty of doubt that there was a possible banger after playing the demo, but the boy was wrong.
For Kdoken’s open world is the least lively environment ever. It is designed to be a world inspired by the giant Isekai, It lacks all the charm that the anime genre has in its world. It is filled with a large amount of space, sprinkled with instantly repeated side content.
Apart from the fact that combat and Frey’s magic parkour moves have a bit of fun talent, if the world is not deep, it doesn’t make much sense, as most of it is a standard loop of exploring monotonous collectibles, treasure chests, or Asia’s vast expanse of caves and towers.
As someone who loves fantasy and realism, as someone who first revealed the game when Project Atea was so intrigued by my friend and I, it’s a shame. But it became a superficial confusion and critical flop, and did more harm than good for the open world genre.
