The 10 Best Open-World Games

3. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

I find it frustrating that the first thing people do when talking about Metal Gear Solid V is complain about the story. Yes, the Phantom Pain’s story is weaker than the other games. That’s because the Phantom Pain is about creating your own stories. It’s about giving you the tactical espionage action that has been on the box for decades, but has so often been sidelined in favour of Kojima’s elaborate, cinematic plots. And it does this brilliantly. It is hands down one of the best sandbox games ever made, with a level of systemic depth that blows my mind every time I play it.

The game is essentially a lengthy sequence of infiltration missions where you need to sneak into military bases to complete an objective, then exfiltrate safely via helicopter. But Kojima Productions pour everything into making this experience as rich and diverse as possible, and I do mean everything. On the player side, you have every gadget and gizmo imaginable, guns, cars, tanks, tranquilisers, fulton balloons, inflatable decoys, a pet wolf that helps you spot enemies, and of course, a cardboard box. It’s a truly remarkable arrays of equipment, and the avenues all these mechanics open up is endless.

But what makes TPP so special is how your enemies can respond to your tactics. Headshot a lot of guards in one mission, and you may find them wearing helmets in the next. Overuse your inflatable decoy, and they’ll start using inflatable decoys intermixed with real guards at their bases. It’s extremely cool, but more importantly, it forces you to adapt your tactics, rather than relying one a single method of playing through the game.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild

Breath of the Wild is famous, perhaps even infamous, for its size. But what’s truly amazing about Nintendo’s latest Zelda is the depth of its systems. Everything in Breath of the Wild is simulated, wind, trees, even the damned grass has systems attached to it. Let’s take one example, fire, you can use flame arrows to set enemies on fire, but you can also use fire to create an updraft for your glider, or light up the ground beneath a fruit tree to cook the fruit above it. And that’s just three applications, there’s probably a dozen more than I’m yet to remember.

This level of depth to the systems, combined with its vast and gorgeous world makes Breath of the Wild one of the most creative and player-centric open-world games in existence. Four years after its release, players are still discovering new things that they can do in the game, a testament to Nintendo’s creative vision.

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Ten years on from its release, and Skyrim remains the best open world game ever made. There simply isn’t another virtual possibility space like it. Skyrim lets you be precisely the character that you want to be, and do the things that you want to do. Want to be a brawny warrior that occasionally turns into a rampaging werewolf? You can do that. Want to play it like a Thief sequel and sneak invisibly through dungeons? You can do that. Want to play the whole game without killing anyone directly, using illusion and other systems to deal with opponents by proxy. It’s difficult, but you can do it.

Some might argue that Morrowind or Oblivion were better Elder Scrolls games, and there’s a case you can make for each. But I think Skyrim represents the best of both worlds. It has Oblivion’s accessibility, but restores much of Morrowind’s depth without letting the experience bogged down. And of course, if there’s something you don’t like about the game, there’s probably a mod out there that changes in, thanks to Bethesda’s foresight in opening up its tools to the modding community.

Yes, it’s writing may not be as good as The Witcher 3, and may not have level of detail of Red Dead Redemption 2. But in terms of all-round creative potential, you would struggle to find a better sandbox, than Bethesda’s fantasy magnum-opus.