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What are the best open-world games on PC? From the early days of gaming, with Ultima and Lords of Midnight, open-world games have always been right at home on PC – indeed, those pesky consoles often couldn’t handle it. Compare the ambitious early version of Halo to the final, more confined result, for example – and only the PC could hold sprawling regions in the very first Elder Scrolls games. Nevertheless, the leap into full 3D with Grand Theft Auto 3 and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind really brought the idea of open-world gaming to the masses.
These days, open-world games are their own genre separate from single-player MMOs. You can find accurate depictions of real-life cities or countries, huge fictional expanses with their own landmarks, complete worlds to check out – or even entire galaxies, depending on where you want to go on your next adventure. Not only are these the best open-world games, but a lot of them show up in our best PC games list, too.
Here are the best open-world games on PC:
Genshin Impact
When Genshin Impact was first released back in 2020, many gamers were quick to remark upon its many resemblances to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – which is a very flattering comparison, considering that BOTW is one of the greatest open-world games of all time. However, while the latest Zelda game remains a Nintendo Switch exclusive, Genshin Impact can be enjoyed on PC, giving PC gamers a beautiful, Ghibli-esque world to explore at their leisure – and for free, too.
So what do you do in this world? Well, there’s an expansive story for you to complete (which you’ll be pleased to hear can done without paying thing), loot to obtain, food to cook, weapons to craft, and an expansive cast of characters to unlock through its gacha mechanics (who’ll give you access to additional parts of the world). And did we mention it can all be done with your friends? No, well, it can, so have those cherries on the top of your cake.
Tower of Fantasy
This MMO action RPG borrows a lot from Genshin Impact, so if you loved that game, you’ll probably love this one too. It’s one of those scenarios where the formula was so good that it only made sense for another developer to take another crack at it – and that’s not to say is completely derivative, either. Its setting and storyline are both very different from Genshin, with more of a sci-fi focus, rather than being purely fantasy-based.
Of course, like Genshin, Tower of Fantasy also features a giant open world. You can find barren deserts, tropical beaches, open fields, bustling futuristic cities, and so much more. It’s not one of those open worlds that’s empty, either. There’s plenty to do from resource gathering to fighting monsters, and much more – made all the more enjoyable by the fact that you can do it all with your friends. We even have Tower of Fantasy codes for some in-game freebies.
Elden Ring
Elden Ring is a masterclass evolution of the Souls-like genre of hardcore action RPG games and is considered one of the best PC games ever. A large part of Elden Ring’s success can be attributed to the new open world, which gives the player the freedom to explore and tackle quests, bosses, and dungeons in whatever order they please. The critically acclaimed ARPG also thankfully manages to avoid existing genre tropes – this is no Assassin’s Creed or Witcher – and offers its own unique fusion of challenging gameplay and free-form game design. Read our Elden Ring review to see what we thought of this open-world game.
This is a must for Dark Souls fans, but even those new to the genre will find this a more welcoming entry point. If you’re looking for some tips to give you a leg up, we’ve got guides to all the Elden Ring bosses, how multiplayer works, and even the Ashes of War locations.
Halo Infinite
Halo Infinite has made a pretty masterful transition into an open world. It brings out the best of Halo: Combat Evolved’s previous glory, while also bringing a new experience for veteran players. The grappling hook opens up Zeta Halo in a way we’ve never experienced before, increasing the tactical options and letting you explore this beautiful space. Fortunately, you don’t need to be online to play the campaign, making Halo Infinite an excellent offline game.
While Infinite introduces collectibles, they’re not too prolific and many are sign-posted on the in-game map. The only ones you’ll really have to go digging for are the Halo Infinite skulls, something Halo players should be used to by now as they are in every game. Once you’ve finished the campaign, you can hop into Halo Infinite’s multiplayer. Read our Halo Infinite review for more.
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Skyrim is one of those games we return to over and over again and the magic is always there. Its replayability comes from the hundreds of different ways to play through this open-world RPG, from typical character builds like thief and warrior, to trying to play the whole game as a vegan or role-playing as a character from the game’s lore. Skyrim’s open world is filled with characters and beasts going on about their daily business without you, and you’ll often happen across a giant kicking a poor wolf into orbit or a couple of Thalmor escorting a captured Nord.
This fantasy open-world RPG explores Skyrim’s vast and spectacular region – where you play as a Dragonborn, a prophesied hero thrown amid a tense civil war. The world is heavily inspired by the environments of countries like Norway and Iceland, taking their history, culture, flora, and folklore, and muddling them together with The Elder Scrolls’ realistic brand of high fantasy. Skyrim has a captivating story and astounding attention to detail, which makes this nearly decade-old game still one of the most talked-about open-world games there is. It still has a dedicated modding community, so you can check out the best Skyrim mods once you’ve exhausted all the ways to play.
No Man’s Sky
The backlash was brutal during No Man’s Sky’s release in 2016. The hype for the game was out of control, and the small studio Hello Games had an impossible job of delivering what players expected from the game. Six years and many updates later, that little studio has managed to turn No Man’s Sky into the best open-world space game.
Forget open-world – No Man’s Sky is an open universe. Whereas some open-world games give you a city or even a state to explore, this game starts with an entire planet and only expands from there. You can explore it freely – finding outposts, meeting wildlife, causing trouble, mining for minerals, looking for artifacts, building bases, and messing around with No Man’s Sky mods. Then once you’ve fixed your ship and blasted off into the stars, you can find other completely different planets to explore and exploit. You could spend your entire life playing No Man’s Sky and not see everything the game has to offer. You can even play with friends now, craft huge bases, and simply explore this incredibly gorgeous universe.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
While its world is broken up into a series of miniature open-world regions, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt fills each one with enough detail and character that they feel like one cohesive world. Whether you’re tracking beasts across the battle-scarred plains of Velen, exploring the cobbled streets of Novigrad, or skulking through ancient woodlands, CD Projekt Red has crafted a world that feels authentic and fantastical in equal measure, and as a result is one of the best single player games ever.
And your exploration through these rugged locales is constantly rewarded with new quests, characters, beasts, and encounters. In The Witcher 3, you never want fast travel around the map for fear of missing out on a new and exciting adventure, and what higher praise could there be for an open-world game? The only information we have on The Witcher 4 was a teaser trailer showing a medallion, so for now you’ll have to be content with the best Witcher 3 mods to tide you over. The next-gen update to The Witcher 3 does an excellent job of improving on what is an already gorgeous game, adding plenty of quality-of-life improvements and next-generation gaming PC features.
Saints Row 4
The Saints Row series is the perfect antidote to the traditional modern open-world game. Volition took the template set by Grand Theft Auto 3 and cranked up the ridiculousness. Things were fun enough with Saints Row 2 and 3, with insane missions such as diving in front of traffic to make money off insurance, but Saints Row IV took it one step further and added superpowers.
While the city of Steelport hasn’t changed much since the last game, being able to jump up tall buildings in a single bound or run faster than a speeding bullet adds an incredible amount of fun to the equation. Very quickly you’ll find that you don’t need cars, helicopters, or even guns – why bother when you can run up to an enemy at super-speed and punch them off the map? These powers ensure Saints Row IV feels worlds apart from the series’ main inspirations, and makes it one of the most entertaining open-world games out there.
Combine this with an alien invasion storyline, an absurd and diverse range of missions, and the fact that you’re doing all this while playing as the President of the United States – it’s not hard to see how this barmy game has garnered a cult following.
Fallout 4
You can sink a lot of hours into Fallout 4. From traversing the dusty post-apocalyptic plains to scavenging hidden resources to build a base and survive this new, uncertain future. The retro-futuristic wasteland of Boston, MA is brimming with adventures, memorable characters, and more locations than you could visit over the course of a 100-hour playthrough. Whether you’re battling through the mutant-infested streets of downtown Boston, braving the heavily irradiated Glowing Sea, or taking a tour of the Salem Witch Museum, Fallout 4’s gigantic open world never feels empty.
Before you set off in your hazmat suit to explore the wastes, be sure to check out our beginner’s guide to Fallout 4, or if you’re ahead of the curve then see our guides to all the best Fallout 4 mods and Fallout 4 console commands to tweak your experience further.
Red Dead Redemption 2
In RDR2, you’ll play Arthur Morgan, a wanted outlaw and part of the Van der Linde gang, led by the infamous and duplicitous, Dutch. Even though the gang’s fate is sealed, hope is an involuntary reaction that will carry you through this melancholy love letter to the Old West. But it’s Rockstar’s immensely detailed open world that makes Red Dead Redemption 2 so special.
The diverse landscape changes from frozen lakes and snowy mountain edges to dusty plains and murky swamp waters. NPCs are responsive to your character’s honour bar and will react to your presence in town, depending on how well-behaved you’ve been. If a bounty is out for you, you’ll need to visit the local post office to pay it off before you can enter freely into ‘wanted’ territory or risk being hunted down by bounty hunters.
Check out our Red Dead Redemption 2 review to see just how the open world lets you play as you please, with story missions that open up or close off different areas. You are mostly free to roam the expansive American frontier; from meeting strangers on the side of a road, plodding into town to get a haircut, to tracking down legendary animals in the severe terrain of the Grizzlies, you’ll want to touch every part of Red Dead Redemption 2’s intriguing and captivating open world.
Grand Theft Auto 5
While Grand Theft Auto 3 basically pioneered the 3D open-world game, GTA 5 is the culmination of everything Rockstar wanted to achieve with that innovative experience. The ridiculously large area of San Andreas is your playground, including the LA-inspired city of Los Santos, and it’s one of the most detailed open-world regions seen before or since in a game. There are easter eggs, stores, sports, and countless side missions to occupy you wherever you end up.
If that’s not enough, there’s also GTA Online, which builds on what’s great about the sandbox game and adds dozens of other players – introducing them to races with the fastest GTA 5 cars, heists, battle royale, biker gangs, and much more. There are even GTA 5 mods which, when combined with GTA 5 cheats, can create some utterly chaotic playthroughs – it’s wild, and with any luck, we won’t have to wait too long for a GTA 6 release date.
Batman: Arkham Knight
“Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman” should be the mantra for all open-world games. Rocksteady’s third and final foray into the world of the Dark Knight boasts a near-complete recreation of Gotham City, and while it’s a smaller play area than most other open-world games – few are as detailed and littered with fan service as in this superhero game.
Every square metre of Gotham has something of interest to catch your attention, whether it’s a dastardly murder, an interesting encounter, an intriguing riddle, a gang of ne’er-do-wells to beat up, or a billboard advertisement that you should really take another look at after you’re doused with Scarecrow juice. Getting around the city is a lot of fun, too, from grapple-glides to barrelling through the streets in the Batmobile.
While the story might not be as good as the other Arkham games, Arkham Knight is still one of the best Batman games when it comes to gameplay, gorgeous visuals, and an open world you want to spend dozens of hours exploring – and if you’re an avid DC reader then it’ll never get boring thanks to the countless easter eggs you’ll stumble upon.
Days Gone
Formerly a PlayStation exclusive, Days Gone is now available on PC, complete with a whole host of fixes and enhancements that make it the definitive way to play it. Clambering aboard your hog and driving through the Pacific Northwest, our Days Gone review describes it as a “workmanlike open-world adventure” that’s “elevated into something special by its spectacular horde fights, ambitious scope, and warmly written characters.” The only thing spoiling it slightly is that the mandatory stealth missions can end in instant failure if you’re not careful.
Varied missions add to the appeal of its exhaustive open world, from clearing out forts, navigating a research facility, or rescuing captive locals from the Ripper cult. Now that it’s on PC, Days Gone has seen its first PC mods, from slowing the zombies pace to a classic movie shamble or reshading the game to look like Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake.
Whether you’re playing the game for the first time or revisiting it to explore the creation of the modding scene, Days Gone deserves its spot on this list, if only so people can give it a real chance on PC.
Watch Dogs 2
In a world where Grand Theft Auto 5 exists, releasing another modern, open-world city-based game can be difficult. But Ubisoft found a way to freshen up the formula by adding hacking, Dark Souls-like game invasions, and sharper social and political commentary. Watch Dogs 2 does all that in a slightly condensed, caricatured, but believable recreation of San Francisco.
The troubles of the main character Marcus and the misfit hacker group DedSec make for a far more satisfying and friendly backdrop than that of the first game. The sequel was finally allowed to take the (frankly hilarious) hacking mechanic and have fun a bit of fun with it. Anything can be hacked, from smartphones and traffic lights to vehicles and security cameras, and with various drones along for the ride, the moment-to-moment gameplay is action-packed, varied, and surprisingly funny. Nothing beats hacking a parked car and using it to play bowling with any nearby security guards.
There are some standout missions across the main story, but exploring San Francisco is the main highlight, thanks to a top-tier soundtrack, a detailed recreation of the Bay Area, and the ability to hack oncoming traffic to clear up the roads a little. Check out our Watch Dogs 2 review if you want to know more.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Metal Gear Solid V earns its place on this list for two reasons: it’s the first MGS game to make it to PC, and it’s the only open-world MGS game (we’re not counting Survive). Many were sceptical of the genre shift ahead of its release, but Metal Gear Solid V was one of the most satisfying, immersive, and entertaining open-world games ever made.
MGS V is a war game that offers an incredible amount of content – there are at least a couple of hundred missions, for starters. The stealth systems are fantastic, with loads of moving pieces fitting together like polished clockwork. Light, cover, stance, and noise are all things you have to be careful of, and if you arouse suspicion, the guards can even communicate via walkie-talkie or even with other bases if reinforcements are needed.
The open world adds so much to these stealth mechanics by expanding the game’s scope. You can observe outposts from miles away and make a plan of attack, and the game gives you complete freedom to do things however you like – no matter how crazy. Check out our Metal Gear Solid 5 review if you want to know more.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Odyssey isn’t the only open-world game we recommend from the Assassin’s Creed series. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has significantly better combat, allowing you to wield dual-wield axes like a berserk Viking warrior, among many other weapon combinations. It’s rather fitting then that the protagonist is a badass Viking named Eivor, who seeks glory in battles against the native Saxons currently ruling over England.
Our Assassin’s Creed Valhalla review highlights that more than just improved combat makes it worthy of this list. It’s also the new stuff like rap battles, drinking contests, and the “hopelessly addictive dice game Orlog“. You can also participate in raids, and ransacking villages for plunder for your own Viking settlements. If exploring the wilds of Dark Age England and Norway appeals to you, then you’ll find a lot to enjoy in Valhalla. Our Assassin’s Creed Valhalla beginners tips are available to get you started, although we have plenty of advanced guides as well, such as how to use Ymir’s Tear Stones.
Far Cry 5
Hope County, Montana, is the gorgeous open-world players get to explore in Far Cry 5, but you’ll have to share the experience with murderous cultists and deadly wildlife like bears, mountain lions, and wolverines on your way to your particular Far Cry 5 ending.
Most open-world games see you journeying from Point A to B to get anything done, but Far Cry 5 packs an incredible amount of excitement between those points, courtesy of random encounters. Our Far Cry 5 review goes into how you’ll be distracted by enemy jeeps, bears, VIP soldiers, roadblocks, hostage situations, car chases, or aerial bombardments – often all at once. Far Cry 5 does its damnedest to keep players in a constant state of distraction, making it very easy to lose yourself in big sky country. To top it all off, while it doesn’t work as well as a co-op game where missions are concerned, it does work brilliantly when just screwing around in the open world. So join a friend, pick a place to go to, and wait for the fireworks to start. You won’t be waiting long in Far Cry 5.
Forza Horizon 5
As open-world racing games become more common, it takes an exceptional title to stand out from the pack. Much like its predecessor, Forza Horizon 5 is a celebration of everything motorized, only this time it’s set in a breathtaking slice of Mexico. Whether you’re hurtling down the side of a volcano or navigating a dense jungle, Forza Horizon 5 pairs together solid arcade racing with an open world that rivals anything on this list.
Starfield
Okay, so it wasn’t the greatest game to ever exist, but it would be unfair to say Starfield doesn’t let space fans live out their fantasy to explore a universe filled with planets. There’s something to be said about landing on a planet for the first time and not knowing what you’re going to find on it.
If you add Starfield mods into the mix, you can really take your open-world adventures to another level. With improved space combat, new NPCs, and a brand new UI to boot, almost every element of Starfield can be improved to make it the open-world game of your dreams.
And there we have it, the best open-world games you can find on PC. The genre’s come a long way since the early days of procedurally generated dungeons in old games such as Daggerfall. Since then, we’ve had a revolution in the genre, and nowadays, the worlds we play in look and feel more real than ever. As ever, we’re looking forward to seeing how the upcoming PC games of the future make use of cutting-edge tech to deliver even more beguiling worlds, and we’re even seeing some of the best free PC games adopt a more open design.
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