The open world catalog of video games is far too wide for anyone to immerse themselves in fully, but for those who value their time investment and attention span, they know which ones are the bangers. While the genre didn’t take flight until the later console generations due to technical limitations, the seeds of its foundation were definitely already there with earlier generations too.
On one hand, you had a couple of proto-open-world titles that pretty much helped pave the way for countless others besides this genre. On the other, as the mid-2000s hit, you could already see the potential for developers to create massive landscapes where players could almost immerse themselves in them as actual living spaces.
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And to give you a history lesson in disguise, I’ve put together a list of the best open world games from each console generation to find out just how they progressed in scale and scope.
8
Adventure (1980)
2nd Generation
We’re going to cut some corners here and give our first entry on the Atari 2600 some slack, because you can surely make an understandable case for why Adventure can be considered a prototype for open-world games. From the start, you’re free to roam a large interconnected map of multiple screens in any order.
There’s no forced linear path to constrain you in any manner during the gameplay, but neither is there any dynamic world simulation that we’d see with the latter eras. However, minor details like enemies being able to move around independently, as well as items remaining at their exact drops with each frame—come on, you can’t tell me this wasn’t considered the slightest bit revolutionary for that time period.
You obviously didn’t have any actual objectives or markers to guide you, since your sole goal for the entire game was to recover the Enchanted Chalice. Plus, this game is also infamous for having the first-ever Easter Egg, which was prominently credited and featured in Ready Player One.
7
The Legend of Zelda
3rd Generation
The original Legend of Zelda from the NES is easily one of the most influential video game releases of all time because it not only introduced a household franchise but also a non-linear gameplay approach.
It was almost as if the game established a bond of trust with the player right out of the gate, because you could explore the overworld in any way you wished, as well as tackle the dungeons in any irregular order. And you just know this wouldn’t have been a “Zelda” game without it encouraging you to experiment with intricate details, like burning bushes or blowing up certain walls with your bombs.
You also had a simple yet deliberate combat system that required proper manual positioning, which was vital when you battled late-game enemies like the Blue Wizzrobes. While Ocarina of Time and modern entries like BOTW and TOTK perfected this formula, the core foundation of environmental puzzle design and world exploration was truly established here.
6
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
4th Generation
Despite titles like FF6 and A Link to the Past in my choosing pool here, to give everyone a deserving mention, it ultimately came down to Phantasy Star IV, released for the SEGA Genesis. And make no mistake, it is just as influential as its open world counterparts of the era.
For a 16-bit RPG, and at a time when we still hadn’t landed on the same footing as most modern open world games, Phantasy Star IV managed to showcase an expansive yet cohesive world with its Algor Star System setting. From your primary setting of Motavia to intergalactic travels across the planetary surfaces of Dezoris and Rykros, the scale was truly grand.
Although it still had structured storytelling, you could pretty much revisit regions and almost be incentivized to backtrack to them for meaningful rewards and, most importantly, updated dialogue from NPCs that made the world feel less static than usual.
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5
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
5th Generation
Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the textbook example for open-field adventure progression. Again, it’s not a fully open-world game by today’s standards, but for 1998? It created the illusion of a living and breathing world, all in 3D design.
The vast expanse of Hyrule Field seamlessly connected all major locations together, of which many were influenced whenever the day and night cycle shifted between their respective modes. You can make an argument that some PS1 RPGs, or even Shenmue, had more realistic, systematic, or, actually, larger overworlds, but the scale alone doesn’t equal quality here.
Ocarina of Time had a fantastic time-travel aspect that made the game stand out, much like the series’ entire identity of each game having a unique trait. Plus, while I wholeheartedly adore Majora’s Mask, this is the game for me personally where the dungeons truly test your creative skills (still thinking about you, Water Temple).
4
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
6th Generation
It’s no coincidence that GTA San Andreas showed up once again on today’s list, just after being recognized as one of the best PS2 titles for escapism. And for this exercise, there is no better choice to represent the 6th-gen console lineup than the game that infamously became one of the best-selling titles for the PS2.
Sure, the map was condensed by fog and view distance limiting to make it seem huge, but regardless of what you say here, it was considered groundbreaking in retrospect compared to most games of that time period.
This generation had a ton of bangers across every console, but the wizardry that Rockstar was able to conjure here to create three cities, and an entire countryside and desert sub-region to complement them, is a level of scale that was unparalleded at the time.
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7th Generation
Bethesda has always been known for making a trend-setting shift in the gaming landscape with its releases, so it was no surprise when it released Skyrim in 2011 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 era of players.
Prior entries like Oblivion had laid the groundwork for Skyrim to take flight. It all led to this game having the most organic exploration in the Elder Scrolls series, as well as a world that kept on giving, especially if you took the plunge into its massive modding community, which, to this day, keeps this game feeling endlessly replayable.
You could joke about the countless re-releases all you want, but that’s low-key a testament to how much of a cultural impact Skyrim had on the playerbase. Most importantly, Skyrim captured an atmosphere that few open worlds matched during that generation. The snow-covered peaks, haunting Nordic ruins, and Jeremy Soule’s soundtrack created an immersion that felt almost meditative.
2
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
8th Generation
As much as I wanted to include either Breath of the Wild or RDR2 here, I’ll let them slip in as honorable mentions, because this time, CDPR deserves the spotlight for The Witcher 3. Before Arthur Morgan and the Van Der Linde gang swept everyone away with their rich storytelling, there was Geralt and crew leading one last charge across the PS4 and Xbox One.
You can make valid arguments about how the combat felt was the weakest component of the game, but everything else, from the world-building, progression, and overall writing were generally some of the best work that CD Projekt Red had crafted. Even the side quests often have overarching stories that rival the quality of the main questlines.
And when you combined the base game with the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions, it offered one of the most polished and memorable video game packages of its generation, without an ounce of it feeling like filler to anyone.
1
Elden Ring
9th Generation
For better or worse, FromSoftware etched their name into history upon the arrival of Elden Ring, their first ever foray into the open world genre, by intermixing their signature Dark Souls formula to create one of the most memorable experiences of all time.
I just know some may despise its name at this point and go so far as to term it overrated, but the bottom line is that this game dominated this past generation of consoles and even PCs.
The massive world of The Lands Between was teeming with discoveries at every corner, each one leading to every single person’s social media on launch being infested with clips and posts of hilarious deaths, boss fight victories, or just players uncovering secrets.
The game had rightfully earned critical acclaim amid all the hype leading up to its release. So much so that we soon got treated to an expansion DLC a short time later, and then after that, a multiplayer spin-off, which obviously wasn’t for everyone but still had its magical moments.
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