Summary
- Elden Ring offers unparalleled variety with rewards hidden in a colossal world for hundreds of hours of exciting gameplay.
- STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl presents danger in a unique open-world environment, rewarding exploration with dynamically regenerating artifacts.
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt sets a new course for the genre with adventure, diverse monsters, and combat distractions despite aging mechanics.
Open world games are among the most popular in the gaming environment, attracting millions of players. Due to the combination of freedom, the breadth of game mechanics and activities available, and the appeal of playing at your own pace, open-world titles typically support different play styles and provide different incentives for players to stay in their worlds.
While many open-world games can lean towards either exploration or combat, a number of titles successfully combine the two equally without clearly dominating one over the other. Exploring your surroundings, uncovering secrets, and finding ways to get to hidden loot are often just as exciting as ambushing or slashing your way through enemies for a bounty. Below are some of the most remarkable open world games available today that perfectly balance combat and exploration.
Elden Ring
Unrivaled variety in everything
Elden Ring takes everything great about FromSoftware's signature game formula and places it in a truly colossal, breathtaking, layered world unlike anything players have explored before. Naturally, players can visit any corner of the Earth between them that they can look at, and everywhere they find rewards worth claiming, although some are hidden so well that few players can discover them.
Anything you can find in the world can be used on the battlefield, including hundreds of pieces of armor, various weapons, tools, spells and more. Coupled with a hostile variety as wild as Elden Ring's, as well as incredibly strong level design and enemy placement, the game remains exciting, unpredictable and rewarding for hundreds of hours.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl
An Environment Full of Dangers of All Kinds
STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl stays true to the original STALKER games that offer an unpredictable and dangerous open-world zone environment, ripe for exploration. From countless well-hidden stashes to other pilgrims containing the best equipment, to rare artifacts that dynamically regenerate after random emissions and require considerable effort to find, explore STALKER 2 is in a league of its own.
Of course, some of the biggest dangers in the zone aren't anomalies at all, but rather deadly mutants, other stalkers, or bandits. Players can be unpredictably ambushed by enemy groups while STALKER 2 has issues with the promised A-Life system failing to deliver, each new update has improved the game and the gunfights are already as strong as fans could hope for.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Charting a new course for the genre
Few open-world games in the last decade have had as strong an impact as this The Witcher 3: Wild Hunta title that has earned countless awards and worldwide acclaim for its mastery of the open-world RPG formula. The game's gorgeous multi-region world is bursting with adventure and discovery, while its diverse bestiary of monsters keeps things fresh for tens, if not hundreds, of hours.
While The Witcher 3: Wild HuntWhile the combat system is showing its age, there's still plenty of fun to be had for those willing to experiment and use everything in Geralt's arsenal. Achieving the goal in The Witcher 3 is rarely a straightforward quest, as players are constantly distracted by hidden treasures, small side quests, and combat encounters.
Ghost Of Tsushima
A sharp eye and a deadly sword
Ghost of Tsushima ostensibly takes a Ubisoft-esque approach to open-world environments, but manages to differentiate itself thanks to some unique ideas from Sucker Punch. Exploration rarely requires checking the route on the map, as players can look for visual clues and follow the animals or the wind to the next point of interest, not to mention how breathtakingly beautiful the world of Tsushima is.
While the variety of map activities could be better, Ghost of TsushimaThe combat system more than compensates. With a complex progression that provides new moves and tricks until the very end, and an efficient access to equipment, fighting the Mongols is never boring. Add to that random encounters like roaming enemy patrols, bandit ambushes, and a wandering ronin looking for Jin, and the game becomes a well-oiled mechanism perfectly blending the best the genre has to offer.
Fallout 4
A true thief's paradise
Fallout 4 is defined by its intricate balance between exploration and combat. The vast map of Boston and its surroundings is almost entirely accessible from the start as players approach any interesting landmark they might spot in the distance. Literally every step along the way is worth careful examination Fallout 4 it's packed with rewarding secrets, disappearing areas like entire underground bases, and countless examples of Bethesda's environmental storytelling.
Still, the wasteland is traditionally a dangerous place for the series, where bandits, raiders, robots and mutants can suddenly ambush the hapless travelers at every corner. Try to get a well-hidden item and players will most likely set off a trap that will attract unwanted attention. Fortunately, Fallout 4The combat is arguably the best in the series to date, and coupled with a robust crafting system, players can use any scrap they find while exploring, which is a huge asset in combat.
Assassin's Creed Origins
The Witcher 3, but with pyramids
Since its switch to an open-world action-RPG plan, Assassin's Creed games usually provide both combat and exploration, so it often comes down to each player's setting preference. However, Assassin's Creed Origins deserves a special place for its intricate balance between the two, elevated by the unique and captivating setting of ancient Egypt.
Exploring once-remarkable cities, religious temples, vast deserts, and even the Great Pyramids themselves is memorable in its own right, often rewarding players with powerful gear. And there is no shortage of opportunities to use this equipment Originsas players work to cleanse Egypt of corrupting influences, battle undead pharaohs, or even participate in events such as gladiatorial arenas, battle formidable foes such as war elephants, or challenge the gods themselves.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Extensive and entertaining, if slightly controversial
Among the best open world games of recent times, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth spectacularly expands on the original with an updated direction. Not only is the game massive, but almost every element brings something new to the table – from combat and exploration to quests and mini-games – keeping the experience fresh even for longtime fans.
IN Rebirthplayers rarely need to engage in combat just for the sake of it, allowing for a natural balance between free exploration, side activities and mini-games, and intense combat encounters and boss fights.
Interestingly, despite its heights FF7 Rebirth it still ended up being quite divisive for its approach to both exploration and combat. Some seasoned JRPG fans are not entirely satisfied with its hybrid combat system (real-time battles with strategic elements), which they can find too punishing, describing the exploration of later regions as repetitive and formulaic.
