The biggest upcoming open world adventure games

The open world genre continues to thrive, constantly offering new environments, unique destinations and the promise of an epic adventure where players play a central role in the narrative. Some of the most anticipated games today are open-world titles, although some games are still quite a ways away from launch. However, fans of adventures in vast worlds full of freedom always have a choice of new games to immerse themselves in for hundreds of hours.

Over the course of 2026, there are several big open-world titles on the way almost every month, and many of them are long-awaited big releases from big-name developers that promise to shake up the genre quite a bit. Let's take a look at the biggest upcoming open-world games that focus on adventure and let players decide where and when they go – but always put them at the very center of the most interesting stories and events.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin

Starting the year with a colorful explosion

Unlike most of the other posts here The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin it's coming very early and is among the first big open-world action-adventure games of the year – and what's even better, it's a completely free title. Just like Where the winds meet before it, which has already been a huge success with more than 10 million players, The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin can be played as a solo title with a traditional story, or in four-player co-op to prioritize the game's other features, such as robust action and sandbox exploration. Regardless of the choice, The Seven Deadly Sins provides a vivid open world of Britannia to explore, faithfully brought to life to capture the pillars of the Netflix original manga and anime world.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin immediately captivates with beautiful visuals and colorful landscapes. Playing as Prince Tristan of the Lion Kingdom, players embark on a vast adventure through space and time to restore order to the kingdom. While epic battles are definitely on offer, there's a lot more to it than just combat, as players can hunt for lost treasure, fish, cook and craft, meet other characters and help with their quests, tame, collect and ride different horses, and even become the captain of their own customizable ship to sail towards new horizons.

Crimson Desert

Possible new benchmark

Undoubtedly, Crimson desert is among the most hyped releases of the first quarter of 2026. After years of preparation, the Pearl Abyss team is gearing up to release their colossal open-world action-adventure title, which promises to deliver a scale players haven't seen in quite some time. Seemingly drawing inspiration from every popular open world title of the last decade The Witcher 3 on Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Legend of Zelda, Crimson desert it looks absolutely irresistible, brimming with game mechanics and wild possibilities.

IN Crimson desertplayers can freely explore the vast and dangerous continent of Pywel, full of secrets and discoveries, playing as Kliff of the Greymane on his epic adventure to avenge his fallen comrades. While the central narrative seems to be important in Crimson Desertwith a sprawling cinematic story, tons of characters, and cutscenes, it's the world and combat that stand out the most so far. On their quest, players can do whatever they want, complete side quests, hunt, gather, craft, explore, engage in large-scale battles and one-on-one duels, and much more. The cherry on top: players can discover mystical gates throughout Pywel to enter the mysterious realm known as the Abyss and uncover its secrets.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Relive the legend of Gotham built from bricks

LEGO games have long established their own niche, growing in scope, ambition and quality with each installment. That's exactly what it does LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight so exciting because the game could become a core Batman action-packed adventure story that DC fans haven't seen in quite some time. With its open world Gotham City, including iconic landmarks such as Arkham Asylum, Ace Chemicals and Wayne Tower, LEGO Batman aims to capture everything that makes Batman so special and beloved, combined with the signature charm of the bricks.

Legacy of the Dark Knight features the full story of Bruce Wayne on his journey to become the city's protector as he bonds with trusted allies while facing the most iconic supervillains from comics and movies. Players will begin with League of Shadows training before setting up their Batman lair and gaining access to a range of Batmobiles and Batcycles, along with other gadgets to freely glide and zip around the layered city. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight allows players to approach combat and investigation as they wish, combining robust action combat with fluid combos, stealth techniques and detective skills in spirit Batman: Arkham titles.

Subnautica 2

Dangerous depths ahead

After some turbulence last year, including an extensive lawsuit between Krafton management and developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Subnautica 2 it's finally set to launch in Early Access this year, so hopefully its fans are in for a smooth ride. Following on from the ground-breaking original that almost became the favorite marine survival and exploration game for millions of fans, Subnautica 2 is about to expand on everything, bringing an immersive underwater adventure that players can play alone or with friends – explore new biomes and mysterious ruins, discover fascinating creatures, craft, build and survive.

Set in a brand new mysterious alien ocean world, Subnautica 2 allows players to feel like true pioneers of the unknown depths, discovering new life forms and collecting specimens for study, each potentially unlocking new ways to evolve a character's own genetics to adapt for underwater survival. With a new world, you can experience a new story as each new discovery takes the player deeper into this strange ocean to understand its complexities. In addition, the developers promise a completely redesigned building system with more options for unique bases and tools available to players.

Fable

may mark a new era

After a delay from the original 2025 date Fable could end up being among the biggest open-world RPG releases of 2026, but fans have seen surprisingly little of this ambitious game that could be the start of a whole new era for Playground Games. Over the years, the developers have been rather secretive about the project, sharing only small glimpses of its world and gameplay. But even though it is Fable certainly sits fairly high on any open-world RPG fan's bucket list, both thanks to the legacy of the original games and the undeniably spectacular visuals of the upcoming title.

Fable has always been synonymous with adventure, borrowing the most iconic plots from fairy tales to re-mix and re-mix them, working the angles through British humour, unexpected denouements and occasionally thickening colours. So far it looks like new Fable will be no different, focusing on silly characters and everyday situations, bringing comedic actors to the roster and questioning the very nature of heroism, while masterfully delivering a serious tone and high stakes when needed. Hopefully, the developers will reveal more of the game soon, and the Xbox Developer Direct in January 2026 seems like a good place to finally give fans an exact release date to mark in their calendars.

Light No Fire

Ambition of planetary size

Many upcoming open-world games aim to deliver a scale never before attempted in the genre, and Light No Fire is one of the most remarkable. It comes from Hello Games, with years of experience using procedural generation for a seamless universe No Man's Skythis time, the team is setting out to create a compelling, planet-sized fantasy world. What's most interesting is how the team tries to merge procedural and handcrafted elements to create a compelling world where players can set their own goals, but also provide a unique, deep lore, spirit of adventure, unlimited exploration and flexible team play.

IN Light No Fireplayers can team up with their friends or strangers to complete quests, explore, craft, build, or literally anything they can think of. While details about the main plot and overarching goal of v Light No Fire remain rare, it seems, after No Man's Skythe team wants to combine the best qualities of quarantine and narrative-driven adventures to keep players engrossed in the world's mysteries, characters, and locations beyond mere visual wonder. Both ambitious and fascinating, this new take on the open world formula has already become one of the most anticipated upcoming games for thousands of players.

The Witcher 4

A genre-defining comeback

The Witcher 4 it almost certainly is No is coming in 2026, but it's a prime example of a game release that will most likely define the open world action RPG genre for years to come – just like its acclaimed predecessor. CD Projekt RED has been one of the most popular open world creators ever to push the boundaries for almost a decade now, and it looks like the studio is finally ready for its biggest and most ambitious game to date.

It should be noted that we haven't seen the actual game yet, as everything shown so far has been taken from the Unreal Engine 5 tech demo to capture the vision and feel The Witcher 4's world. Of course, it can already be assumed that the story adventure is the heart of the game and follows suit The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. Fans should expect plenty of exciting hand-crafted quests with a twist, diverse and stunning locations to visit, including several bustling cities that rival Novigrad, new monsters to track down and fight, and many new characters to meet, including faces not mentioned in the original books. From any angle, The Witcher 4 There seems to be nothing too difficult for any open-world adventure fan, so it's just a matter of patience to see more from the game.