If you’re anything like me, you love video games where the freedom to choose is all yours. The world is at your fingertips, and you can follow whatever destiny you decide for yourself. Open-world games are so intricate, as they build an entire world for players like us to explore. Looking for a game just like that? Look no further than this list of the best open-world games for PC!
15. Elden Ring - 2022 (PS4, PS5, Windows, XBOX)
Elden Ring trailer
Following a disastrous event known as the Shattering, you must traverse the dangerous terrain of Lands Between to repair the Elden Ring and become the Elden Lord. Elden Ring offers you the chance to save this fictional world from ruin, encountering enemies, magic, and mystery.
The gameplay offers you a world of possibility (quite literally) with vast areas of land to uncover and explore. The map of the game stretches 30.5 square miles, giving you a game that can continue to surprise you, no matter how long you’ve played!
This game is about YOU! With the power to customize your character, you can fully immerse yourself in the game. It also allows you to customize the game to how you like to play! Picking your class offers more ways to play, whether you want to be super strong, or super magical.
From the great mind of George R.R. Martin comes the worldbuilding of the Lands Between! The gameplay slowly lets you in on the secrets of the world, telling you the story in fragmented pieces. Its various characters indulge their knowledge unto you, and it is up to you to connect the pieces.
Fun Factor Score: 86/100
Just a glimpse of the adventures waiting to be had!
14. Raft - 2018 (Windows)
Raft trailer
You’re stranded! Survive the open oceans by collecting debris with your trusty hook and fighting off sharks who’d rather you be their dinner. By building onto your raft, you can create complex buildings to aid in your survival. What does the ocean have in store for you?
Craft away with the materials that you scavenge, and create bigger and better tools to help you to survive. Bigger and better weapons and tools can make your survival an exciting adventure for you to go on.
With your mind as your only limit, you can build up your raft in whatever formation you can imagine. From what begins as a dilapidated raft, you can turn into a beautiful place where you can not only survive, but thrive!
And don’t think above the water is the only place you’ll be able to explore. You can dive below the depths and explore the great blue depths just below your raft. As a way to get even more resources, you can explore so much more of the world around you.
Fun Factor Score: 87/100
Let your imagination run wild!
13. Minecraft - 2011 (PC, XBOX, PlayStation, Switch)
Minecraft trailer
Not only is it the best-selling video game of all time, but it also functions as one of the most free-willed open-world games. Free to create your own story, Minecraft and its blocky world allows you to create, discover, and craft anything your heart desires.
With multiple different game modes, you can play however you’d like! You can up the survival difficulty, taking on hordes of zombies and other undead enemies. Or maybe you’d prefer to focus on building in creative, a mode that allows your dreams to soar. If you’d like storytelling, venture into adventure mode, where stories and different lands await.
This game isn’t just about building; use your battle expertise to fight off village raids or tackle a supernatural force only brought about by ritual. You can mine for materials that allow you to upgrade your weapons and armor until you feel you can take on anything!
With the newest update of Minecraft, explore deep within the recesses of the earth. Discover a kingdom that was once great and defeat a hideous monster that can track you only by sound. As Minecraft continues to be updated, so does its great story. Be a part of Minecraft’s story!
Fun Factor Score: 88/100
A world within the ground awaits you!
12. Rust - 2018 (PC, PS4, XBOX)
Rust trailer
Waking up alone on a mysterious island, it is up to you to survive its perils while also fighting off your hunger, thirst, and fatigue. A survival game taken to the next level, Rust allows for gameplay that pulls you into the world of rust. Whether you’re fighting off nature, animals, or even other players, it is up to you to survive.
The world of Rust is completely explorable, with new adventures to have and mystery lurking everywhere you go. You must craft your way through survival, using the resources you find to make it to the next day.
You can build your base however you like, using materials from around you to defend it with all you have. You can use your base to research, farm, and even command the power of electricity. Start from the bottom and build up your survival!
The world of Rust has only one limit: you. Anything you want to do, you can find a way to do it. You can craft weapons, armor, and tools to aid in your survival. Fight against other players or join up with them to create allies. It is all up to you!
Fun Factor Score: 89/100
Explore the world YOUR way.
11. Slime Rancher - 2017 (PC, PS4, XBOX, Switch)
Slime Rancher trailer
On a planet far away from the one we call home, a ranch has been entrusted to you by Hobson Twillgers, the renowned rancher. It is up to you to get the ranch up and running again, all while discovering the secrets of this mysterious planet.
Collect the interesting species of slimes! As a slime rancher, it is your job to gain a fortune collecting this mysterious species. With over 150 hybrid combinations, you can guarantee that there is always something new awaiting you.
Explore the mysterious planet with just your Vac-Pack! Using it to suck up resources and slimes, you can find secrets and treasures laying just beneath your nose. The untamed wilds are calling your name!
A new science has entered this world: Slime Science! Using the slime collected from your adorable new ranch inhabitants, you can find rare resources, craft decorations, and even create new technology to aid you on your adventures.
Fun Factor Score: 90/100
The adorable planet of slimes is ready to be explored!
10. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn - 2013 (PC, PS3, PS4, PS5)
Final Fantasy XIV trailer
With an impending invasion from the Garlean Empire of the north, it is up to you, as the chosen champion of the Mothercrystal, to save the day. With multiple paths to choose from, there is a story waiting to be discovered everywhere you go.
Because of its format, the game's full story and lore are unknown until you play starting from each of the three continents (Gridania, Ul’dah, Limsa Lominsa). This offers a great amount of replayability while also allowing you to discover the story in any way you choose.
The customization options also allow you to create characters with many abilities. Whether you want to swing around a great axe with incredible damage or do some healing using magic, this game can cater to you. Don’t like your starting class? No worries! The job feature allows your job to evolve as you progress, and at the end of a class, you have the option to start anew with a different one.
There is also an abundance of sidequests alongside the main story quest. These sidequests allow you to bulk up your character and even learn more in-depth information about the world while playing. No matter how you play the game, there is something in store for you.
Fun Fact Score: 91/100
A myriad of classes to choose from!
9. God of War - 2018 (PC, PS4)
God of War trailer
In a world filled with the mythos of the Norse Gods, Kratos and his son Atreus are forced to survive in a harsh, unforgiving world. As a father, it is up to you to teach your son the ways of the world while still learning yourself. Follow your late wife’s final request and spread her ashes at the highest peak in all the nine realms.
God of War offers a setting much different from its original setting of Greece in 2005. With vast mythos to explore in Norway, any lover of mythology will feel right at home among the gods, forests, and monsters. The story itself finds a basis in the rich culture that immerses you right from the start.
The game offers an over-the-shoulder camera view for the player as well. It throws the player straight into the action in a way that third-person games aren’t able to. With this, the battles feel more intense and more exciting—something any gamer can appreciate!
With many mysteries to uncover, the game allows you to follow the story any way you want. Merging an open map with a thick story allows the player to backtrack or spring forward to wherever there is action, all while staying true to the story that follows.
Fun Factor: 92/100
The details in the graphics continue to impress me!
8. Fallout 4 - 2015 (PC, PS4, XBOX)
Fallout 4 trailer
You exit Vault 111, the sole survivor, into a vast expanse of desert. The wasteland in front of you was once your home, now destroyed by nuclear war. Your survival is all that matters now. It is up to you to rebuild and survive.
With 9,743 sq. miles of land to explore, there are countless things to do. There are hundreds of characters and quests awaiting you past the vault from which you emerge. What you do and where you go are all determined by your choice.
Fallout 4 uses a S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility, luck) character system which allows you to customize your strengths and weaknesses. You can be the smartest person in the wasteland, or you can intimidate people with your strength. Your customizations add independence to your survival.
The crafting system in this game is extremely advanced! Using the resources you find during your travels, you can not only create settlement objects, armor, and weapons, but modify them however you’d like! These modifiers add more ways for your personality to shine through in the game, no matter how you’d like to play!
Fun Factor: 93/100
What will you do?
7. Sonic Frontiers - 2022 (PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, XBOX)
Sonic Frontiers trailer
Calling all Sonic fans! Sonic Frontiers takes our beloved blue hedgehog on a journey to find the missing Chaos emeralds. Unfortunately, during his search, he becomes stranded on a mysterious island. You must fight to stop the unknown foes of this realm and find the emeralds!
As the series’ first game using open-world features, the map has much to offer! Run wherever you please collecting rings, battling enemies, and exploring the changing landscape around you. The Starfall Islands have much to offer, and they’re waiting just for you!
From battling massive enemies to simply going fishing, this game has it all! No matter what you like to do, this game will have something for you. Its numerous quests and NPCs will give you the time of your life as you delve into Sonic’s world!
Don’t let me forget about the story, though! The remains of an ancient civilization are overrun by robots. But why? The mysteries of this island are waiting for you to uncover them. Doing so will give you a chance to save your friends and many others along the way.
Fun Factor Score: 94/100
The map of your dreams is just teeming with life!
6. Red Dead Redemption 2 - 2019 (PC, PS4, XBOX)
Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer
Arthur Morgan is on the run. As an outlaw in the Wild West circa 1899, his status as a gang member is coming into question. The world is changing, and so is Arthur. How will you handle the internal and external conflicts that plague this cowboy’s mind?
With a fully open map, you can explore the United States in its Wild West glory. Fighting, robbing, and horseback riding is what you do best. You can live out all your cowboy dreams when you play Read Dead Redemption 2.
The game’s online mode also allows players to create their own story in the Wild West. Whether they’re a Bounty Hunter, a Trader, a Collecter, or even a Moonshiner, it is completely up to you how to play! Play with friends and create your trades as a cowboy on your own!
The story of Arthur Morgan is extremely compelling as well. You easily attach to his character and his life is one you play through your eyes. Choose his next moments, and decide his fate. His life is your life, and your life has just got rugged.
Fun Factor Score: 95/100
The wilderness calls you into its harsh embrace!
5. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey - 2018 (PC, PS4, XBOX, Switch)
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey trailer
If you’ve ever played an Assassin’s Creed game, you know that you’re about to play a game full of history, imagined in beautiful real-life locations. In Odyssey, you play as a Spartan mercenary: control the tide of the Peloponnesian War as you fight for both sides—all while you try to find your family and destroy the mysterious Cult of Kosmos.
With a map the size of 130km2, you can explore Ancient Greece however you please! Whether it's through dangerous volcanic peaks or lush forests, it is entirely open to your explorer’s heart. Delve into the world of the ancients and imagine the world that existed before you.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is the first Assassin’s Creed game with impactful dialogue choices. These choices that you make will change the course of your life as a mercenary and will impact the way the story unfolds. These choices allow for an experience unique to Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.
The battling simulation in this game is incredible. Instead of your typical one-on-one battles, you can fight whole hordes of soldiers on land and at sea. Carve your way through soldiers and seize victory!
Fun Factor Score: 96/100
Explore Greece in a way never seen before!
4. Immortals Fenyx Rising - 2020 (PC, PS4, PS5, XBOX, Switch)
Immortals Fenyx Rising trailer
Described by Forbes as a game like “if Zelda and Assassin’s creed Odyssey had a baby,” this game has something for everyone. Playing as Fenyx, it is your job to stop the titan Typhon by restoring the gods to the power they once held fast. Will you be able to stop the powerful titan and rescue your brother before time runs out?
Using the powers the gods have granted you, you can unimaginably soar over the Golden Isles. The wings of Daedalus allow you to soar over the ruins of Greece, and experience the world from an aerial perspective. Free roam on this beautiful map and discover the secrets of the Golden Isle!
The game also includes daily missions, allowing you to keep returning to the beloved game for however long you’d like. These missions act as mini-side quests (which are not absent from the game in their usual form!) that you can complete to earn resources or gold.
Using aerial or melee combat, the battle mechanics in Immortals allow you to fight however suits you! Whether you’d like to take down enemies from afar with a bow and arrow, or up close with a massive axe, you can deal damage in various ways to various legendary creatures!
Fun Factor Score: 97/100
Solve puzzles using your godlike powers and your very own wit!
3. Stray - 2022 (PC, PS4, PS5)
Stray trailer
Lost and alone, this adorable stray cat must find their way back home, uncovering the secrets of the world that they’ve been living above its whole life. A dystopian world awaits you, and it is up to you to fill it with the whimsy of a cat before you go.
The mechanics of this game are taken to a whole new level when you play as the little feline protagonist. With a button dedicated to meowing, and the option to rub on the sentient robots’ legs, this game truly gets into the mind of a cat.
Stray also has an incredible story behind it. In a world no longer inhabited by humans, we see robots make the same mistakes, and their AI is built to act just like us. This game offers a healthy dose of the uncanny valley as the politics of robot society catch up to the little stray.
You can uncover as much of the world as you’d like. With fully explorable terrain, you can make your way just about anywhere. You can stick to the main quest and return to your family as quickly as possible, or you can explore the underground, and learn more about what this society has become.
Fun Factor Score: 98/100
A game from the perspective of a cat.
2. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - 2019 (PC, PS4, PS5, XBOX)
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Play as force-sensitive Cal Kestis as he navigates the world 5 years after the infamous Order 66. With nowhere to go, he joins the start of a rebellion and hones his powers as a Jedi while escaping Jedi Hunters and discovering the truth about the past.
If you’re a fan of Star Wars, this game is absolutely for you. Become the Jedi you always wanted to be, and learn your craft through meditation, visions, and some impromptu experience. This game offers you a chance to join the Jedi in their fight for peace.
Not only can you be a Jedi, but you can also customize your very own lightsaber! By collecting skins with the help of your droid, BD-1, you can personalize your game experience however you’d like. Become the Jedi you know you are!
With an expansive map that spans 5 fully explorable planets, you can experience the Star Wars universe like never before. Discover hidden treasures and experience mysterious stories with the use of Cal’s Force Echo.
Fun Factor Score: 99/100
Defeat powerful enemies!
1. Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag - 2013 (PC, PS3, PS4, XBOX, Wii U, Switch)
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag trailer
Become a pirate in this Assassin’s Creed game! Explore the West Indies as Edward Kenway and immerse yourself in the age-old fight between the Assassins and the Templars. Take to the seas during the Golden Age of Piracy and plunder away to your heart's content!
As Assassin’s Creed first jump into sea-faring travels, Black Flag gives its players an even bigger sense of freedom as their limits are no longer confined to land. Upgrade and customize your ship with resources and gold, and become the most infamous pirate of all seven seas!
With a rich history behind it, Black Flag pulls you into the world of piracy as you go on quests to steal, steal back, and steal some more. Of course, this game is full of battles between guns or swords, whatever your fancy may be. Follow the story of Edward Kenway, and join the Brotherhood!
Take on assassination quests and put your stealth skills to the test! Be careful not to alert anyone though, or you may have soldiers on your tail in no time! These quests add to the experience of the game, as you don’t always have to brute through everything.
Fun Factor Score: 100/100
Yo-ho, Yo-ho, a pirate life’s for YOU!
