RDR2

Maybe the Witcher 3 it’s one of my favorite games of all time and it’s on sale a lot.

Geocaching

Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Daggerfall (😎)

I loved Death Stranding – it’s weird, beautiful, and the soundtrack is incredible (RIP Low Roar) but it’s kind of an acquired taste and you have to be cool with the “hiking simulator” aspect.

Elden Ring

Ghost of Tsushima was really good!

Keep in mind that there are different schools of thought on what makes a good open world game.

I love exploration and discovery without much guidance, so point-of-interest markers and repetitive copy/paste events (as found in Horizon and Witcher games) bore me. Responsive controls and good user interface are also important to me, so Red Dead Redemption 2 was a miserable experience that drove me away, despite the great environments and character building. Some people consider those games masterpieces, though, so I have to assume their priorities are different from mine.

Subnautica is an outstanding example of what appeals to me. Beautiful world, unconfined exploration, excellent soundtrack, a story told through discoveries rather than exposition, multiple ways to accomplish things, and a departure from the usual “kill everything” approach to success. Fair warning: it is a first-person game.

Skyrim shares some of these strengths and can work pretty well in third person with mods like True Directional Movement and TK Dodge RE. Be aware that modding Skyrim is a deep rabbit hole that can quickly become a full time job. One way to solve this is using the Wabbajack tool to semi-automatically install a well-tested mod collection.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits looks like it shares some of its design with Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom, which is encouraging. I haven’t played it yet.

Loved Shin Megami Tensei V on the Switch. If you’re into Persona, other SMT games, or Pokemon, you might like it. It features turn-based combat with open world exploration and quests. I think it starts out a little slow so if you try it, maybe give it a chance for a few hours before giving up on it. I love how atmospheric it is too, very easy to get sucked into.

Pre-cata WoW

If you haven’t checked out S.T.A.L.K.E.R. it is a really great world to get lost in. It is split into larger open areas so not seamless but for me doesn’t detract from the sense of living and surviving in the world.

The best games which feature an open world and the best games for their open world are a very different list, imo.

For example, the Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk share a really awesome story-based rpg that happens to play in an open world but I don’t necessarily believe their open world is among the best in the industry.

I’d probably have to say that the Witcher 3 is my favorite game which features an open world and my favorite open world in any game has got to be Terraria. You could argue it’s a different class of game, but I feel that the tendency the game has to force you to explore and then introduce new stuff to the world that allows you to re-explore the same places is a really excellent take on the open world formula. Terraria really has very excellent exploration and reexploration which I think are the hallmarks of open world games. Not just inviting you to get to know the world, but changing it over time and asking you to get to know it again.

If you’re into open world sandbox RPGs, you can’t get more open world sandboxy than Kenshi! It’s all third person point of view and you sort of manage a whole squad opposed to a single person. There is a whole base building mechanic, there’s a tech tree that you can research through, you can create and sell your own weapons, you can do you trading runs in between cities, you could be a lone Ronin wandering the desert sands, or a religious zealot being a xenophobic jerk who hate robot people (there are robot people), aliens (mhmm, them too) and women (ofc)! The possibilities are endless, especially since there’s no actual storyline! Oh, there’s a bunch of little Easter eggs about how the world (def not Earth, too many moons) got to this point but you’re not gonna spawn in a dungeon being pointed at the big bad (is the slave start in Rebirth canon? I have so many mods I’ve forgotten) you’re probably just gonna appear in the middle of the canyon, and then make the mistake of fighting goats, but the goats are stronger than you, so they beat you into unconsciousness, and while you’re lying there, waiting to become conscious once more some bandits rob you and a slaver comes by and picks you up and sells you into slavery. It’s a good time I promise. Oh, but be warned, there’s a lot of skills and it’s kind of grindy, a little like a single player MMO. It’s great and I love it.

While it is 1st person Kingdom Come Deliverance is amazing. One of the best open world RPGs I have played int he last 10 years.

Outward absolutely nails the sense of adventure and discovery. It’s pretty low budget and janky but it is probably the best open world RPGs I’ve played in recent years