The best open world games to play now are Cyberpunk 2077 for dense city exploration, Elden Ring for discovery and combat, Baldur’s Gate 3 for reactive storytelling, and No Man’s Sky for near-limitless exploration and multiplayer.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
Our Top Picks
Top 3 picks at a glance
Best open world games by the experience you want
| What you value most | Best choice | Why it fits | Typical playtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dense exploration and visual spectacle | Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition | A highly detailed city with vertical routes, quests, vehicles, and strong expansion content | 60–100 hours |
| Discovery and demanding combat | Elden Ring | Its map rewards curiosity, with flexible builds and optional bosses everywhere | 80–140 hours |
| Story depth and player choice | Baldur’s Gate 3 | Choices alter quests, relationships, combat encounters, and sometimes entire areas | 100–180 hours |
| Relaxed exploration and building | No Man’s Sky | Planetary exploration, base construction, trading, expeditions, and cooperative play | 100+ hours |
| Historical immersion | Kingdom Come: Deliverance II | A grounded medieval world where reputation, equipment, skills, and decisions matter | 60–120 hours |
| Driving and online activity | Forza Horizon 5 | A large Mexico map built around racing, collecting, stunts, and multiplayer events | 50–200+ hours |
For exploration: Elden Ring, Red Dead Redemption 2, and No Man’s Sky
Elden Ring: the strongest “what is over there?” game
Elden Ring is the best open world game for players who want the map itself to create questions. A distant tower may lead to a dungeon, a strange landmark may conceal a quest, and an apparently impossible enemy may become manageable after you explore elsewhere. The game rarely forces a single route, so getting stuck usually means you have more options rather than fewer.
Its combat is demanding but highly customizable. Strength, dexterity, intelligence, faith, arcane, shields, summons, status effects, and ranged attacks all support different approaches. The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion adds a substantial new region, though it is intended for experienced players and requires progress in the main game.
Red Dead Redemption 2: the most convincing world
Red Dead Redemption 2 is slower and more deliberate than most modern open world games. Animals behave differently, towns have routines, strangers remember encounters, and travel often provides as much atmosphere as the destination. It is an excellent choice if you prefer observation, character interaction, hunting, exploration, and a carefully paced story over constant combat.
The trade-off is momentum. Missions can be restrictive, the opening is intentionally slow, and the game expects you to spend time in camp and on horseback. Choose it when immersion matters more than fast progression.
No Man’s Sky: the broadest exploration sandbox
No Man’s Sky is the right recommendation for players who want an open world that keeps expanding rather than a finite campaign map. You can survey planets, build bases, manage a fleet, trade resources, customize ships, complete expeditions, and join friends. Its procedural worlds vary in quality, but the scale and freedom are difficult to match.
It is less suitable if you need a tightly authored story or highly varied combat. Its greatest strength is the long-term loop of setting your own projects and returning to them later.
For story depth: Baldur’s Gate 3 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Baldur’s Gate 3: the most reactive campaign
Baldur’s Gate 3 is built around consequences rather than a checklist of map activities. Dialogue choices, class abilities, exploration order, companion relationships, and even environmental tricks can change how a situation develops. A locked door may be picked, broken, bypassed with magic, or ignored until a later quest reveals another route.
Its turn-based combat rewards planning rather than reflexes. Terrain, elevation, elemental surfaces, line of sight, concentration, and action economy all matter. Multiplayer supports up to four players, but the campaign is easiest to follow when everyone agrees on whether the group is prioritizing role-play, experimentation, or efficient progress.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II: for grounded role-playing
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II offers a less fantastical kind of open world. You play within a historical setting where fighting, persuasion, stealth, equipment, nourishment, reputation, and practical skills affect your options. It is a strong choice for players who want quests that feel connected to social systems rather than a hero becoming instantly competent.
Choose it over a traditional action RPG if you enjoy preparation and consequences. It may frustrate players who want immediate fast travel, effortless combat, or a character who can master every skill at once.
For combat: Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, and Ghost of Tsushima
Cyberpunk 2077: the best combat sandbox in a city
Cyberpunk 2077 combines shooting, hacking, stealth, melee weapons, vehicles, and character builds in a compact but dense setting. A mission can often be approached through cameras and quickhacks, direct gunplay, silent takedowns, or a hybrid build. Phantom Liberty adds a substantial new district and a high-quality campaign branch.
Its visual features are demanding, particularly ray tracing and path tracing. On a mid-range gaming PC, start with ray tracing disabled, use an upscaler in Quality mode, and cap the frame rate slightly below your monitor’s refresh rate. This usually produces a more consistent experience than enabling every graphical option at once.
Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut: precise melee combat
Ghost of Tsushima is a good fit if you want readable sword fighting, cinematic landscapes, stealth camps, and a focused campaign. Its stance system encourages you to adapt to enemy types, while exploration is guided by environmental signals such as wind, animals, and smoke rather than an overloaded interface.
It has less systemic quest reactivity than Baldur’s Gate 3 and less build freedom than Cyberpunk 2077, but its combat is easier to learn and consistently satisfying.
For multiplayer: choose between cooperation and competition
- Cooperative progression: No Man’s Sky supports shared exploration and construction, making it the most relaxed long-term choice.
- Four-player role-playing: Baldur’s Gate 3 lets a group make consequential decisions together, although different play styles can create friction.
- Persistent survival: Valheim is excellent for small groups that enjoy gathering materials, building settlements, sailing, and defeating bosses in sequence.
- Competitive driving: Forza Horizon 5 offers races, seasonal activities, car collecting, and casual online events without requiring a dedicated racing simulator setup.
- Large-scale online crime sandbox: Grand Theft Auto Online remains focused on missions, businesses, vehicles, and player interaction. It is best approached as an ongoing online game rather than a conventional single-player campaign.
Before buying for multiplayer, check the platform and edition requirements. Some games support cross-play, while others only support online play between compatible PC storefronts or platforms. A wired connection is not mandatory, but it reduces problems caused by wireless interference during cooperative sessions.
For PC performance: match the game to your hardware
Open world games stream large areas while loading AI, traffic, vegetation, physics, and textures. Consistent frame pacing often matters more than a very high peak frame rate. The following is a practical starting matrix, not a guaranteed benchmark: actual results vary with the processor, graphics card, memory, drivers, patches, and in-game area.
| PC class | Recommended target | Best settings strategy | Good game matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry-level modern gaming PC with 6-core CPU, 16GB RAM, and 8GB VRAM | 1080p at 60 FPS | High textures if VRAM allows; medium shadows, crowds, and volumetric effects; use Quality upscaling when available | Ghost of Tsushima, Forza Horizon 5, Elden Ring |
| Mainstream PC with 6–8-core CPU, 32GB RAM, and 10–12GB VRAM | 1440p at 60–100 FPS | High settings, selective ray tracing, Quality or Balanced upscaling, frame cap for consistency | Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur’s Gate 3, Red Dead Redemption 2 |
| High-end PC with 8-core CPU, 32GB RAM, and 16GB or more VRAM | 1440p high refresh or 4K at 60 FPS | Ultra textures where appropriate; enable ray tracing selectively and monitor VRAM usage | Cyberpunk 2077, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II |
A useful resolution and refresh-rate calculation
A 1440p monitor running at 144Hz displays approximately 2560 × 1440 × 144 = 530,841,600 pixels per second, or about 531 million pixels each second. That is 2.25 times the pixel workload of 1080p at 144Hz. If your graphics card can deliver 110–130 FPS at 1440p but struggles to remain near 144 FPS in crowded areas, use a frame cap around 100–120 FPS rather than lowering every setting. A stable frame rate generally feels better than frequent swings between 80 and 144 FPS.
For open world games, reduce settings in this order when performance is poor: ray tracing, volumetric fog, crowd density, shadows, and reflections. Keep texture quality high until VRAM becomes a problem, because textures usually affect image clarity more than frame rate. If you see stuttering when turning the camera, lower textures or close background applications; if frame rate is low everywhere, reduce resolution, upscaling quality, or expensive lighting effects.
For total playtime: avoid buying the wrong kind of commitment
- Under 40 hours: Ghost of Tsushima’s main story, depending on side content, is a focused choice.
- 60–100 hours: Cyberpunk 2077 with Phantom Liberty, Red Dead Redemption 2’s main campaign plus selected exploration, or a typical Elden Ring playthrough.
- 100–180 hours: Baldur’s Gate 3, especially if you explore thoroughly or replay with another character.
- 200 hours or more: No Man’s Sky, Valheim, Forza Horizon 5, and Grand Theft Auto Online can continue indefinitely through self-directed goals and online content.
If you want one recommendation without knowing anything else about your preferences, choose Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition for the best all-round combination of exploration, story, combat, and visual technology. Choose Elden Ring if discovery and challenge come first, Baldur’s Gate 3 if decisions and characters matter most, and No Man’s Sky if you want an open world you can keep returning to for years.
Frequently asked questions
Which open world game is best for players who want freedom of approach?
Elden Ring offers the most freedom of approach among the games described. Its map rarely forces a single route, and players can use strength, dexterity, intelligence, faith, arcane, shields, summons, status effects, or ranged attacks. If you prefer social and environmental problem-solving, Baldur’s Gate 3 also provides multiple ways to handle situations through dialogue, abilities, exploration, and environmental tricks.
Which game should I choose if I dislike constant combat?
Red Dead Redemption 2 is the strongest choice if you prefer observation, character interaction, hunting, exploration, and a carefully paced story over constant combat. No Man’s Sky is another option because its main activities include surveying planets, building bases, trading resources, managing a fleet, and completing expeditions. Its combat is less varied than its exploration and construction systems.
Which game has the strongest long-term activities after the main story?
No Man’s Sky is the best fit for long-term self-directed play. You can continue surveying planets, building bases, managing a fleet, trading resources, customizing ships, completing expeditions, and joining friends. Its greatest strength is the loop of setting your own projects and returning to them later, rather than following only a tightly authored story or finite campaign map.
Which game is most suitable for someone new to open world games?
Ghost of Tsushima is a strong starting point because its sword fighting is readable, its exploration uses environmental signals, and its campaign is focused. The stance system encourages adaptation to enemy types, while the combat is easier to learn than the more demanding systems in Elden Ring. It offers less build freedom and quest reactivity, but maintains consistently satisfying combat.
What should I consider before choosing a game for online play?
Check the platform and edition requirements before buying, because some games support cross-play while others limit online play to compatible PC storefronts or platforms. Also consider the group’s preferred activity: No Man’s Sky supports shared exploration and construction, Baldur’s Gate 3 supports four-player role-playing, Valheim emphasizes survival and building, and Forza Horizon 5 focuses on competitive driving and online events.
