My Favorite Open World/Action-Adventure Games
Open world games go hand in hand with the action-adventure genre. Though linear action-adventure games are just as fun to play. The characters, story, journey, all work well to create an unforgettable experience. Often times the setting, exploration, and angle are enough to hook in for a great experience.
So, here are my favorite open world and action-adventure games!
7. Assassins Creed Origins
Assassins Creed really changed the open world format back in 2007. A decade of releases eventually showed the series needed a breath of fresh air. And it certainly got it with Origins.
Turning more into an action RPG, the series went the all the way back to Ancient Egypt, right at the end of Cleopatra. The biggest hook Assassins Creed has is its ability to go to different places in history, letting you play out in them. And boy Origins really sucked me in. Ancient Egypt is one of my favorite historical places to learn about, and the attention to detail, or attempt of authenticity is commendable to say the least.
I loved exploring villages, desert outposts, just traveling around was so much fun, just enjoying myself and being immersed. Going to see the pyramids, and the Sphinx, a definite highlight. Plus exploring ancient tombs brought back memories of the movie The Mummy. And enjoy the panorama views was breathtaking. The photo mode was incredible, and I spent hours sinking my teeth into getting hundreds of photos.
The gameplay is a big overhaul, but still retains the classic stealth elements of the older games. Having a variety of weapons, and levels on them, plus enemy levels to keep you grinding for XP, was a big change. And creating a more tactical combat really kept things interesting.
Where I fell off a bit is the story. You follow Bayek, a Medjay seeking to avenge the murder of his son, and the story follows the founding of the Assassins, or the early incarnation. But the story doesn’t really pick up until the end, and gets repetitive of just killing targets. Apart from him and his wife Aya, the other characters are forgettable.
Plus, the new changes, while great, had some problems. The grinding of XP got a little carried away, restricting you in certain areas based on your level wasn’t fun, and definitely the side quests. There are way too many of them, and most are repetitive or uninteresting. The grind is a reason I’m not a huge fan of skill-tree type games that are heavily found in RPGs. But overall, Origins is a fun ride through an ancient time and setting many love.
6. Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag
Another AC game that caught my attention because of the setting. I love pirates, heavily because of the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
Again, exploring the setting and history of the time period is the game’s highlight.
I spent hours just sailing around the Caribbean and West Indies, taking in the views, both at night and day. Seeing the clear afternoon sky or moon, enjoying the sunrise and sunset, the clear blue water, really made me want to become a pirate.
Exploring abandoned or unexplored islands was a real treat, and finding treasure was always fun.
But the ship combat was the bread and butter, or should I say rum and rum. Yeah, bad pirate pun. But really, the ship combat was great, fighting other ships, then allowing you to board and fight the crew. You then decide what to do with the ship and surviving crewmates. Depending on the type of ship depended on what resources were available to sell or trade to gain new sails, masts, and cannons for your ship. Taking forts was also a big highlight. I could just hop in the game and sail on my ship.
And fortunately, the story is pretty good. You play as Edward Kenway, a morally ambiguous protagonist, seeking fame and fortune. He starts off being selfish and playing both sides of the Assassins and Templars, not really caring for their causes or ideologies. This was a fresh perspective, and worked out well. His arc to caring for those around him, especially his friends who die, like Blackbeard and Mary Read, see him take up the causes of the Assassins.
The plot revolves around finding a place called The Observatory, with vast wealth and treasure and power, but not the way you think of it. It has the classic marking of the pirate genres of exploration, rival factions, adventure, the idea of greed and man being intertwined. The story overall was pretty good.
Where it faulters is the repetitive tailing missions. The land based ones are fine, but the ship ones, especially being stealthy, suck. Hey are terrible. And there just a few too many for my liking.
But overall, it was a great experience playing this game. I’d love for another game to tackle the pirate genre, and tack certain elements from Black Flag into its own. Especially by not focusing on the Assassins side, it would be even more fun.
5. Rise of the Tomb Raider
The second game in the rebooted Lara Croft trilogy, Rise follows the famous adventurer to Siberia, in search of the lost ancient city of Kitezh, for the mythical Divine Source, supposedly granting immunity.
This game has the best atmosphere and overall execution in the trilogy. The first was a great non-stop action game, the third a slower paced one. But Rise has a great balance of loud bombastic moments, and quitter ones two.
The atmosphere is great because of the location. Being in the hostile environment of Siberia, really sells home the adventure/exploration side. You feel alone, against a paramilitary organization, but at the same time, peaceful. And while taking place in one area, as you don’t travel the world like the genre is usually shown, it works, and actually feels like you’re visiting new locations.
That’s because Rise continues the Metroid Vania style of the trilogy, with new unlocks and upgrades opening the semi-open world, leading to new places to explore, fitting right in with the character and series.
This game gives more tombs to explore, puzzles to solve, and artifacts to collect. Opening a walled off entrance and wondering “what’s down there? What’s in there? Is it dangerous?”
I’ve replayed this game several times and enjoy it just as much, and remember pretty much everything about the story.
The story is very strong and intriguing, paced very well. You move around the Siberian wilderness, explore an abandoned Soviet era installation, a mining facility in a mountain, a secluded village, and many more ancient places.
Lara is a stronger character this time around, the villains more memorable and present, and your allies the same.
In most action-adventure stories of this type, the artifact is usually based on something (Holy Grail, Ark of the Covenant) but the Divine Source is completely made up, yet believable. Because of how it’s handled, its treatment feels plausible. That’s something very hard to pull off.
And the side stories are actually intriguing, and memorable, something far too many other games struggle with.
Overall, I love this version of Tomb Raider, its semi-open world, gameplay, everything peaked/was done to perfection here.
4. The Last of Us
I remember watching my brother play the opening of this scene, and being absolutely glued to the screen. It was terrifying, but I couldn’t look away. What an introduction to The Last of Us.
Released as the swan song for the PS3, The Last of Us brought further immersion, cinematic character-driven storytelling to video games.
While a linear game, missions are greatly opened up throughout, giving options to traverse them.
Yeah, another zombie game, but boy is it different. I love the infection in this game. It takes inspiration from a real life fungus, cordyceps, and imagining it made the jump to humans. And man, is it terrifying!
Not only does it infect humans, but it impacts the environment, with fungus covering the ground, spores in the air, and the infection just being grounded in a real life fungal infection, makes it even more scary. Also, there are different types of infection, based on stages of infection (from weeks to months, to a few years). Each a different, forcing you to change you play style, thus the gameplay never feels repetitive.
Now, back to the intro. It’s quick, but you instantly connect with Joel and his daughter Sarah. Playing as her briefly, waking up in the middle of the night, hearing an explosion, sirens, then silence, the atmosphere is perfect. Helps that the soundtrack fits the tone perfectly.
When you see chaos erupting around you, as the infection spreads, you’re powerless. Playing as Joel, all you can do is carry Sarah and run. And her death left me teary eyed, something no other game has ever done.
The opening credits does something interesting. Instead of showing the word and civilization collapse, you hear it, through news reports, with the descriptions slowly painting a bleaker, darker picture. Well done!
Being an action-adventure game, it tells of the destination/journey style. It’s a simple story, but with deep characters and dialogue who go through incredible arcs. Joel must escort a teenager Ellie across the United States, as she might hold a possible cure.
You start in a dilapidated Boston, before making your way through suburban towns, villages, cities like Pittsburgh, rural farm areas, a university, and a hospital in Utah. The locations vary, and thus the backdrops do. Plus, each new location takes place in the different seasons, thus the world’s aesthetics change.
Traveling through a run-down hotel, that’s decaying because of no more human maintenance, a semi flooded subway, or overgrown streets, you realize how different the word is, how difficult it is to travel from one short point to another.
Through your travels, you fight not only infected, but different hostile groups of humans, who survive through different means. It’s a harsh, unforgiving world that strips you of any kindness, showing you how far humanity has fallen, and is willing to go to survive.
Like Rise, the Last of Us does a great job of side storytelling, because it’s not required for the main one. It reveals the world around you, how people handled the outbreak, their interactions with infected and other survivors. Some of it is subtle, leaving you to come up with the answer, fill in the blanks, and while it’s easy, it’s very effective. Stories that are specific to each area you visit, and it just enhances the world building more. Plus, it’s memorable
I loved the dynamic of Joel and Ellie, seeing how their worlds are different, Joel remembering a time before the apocalypse, and Ellie only knowing that. Their relationship one of the best in video game, and their entire journey was one of the greatest gaming experiences of my life.
3. Ghost of Tsushima
Anther swan song game, this time for the PS4.
Again, I love history, and open world games in historical settings instantly hook me in.
Ghost of Tsushima takes place during the first Mongol invasion of Japan in the 13th century.
What I love about this game is that it did try to innovate the open world genre. By using the wind as your waypoint, to guide you around the Tsushima island, makes it more immersive. It encourages you to take your time, enjoy your journey, and explore.
The open world is so incredibly beautiful, they use vibrant colors that complement the island geography. And this shows with its photo mode, which is my favorite photo mode in any game. An easy to use and understand interface and control scheme, but so deep you spend hours just crafting the perfect photos.
But of course, the game itself is great.
The main story sees samurai Jin Sakai needing to embrace a new form of combat, one that goes against the samurai tradition, and I love the buildup of that conflict, both internally with himself, and externally with his Uncle and fellow samurai.
The story is simple, but rich in characters, depth, dialogue, and overall memorable moments. Main quests and side quests are varied enough, and taking out forts can be challenging. Seeing how the invasion has affected people’s lives was poignant.
You fight bandits, Mongols, ronin, and through it all, you gain new abilities, and fighting stances. Surprisingly, there’s a lot in the control scheme, but it’s not confusing, because they don’t put all the controls in one place. They use a button or trigger stick to open up other control options, thus you’re only focusing on a small section at a time.
And this allows for incredible gameplay moments, as using a samurai sword is fluid, graceful, but deadly. Dueling opponents does require some strategic thought, and challenging a group of enemies to a stance means you need to be quick on the draw, samurai style.
I just love the atmosphere, sound, music, and overall feel of the game. Isolated on a beautiful island, from an ancient time.
I enjoyed every second playing this game.
2. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
A linear action-adventure game, it’s the best of the series.
Uncharted is basically Indiana Jones for gaming, and each title is fun, different, and memorable.
But 2 is basically perfection.
Following fortune hunter Nathan Drake on a journey, and race against other thieves, to recover the Cintamani Stone, hidden within the lost mythical city of Shambhala, or Shangri-la. With this type of angle in the genre, a McGuffin or lost city always seems to work out. You have a clear goal in what you’re searching for, discovering the reason for the lost fleet of Marco Polo. By grounding it in history, with historical figures, events, and established mythology, it brings the world and story even more to life.
And with Uncharted 2, it basically is one cinematic set piece after another, the kind you’d find in summer blockbusters.
The opening is the best, hanging for dear life on a train over a mountain edge, then recounting how Drake got there, it’s amazing. The globetrotting side is fleshed the best here. Going from a museum in Turkey, to the jungle of Borneo, Nepal, a village in Tibet, an abandoned monastery, it’s amazing. A rollercoaster ride that occasionally has quitter moments for you to catch your breath after the bombastic ones.
Those cinematic moments include fighting a helicopter while escaping a collapsing building, fighting your way on the longest train and tracks, taking out enemies, a helicopter, destroying a tank attacking a village, then a convoy chase through the mountains, it’s all so varied, memorable, and endlessly replayable.
The puzzle solving is fun, because it’s easy enough with feel like it was made for a child. And thus they are interesting. Going through the abandoned monastery/village, while catching glimpses of scary yeti like creatures, brings the mythological/mysticism side the series is known for. And you definitely feel tense during those moments.
Capping it off with the discovery and exploration of Shambhala, and the final boss fight, against the best villain in the series, it’s perfection from beginning to end.
And lastly, the gameplay is fun, fluid, and the characters are so memorable, with great wit, banter between them. I could go on and on with this game, and the series as a whole.
But the Number 1 game goes to….
1. Red Dead Redemption 1 & 2
Ok, I’m cheating by including two games, but it’s so hard.
These games are so intricately tied together.
There aren’t many authentic western games. I can only think of a handful, and they pale in comparison to Red Dead.
I’ll discuss the first game.
It was my summer 2014 game. Got it for my birthday, and became instantly immersed in the setting. I love westerns, and this game has all the good hallmarks of the genre. The open world just enhances it.
Bounty hunting, robbery, horses, gunfights, ranching, everything is here. An honor system that impacts the world and characters you encounter. The soundtrack is something Ennio Morricone would be proud of. Play poker and others leisure games, just enjoy the world.
I love that the locations are fictional, but clearly inspired by real world places, giving authenticity, but still letting creativity shine. Missions are plentiful and vary, throughout the main and side stories, all while using locations are special set pieces. The highlight is duels and engagements, using a mechanic known as Dead Eye, which slows the gameplay down, making you feel like a gunslinger.
Following John Marston across the Western United States and Mexico, bringing his former gang members to justice was an absolute treat. Set in 1911, you see the difference of modern civilization and a bygone era coming to a close, and how people are impacted on both sides. The main characters, side characters, everyone is fleshed out. The dialogue endlessly quotable. Moments I’ll never forget.
And Marston’s simple quote “I left the gang after the gang left me” was the whole reason for the sequel, but actually prequel.
I eagerly waited for Red Dead 2, screaming when I saw the news on my laptop in class. Then patiently waiting for its release, buying it, installing it, and being taken on an experience unlike anything else.
It was the game I only played, for over 4 months. So immersive, graphically detailed and beautiful, my family would just sit and watch me play.
Taking place in 1899, as the wild west becomes less wild, you play as Arthur Morgan, member of the famous Dutch Van der Linde gang Marston rode with.
Boy, it’s a fairly big world, and a long story. It’s wort every penny you spent. Each state you visit is different. Snow covered mountains, the great plains, forests, swamps, deserts, all stick out in your memory.
This game went full on for realism, and at times can be frustrating, but overall works and adds to the immersion.
Interestingly, the game plays out more like a show, with each chapter having a self-contained season, but still an overarching plot. Far too many memorable moments to list, but I will say that the characters, their arcs, personalities, and dialogue are the best I’ve ever seen in a game. Performances that rival the Academy Awards.
Seeing the gang’s slow downfall, Arthur’s decline in health, faith, and way of life, was handled perfectly. Seeing Dutch’s slow descent to a villain was amazing, and how the story ties into the first, was an experience I wish I could forget so I can experience it a first time again.
The pinnacle of open world and action-adventure game design. You haven’t played, do it!
Well, those are my favorite open world/action-adventure games. But what do you think? Comment below!
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