Summary
Open-world video games immerse players in some truly incredible worlds, from distant planets to mystical fantasy realms. Richness of setting is a major priority for the genre; a world that’s flat and lacking in detail won’tentice the player to explore.
Some open-world games take this idea to another level, presenting grand and sweeping vistas, rich with incredible landmarks and tantalizing discoveries. These are the most visually striking open-world games for players to get lost in.
Skyrimtook the world by storm when it first launched in 2011 and with good reason. Despiteits thoroughly northern setting, the titular region is rich with variety and natural beauty. Players can travel to vast pine forests, mountain crags, and unforgiving icy wastes in their journey to prevent the rise of the dragons.
The game may be showing its age in some respects, but thanks to its blistering multitude of rereleases, fans of all ages can still jump in and experience the beautySkyrimhas to offer. From plundering an ancient ruin to visiting the inhospitable and eerie island of Solstheim, there’s plenty of remarkable beauty to be found here.
The scope ofNo Man’s Skyis almost impossible for the human mind to comprehend. The game’s procedural generation brings life and landscapes to more than 18 quintillion planets, more than thousands of players couldever hope to discover in a lifetime. The game’s systems keep these planets' biomes and landscapes consistent and populate them with millions of distinct forms of alien life.
While the game’s procedural generation means fans will never encounter a curated vista like they might in more conventional open-world games, the depth and breadth ofNo Man’s Sky’s alien landscapes are still breathtaking. Fans can encounter vast mountains and sweeping valleys dotted with bizarre alien structures that defy easy explanation. Creatures like titanic worms can add danger and dynamism to these awe-inspiring worlds.
The Witcher 3is one of the most significant modern open-world games, and it’s not hard to see why. The game is rich with intrigue, drama, and plenty of monsters for the legendary Witcher to hunt down. The title’s setting, the expansive Continent, is a deeply varied and beautiful place to explore.
With its lush forests, imposing mountains, and flowering fields,The Witcher 3’s natural beauty will astound players at every turn. This gorgeous Continent serves as the perfect backdrop for Geralt’s desperate quest, and an ideal destination for sightseeing gamers.
Nearly a decade after its release, players are still marveling at how goodArkham Knightlooks. This open-world adventure sets Batman loose on the streets of Gotham, envisioning the infamous metropolis as a sprawling, neon-drenched playground of vice. The lighting, architecture, and stunning level of detail on each building and street make every second of gameplay a visual feast.
The game did meet with some technical hiccups on release, particularly in its PC port. But with the benefit of patches, updates, and advancing technology, fans can enjoy possibly the most visually stunning rendition of Gotham to date.
Theinfamous Night City, a glittering dystopia of neon and steel, has been a central location in the cyberpunk genre for many years. ButCyberpunk 2077brought it to life like never before. This sprawling city of sin offers stunning vistas and a breathtaking sense of scale, without ever letting the player forget the corruption and rot lying under the shining surface.
Night City’s towering facades are built on top of squalor and ruin, with squatters, thugs, and criminals infesting every corner of the city. The outskirts of town aren’t much better; filthy factories and sprawling landfills dot the landscape, and raiders and nomads struggle to stay alive without bending the knee to Night City’s corporate greed.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildrevolutionized theZeldafranchise and the open-world genre all at once, and in the years following, it was doubtful that any game could top it. ButTears of the Kingdomimproves upon the firstgame in numerous ways, including the scale and grandeur of the map.
Tears of the Kingdom’s Hyrule is very similar to its predecessor, and numerous locations return with only moderate changes. But this game’s map is still a towering achievement due to the addition of the Sky Islands and the Depths. The floating Sky Islands dotting the air allow fans to appreciate Hyrule’s boundless natural beauty from a whole new angle. The vast, lightless pit of the Depths, meanwhile, offers its own breathtaking majesty to awe and intimidate would-be spelunkers.
Red Dead Redemption 2’s monumental tale of tragedy and betrayal makes the title one of the most memorable open-world narratives in recent memory. ButRed Dead Redemption 2is famous not only for its storyline but for the extreme amount of detail present in every aspect of its frontier landscape.
This attention to detail makesRed Dead Redemption 2a truly beautiful game. Even though theera of the Wild West is dying down, the game’s map still has plenty of natural splendor for fans to bask in as they chart the inevitable demise of the Van Der Linde gang.
Ghost of Tsushimais a truly striking open-world game, set on the real-life Japanese island of the same name. Developer Sucker Punch put a lot of effort into making sure the digital representation of Tsushima was accurate to the real thing, taking multiple trips to the island and researching its history extensively.
This effort paid off remarkably becauseGhost of Tsushimais a stunning game. The title’s environments, from endless fields of grass to towering bamboo forests, all make for a stunning backdrop to Jin Sakai’s blood-soaked tale of revenge, dishonor, and betrayal. By relying on the visual history of cinema masters like Akira Kurosawa, Sucker Punch has made sure that every story beat and side quest is breathtaking to behold.
Horizon Zero Dawnbrought players to a truly unique and striking post-apocalyptic Earth. The world in this franchise has been completely overgrown and populated with strange, mechanical beasts, and unraveling the cause of this unique apocalypse is the core of the story. As the name suggests,Horizon Forbidden Westbrings protagonist Aloy to a whole new region, packed with new forms of danger and mystery.
The titular Forbidden West is a truly stunning realm, elevated by the enhanced processing power of the PS5. The franchise’s natural beauty has never been better, and even the insidious plague Aloy is fighting to solve heightens the game’s striking landscapes, adding splashes of vivid red to farms and groves as plants succumb to the disease.
FromSoftware’s firstopen-world Soulsborne game was a striking success, due in large part to the intricate and masterful design of the Lands Between. Despite the incredible scale of the map, the world ofElden Ringis dotted with truly breathtaking vistas, and scenes so well-composed they might be paintings.
Splendid, massive monuments like the Forge of the Giants and the sprawling metropolis of Leyndell are deeply memorable sights, as are the war-torn wilds that surround these locations.Elden Ring’s lore is extremely dense, but the story is communicated excellently, almost entirely through the placement and themes of the locations players can discover throughout the setting.
