10 Most Immersive Open World Games
Which games could you REALLY get lost in? #eldenring #thewitcher #skyrim
Transcript
00:00 At this point, there are more open-world games than I've had hot dinners.
00:03 It's the industry's go-to genre and for good reason.
00:06 Fans love to dive into living, breathing worlds and spend tens, hundreds or maybe thousands of hours
00:12 losing themselves in it.
00:14 Hell, that's why even usually linear franchises like Metal Gear Solid couldn't resist the allure of the sandbox.
00:21 But which open-worlds immersed us the most?
00:24 Well, it's funny you should ask because I'm Josh from WockCulture.com
00:27 and these are the 10 most immersive open-world games.
00:30 Number 10, No Man's Sky.
00:32 No Man's Sky is nothing less than the bar for a completely open-ended sci-fi RPG.
00:37 Yes, we all remember that historically messy, disappointing launch,
00:41 but even back then you could see the seeds that Hello Games were planting
00:45 for an infinitely generating universe of aliens, spaceships, trading, mining and much more to come.
00:51 Today, following over half a decade of sizable free expansions,
00:55 many of which feel like a sequel's worth of content,
00:58 No Man's Sky lets you build hugely intricate bases near your own planet
01:03 and take on missions from identifying ancient artifacts
01:06 to gunning down a high-value bounty in another star system.
01:10 There's character customisation, ship customisation, optional multiplayer,
01:14 meaning that you can do everything that I'm mentioning here with a group of friends,
01:18 and the whole game's art direction is just chef's kiss.
01:21 Number 9, Outer Wilds.
01:23 In this interstellar time loop game, players take control of an anthropologist
01:27 eager to set out on their first expedition to study an ancient alien civilization.
01:32 Unfortunately though, this is the day that the sun just so happens to explode,
01:37 at which point the explorer awakens at the start of that day,
01:40 seemingly saved by a mysterious artifact that activated prior to departure.
01:45 Each of the five planets that you then explore are completely different
01:48 in their visual style and gameplay mechanics.
01:51 However, it's the revelations these planets contain
01:54 that make Outer Wilds so enormously immersive.
01:57 Piecing together clues from snippets of lore is central to the experience.
02:01 It's entirely up to you which breadcrumb trail you follow first,
02:05 and though there's a heavy puzzle element to figuring out how things,
02:08 like gravitational pulls, can change from one place to the next,
02:11 the overarching mystery always keeps you going.
02:14 Figuring out how these planets work, what their physical properties are,
02:18 and how they relate to the cosmos, genuinely makes for an open world experience like no other.
02:24 Number 8 - Cyberpunk 2077
02:26 As many are now finally able to see with patch 1.5 delivering a version of the game
02:31 that any non-PC player should have had in 2020,
02:34 CD Projekt Red did create an exceptionally grounded and realized world in Cyberpunk,
02:39 its city incredibly detailed, and its entire landmass
02:43 only elevating the various stories told within.
02:46 Night City isn't only large in scope,
02:48 but its scale is reflected within the verticality of its skyline
02:52 and the densely packed streets below.
02:54 Wherever you look provides some memorable takeaway.
02:57 Apartments bustling with diverse groups of residents that you want to get to know,
03:01 and glossy oversized holograms hanging over dank back alley deals.
03:05 This grimy, failed utopia with its crime-infested underbelly
03:09 paints Night City as a place on the brink of collapse,
03:12 something the story and its many endings let you get lost in.
03:16 Number 7 - Fallout New Vegas
03:18 I got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle.
03:21 I personally will never get the Fallout New Vegas soundtrack out of my head.
03:27 When I think of some of the happiest times of my entire life,
03:30 I picture strolling through the Mojave Wasteland, banging out some Marty Robbins.
03:35 The world Obsidian created here is one you can totally get lost in,
03:39 as is Bethesda's Fallout 3, but it's made extra special by the sheer depth of it.
03:45 This isn't a place with basic good guys and bad guys,
03:48 with moral choices as simplistic as,
03:50 "Do you want to be bad and nuclear explode an entire town?"
03:54 No, the world New Vegas spins is grimy, multi-layered, and full of interesting factions.
04:00 Everyone has something going on, some kind of agenda to unearth,
04:04 and even the villains have fascinating motivations for why they do what they do.
04:09 Sure, the gameplay hasn't aged all that well,
04:11 and its rushed development time is present at every turn,
04:14 but those issues don't stop this from being a truly immersive world.
04:17 In fact, those drawbacks only make it even more impressive.
04:21 Number 6 - The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim
04:24 Over a decade later, Skyrim is still hailed as one of the best RPGs ever made.
04:29 And while some aspects of combat and character models haven't aged so well,
04:32 just like Fallout New Vegas,
04:34 Bethesda's crowning achievement holds up as an always-engrossing gaming experience.
04:39 What makes Skyrim work so well has always been its world.
04:43 The feeling of a realm genuinely alive with a thousand activities all happening at once.
04:48 Even after 100 hours of gameplay, there's always another quest to complete or dungeon to explore,
04:53 and that's not even factoring in the expansions.
04:56 Skyrim is a game that entices you to explore a little further each time.
05:01 While traveling to a location for one quest, the silhouette of an undiscovered ruin or cave
05:05 is enough to take you on a detour,
05:07 which in itself turns into another detour or maybe three more.
05:12 From snowy settlements on the tallest mountains
05:14 to strange subterranean areas hidden underneath ruins,
05:17 Skyrim has never felt like an entity any of us have seen every last part of,
05:22 and that's one hell of an achievement.
05:24 Number 5 - Elden Ring
05:26 FromSoftware have been known for their phenomenal world design
05:29 ever since the original Demon's Souls.
05:31 In Elden Ring though, the team has mastered the coalescence of exploration, combat and discovery
05:36 that doesn't let you go for literally hundreds of hours.
05:39 Every last inch of the lands between is a gargantuan open space
05:44 that somehow also retains a handcrafted level design,
05:48 with certain pockets of the map turning into miniature Souls games all on their own.
05:53 With pure curiosity-fuelled exploration paramount to the experience,
05:57 Elden Ring has no waypoints,
05:59 only a vague marker on where to go if you find its sites of grace,
06:04 and few map markers unless you make your own.
06:06 It forces you into a mindset of picking a direction and just seeing what you can find,
06:10 and fortunately, every area houses new gear, new enemies, new bosses, items, XP,
06:16 and various other elements that fold back into whatever the hell you want to do next.
06:21 Number 4 - The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt
06:24 The first time through The Witcher 3, really taking in just how much CDPR had written,
06:29 designed and crafted everywhere across the game world was just...
06:33 well, it was something else.
06:34 Geralt's continent-spanning quest to find Ciri had players spending dozens of hours slaying monsters,
06:40 and if you were a big nerd, playing Gwent,
06:42 but we also had a ton of literal question marks promising extra objectives, underground caves,
06:47 bandit camps, rare items, gear, and everything in between.
06:51 Now I've talked a lot about gameplay immersion in this list,
06:54 but it's worth saying that truly exquisite writing and that extra level of attention to detail
06:59 can really elevate the experience as well.
07:01 No matter how insignificant a quest may seem,
07:03 each one in The Witcher 3 is tied to a rich and engaging narrative,
07:07 or functions as a neat, memorable one-off.
07:10 There's no such thing as a throwaway task here.
07:13 Even scavenger hunts are connected in their own way through letters and notes found on the journey.
07:18 Number 3 - The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild
07:21 If there was one game that showed how immersive an open world can be,
07:23 it was The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild.
07:26 After spending just a few hours with this masterclass in game design,
07:30 it's easy to see why it's so easy to get lost in the stunning vistas of Hyrule.
07:35 When Link awakens at the start of the game and emerges into the expansive world that opens before him,
07:40 the world becomes fully explorable from the gore.
07:43 Freedom is at the core of the journey here, nothing is really off-limits.
07:49 Players can set off in any direction they choose to tackle the non-linear story,
07:53 in any order that they desire.
07:55 Hell, players can even head straight to the final boss if they're feeling especially brave that day.
07:59 Though the vast freedom awarded to players right out of the gate
08:02 is all part of what makes this gorgeous world so great,
08:05 it's the sense of discovery and experimentation that cement this open world as one of the best.
08:11 With barely any map markers telegraphing key locations,
08:13 it's up to players to uncover what's out there.
08:16 And with many of these secrets requiring players to solve cryptic puzzles,
08:20 there's always something new to find in Hyrule.
08:22 Number 2 - Grand Theft Auto V
08:25 When a certain generation gets older, they're gonna look back on GTA V's portrayal of LA
08:29 and its surrounding areas as somewhere that they used to genuinely visit.
08:33 The sheer amount of combined time that we as a people have invested into GTA V's world,
08:39 both its offline story and GTA Online,
08:42 is staggering, genuinely and completely unmatched.
08:46 Hell, I know its streets better than the place I grew up.
08:50 Whether you're going on a rampage through bustling streets,
08:53 racing across the open countryside or simply taking in the scenery from the air,
08:57 GTA V prides itself on letting you spend your time however the hell you like,
09:02 and with GTA Online, that time has continued to provide plenty of surprises.
09:07 Number 1 - Red Dead Redemption 2
09:09 Whether Arthur Morgan's heart-wrenching character arc,
09:12 phenomenal characters and acting performances,
09:14 or a magnificent soundtrack reminiscent of the golden age of Western cinema,
09:19 Dan Howes' last Rockstar game is an absolute masterpiece.
09:23 It's also a masterpiece precious few have even finished,
09:27 but that's largely because they were so enamoured and thoroughly enraptured by its world.
09:31 See, Red Dead 2's expansive portrayal of the Old West is a painterly one,
09:36 something that takes influence from how the rolling hills and sweeping cloud formations
09:40 of the late 1800s paintings would romanticise the period overall.
09:44 Obviously, there's a dark reality to the lawlessness within,
09:47 but Rockstar's unique endless budget crafted an eye-widening amount of activities to do
09:53 and secrets to find.
09:54 Setting a deliberately glacial pace to surpass even the grandest Westerns of Hollywood,
09:59 Rockstar are begging players to just take their time,
10:02 soak in every detail at your own pace, and just enjoy the time you have in this game.
10:08 Everything from brushing Arthur's horse to polishing a pistol is purposefully slow and methodical.
10:13 Every movement feels weighty and grounded in the world around it.
10:18 This is the nearest thing we've ever got to virtual reality without the goggles,
10:22 and the result is arguably the most immersive digital experience ever created.
10:26 But I want to know what you guys think about that down in the comments.
10:29 Do you agree, or are there any immersive experiences I missed that you think deserve a spot in this top 10?
10:35 While you're down there as well, could you please give us a like, share, subscribe,
10:37 and head over to whatculture.com for more lists and news like this every single day.
10:41 Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you soon.