Open-world games have been offering large playgrounds to explore since SEGA’s Jet Rocket back in 1970. Some companies, such as Bethesda and Ubisoft, are known for their open-world experiences, developing series such as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Elder Scrolls and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Assassin’s Creed. Open-world games offer pla♋yers a chance to break free from traditional narrative and mission structures and forge their𓆏 own paths.

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While there’s an open-world game out there for everybody, there are so many, and they’re so time-consuming, that knowing which one to pick up can be a daunting task. Let's take a look at some underrated open-world games that may have slipped under your radar.

Updated November 22, 2022, by Michael Llewellyn: The open-world genre has a lot to offer fans of gaming who love to get lost in a bit of escapism. The genre covers RPGs, survival, and action, so there's something for everyone. From a medieval backdrop to the streets of Hong Kong, this list has been updated to include more underrated but excellent open-world games.

13 Sleeping Dogs 🌺

Wei Shen fighting off assailants
  • Launched: 2012
  • Developer: United Front Games
  • Platform: macOS, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
  • Genre: Action-adventure

In the vein of GTA, Sleeping Dogs is an open-world love letter to the Hong Kong kung fu movie genre. It tells the story of an 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:undercover Asian American cop named Wei Shen, whose job is to ♚ꦏgo undercover and infiltrate the Triads.

Unfortunately for Wei, this meansꩵ betraying his childhood friends and lying to loved ones. The story is well-told, and the🥂 voice acting is provided by a stellar cast that includes Will Yun Lee, Emma Stone, Celina Jade, and Tom Wilkinson.

12 Kingdom Come: Deliverance ꦍ

Large battle in Kingdom Come Deliverance
  • Launched: 2018
  • Developer: Warhorse Studios
  • Platform: Luna, PC, PS4, Xbox One. Switch version TBA.
  • Genre: RPG

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Kingdom Come: Deliverance i▨s a hardcore medieval RPG experience with a historical setting during the early 1400s. On the surface, the war-torn Bohemian landscape looks similar to . Ho𝕴wever, the focus is on historical realism and lore.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance includes 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:life-sim mechanics where survival, hunger, and even cleanliness play a part. The world is beautiful, and the combat system is realistic, deep,෴ and challenging.

11 Days Gone

a wide shot of Deacon St. John on his bike from Days Gone driving through tall grass with mountains and trees in the distance
  • Launched: 2019
  • Developer: Bend Studios
  • Platform: PC, PS4
  • Genre: Action-adventure and survival horror

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Days Gone is a survival horror game set in one of the most beautiful open worlds available on the PS4. ♓It was developed b🥂y the same studio that created the Syphon Filter series.

As a result, the focus on stealth and action is expertly handled in Days Gone. Exploring the world on the protagonist's motorbike is always a thrilling experience. The story and characters develop nicely, and the visuals and sound are every bit the AAA first-party title it was intended.

10 Dr🌺agon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

Player character and three pawns fighting together against a giant cyclops monster in Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
  • Launched: 2013
  • Developer: Capcom
  • Platform: PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One
  • Genre: Action RPG

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dark Arisen is a JRPG in the style of a Western RPG. It offers a unique take on the party system, requiring every player to create a companion who is then loaned out to other players. They then 🌳learn more ab🐭out the world, which in turn aids the protagonist. This is a great, unique feature, but the combat in Dark Arisen is where the game truly shines.

Thanks to the ability to freely swap between nine different classes, you can nimbly scale large opponents to slash at their weak spots or summon devastating magical storms and meteors to vanquish hordes of foes. It could be argued that Dragon's Dogma is a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:better dragon game than Skyrim. It also has a Netflix anime that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:fans of the game𒉰 will get a lot out of.

9 Destroy All 💙Hꩲumans!

destroy all humans Disintegrator Ray
  • Launched: 2005 and 2020
  • Developer: Black Forest Games and Pandemic Studios
  • Platform: PC, PS2, PS4, Switch, Stadia, Xbox, Xbox One
  • Genre: Action-Adventure

This satirical take on 1950s U.S. politics and society is as relevant today as it ever was. You play as Crypto, an alien clone tasked with extracting ancient DNA from unwilling humans. Armed with an array of hilariously deadly alien technology, such as an anal probe and mind control powers, you can wr🗹eak havoc on the townspeople to your heart’s content.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Destroy All Humans! is silly in the best ways. Use your telekinetic powers to juggle people in the air before electrocuting them with the Zap-o-Matic. There’s even a remake available for those who don’t want to dig out their PS2, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:and here is a guid🗹e to get you started.

8 Risen

Risen real time combat against a human enemy
  • Launched: 2009
  • Developer: Pirahna Bytes
  • Platform: PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One
  • Genre: RPG

Risen takes the concept of player freedom and runs with it. Don’t want to talk to that woman who you wash 💖up on a beach with? No problem, she won’t turn up again. Don’t want to get involved with the warring factions preventing you from entering a town? Just hop a wall instead.

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Risen is set on a Sicilian-inspired island that contains undead priests, sealed-away ancient titans, and deadly creatures. You should delve in and try to uncover the island’s mysteries, but 🎃be warned, this gameꦛ is tough and not for the faint of heart.

7 ♑ Th🎃e Darkness

The Darkness Jackie with tenticales and guns
  • Launched: 2007
  • Developer: Starbreeze Studios
  • Platform: PS3, Xbox 360
  • Genre: FPS

The Darkness is a bloody, dark, gothic game that offers very little hand-holding to the player. Taking control of Jackie, a mobster possessed by demonic tentacles that feed on darkness and human heart🧔s sounds edgy, and it is a bit. But, it’s also one of the weirder and more challenging open-world experiences available to gamers.

The Darkness🌌 does a great job of making you use the environment and navigate its compact but open levels. Think Deus Ex without the minimap. Using the tentacles is fun, as they each have a personality and upgradable powers to assist with the dual-wielding gunplaﷺy on offer.

6 Mad Max

Mad Max snaking around the Wasteland
  • Launched: 2015
  • Developer: Avalanche Studios
  • Platform: Linux, macOS, PC, PS4, Xbox One
  • Genre: Action-adventure

Games that tie in with ꦿfilms are rarely good, but Mad Max is certainly an exception. The core gameplay loop sees you constantly exploring and engaging in incredibly satisfy𝔉ing vehicular and hand-to-hand combat.

Upgrading your car and Max adds a real sense of progression to the game and gives you a reason to wander the wasteland. While the story isn’t great, the moment-to-moment gameplay and the stunning scenery are more than enough reasons to pick this game up. It even mocks players for getting into cars theℱ wrong way.

5 Far Cry 3: Blood Dra🎐gon

Main character of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon played by 80s action star Michael Biehn
  • Launched: 2013
  • Developer: Ubisoft
  • Platform: PC, PS3, PS4, Stadia, Xbox 360, Xbox One
  • Genre: FPS

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Far Cry 3’s Blood Dragon DLC adds an 80s-inspired action sci-fi theme to the tropical 𝐆island of Rakyat. You play as Rex Power Colt, a cyber soldier, basically RoboCop on acid. The retro-futuristic style combined with guilty pleasure action cliches makes this a wonderfully wacky experie🦋nce.

Blood Dragon went under the radar at launch. Avail♛able as a standalone DLC, there’s no excuse not🉐 to try the Blood Dragon DLC expansion.

4 🔴 Sunset Overdrive

Sunset Overdrive Cleaned Steam Poster Image
  • Launched: 2014
  • Developer: Insomniac Games
  • Platform: PC, Xbox One
  • Genre: Action-adventure

Before being bought by Sony, Insomniac looked to see if the grass was greener on the other side with the Xbox-exclusive 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Sunset Overdrive. It’s truly a shame that this game launched only on what was, at the time, the f𒊎ar less popular con♌sole, as it means many people missed the incredible experience on offer.

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Sunset Overdrive has bizarre weapons, a frenetic and fluid movement system, and a comic book art style to create an incredibly fun open world for players to traverse. A sequel needs to exist.