Open-world video games ha🥀ve taken the gaming industry by storm in the past decade. They've proven that developers can improve a franchise with a new take. Sever⛄al franchises have decided to embrace the blossoming genre in recent years. Whether they're a gaming staple, or a recent series, games of all types have branched out with the open-world design.
While some series start with the open-world format, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:multiple releases have made headlines in recent years🀅 for deviating from their traditional formula. Some have excelled in this attempt at reinvention, while others have failed. Here are established franchises that took a swing at open-world design.
9 ✤ Metal Gear Solid 💝
There are few video game franchises as recognized as Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series. These stealth games started in the 🐓late 90s and had a more linear level design. As the games evolved, they started to branch out and introduce more diverse level designs. Originally, Kojima planned for Metal Gear Soli🐻d IV: Guns of the Patriots to be open-world, but the PlayStation 3's technology was not powerful enough to accommodate his vision. He would later revisit his idea in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It was the first true open-world experience in the Metal Gear Solid series. It became a massive success with both fans and critics.
8 Forza
Racing fans have had their fair share൲ of open-world experiences as well with Xbox Game Studio's Forza Horizon series. This spin-off of the famous Forza Motorsport franchise first launched in 2012, giving players the chance 𒉰to take their favorite rides on the open road. These games offer collectibles, multiplayer, and inventive races that make the game feel alive. Forza Horizon 4, the most recent release, continues to improve on the formula, with new maps, cars, races, and objectives for players to explore.
7 Final Fantasy 💟
Few RPG franchises are as iconic as Final Fantasy. Square Enix's magnum opus has been a staple of gaming for over 30 years, and it's still going strong. This is due in part to its ability to adapt to the modern gaming land🐠scape. The series has created multiple open-world experiences over the past decade to great🐼 success.
Their foray into the world of MMOs, or Massively Multiplayer Online games, has proven to be fruitful with the release of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. While the original release was rocky and required an overhaul, the game has become one of the most profitable MMOs on the market, almost 10 years after its rerelease. Following the success of the MMO, the series released Final Fa🥀ntasy XV, a mainline narrative entry with an open world. I🍨t offered an endearing tale of brotherhood between four friends on a road trip.
6 🐽 ꦜ Ghost Recon
Not all open-world experiments succeed. While Final Fantasy XIV was able to recover amidst a rocky launch, Ghost Recon Breakpoint wasn't as lucky. The military tactical shooter has seen several reinventions over the past few years, but its open-wඣorld rendition was one of t🍷he least successful for the franchise. With a shallow world and gameplay, fans quickly lost interest. Hopefully, the Ghost Recon series can find a new gimmick that brings fans back, but it's one of the few entries on this list that couldn't pull off an open world.
5 Super Mario 🔜
Nintendo's mascot has taken on a litany of genres. From side scroller to party games, Mario has done it all. One of Mario's most famous outings, however, is Super Mario 64. Many critics praise this entry as one of the pioneers for open-world games that would follow in the next few decades. While Super Mario 64 isn't an entirely open world, it did show off several areas that were open-ended. Players could explore these areas at the will of players.🌳 Even today, it holds up well, and fans of the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection will attest to this.
4 ꩵ Tales Series
Another Japanese Role Playing Game that explored open-world level design is Tales of Vesperia. Originally, the tales series was a two-dimensional dungeon crawler, but it's experimented with a more 𓆏open-ended format in recent years.
While this franc🍃hise still focuses on narrative experiences, several sections allow players to e𒁃xplore at their leisure. It successfully incorporates open-world elements into its releases, even in 2021
3 ༺ ꦯ Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed's recent shift from sandbox-style game design to open-world was the easiest transition on this list. While earlier entries weren't entirely open experiences, they've used the mo🎃re powerful technology of recent consoles to make the jump. Games like Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla have created solid experiences that have helped reinvigorate𝐆 the franchise and recapture fan passion. It's one series that always felt destined for this format.
2 The Lege🐽nd Of Zelda 📖
When The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was announced in 2017, few could have anticipated its success. This Nintendo Switch tꦿitle reinvented open-world games entirely. With a world and tools that allowed players to play the game in ways that are still being explored years later, few games have the replay value that this game exhibits. With gorgeous cell-shaded visuals, voice-acted cutscenes, and a story that players♛ can complete at the player's pace, it's the definition of what an open-world game should be. Breath of the Wild 2 is currently in development, so fans of the first entry eagerly anticipate what Nintendo can do when expanding this beautiful base product.
1 Pokemon
If there's one game series that fans have been begging to go open-world, it's 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Pokemon franchise. While Pokemon Sword and Shield introduced open-ended elements with the wild area, they didn't truly reinvent how Pokemon games functioned. That is supposedly changing with Pokemon Legends: Arceus. This upcoming release plans to introduce players to a unique experience. Hopeful🅰ly, this entry takes the lessons learned from Pokemon Sword and Shield to create an even better product that all fans can enjoy. Only time will telไl how this release fairs, but fans seem cautiously optimistic.