Games that allow us to go out, even if virtually, during these times of confinement. The best Open World today.
Open worlds are a constant in this generation. Expanding at full speed with sagas like GTA and the sandbox genre as the first great precursor, this style of play has evolved and offered more and more options. The type of mechanics that we can execute inside does not matter: the giant worlds with all kinds of locations to visit with some freedom and events, missions and extras to find are legion. As there are still several days for the Alarm State to end, the last extension is until May 9, we have prepared to review 9 open world games that can currently be enjoyed on current platforms.
Titles that have been able to collect the witness of their predecessors and names that are part of a much broader imaginary. Surely without the San Andreas, Oblivion, Assassin’s Creed II and many others, the ones we reviewed today would not make much sense or would not be as they are. So there are 9 open world games that allow us to breathe that freedom – also dangers – that we currently do not have due to confinement. Let it not be said that we cannot leave the house, even if it is virtually speaking.
No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky is a game that has broken molds and schemes. And we say it in a very broad sense. A title that when it came out, disappointed for not fulfilling many of the promises that were on the table. But that, immediately, Sean Murray and his team began to mold, improve and reconvert into that dream game. It came many months later as NEXT, an update that improved multiplayer, exploration, and building social communities. Also combat. The game improved its interior and expanded it. They did not stop there, as updates such as being able to explore the seabed or with Beyond continued to arrive, which in addition to acquiring VR compatibility involved adding dozens of changes. And recently we have highlights. What more do we want?
TES: Skyrim
No time passes for the latest The Elder Scroll we've received so far. Skyrim was not only a turning point in the conception of open worlds as we know them, but it is one of the games that has expanded the most. Not only through two generations of consoles, including Switch, but also in Virtual Reality format. An epic work on all four sides, which is capable of trapping us through a powerful main plot and endless tasks, guilds and subplots that invite you to delve deeper and deeper into their depths. Not to mention the soundtrack. We can only say one thing: Fus Ro Dah!
Grand Theft Auto V
If we talk about games that time does not pass, like Skyrim, we must also do it about those that continue to break records. GTA 5 is not just the game of millions of endless revenue. It is also the game that continues perennial in the best-seller lists as if it were a novelty, although it originally came out five years ago and Rockstar has brought a technical beast to Subsequent as is Red Dead Redemption 2. The fifth numbered installment of the great saga of the American study wanted to change the perspective with the use of three protagonists who, with their problems -many- and their motivations, were narrating an interconnected story. The great blows, unforgettable the first time we played in the mission of the bank, being able to change characters to see different playable moments, as well as their preparation, brought more wealth to a world with more details than before. Then, of course, we have GTA Online, that is already just another universe in which if you enter and you fit in, you no longer leave.
Forza Horizon 4
If we talk about open worlds, the first thing that comes to mind are games like the ones we've already reviewed, adventure and action titles with many things to do. But among the best open worlds is also a driving game, yes. Which is both the best games of the entire generation. Forza Horizon 4 is the pleasure of driving for driving, of letting us go the road in the distance, or cross country, for the simple fact of doing it while, yes, along the way we meet challenges, races, drifts, competitions with other players or, simply, a change in weather that makes that well-known road become a completely different one. There are so many things that can be done in Forza Horizon 4 and they are so good that it is impossible not to recommend this world to burn wheels and dream of freedom at more than 200 per hour.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Guerrilla has been a company that has given us one of lime and another of sand. Gone are his Halo-Killer years with a first Killzone that did not get what he wanted, and then a Killzone 2 that was a benchmark on PS3 for many reasons. The saga failed to consolidate with the following installments, and the change of third of the team with Horizon: Zero Dawn looked eager, but also suspicious. All dispelled with one of the best games that Playstation 4 leaves us. Aloy's adventure is magnificent, with a combat system and brilliant playable options and with a certain strategy in between. A world full of nature and technological beasts, with a plot that runs wild in the final third and catches you like few others, and full of side missions that, some of them, keep the level very high. One of the best experiences of this generation when it comes to open worlds.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
The Ubisoft saga took a break to rethink many of its proposals. And it came in handy. When he returned to the fray with Origins, we were presented with a universe where the RPG touch was undeniable and indivisible from the experience. For us, Odyssey was a step forward in that formula, making the story of Kassandra (or Alexios) one of the best in the franchise. We love ancient Greece that is recreated in this game for the relationship that we establish in various places, for the challenge of looking for enemies or that they look for you, and for the amount of secrets -some wonderful- that we can find and that connect with the mythology of that civilization. Surely the secondary ones do not have the average level of The Witcher 3 or the best ones of Horizon, but the beauty that permeates the Greek islands and their people compensate it with infinity of events and tasks to carry out. And a main plot of those that sink deep.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Four years have passed since the release of the third installment of the Warlock, time in which we have been dazzled by two expansions, especially the second, simply majestic and a small miracle in the form of a game embedded in Nintendo Switch. But the maximum splendor of Geralt de Rivia on PC, PS4 and Xbox One is still fully in force. Few worlds have so many things to do and at the same time, they have so many details of quality and care in their work. A tireless title in its main campaign that is also capable of giving you some of the best side missions we remember. Every line of dialogue, however insignificant an NPC may seem, is worked, measured and cared for. And that makes us enter a universe measured at every corner. There is no lack of epic, great confrontations, monsters everywhere and the twists of the script to complete one of the games of this generation without a doubt.
Red Dead Redemption 2
One of the last 10 out of 10 that we have given in Meristation, and that represents a new milestone in Rockstar developments with Dan Houser saying goodbye after such a work. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a beast in every way: technical, narrative, and building an organic world. The great story of Arthur Morgan has a lot of contemplative, love of detail. It does not worry about recreating itself in small things that show you that based on small moments and situations you can build something gigantic. As we have in our Reviews, the dynamic weather, the relationship and need of our horse are keys to its success. All with a cinematic development, with the construction of memorable characters and a lively open world, completely and surely the most realistic and varied that we remember. Packed with challenges, extras and missions. A world to delight every little sip until they are imbued with its brilliance.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
We close our article on memorable open worlds worth visiting today with Breath of the Wild, Nintendo's latest masterpiece and a game disruptive to its predecessors. The title that represents the change of sign in the saga, so focused from Ocarina of Time on looking for a successor to match (Wind Waker, Twilight Priness, Skyward Sword) until he decided to break chains and look for something new. And that is achieved with an open world radically different from the concept of other more prominent ones, where exploration and challenges are behind each mountain, where any mission is marked on the map at the point that we are told about it, but not where in theory we will have to do it. Organic and free, with tools that allow us to invent ways and solutions to reach higher or to defeat an enemy. Search for weapons, search for food, search for temples. And improve to continue exploring, fighting, and, when we want, to finish off Ganon. A game, as its name says, wild.
