Top 10 Open World Games

10. Assassin's Creed Black Flag

Much like Earth itself, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag's open world is 70-percent water. You'd think that would put the kibosh on your ability to explore, but nay! Black Flag makes it work in simple, natural, and fun ways that turn seafaring into one of the best parts of the game.

Shipwrecks replete with riches, islands housing hidden quests, temples bearing ancient Mayan secrets - all are liberally scattered throughout the world, and are engaging enough to keep you occupied for a good long while. Plus, with AC3's unwieldy sailing mechanic refined for Black Flag, engaging in harrowing sea battles feels both suitably epic and immensely enjoyable, with the nice bonus of expanding your fleet and economic power. Even sailing aimlessly is a pleasure, and you might be surprised how much time you can spend happily watching whales breach and listening to your crew belting out shanties. There are treasures on the high seas, but the seas themselves are the greatest prize.

9. Fallout 4

Fallout 4 could be on this list just for the sheer volume of content brimming from its open-world. The post-apocalyptic landscape is just as engaging and intriguing to explore as in previous games, but with a bit more color and personality than it's predecessors. The desecrated Boston provides plenty of fascinating environments to explore filled with bandits to kill, irradiated monsters to nuke, and abandoned treasure to plunder.

But the biggest draw Fallout 4 is giving players the ability to do whatever they want. Do you want to endlessly explore the open wasteland, experience a story full of quirky characters, or build up a settlement piece-by-piece? You can do all of those things and much, much more in Fallout 4's massive world. 

8. Dragon Age: Inquisition

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, you're the boss - and it feels good to be the boss. Your private army - the Inquisition - is one of the mightiest in the land, with the power to influence entire nations. At your war council the political landscape of Thedas is shaped to your will. The council's three strategic advisers - diplomatic, military, and espionage - field requests from kings and peasants alike. Who you assign to each task will influence the outcome. Will you deploy spies to assassinate a rebel leader, or use diplomacy to help him change his ways?

Decisions such as these help convey the weight of your office, and sell the fantasy that you are having a greater impact on the world outside of how many monsters you kill. That's not to say killing monsters isn't enjoyable. Inquisition's flashy visuals and mix of turn-based and real-time combat is some of the best in the series. And the game is filled with different customization options for yourself and your party to ensure you have the optimal crew for any situation. But Inquisition is at its best when you feel in command. It highlights all the most exciting aspects of governing, without all the bureaucracy.

7. Grand Theft Auto 5

Taken at face value, the open worlds of the Grand Theft Auto series are fairly ordinary, even with all the exaggerated stereotypes and sexual innuendos sprinkled everywhere. But being able to go on a crime spree, start a rampage, or simply explore every nook and cranny of your surroundings - all without the consequence, cost, and physical exertion holding us back in real life - is what brings those otherwise-mundane backdrop to life in exhilarating, empowering ways. Grand Theft Auto 5 is the current pinnacle of this design, where you have complete freedom to appreciate or desecrate the environment as you see fit.

Every aspect of GTA5's world feels authentic. Michael's privileged boredom in the suburbs of Los Santos, Franklin's rise from the streets to a Vinewood Hills penthouse, Trevor's meth-fueled antics in San Andreas' arid deserts - it's all believable, despite the increasingly ludicrous missions you're completing. And once you've seen how the lives of GTA's most eclectic protagonists play out, you can experience the world in a completely different way through GTA Online, the anarchic multiplayer sandbox we've all been dreaming about since GTA 3.

6. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

It's strange to think of the typically linear Metal Gear Solid series working in an open-world setting, but it doesn't just work - it made the transition damn near flawlessly in one try. While its map may not be filled with objective markers and countless side objectives and mini-games like other games on this list, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain proves that less is more by putting the focus on its complex, intertwining systems.

Guards in MGS5 don't have preset patrol routes - rather, they mill about realistically, reacting to your movements, changing shifts as day turns to night, and moving from outpost to outpost in unpredictable ways. And you can get in there and really mess things up, either through liberal use of one of several hundred guns, grenades, and gadgets, or by knocking them out and conscripting them into your own army by strapping a balloon to their waist and sending them in the air at over 100 miles per hour. Infiltrate, fulton, manage upgrades, slink back into the shadows - it forms a highly compulsive cycle that will keep you coming back well after the games curveball of an ending.

5. Horizon Zero Dawn

History matters. That’s the core tale Horizon:Zero Dawn has to tell us. All its ruins, audiotapes, even the robots themselves are remnants of the civilisation that came before. Everything in the Horizon’s open world threads into Aloy’s character and the main storyline, going way above and beyond merely having some cool-looking ruins that are meant to spice up the landscape. 

Prowling around the world are robot beasts and tribes, a blend of primal survival skills preying off of advanced technology which sounds jarring but ends up being wonderfully natural. With a trading system that doesn’t just want your money but also needs you to prove your hunting skills before you’ll get anything decent, every bit of Horizon’s stunningly beautiful world is enthralling. A fact the creators obviously knew when they came out with its photo mode. Players all over the globe have created bewitching tableaus using this small extra tool that ends up pulling Horizon close to - yeah, I’m going to say it - art. 

4. Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls games set the bar for open world high fantasy. While most people love your first experience more than the ones that follow, but you can’t argue with the vast, imposing majesty of Skyrim. It’s a place you remember, in a way unlike most other game worlds: once you’ve played it, you’ll never forget the distant sight of Whiterun; towering mountains, shrouded in cloud; or the icy streams that divide the land. This is the true genius of Skyrim. 

Almost everywhere feels unique, from humble farms to mighty castles, and you're constantly finding new areas to explore and marvel at. This means that even after 100s of hours of ignoring the story, you're never bored of the exploration, or of the thrill of unearthing something new and exciting. Add in dramatic weather effects, a rich tapestry of historical conflict, that stirring, impossibly grand soundtrack, and - oh yeah - the occasional dragon, and Skyrim is one of gaming’s greatest fantasy worlds.

3. Red Dead Redemption

Rockstar has always been at the frontier of open-world games, hardening itself for an ambitious sojourn into the untamed Western expanse of 19th century America. It didn't exactly go according to plan for Red Dead Redemption, with troubled development delaying the game's completion and some wild bugs unleashing a fondly remembered (but unintended) plague of flying bird-people, but the end result came out cohesive and strongly evocative of a dangerous, raw America. For once, the geography of an open-world game didn't just space out objectives. Instead, it provided room for a proper Western to happen.

John Marston didn't escape the curse befalling most Rockstar protagonists - the guy walking away from crime, only to have one last job foisted upon him - but his flaky morality fit perfectly in a Wild West with its own set of rules and laws, all rickety at best. Marston moved through an unkempt civilization-to-be, sporadically intersecting with side quests and primary goals in a way that felt organic. And though discovery of all that wilderness was rewarding in itself, what made it truly fitting for an open-world game was the slavish devotion to the shape of a Western. There was all that space. Sometimes nothing happened at all. A tumbleweed would roll by. And then Marston would walk into an outburst of sudden violence, a kidnapping, a shootout echoing in a monstrous cavern. Red Dead Redemption filled its world wisely, remembering that calm and nothingness are valid, deliberate objects that can eventually bleed into the chaos of a developing country.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

There is nothing like opening the doors to Hyrule as you leave the Shrine of Resurrection for the first time in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The oh-so-green horizon stretches into the distance tantalisingly as the sound of birds and the rustling of the long grass carries on the wind towards you. Regardless of where you intend to go in this expansive open world, you'll always end up somewhere entirely different. Maybe you'll catch a glimpse of a Bokoblin camp complete with treasure, or see a herd of wild horses in the distance. "Oh, I'll just do this first"  you think, as you head off in entirely the opposite direction as your Sheikah Slate bleeps the arrival of another shrine. Hmm. Do I have enough stamina to climb that cliff? Oh, is that a rock shining in the distance? It might have Amber... 

And it all just feels so alive. Fish swim in fast flowing streams, crickets creak from long grass in the evening. Every time of day feels different. No matter which level the sun is at, you'll always want to hammer that screenshot button. Even the rain is charming enough to make you feel like you should encounter Totoro holding a leaf above his head. This is a world so beautiful, grand and compelling that every step feels like an adventure. Oh and we haven't even mentioned the actual story.... 

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Above all else, Geralt has to get paid. He's not the chosen one here to save everyone from impending doom; he's not serving a higher purpose or following his destiny. Geralt is trying to find his daughter before The Wild Hunt catches up with her, but a noble purpose won't get him better gear or keep him fed, so he's always looking for work. With that one simple distinction, the side action of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt becomes more than just stat-boosting busy work and becomes something that genuinely adds to the character of the game and its star.

It certainly doesn't hurt that the world you're exploring is massive and interesting. Geralt encounters all sorts of people - the working stiffs, the middle class, the royals - and they've all got their own unique perspective on the world, the war, and the Witcher himself. Virtually everyone is worth talking to, and every location is worth visiting because they feel real; you're not just moving from place to place to tick off the next box on your To Do list or find the next best armor shop. Moving through the world has an authenticity many open worlds lack. It's grubby and funny and sweet and unfair and scary and familiar. The Witcher 3 truly feels like a journey, rather than just waypoints on the path to the dramatic final battle.

                                                                                  

Source:http://www.gamesradar.com/best-open-world-games/