Ah,the open-world genre of video games—highly successful but simultaneously the most oversaturated thing in the industry.It’s the sub-genre I’ve spent the most hours in myself, but I’ll be real with you: it’s become a slog to experience it in recent times.
That doesn’t imply that all open-world games are bad; some are exceptionally well done in their presentation and evenshowcase an incredible world-building element. Games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2 are right up there.
10 Linear Games That Would Make Amazing Open Worlds
Throw these characters into an open area without loading screens and you’ll have masterpieces.
But what about thoseopen-world games that have such a diverse map, yet end up feeling dead? Well, that’s exactly why I’ve prepared a list of the open-world games with a huge map that were left feeling lifeless.
10The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Post-Apocalyptic Hyrule Ain’t It
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Despite how both this game and the latter sequel brought a rare circumstance of creative freedom to the table in the open-world genre, I’ll have to be the killjoy here and admit how lifeless the open world ofZelda: Breath of the Wildwas, even if it was intended to be felt that way.
Don’t get me wrong here; I’m not here to stain the game’s legacy. I absolutely loved my initial few hours from the opening, leaving with your glider and discovering NPCs, towns, and villages throughout my journey.
The heavier chunk of BOTW’s content revolves around Shrines, but at one point, they become a slog to get through, no matter how unique each one is in puzzle design and execution. Besides that, there isn’t much meaningful content in the open world here that heavily hooks you.
Honestly, that’s why I low-key preferthe older Zelda titles, which instead have a linear approach. Plus, they had multiple dungeons, special boss fights, and meaningful puzzles, even if some of those dungeons proved hellaciously annoying to me (looking at you, OoT Water Temple).
9Biomutant
It Could’ve Been Special.
Biomutantwas one of those games with a ton of potential written all over it. While I only had a brief look at its development cycle, the eventual reception of the game wound up being a mixed bag for those like me who had the chance to play it day one.
Although littered with star-studded elements such as world factions/tribes, a karma system, and a weapon crafting system,the game falls flat on its back with a large and dull open-world map with tons of empty areas or instances where there’s not even any loot to pick or a boss to fight.
At times, the whole thing looks gorgeous with its lush yet ruinous forest landscape, and you’ll have loads of fun for the first few hours until you ultimately hit the point that this game and most other cookie-cutter generic open-world games tend to do—being god-awful repetitive.
8Starfield
25 Years Down the Drain
Before the GTA VI hype train ran circles in the industry,Starfield’sgrand anticipation had the gaming world in a blaze because this was a game from Bethesda that was “25 years in the making.” So, with such a stupendous development cycle, surely the game must’ve delivered? Right?
I’m thankful I didn’t buy into the FOMO of this game on release because, despite most of its other decent features, an engaging open world is not one of them. Those thousands of procedurally generated planets?Mostly barren landscapes with the same cycle of having resources or an enemy outpost.
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These games will fully immerse you into their worlds.
A good open world thrives on making the player feel immersed, and although Starfield has its somewhat well-written nuance in the narrative and quest design, the world itself is just bleak and lifeless, where everything starts to feel the same after 20 or so hours because of the recycled building layouts and washed-out set design.
7Just Cause 4
Less Imagination For Mayhem
Just Cause 4
A guilty pleasure of my teenage years was playing the Just Cause games. I would turn my brain off, cause mayhem in the most absurd ways, tackle the seemingly infinite amount of side content, and leisurely chip away at the serviceable storytelling, especially in the third game, where the whole island of Medici was your playground.
However, as much as my friends and I were looking forward to whatJust Cause 4might cook up, it ended up doinga major disservice to what made the series so popular—watering down popular traits like the destruction physics and the vibrant visuals for a darker tone in theopen-world sandbox.
The world design in Just Cause 4 made the game’s overall vibe feel dead and grayed out. Even if you had new elements introduced here, such as those extreme weather conditions or the more diverse map sub-regions, there wasn’t any point since the game’s core identity felt stripped away.
6Test Drive Unlimited 2
Go Lifeless in Hawaii
Test Drive Unlimited 2
The original Test Drive Unlimited felt like aforgotten gem from my childhood on the PS2, so imagine my surprise when I stumbled on the sequel during my teenage years on the Xbox 360. I had some heavy, childlike expectations that it was more ambitious than the first game.
Spoiler alert: I was let down immediately. TDU 2 had a massive open world, combining the first game’s Hawaiian island of Oahu with its new original take on the island of Ibiza, butthe takeaway here was how bland and unimaginative the game felt as a sequel, even on a visual scale.
I understand that the first entry wasn’t ground-breaking either, but for a sequel, you could’ve at least made the world feel more dynamic whilst you’re out doing races. The only time the game felt momentarily alive was in the multiplayer, which didn’t help with the game’s overall case of feeling like a giant humdrum.
5Hogwarts Legacy
An Uninspired Wizardry Tale
Hogwarts Legacy
Fextralife Wiki
I felt thatHogwarts Legacypresented a similar problem to Biomutant for me—a strong start, but it slowly gets mind-numbingly cumbersome to play.Although the vast landscape outside the Hogwarts campus is littered with puzzles and treasures, it doesn’t particularly solve the issue of the world itself feeling lackluster.
For one, the game is severely lacking in enemy variety. I was on the verge of banging my head against the wall when I fought my 50th troll variation and came across the same recycled variations of spiders that the game throws at you every step of the way in dungeons or other secluded areas of the map.
10 Open World Games With Extensive End-Game Content
From Horizon: Forbidden West to No Man’s Sky, explore open-world games packed with endless post-campaign content to keep you hooked.
Activities like the Broom Trials, Dark Arts Battle Arena, and Enemy Outposts might give you a short burst of adrenaline, but even those tend to get repetitive quickly with the mini-puzzles. You’ve got a ton of cosy villages and towns that seem inviting, but it isn’t enough to defend Hogwarts Legacy from being a generic and lifeless open-world title.
4Horizon Forbidden West
A Visual Marvel With Nothing Behind It
Horizon Forbidden West
Condolences to its adoring fans like me, but the bittersweet truth aboutHorizon Forbidden Westis that it is one of the most bland open-world games of the modern era. That’s despite it having one of themost photorealistic graphical engines everand a world teeming with robotic bestiaries at every level.
Understandably, the first game was meant to portray a feeling of isolation and emptiness via its bygone post-dystopian world. Still, with the sequel,I honestly expected more reactivity and encounters than just tribes fighting other tribes or machines in the Forbidden Lands, or a few new types of machines lurking in the cornerstones.
There are rare downtime moments in the game where the world certainly feels like the most breathtaking thing ever, with the dynamic foliage and geometry system. Still, aside from being in awe of the Decima Engine’s prowess, I’d rather they make the third game feel perilous and engaging to explore.
3Final Fantasy 15
Cross-Country ChocoBros Trip
Final Fantasy 15
This might sound like heresy, butFinal Fantasy 15was my introduction to the series, which pushed me to experience theprior games, from VI to my all-time favorites, FFX.While I adore FF15 with all my heart, there’s no denying that the game had a rough reception and one of the most cursed development cycles.
It all led to a mainline Final Fantasy title that was wonderfully presented thanks to the staggering beauty of the Luminous engine, with a promising storyline and characters, butone of the biggest hindrances to its success was its shallow and uninteresting world design of Eos.
Sure, riding with Noctis and his boy band of besties on the Chocobos or in the Regalia is a therapeutic experience, but the map lacks anything meaningful outside your usual dungeon entrances, boss encounters, and Bounty Hunts. The world has hardly any reactive elements, making it one of the most unappealing open worlds to explore in an FF game.
2Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
A Snoozefest Viking’s Tale
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
As someone who spent hundreds of unnecessary hours on Origins and Odyssey, I was looking forward to what Ubisoft might conjure withAssassin’s Creed Valhalla, considering my genuine interest and adoration for the Norse Mythology and the Vikings themselves.
They conjured up their most simultaneously bloated and bland open-world games yet, which wasn’t surprising considering their declining track record at that time. AlthoughAC Valhalla’s map was slightly more condensed than Odyssey’s,the open world of historical Europe during the late Viking era was the weakest map yet in the series.
Besides the fact that the game’s narrative purposely padded everything to 100+ hours to experience everything, the only comfort to be found in the world is the breathtaking sights that you come across in your conquest as Eivor, plus the various puzzles and lore points that you can solve and interact with along the way.
There’s also the saving grace of building and managing your settlement, or having a short burst of serotonin fuel your mind as you raid castles and fortresses with your Viking brethren. But given how bland everything else is, especially my personal distaste for its clunky combat and shallow skill system, it was by far the most lifeless open-world game from Ubisoft.
1Forspoken
With My Freaking Mind!
It’s hard even to begin discussing the disdain that this game brought to the industry and audiences upon release. I tried to be positive and give this game the benefit of the doubt that it might be a possible banger after playing through the demo, but boy, was I wrong.
Forspoken’sopen world is easily the most lifeless setting ever. It’s designed to be a giganticIsekai-inspired world, butit lacks every bit of the charm that the anime genre has for its worlds.It’s filled with tons of large empty spaces and sprinkled with side content that instantaneously gets repetitive.
Aside from the combat and Frey’s magic parkour movement having a bit of an enjoyable flair, there isn’t much point to that if the world lacks any depth whatsoever, since the majority of it is just a formulaic loop where you collect monotonous collectibles, treasure chests, or explore caves or towers in the vast expanse of Athia.
It’s a shame because, as someone who loves fantasy and realism,the game’s first-ever reveal as Project Athiahad my friends and me extremely intrigued. However, it became a superficial mess and critical flop, doing more harm than good to the open-world genre.
9 Forgotten Open World Games That Deserve A Remake
These open world games couldn’t quite stand out from the pack in their time, but could make a comeback with a remake.
