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What are the best open world games on Xbox One?

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Feb 26, 2023

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49 Games Considered

Best open world games on Xbox One	Price	Genre	Platforms
-- The Long Dark	$31.99	First-Person Survival, Sandbox	PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, macOS, Linux
-- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	$39.99	Action RPG	Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
-- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	$39.99	Fantasy Role-Playing	Windows, Xbox, PS, Nintendo Switch
-- LEGO Marvel Super Heroes	$19.99	Open World / Super Hero	-
-- Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen	$29.99	-	-

The Long Dark

Top Pro

Four difficulty levels to suit all skill levels

Regardless of your skill level, you will be able to find a difficulty level that suits you and satisfies your craving for a good challenge. This game features four different difficulty levels, making it accessible to a broad range of players. The easiest mode is Pilgrim and it offers a gaming experience suitable to all players where dying is a rare occurrence. For beginning players, Voyager is recommended as it gives you a forgivable way to learn the basics. After that, the difficulty takes a strong curve upwards into the remaining two modes: Stalker, and Interloper - with the latter being considered a very challenging gaming experience only recommended for expert gamers and those who desire a true video game survival challenge. See More

Top Con

No jumping or climbing

You cannot jump or climb over fences, rocks, or other obstacles meaning sometimes you will have to take the longest route possible to reach your destination. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:First-Person Survival, Sandbox

Top Pro

Good balance between surviving and exploring

There is a delicate balance between exploring and surviving, and every aspect of gameplay is closely related. The amount of activity the player performs and the distance they can travel and explore, are balanced around certain metrics such as time, warmth, and calories - and all of these game systems are closely related resulting in a finely tuned experience. For example, eating food replenishes calories, but in order to find food, you have to explore and salvage which causes you to burn calories in the first place. The player must watch how many calories they burn, even when sleeping, and make sure they find or hunt enough food to keep themselves going. On top of this, the player needs to seek shelter from the cold, make sure they are wearing the appropriate clothing, and build fires to stay warm and cook food. During your explorations to salvage supplies and look for food items, you will need to explore carefully as to not get stuck without a place to sleep for the night. See More

Top Con

No tutorial

There is no tutorial or learning mode. When you start the game, you have to figure out how to survive in this harsh world on your own. Some say this adds to the experience, but for many, this can be overwhelming especially in a survival game where everything can -- and will -- kill you. See More

Top Pro

Realistic survival elements make you feel a part of the world

You'll feel like you're living in true survival situation, and the game does an excellent job of placing the player in the role. This game features elements of survival that are very close to the real world, creating an enriching gaming experience for those who want a realistic survival challenge. You will have to keep an eye on your calorie intake, monitor your body temperature, and even craft and wear clothing appropriate to the harsh arctic environment. Staying outside too long after dark can kill you via hypothermia. The wildlife is dangerous and can injure or kill you - as the animals are starving too. You can starve to death if you forget to eat, or run out of food. Death in this game is permanent, and will require you to start the game over. See More

Top Con

No multitasking

Most actions in the game have a small wait time, and you can only perform one action at time. For example, if you search an item, boil water, repair your clothes, or salvage anything, you will have to stop and wait until the action completes. See More

Top Pro

Complete freedom to explore the open-world

The game features a massive, open-world sandbox mode in which there are no quests to gate your progress, or artificial boundaries to exploration. The only goal is to survive as long as possible, and to do it by whatever means possible. This free-exploration, open-world design offers plenty of space to roam for those who want to enjoy a more open playstyle without the hindrances of time gates or quest mechanics. Whether you choose to salvage for supplies, hunt the local wildlife, start cooking fires, or simply just take in the view - the freedom to explore and interact with the world in your own way is endless. See More

Top Pro

Story mode adds a new way to play

For those who desire a story to go with their survival gaming, The Long Dark offers a fully voiced-acted, five chapter story mode called "Wintermute" complete with cutscenes. It features all the survival gameplay aspects of the sandbox version, as well as story quests and character development, making it an engaging, new way to experience all the game has to offer. In the story, you'll assume the role of a man trying to survive in the harsh Canadian wilderness after crashing his plane during a geomagnetic disaster. Rather than just a no-bones survival situation, you'll be working through an actual storyline as you head for safety. As you progress the story, you'll have the opportunity to do quests, watch voice-acted cutscenes, and interact with other characters who are fighting for their lives as well. This pulls you even deeper into the game world since you now have a real goal to work for - escaping the harsh wilderness alive. Story mode adds a deeper layer of immersion via storytelling than the sandbox mode, which is only about surviving as long as you can. Though currently not all of the chapters are available as they are released episodically over time. See More

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Top Pro

Vast and beautiful open world to explore

The world is gorgeous in how untainted it is, with many locations to see and visit. Full of vibrant life, the medieval-style setting is simple and understated, with wide open fields, rainy meadows, snowy mountain ranges, and modest wooden towns and cities for you to roam around on horseback or on foot. There are tons of secrets to find all over, like monster lairs to destroy for loot, treasure maps to follow, and hidden side quests in remote villages. The in-game clock keeps the skies changing with the hour as you cross from city to city, country to country, brightening the horizons with brilliant, golden sunrises in the morning and burning crimson sunsets in the evening. Everything is amazing to look at, encouraging you to wander around aimlessly just to take in the sights. See More

Top Con

Performance hiccups

Even though the frame rate is capped at 30 frames per second it often drops below that. You also might experience long load times or textures not loading fully in some areas. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Genre:Action RPG

Top Pro

Your choices lead to morally-gray consequences and multiple different endings

There are rarely any right answers when making decisions. The situations that the story puts you in are unique and oftentimes unsettling, sometimes leaving you agonizing over which dialog option to pick during story conversations. During your first playthrough, it's isn't obvious which of your decisions are "important" and will impact plot outcomes, making you think critically about all of your choices. Most surprising are the critical decisions that determine which ending you get -- once you see your ending, you learn how organic everything is, with the game keeping track of your relationships with other characters in subtle ways. See More

Top Con

The combat can take some time to get used to

The real-time action combat with Geralt's swords and magic doesn't quite feel right. When you first try it, you might find the controls to be imprecise and a bit sluggish. You may need a few hours to get used to the way the swordplay works with parrying and dodging, on top of knowing when to use your defensive and offensive spells to take advantage of enemy weaknesses. See More

Top Pro

Attention to detail in almost every facet of the game

The Witcher 3 is how an AAA title should play, sound, and feel like. Its deep combat, beautiful graphics, amazing sound, interesting quests, immersive story, and almost every other aspect of the game has a surprising amount of polish. See More

Top Con

Some main story segments drag on for way too long

The story is generally excellent except for certain parts that seem to go on and on for hours with no end in sight. You start off looking into someone who has information on Ciri, only to get the run-around in the worst of ways, chasing down several leads for many different characters all at one time. Just when you think you're done with a series of main quests, you have to go talk to someone else, or kill some other monster, or go to some other place instead. It's really annoying and kills the pacing of the otherwise well-written narrative. See More

Top Pro

Gigantic openworld

The total size of Witcher 3's world is about 52 square miles, which is 3.5 times larger than Skyrim and 1.5 times larger than Grand Theft Auto V. Thanks to the sheer size you feel like you're in a real world and not a constrained box. See More

Top Con

Story quests may feel like a chore

If you happen to enjoy doing side quests, you might end up overleveled for the story quests, allowing you to easily power through them. This may remove the challenge and enjoyment, causing it to feel like a chore, especially because the loot also remains low-level. See More

Top Pro

Immersive story

Developers have taken great care to make an interesting story, but what really pulls you in is the dialogue and character interactions. They're made great through excellent writing, stellar voice-overs, and great body language. The characters on-screen may feel like real people, so it's very easy to forget you're playing a game and not watching a TV series. See More

Top Pro

Lots of random side quests

You can just walk around for hours, find abandoned structures, caves, etc and find interesting side quests to do. See More

Top Pro

Side quests are as good as the main quests

There are almost no lazy "go get me 12 turtle shells" quests in the Witcher 3 and you get to experience some amazing writing even in the most obscure side quests. See More

Top Pro

Thoughtful and expansive story with well-written characters

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt tells a deep and intricate story about the main character, Geralt, on his long journey to find his adoptive daughter, Ciri, who's on the run from the evil, supernatural warlords of the Wild Hunt. You spend the game following various leads on Ciri's whereabouts, meeting up with old friends, former lovers, powerful politicians, and all sorts of people from many walks of life. These characters usually want something in exchange for giving Geralt the information he wants, leading you down some unexpected and eye-opening paths as you learn more about who they are, how they met Ciri, and how she helped them grow as people, letting you form a bond with her through these thought-provoking tales. And as Geralt either helps or hurts these people himself, he inevitably impacts their lives in even more ways. Aside from the main story, there are also two great expansions: Hearts of Stone, and Blood and Wine, both of which offer their own amazing narratives with hours and hours of content. Hearts of Stone has you get involved with a shady, all-powerful manipulator who gives Geralt a series of seemingly impossible tasks, while Blood and Wine lets you explore the rolling hills of the wine-loving country of Touissant, with all the political intrigue surrounding the Duchess there. The Witcher 3's story has so much to offer, easily keeping you hooked for well over a hundred hours as you play and replay the base game and the excellent expansions. See More

Top Pro

Convenient ways to get around the massive world

The world is intimidatingly massive but thankfully there are ways to cut down on travel time. You can ride a horse, use a boat, or just simply fast travel to explored locations. This makes the experience more accessible and enjoyable as a whole. See More

Top Pro

Memorable and meaningful side quests

The Witcher 3 sets a new standard with how well-done the side quests are. Since Geralt is a witcher, meaning he specializes in dealing with monsters with his swords and magic spells, people often go to him when they need a monster problem taken care of. Some of these problems involve people who have lost loved ones to a monster and simply want help tracking down their corpses to give them a proper send-off, or they want Geralt to take revenge by tracking down the monster and killing it. These side stories go a long way to humanize the minor characters, letting you feel their grief, hopelessness, or anger within only a few short minutes of speaking with them and getting the quest details. It's impressive that the writers manage to consistently pack so much emotion into these optional quests that you might not even choose to play through. See More

Top Pro

The soundtrack is well constructed and complementary in almost all situations

While exploring, doing a quest whether it is main or side one, the music in the back always enhances your game play. When a fight starts it pumps you up by playing Slavic or Celtic beats, and on a heartbreaking scene, it slows down its pace and plays an instrumental that rings even after you close it. You won't even notice, but you start to hum Skelliege sound or Priscilla song in your daily chores. Watching the sun set over the horizon while the Kaer Morhen tune plays was one of the best moments in the game. Without the songs to complement it, the side quests or the battles would have started to feel like a chore after a while on doing side content. See More

Top Pro

Accessible to players who are new to the Witcher series

Even though this is the third Witcher game, you can still jump right in and not feel lost. The story is generally good with the way it introduces you to the main characters without expecting you to know who they are. Geralt often reminisces with his friends from the first two games, letting you in on their history and adventures together to give you an idea of what happened in the past. And you don't have to have read the series of Witcher books, either, as the games all take place beyond the stories there. See More

Top Pro

Fleshed-out romance options

Playing as Geralt, you have the choice to have one-night stands with ladies at certain taverns, or you can focus on his more involved romantic subplots. By this third game, Geralt has quite a long history with two competent and beautiful sorceresses: Triss Merigold, his love interest from The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, and Yennefer of Vengerberg, his old flame from the series of The Witcher novels that the games are based on. The two women also happen to be best friends, injecting some drama depending on how you go about things. Triss is really sweet, fun, and spontaneous with the way she makes the stoic Geralt smile and open up more as they get up to mischief together. On the other hand, Yennefer is strict, straightforward, and no-nonsense, not wanting to get into feelings all that much, and yet she and Geralt have such a strong bond over several years, making it feel special when Yen does occasionally let her guard down. Both of these romances intertwine well with the main story, with great optional side quests that add even more layers to whichever relationship you decide to pursue. It's also possible to try romancing both of them at the same time, but you might regret it, so choose carefully. See More

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Top Pro

Unrestrictive skill-based RPG system

Skyrim has no set character classes or equipment/spell limitations. Instead, it allows you to form your own class based on how you decide to play. For example, sneaking increases your sneaking skill, hitting an enemy with a shortsword increases your one-handed skill, taking damage while wearing leather armor increases your light armor skill, and so forth. You can you play however you want and the resulting character will be a perfect match for your playstyle, giving Skyrim a different feel from other RPGs. See More

Top Con

Forgetful NPCs can break immersion

After completing certain story quests NPCs get new lines added to their dialogue based on your decisions. Sometimes the NPCs might become forgetful and return to their default dialogue, which can break immersion, especially if they talk about an event that's been long resolved. See More

Specs

Genre:Fantasy Role-Playing

Top Pro

Massive sandbox to explore at your own pace

The in-game map is absolutely gigantic. There are so many places to go and so much to do in the world, easily giving you hundreds of hours of content. Exploring the wide range of environments, from the snowy mountains to the richly-detailed towns and cities is such a joy because of how lush and beautiful everything is. Wandering around often surprises you with new side quests to find off the beaten path, with new characters to meet and history to learn about in whichever area you find yourself in. You can get into all sorts of battles with powerful enemies or stumble into hidden dungeons with awesome loot at the end. Or you can sneak around towns at night stealing peoples' stuff while they're asleep to sell everything off for money. And there's just a ton of other intriguing secrets and fun diversions to discover as you adventure throughout the world. See More

Top Con

Buggy and crash prone

While this game is not as buggy as it was upon release, there are still many people that encounter various bugs and crashes. These can happen in both modded and unmodded games and it's a common occurrence in Bethesda released titles. Fortunately, there are some community mods that try to fix most memory issues, stability issues, and general bugs. See More

Top Pro

Deep lore rivaling classic fantasy literature

Skyrim inherits the stories and world-building of The Elder Scrolls series, which stretches back 20 years. It has numerous stories surrounding the various races (orcs, elves, lizardmen, demons, etc.), mythical beasts, gods, cataclysmic events, parallel worlds, and just about any fantasy trope you could think off. What's even better you can read the lore in books found in-game, allowing you to immerse yourself for countless hours. See More

Top Con

Combat is too simple

Most of the time you can just whack an enemy until it dies and it involves very little strategy or planning to succeed. For example, targeting specific body parts doesn't deal extra damage, nor can you cripple an enemy. There are no vulnerabilities, so you can't set furry forest animals ablaze easier than humans. The enemies also lack any real variation in how they attempt to fight you – they just run at you swinging wildly or attack you from afar. Because of this the combat is very one-dimensional and can start feeling like a chore after a while. Luckily most of the combat issues can be fixed with mods, allowing you to enjoy a more varied and deeper combat experience. See More

Top Pro

Huge variety of mods

Bethesda Softworks has upheld a tradition of releasing their internal content-creation tools to the public since Morrowind (2002). Many modders transition to new Bethesda games as they are released, bringing their experience with them and helping newcomers through forums and wikis. As a result, Skyrim's mod selection is outstanding in both variety and quality. See More

Top Pro

Total freedom in how you choose to play through the world's different factions

You can set off to any of Skyrim's different towns and discover new storylines from interesting factions that flesh out the world and the lore, with great characters and their own absorbing narratives to get lost in. There are a good number of these factions, like the scholars at the snowy College of Winterhold, the secretive assassins of the Dark Brotherhood, or the cohort of rogues and bandits of the Thieves Guild. After picking whichever faction you want to learn more about, you can eventually become a Master of the guild and learn new skills for your character. Playing through each of their individual stories lets you really feel like a member of the faction you choose, like with how the Thieves Guild sends you on missions to pick locks and steal valuables without getting caught by the guards. And if you only get through some of the faction's story and decide you don't enjoy it, you can easily go find another one and play through that one instead. There are no limits on how you play through the plot, with Skyrim giving you the flexibility to pick up stories, set them down, and come back to them whenever you feel like it. See More

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes

Top Pro

Very addictive to collect the playable characters

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes has more than 130 playable characters, such as Wolverine, Spiderman, Iron Man, Deadpool. Their abilities are varied enough that you'll keep wanting to try out new characters. This will keep you completing various missions and collecting tokens around the LEGO city. You'll have unlocked most of them before you know it only to realize how much time has passed already. See More

Top Con

Simplistic repetitive gameplay

The gameplay hasn't changed much since LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game. It still has very simple beat-em-up style combat, having you mash the same buttons over and over, which can grow tedious after a while. See More

Specs

Genre:Open World / Super Hero

Co-Op:2 Player Local

Controller Support:Full

Top Pro

Great fun for Marvel fans

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes not only uses the most popular Marvel characters, but also some of the lesser-known heroes, such as Moon Knight. It feels nice to finally see them in a video game. Most of the Marvel characters are accurately depicted (albeit in their LEGO forms). This allows you to further immerse yourself into the crossover story on par with the ones found in the comics. See More

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Top Pro

Character size/weight affects gameplay

A lot of video games focus just on the stats, classes, and weapons as the key difference, but Dragon's Dogma throws in height and weight into the mix. For example, a tall and bulky character jumps higher, carries more equipment, and has a longer reach with their weapon. The downside is that the character is slow and is easier to hit because of the size. On the other hand, a short and light character is quicker, can pass through a large monster's legs, and enter narrow passages such as Goblin holes. Unfortunately, they usually have a poor reach and can be knocked down pretty easily while not being able to carry that much equipment either. Practically no other video game in the market uses a similar mechanic, making Dragon's Dogma feel really unique and fun. See More

Top Con

Forgettable story

The story starts out interesting but loses its steam shortly after. Hardly anything happens during the middle part of the story, the side characters feel bland, there are lots of plot holes, and the narrative starts feeling like a mess. Even the conclusion is somewhat confusing, trying too hard to be profound. If you're looking for a very good story-driven experience, you won't find that here. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Top Pro

Interesting companion system

Throughout the game, you'll be accompanied by up to 3 NPCs called "Pawns." One of them will be a Pawn you created, and the other two will usually be summoned from other player's worlds. What's interesting about this is that Pawns will grow alongside players, but not just in terms of stats and levels. For example, if you fight monsters with the Pawns, they'll gradually gain knowledge about the monsters. Once they have enough knowledge, they'll be able to give you various hints through in-game dialogue about a monster's weaknesses, patterns, habitats, and so forth. You can also hire other player's Pawns that already have acquired all the knowledge, making the learning process much easier for you. Pawns also mimic their creator's behavior, so if you prefer to smash everything in sight, your Pawn might just do the same when visiting another player's world. It's a really cool companion system that gives the game a multiplayer feel without any actual multiplayer. See More

Top Con

Limited fast travel options can be tedious

Dragon's Dogma has a very large but sparsely populated world, which means that a lot of time is spent traveling between quest objectives. There are no horses, forcing you to simply walk everywhere and the only method of getting somewhere quickly is through very costly teleports available only much later in the game. If you dislike having insane amounts of downtime, Dragon's Dogma might not be for you. See More

Top Pro

Awesome combat/hunting gameplay

The combat in Dragon's Dogma is very fast and intense. You can string together combos with swords, axes, and daggers, launch/throw enemies, shoot arrows with a bow in quick succession, and even dodge/block enemy attacks. Even the spells look absolutely amazing and feel really powerful. For example, when you cast an ice spell called Gicel, massive spears of ice will weave forth to skewer enemies. It looks like something you'd only see bosses use in other video games, making it feel that much more empowering. The enemies also play a large part in making the gameplay feel great. It will start out simple with you fighting bandits and packs of wolves on your travels, which will gradually turn into you taking on massive mythical beasts such as manticores, gryphons, cyclops, and even dragons. While in other games you'd probably just beat on their ankles until they fold onto themselves, Dragon's Dogma has a really cool grappling system that allows you to grab onto enemies and even throw them (if they're light enough). For example, if a dragon makes the mistake of lowering its tail into your reach as it rains down fire and death from up above, you can just grab onto it and climb on the dragon's back. This turns into a very intense sequence of you trying to not fall off before you drive your sword into the dragon's neck. It's the type of mechanic that makes you feel like the heroes written about in storybooks, which immensely adds to the fun and immersion. See More

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands

Top Pro

Truly an open world game

Ghost Recon Wildlands lets you do anything you want, any time you want. You can rush right toward the final boss if you decide to. You can complete missions by blowing people up with drones from a safe distance, or by storming the gates. Do the missions you want to, leave others to rot. Everything is up to you. The landscape is vast, and if you can see it, you can probably get to it. This allows you to experience the gorgeous environments through exploration. There are also rewards for exploring, such as new weapons or upgrades, giving you more goals to strive for. See More

Top Con

The enemy AI has only one setting

The AI in this game will consistently push toward the player. Essentially all you've got to do is get them into a corridor or other narrow space and mow them down. See More

IngeniousSeshat's Experience

great game awesome story so many things to do and mess around in See More

Specs

Top Pro

Detailed environments provide great immersion

Ghost Recon Wildlands is set in Bolivia, and the game makes you feel like you're really there. It's one of the most varied places on earth, and each area feels wildly different from the next. It ranges from lush, green forests, to barren deserts, to both urban and rural cities. The distinct feel, architecture, and culture of Bolivia will serve to pull you even deeper into the game. See More

Top Con

The cover system is terrible

When you bump into terrain, you take cover behind it. While the theory behind this is fine, the execution is very unreliable and clunky. Even when it manages to work, cover offers little to no protection from your enemy. See More

Top Pro

Rarely a dull moment

Whether you're whipping around on a dirt bike toward your next mission, or storming a fort with your team, you're constantly in motion. Even though you can slow down a bit should you choose to, the game encourages a faster-paced experience and makes it a ton of fun. See More

Top Pro

Great customization

In Ghost Recon Wildlands, the customization is not limited to just character facial features. It also has an extensive customization system for weapons and clothes. When creating a character you can set the face, gender, hair, hat, top, tattoos, pants, and shoes. All of these can be changed in the loadout menu at any point in-game. You can also modify your weapons and gear extensively. When you begin customizing a weapon, it will split into pieces, letting you select and adjust each one. This includes triggers, sights, scopes, grips, stocks, barrels, and any other attachment. You can also change the colors and designs of both weapons and gear. It really lets you play exactly the way you want to, which is always more satisfying. See More

Fallout 4

Top Pro

Huge world with loads of content

The world of Fallout 4 is massive so there's quite a lot to do. Many areas to explore, tons of quests to complete, and lots of collectibles to find. There's easily enough content to keep you playing for over a hundred hours. See More

Top Con

Occasional bugs

There are bugs in the game that users will run into. While most are not game breaking, it can detract from the experience. See More

Specs

Genre:Action RPG

Co-Op:Single Player

Top Pro

Addictive to collect loot

You can pick up most of the stuff you see laying around in Fallout 4. Every item, including weapons and armors, can be broken down into reusable crafting materials. This makes it hard to stop yourself from going around and collecting everything in sight because everything has a purpose. You can also find unique versions of equipment on the corpses of legendary enemies. Each of these items has an additional effect such as speed boost or extra damage. This may cause you to constantly pick fights you'll probably lose, but it's worth it once you get your hands on that extremely good piece of equipment. See More

Top Con

Pipboy UI feels unpleasant to use

When you open your Pipboy (a personal computer that manages your quests, inventory, character data, etc) the screen containing the useful information only covers about a fourth of the entire screen. As a result some of the elements are too crammed, requiring a lot of scrolling. This can be really annoying if you're trying to find something in a list of 100 items. See More

Top Pro

Great storyline

The main story has a very personal theme of family and revenge, featuring a main character looking for their lost son in a post-apocalyptic version of Boston. The side-quests also provide a decent backdrop, expanding on some of the plot elements of the main story. There are many twists and mysteries, but the narrative remains coherent throughout the story, creating a very enjoyable experience. See More

Top Con

The dialogue choices are confusing

Most of the dialogue choices will only show a few words that don't actually reflect what your character is gonna say. This creates a disconnect between you and your character, making it seem like you don't control what your character is gonna say at any point. See More

Top Pro

Deep perk/skill system

Fallout 4 has a great selection of perks centered on surviving in the wasteland. You'll gain a point each time you level up, allowing you to select one of the perks. The perks can give you an increase to your sneaking ability, improve your lockpicking skills, or even add unique effects such as causing bullets fired by enemies to ricochet back and killing them. There's easily enough variation to make multiple playthroughs feel fresh and exciting. To make it even better, if you don't like multiple playthroughs, you can just unlock every single perk on a single character, albeit with a much longer playtime. See More

Top Pro

Diverse enemy types keep the gameplay exciting

There a lot of different enemies found in the game such as super mutants, feral ghouls, robots, mutated wildlife, and many others. All of them have their unique behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses. For example, robots often use heavy weaponry such as rocket launchers and lasers, making it really hard to deal with them. Fortunately enough, they're very vulnerable to EMP grenades and can also be hacked. Another example are the feral ghouls that will almost always charge at you. They can surround you really fast, clawing away at your health and affecting you with radiation, but they lack any intelligence. So if you plant mines infront of you and attract them with gunshots, they'll lose their legs in the minefield, leaving them at your mercy. The various enemy types and methods you can fight them with keeps the gameplay fresh for a long time. See More

Top Pro

Companions can help make the game a little easier

There are a bunch of companions to find in the game, starting with Dogmeat, the dog. Each companion has their own skills that can help you. For example, Dogmeat can dig up hidden items and bring them to you. They can also distract the enemy, causing the combat to be a little easier since all the attention won't be on just you. The only real downside is that you can only use one companion at a time, but you can easily swap them out. Using a companion is not mandatory either, so if you prefer the added challenge you can travel without a companion. See More

Top Pro

Interesting settlement management

In Fallout 4 you can set up thriving communities in various locations. You'll have to provide the settlers with housing, bedding, water, food, and protection. Over time you'll be able to establish trade routes between the settlements and expand into an empire spanning the entire territory of Fallout 4. This really gives it the feeling like you're trying to rebuild society, which is a welcome change in a post-apocalyptic game. See More

Top Pro

You can adjust equipment to suit your playstyle

In Fallout 4 you have a lot of options when modifying your equipment, giving you a chance to make equipment that matches your playstyle. You can take an assault rifle and change most of its parts. Each part you can change has an upside and a downside to it. For example, adding a long range scope would make the rifle useless in close quarters, but it would be great for pick off targets from afar. You can also tailor your armors for various situations. You can lower the weight or add pockets to make carrying loot easier. Or you can add additional linings or padding to gain increased protection against various hazards such as radiation. See More

Top Pro

Addicting building mechanic

One of the more interesting parts of managing your settlement is the house building aspect. There are various preset houses you can put down quickly, but you can make large structures entirely from scratch, starting with the foundation and ending with the roof of a 10 story building. While there are some constraints such as limited building area, you can really let your imagination loose, allowing you to spend countless hours on it. See More

Top Pro

Great selection of mods

You can can find all sorts of mods at the Bethesda website, giving you the freedom to change the parts of the game you don't like. This includes interface adjustments, graphical improvements, additional quests, and many other things. See More

Top Pro

Solid gunplay with an interesting twist

The gunplay plays so well it almost feels like a pure FPS. You can shoot from the hip, aim down the sights/scope, or even just run and gun. However, what makes Fallout 4 stand out is VATS (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System). When you activate VATS, the time slows down to a crawl, allowing you to mark body parts of enemies. When you execute it your character will automatically shoot the marked body parts. This is very useful for getting out of tight spots, allowing you to instantly clear groups of enemies or kill a really tough enemy charging at you. It also has the benefit of making you feel like an expert gunman, even if your aim isn't that great. See More

Borderlands: The Handsome Collection

Top Pro

Exciting loot collection

Every time you kill an enemy or open a chest an item can drop. There are millions of possible combinations, each with their unique appearances and stats, so you never know what you'll get. It can be a really weak but rainbow-colored rifle, or an exceptionally powerful golden shotgun. The potential to find the best loot in the most humble locations makes killing enemies and finding chests incredibly exciting and satisfying. See More

Top Con

You can't change splitscreen settings in Borderlands: TPS

The screen is split vertically when you play 2 player coop, creating massive blindspots on the sides. This is really inconvenient when playing FPS games since you won't see enemies trying to flank you. See More

Specs

Genre:First-Person Shooter

Top Pro

Awesome co-op experience

Borderlands is a lot more fun when you play it together with your friends. It's not just due to the excitement of going on an adventure together, it's also because the teamwork feels rewarding and meaningful. The various characters and guns have their strengths and weaknesses, so you can cover for each others weaknesses. It creates an experience where you learn to rely on each other and forge a stronger bond as a result. See More

Top Con

Can get repetitive over long play sessions

The gameplay is very simple at its core - you get a new mission, shoot/beat up everyone, loot items, rinse, and repeat. After doing this multiple times it can start feeling a bit dull, especially at the lower levels when your character doesn't have many abilities unlocked to keep it interesting. It might be better to stick to short play sessions, which could prevent you from burning out. See More

Top Pro

Great variety of character classes

Both games in the collection have 6 character classes (12 total). Each one has unique abilities that are affected by the skill trees, allowing you to further specialize your character to suit your playstyle. You can choose the support skills to help your teammates, defensive skills if you like being in the middle of the action, or offensive skills to quickly destroy enemies at the cost of increased risk. There's enough variety to keep it fresh across multiple playthroughs of two very similar games. See More

Top Pro

Really good value for its price

The Handsome Collection contains Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: TPS with all of their DLC included, which gives you more than 100 hours of exciting content. Before this collection was released you'd have to spend more than $100 to get all the DLC for these 2 games. See More

Grand Theft Auto V

Top Con

Game cheats with aimbot extremely excessiuve cops 24/7

Top Pro

Freedom to do anything you want

Even aside from the many missions, there are dozens of other things you can do. This includes activities like playing tennis, going skydiving, watching a movie in the cinema, managing your businesses to earn tons of money, going hunting in the mountains, or just simply exploring the map while taking in the sights. Whatever you decide to do it's very easy to lose track of time. Mostly because it feels like a giant sandbox where you're allowed to do anything and simply have fun. See More

IndependentRuda's Experience

every freaking update they buff the cops more and more and more and more and more and more until now this game is completely unplayable ..its suppose to be gta ,NOT BE KILLED AND TAMMED BY VOPS FOR ENTIRE GAMELLAY EVERY FREAKING TIME...ROCKSTAR CKMPANY A BUNCH OF ROOSTER SUCKERS WHOK WILL NEVER GET ANOTHER DIME FROM ME AND MY FRIENDS See More

Specs

Genre:Action-Adventure

Top Con

Multiplayer is overrun by hackers

During online play you'll encounter hackers who have infinite money, can spawn any vehicle of their choice, and many other things, which reduces the fun quite a bit. What's even worse is that by interacting with the hackers you can get banned immediately without any additional investigations on the developer's part. See More

Top Pro

Massive world

It's very easy to get lost in GTA V's world both figuratively and literally. It's partly because of the sheer size of 35 square miles, allowing you to spend hours just walking, driving, or even flying around the map. It's also because of the many beautiful sights you get to see, causing you to often stop and take it all in. So it doesn't matter if you're walking along a beach packed with people, biking around a dimly lit city, cruising down a highway next to the ocean, or just hiking on the forested mountains, GTA V's world feels like a real place you can explore endlessly. See More

KindheartedLucina's Experience

my experience was great, one of my favorite games of all time. The story is long and immersive just what you need. See More

Top Pro

Great story wrapped around in biting and relevant social commentary

GTA V's story portrays the many reasons why criminals still exist in modern society, focusing on serious topics like corruption, greed, hypocrisy, and even the abuse of power. However, it's not all serious since it has its fair share of wacky moments, satirizing many aspects of modern society. This includes social media, consumerism, and even our growing inability to focus on important issues. All of this creates an engaging and thought-provoking story. See More

Elite: Dangerous

Top Con

Console development was abandoned

There will not be any new content for console players from this point forward. See More

Top Pro

Very realistic representation of space & star systems

Elite Dangerous uses publicly available real world star maps that we have of the Milky Way consisting of 150,000 star systems. Although in the current beta, full access to the entire galaxy is limited, in the final game, you will be able to visit any of the 400 billion stars in our galaxy on a 1:1 scale. Stars that we do know of are properly mapped in place and are of the correct type given the information we have about them. Stars we haven't collected data on are procedurally generated which allows you to explore any of the 400 billion of them. Star systems are intelligently simulated using the "Star Forge", a generator that simulates the creation of a star system forming from its nebular cloud to determine what celestial bodies appear and what orbits they have. This feature leads to many varied and unique star systems possibly with planets that can co-orbit around each other, or with binary star systems, and infinitely more possibilities. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Genre:Space trading and combat game

Co-Op:Multiplayer

Controller Support:Full

Top Con

"Mile wide and an Inch deep"

The game has a serious problem with depth and requires the user to repeat the same few fun actions over and over again. The world is massive and beautiful but feels empty. The game gets stale quickly despite being visually stunning. See More

Top Pro

Exploration at every level of detail

Full exploration of the galaxy is planned, allowing you to be able to jump from star system to star system, and fly around within a solar system from planet to planet, eventually going all the way down to a planet's surface at a 1:1 scale in a later update. Planetary landings will require a lot of details to be developed and designed, but you can still see the level of detail shift in action when flying into a planet's rings, where getting close enough show the individual asteroids within, which you can then interact with through mining, or by having a battle among them. See More

Top Con

Really complicated to learn

Looking up faqs and trade routes from first hand users will be the norm for figuring out many aspects of Elite: Dangerous. On top of this notes will have to be taken, which is made more difficult by the fact the game does not support in game not taking. So a pad and paper is recommended to remember all of the minutia of the game. See More

Top Pro

Built with future expansion in mind

When Elite Dangerous come out, development won't stop. To build a game with the huge scope of Elite Dangerous, not all of it can be done at once, so the developers have adopted an approach of incremental improvement. Various game play elements are being designed as a foundation for later features. For example, although planetary landings aren't going to be available until a later update, the engine has been designed to be able to support going from lightyears away to meters away. See More

NieR: Automata

Top Pro

Fast-paced, action-packed combat

The combat in NieR: Automata is fantastic. It has a hack-and-slash feel to it, with an emphasis on agility and showy acrobatics. With the fluid and responsive controls, you can switch seamlessly from using swift attacks with your weapon to devastatingly strong attacks as you combo them together. You also use customizable ranged missile attacks from your personal robot pod, such as powerful laser beams or a giant hammer attack. It can be difficult to win battles sometimes, especially on the harder gameplay settings, but it's worthwhile to keep at it and watch yourself progress and improve. See More

Top Con

Second playthrough can get repetitive

Once you get to Route B, your second playthrough, you may find that too much is the same. There are some big differences, such as the new way you get to see things play out, but a lot of it rehashes Route A, your first playthrough. There's a ton of hacking you have to do as well, which gets pretty boring after repeating it over and over again. But if you stick with it, Route C and onward are absolutely worth the time spent getting to that point. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing

Top Pro

It's got a hauntingly beautiful environment

NieR: Automata is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape after Earth has been overrun by hostile machines, and the artists really nailed what that would feel like. Abandoned and overgrown cities litter the landscape along with old refineries, graveyards, and eerie forests. When you add the beautiful soundtrack to the experience, it fills you with a bittersweet mix of loneliness and hope. See More

Top Con

Limited open world

Even though NieR: Automata is technically an open world game, it doesn't always feel like it. It's more that there's a big open space in the center of the ruined city you explore, with branches that lead off to vastly different environments, like a desert, a village, and a few other places. These locations aren't that spacious, either, and it's a bit of a stretch to even imagine all of these places being so close together in the first place. It's not too much of an issue as long as you find the story and combat engaging enough. See More

Top Pro

Gorgeous, ethereal soundtrack with amazing vocals

NieR: Automata's music is out of this world. It's so stunning and elegant in a way that nothing else can really live up to. The soundtrack manages to emotionalize the game through music, from the action-packed tracks with hard-hitting wind instruments and percussion, to the softer, somber songs that encapsulate the hauntingly beautiful environments and story moments you encounter. Vocals in the lore's indescribable language makes the music even more memorable, adding to the ethereal quality of the sound. This soundtrack is definitely one that you can go back to again and again without getting sick of it. See More

Top Con

Some boring fetch quests

The pacing gets messed up when you're forced to run certain fetch quests near the start of the game. This is somewhat forgivable after the fun and action-packed introductory level, but the quests themselves are still a drag to play through. Some of the side quests can also boil down to the same thing. Even though these quests give a lot of useful information about the world, they're not all that fulfilling, and you may dread having to repeat them when playing through the game again. See More

Top Pro

Varied genre-spanning gameplay elements

NieR: Automata has different types of gameplay to keep things interesting. From the very start, you're on an on-rails bullet hell section, and then you switch over to the more traditional action RPG style of fast-paced combat. Things change up again not long after with some side-scrolling platforming from a 2D view. Later on in the story, there's a hacking mini-game where you navigate a tiny ship through a short puzzle, with the music changing to a charming retro sound to fit the theme and mood. This is a game that doesn't stay boxed in a single genre. See More

Top Pro

Unique storytelling with a real emotional impact

NieR: Automata's outlook on storytelling is incredibly special. To get the full experience, you have to run multiple playthroughs of the game, each of which offers a new experience and perspective. Your world view of the story events and characters expands drastically as you complete each playthrough, playing on your expectations to help you develop a deeper emotional bond with the protagonists and become invested in their plight. Things take a real turn on your third playthrough, putting you on an emotional roller coaster all the way to the true ending. The plot twists and knocks on the fourth wall elevate the story to a truly unique place. Getting all the way to the very end can be a religious experience from how much heart and meaning you discover in the symbolism. See More

Top Pro

An incredible amount of content

Outside of the main story, there's plenty of optional content to dive into. The side quests are the best way to get to know the characters and lore of the world, with some of them giving clever and subtle foreshadowing of the game's most critical events. There are also weapons to collect and upgrade, each of which offer nice little tidbits of lore after you get them to max level. And after reaching a certain point in the story, you get access to Chapter Select that lets you go back and replay whatever you want. You can easily spend 60+ hours exploring the world and still have much more to do. See More

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Top Pro

Freedom in approaching a mission

Metal Gear Solid V gives players multiple choices on how to approach a mission. You can choose to use stealth, taking out enemies only when it's absolutely necessary. You can run in guns blazing, killing everyone on sight. You can get on a high vantage point and take out everyone with a sniper rifle. Or you can call in air support to do all the work for you. The choice is up to you and the game doesn't penalize you for sticking to a single way. This helps keep the gameplay fresh for a long time. See More

Top Con

Micro transactions make multiplayer pay-to-win

You can buy bundles of in-game currency, which can be used to gain an advantage in multiplayer. This makes multiplayer not fun for the players who don't intend on spending extra money. It also makes it boring for the ones who spend the money. Both of these things negatively impact the longevity of the multiplayer. Some of the bundles go for $79.99, which is more than the game's price. It's sad seeing Konami milk their fans with microtransactions like this. See More

Specs

Co-Op:Single Player

Top Pro

Enemy AI adapts to your playstyle

The enemy will pick up on your habits and react accordingly. For example, if you use tranq darts to knock enemies out, they will try to wake up their comrades at first. Do this for a couple of missions and they'll immediately run to sound the alarm when they spot someone knocked out. This way the game expertly keeps you out of the comfort zone, having the later missions feel as tense as the first. See More

Top Con

High learning curve

MGS V can feel really overwhelming at the start. First the controls have various nuances such as different ways of crawling. Then you get a bunch of mechanics thrown at you, such as stealth, base managment, etc. It will take quite a while until you can fully enjoy the game. See More

Top Pro

Reflex system helps you stay unnoticed

Time will slow down for a short time if you're spotted by an enemy. This allows you to take them out before they can sound the alarm or alert other soldiers. This is quite refreshing compared to other stealth games, where messing up means an immediate end to being stealthy. See More

Top Pro

Large assortment of weapons and tools

MGS V has a lot of weapons, including pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and sniper rifles. There are both lethal and non-lethal variants, allowing you to find something suitable for any playstyle. There are also many tools such as the Fulton device, which allows you to capture enemy soldiers and animals, sending them to your base. It's a ton of fun experimenting with new gadgets. See More

Top Pro

Allows players to create their private military company

Throughout the game, you will be trying to rebuild your private military company. Your base of operations is the "Mother Base", which is a giant structure similar to an oil rig. You can expand it and add new facilities such as Research and Development. You'll also be managing your personnel, allowing you to recruit (capture) enemy soldiers and assign them work in their area of expertise. This can be research, development, various upkeep tasks around the base or earning resources out in the field. All of these things truly make you feel like you're running a PMC. See More

Far Cry 5

Top Pro

Your teammates have cool specialties to help you with missions

You get to choose which of your teammates to bring along for missions, each with their own different specialties. You have regular human teammates who have their own weapons like stealthy bows and arrows or powerful rocket launchers, but then you also have three animals to choose from. There's a dog that runs ahead and marks enemies for you, a cougar that takes down enemies with stealth kills, and a huge bear that tears at anything in its path. If you want to take a certain approach for a mission, your teammate's specialty can help you out. See More

Top Con

The story is unfocused

Gameplay comes first in Far Cry 5 at the cost of a story that doesn't have much direction. The plot is disjointed because of how scattered the missions are in between your open world shenanigans. This might not be a problem for players who care more about gameplay, but anyone else who wants a meaty, polished story will probably be disappointed. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Action-Adventure, First-Person Shooter

Co-Op:Two-Player Online

Top Pro

You can explore however you want while still making story progress

You have a lot of freedom to do whatever you want while still making progress with the story as you go. You're part of the Resistance against the game's violent cult, so you get what are called resistance points every time you take out one of their bases, kill a group you find out in the open, or just disrupt their operations in any way you can. Once you get enough points, that triggers the next boss in the story. This means can go wherever you want on the map right from the start without worrying about "falling behind" with the main plot. It's a cool system that really puts the open world gameplay first. See More

Top Con

Your character is only an avatar without much presence

You can choose whether to have a male or female character, and you'll get to customize their clothes, but that's about everything you can do to make them feel like someone. Other characters just call you Deputy while they do all the talking, like filling you in on plot details and reacting to the story's events. You're very removed from the plot without getting to make any real decisions, like you're only along for the ride more than anything. See More

Top Pro

Chaotic and destructive gameplay

The gameplay in Far Cry 5 is filled with firefights and tons of chaos everywhere. You have all types of guns, vehicles, and explosives that you can use in any situation, and so do your enemies, meaning every fight has bullets flying everywhere and explosions going off all over the place. You can do things like shooting down enemy helicopters and blowing up enemy bases whenever you want. Seeing the destruction everywhere you go is a lot of fun. See More

Top Pro

Unique open world setting in rural America

The fictional location of Hope County, Montana in rural America is a new type of setting that looks realistic and works well for the game. It's a modern version of Montana with people who look like real residents of the area, and a bunch of small, shoddy buildings everywhere that are spread out across farmlands and forests. Not many games are set in these types of places, making this setting a breath of fresh air. See More

Top Pro

You can co-op the whole campaign with a friend

You can bring a friend along with you for the single-player campaign through co-op. It's a great way to have fun with a friend if you don't want to play a dedicated multiplayer game. Just note your progress will only be saved to the host's playthrough, so the guest won't be able to continue alone from where the two of you left off. See More

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Top Con

Brutal learning curve at the beginning of the game

Since you start the game at rock bottom as a peasant, you have to learn your skills the hard way, including with combat. You'll have to earn your skills by learning as you go along, but because you start with nothing, it's all too easy to fail at even the most basic encounters you come across. Sword fights and fist fights will really punish you while your skills are low, and you'll probably end up dying way too many times for your liking. If you stick with it, you'll be able to get by, but the difficulty curve might put some players off entirely. See More

Top Pro

Rising up in society from a peasant is a unique experience

Kingdom Come: Deliverance puts you in the shoes of an unremarkable commoner named Henry with few skills or specialties, giving you the opportunity to enrich his life and abilities however you see fit. You don't start off as a powerful fighter like in so many other games, and you don't even have the most basic ability to read. Instead, you have to start from scratch to learn how to do anything and everything in the game, from fighting to reading and plenty more, with people looking down on you while you're still unskilled. As you become better at fighting, you can earn a full suit of plate armor, rising up from the ranks of peasantry to a skilled knight, with NPCs treating you with more respect in response to your accomplishments. It's a wonderfully realistic approach to role-playing that isn't afraid to make you claw your way up and improve your lot in life. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Role-Playing

Top Con

The game feels unpolished overall with smaller bugs and story pacing issues

Despite Kingdom Come: Deliverance's immersive and innovative systems, there are a bunch of other, smaller bugs throughout the game, as well as some pacing issues that ruin the flow of the gameplay. You're likely to come across invisible walls in places such as stairs that you have to jump over, and other issues like NPCs missing their heads, or being stuck in a T-pose as they float across the map. Story-wise, the last sections of the game are a slog; they really could have benefited from more work and polish dedicated to them. As a whole, the game could have used some more time in the oven before releasing, since all the bugs and pacing issues really degrade the whole quality of the experience. See More

Top Pro

NPCs react differently to you under certain circumstances

With the many organic and grounded systems in Kingdom Come: Deliverance that mirror real life, how you present yourself to the world has an impact on how people react to you. If you haven't bathed in a few days and you smell badly, some female NPCs might find your manly odor attractive, while others will show their disgust with you instead. As another example, when you're a mere peasant at the start of the game, you won't have much stature or influence, so certain people will either ignore you or talk down to you. But as you grow strong enough to equip a knight's armor, NPCs will trust you more and reveal information to you that they otherwise wouldn't have. It's a great system that truly leans into the game's role-playing elements, making you feel like Henry represents you as a person. See More

Top Con

Game-breaking bugs can corrupt your save file

The game is filled with bugs that could potentially cost you hours of playtime. Your save file could get corrupted, forcing you to start the game over from scratch. It's incredibly frustrating and has been an ongoing problem since release, keeping quite a few players from progressing. Thankfully, the developers are working on ironing out this issue through patches. See More

Top Pro

Vastly different ways to play the game

Depending on which skills you choose to master, your playthrough can be incredibly different from other players who chose to specialize in other abilities instead. There isn't much of a limit to how strong or proficient you can become in any one specialty, giving you the opportunity to be the best at whatever you set your mind to. You could spend most of your playtime perfecting your skills at hand-to-hand and sword combat, growing strong enough to storm enemy strongholds and kill anyone who crosses your path. Or you can become a master thief instead, improving your lockpicking and stealing skills enough to break into any store or building to amass tons of riches--on the condition that you also learn how to not get caught, of course. It's not likely that two people will have the exact same playthrough where they focus on the same specialties. See More

Top Con

Optimization issues on consoles and lower-end PCs

For those playing on a launch PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, as well as an older PC, you might have issues with the game's framerate. Framerate drops are common throughout the game, possibly ruining your experience from time to time. If you're on PlayStation 4 Pro or Xbox One X, or you have a more high-end PC, then you shouldn't have too many problems with performance. See More

Top Pro

You learn and level up skills in organic, realistic ways

Instead of leveling up in traditional ways with the usual experience points, Kingdom Come: Deliverance has a much more organic approach to the ways you can grow your character. Playing as the protagonist Henry, you'll need to practice your skills in areas such as sword play, fist fighting, alchemy, and even reading. Just like in real life, as you fight more, craft more, and read more, you'll improve in ways that feel like you're actually learning as you go. You're illiterate when you begin the game, gradually retaining letters and words as you keep practicing. It's a refreshing system that helps you feel like you're really getting better at the skills you work on the most. See More

ARK: Survival Evolved

Top Pro

Increased customization thanks to player-created servers

Ark has hundreds, if not thousands, of great custom servers. You can control things such as PvP, experience, gathering, and taming rates, set things up so there's no griefing (constantly bullying a player or group of players), and the difficulty of the creatures. See More

Top Con

PC players cheat using an aimbot

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Action-Adventure, Survival

Top Pro

You can share materials, dinosaurs, and structures by forming (or joining!) a tribe with your friends

Users can form a tribe with other online users to for a community. This community can now band together in order to build and grow as well as team up against other tribes. This makes for a fun experience with friends and other players as it requires teamwork in order to be successful. See More

Top Con

Anti-cheat issues

ARk has started using an anti-cheat tool called Battleye, this has so far broken Linux and Mac support for using official servers. Battleye has also had some issues with banning legit users and does not have a very good reputation. These issues add up to many angry players who paid for the game but now can not play it. See More

Top Pro

You can tame and mount nearly every creature in the game

From the small, quick raptor to the massive, vicious giganotosaurus, you can mount nearly any dinosaur in the game. There's huge, flying dinosaurs, aquatic dinosaurs, some that are like walking fortresses, and others that can take those down. See More

Top Con

The game can become a grind

At the higher levels, it begins to take a very, very long time to level up (unless you're playing on a custom server). This can make the game tedious to play for some people. See More

Top Pro

The game makes you want to explore, craft, and fight to make the most of its progressive crafting system

Ark is unlike many survival games in that you attain levels as you progress. As you level higher and higher, you gain access to more craftable items. Some are just more powerful versions of lower-tier items (such as leather armor vs. cloth armor), but most are brand new (such as firearms, scuba gear, and saddles for more powerful dinosaurs). This really drives you to explore more areas to find rarer resources and fight stronger dinosaurs. See More

Top Con

No more Early access, still buggy

Ark has been fully released on August 2017, but bugs are still easily found and many areas of the game lack polish. See More

Top Pro

An absolutely fantastic community

The community for Ark is simply great. Whether you're talking about custom servers, the modding community, or just the playerbase in general, there's always people around to help out with any questions you might have. See More

Top Pro

Stunningly beautiful

The landscape, creatures, structures, even other players are all gorgeous. The textures are seamless, and the character/dinosaur models are just great. The environment ranges from lush green forests, to snowcapped mountains, to incredible coastal views. When you combine all of these things, it adds up to being simply breathtaking. See More

Top Pro

Good character creation

When starting a new game the player is allowed to choose between a man or woman, from there is a plethora of options for making a character with a personalized look. See More

Mad Max

Top Pro

Fun sandbox

The game is based around being an open world sandbox where the player is free to do anything they like. See More

Top Con

Simplistic combat

Just as in other WB games the combat is simple and easy where in the player hits buttons timed with what button ques are flashing above an enemies head. Realistically one could just bash two buttons and make it through the games fights pretty easily. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Vehicle combat is the best part of the game

While there are fighting sections of the game where Max is on foot, the most exciting and fun to play sections are where Max is driving. Having a grappling hook to hook onto enemies while driving is a very fun thing to do as well as using it to pull down buildings and structures and this is just one of the elements of driving that makes all the driving parts stand out. See More

Top Con

No sense of urgency

While all of the gameplay takes place in a wasteland, there is no real sense of immediacy as the player is not ever going to starve or run out of water. This can pull the player out of the game due to not being very realistic and is pretty much geared towards keeping the game easy for casual players. Surviving in a wasteland should be tough, sadly it is not that difficult to do here. See More

Saints Row IV

Top Pro

Great soundtrack selection

With 109 songs, there is going to be music that suits just about anyone. This also makes for a realistic experience of listening to a radio (as that is how the tracks are provided, as songs on different radio stations in game) due to so many songs being available as it mimics how a radio station would play. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Co-Op:2 Player Online

Controller Support:Full

Top Pro

Great character customization

Players can change their appearance if they need to, at any time. See More

Top Pro

2 player online co-op

Saint's Row IV features 2 player online co-op, though there is no local co-op supported. See More

Top Pro

An open sandbox provides a wide variety of activities

Saints Row 4 offers a very compelling open world experience that excels when openly parodying other games. So not only does it offer what is the norm of open world gameplay of traversing a large city while completing objectives but it does so in a funny way that pokes fun at similar titles and goes over the top providing an extreme representation. See More

Top Pro

There's a dubstep gun (SRIV)

Assassin's Creed Origins

Top Pro

Interesting stories make questing fun

Like in most RPGs, the quests in AC Origins can feel a little grindy, but this time you might not even notice it until you're deep into the game. Each quest is layered and wrapped in a different story, which adds to the overall lore of the game and hides the fact that it's still your basic "go kill the bad guy" or "get me this amount of that thing". A quite straightforward-looking quest might turn out to be anything but. See More

Top Con

Unreliable features may get in the way of combat

The fast-paced battles can be even harder due to some features not working reliably. For example, you can lock on a specific target in a group, and that works well for sneaky bow attacks, but in close combat there's an issue with switching between the targets. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Action-adventure RPG, Stealth

Controller Support:Partial

Top Pro

The game has many hours of gameplay compared to similar games

Top Pro

Choose from a variety of stealth tricks

While sneaking around in AC Origins is mostly simple crouching in the bushes and hiding behind the trees or buildings, the stealthy killing and distraction part is really varied and fun. For instance, you can get the Predator Bow that lets you remotely steer your arrows after firing them, even get them to turn around a corner. The natural day/night cycle encourages you to use the darkness to hide your approach and take on the guards when there are likely less of them awake. You can also use sleep and poison darts, or open the enclosures of the animals so that they create distractions and even attack your enemies. You can even take control of your pet eagle and scout an area beforehand, allowing you to mark enemies. When control returns to your character, you'll be able to see the marks even through walls. See More

Top Pro

A vibrant and enticing world

AC Origins story unfolds in a pretty rare setting of Ancient Egypt under the rule of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. The world feels alive and atmospheric with its diverse scenery and it just begs to be explored. You can run through bustling monumental cities, traverse the vast sandy deserts on the back of a camel or a horse, get some rest in a lush green palm tree-lined oasis, float down the Nile in a little dinghy - all this moving around rewards you with breathtaking and sometimes unexpected views, be it a golden pyramid or a rampaging horde of hippos. The map is massive, but it doesn't feel overwhelming because the movement is fast-paced, so much so that you can easily choose to avoid fast-travel. The setting, especially in the cities with their marble palaces, hieroglyph-covered obelisks, and sandstone monuments, lends itself well to the usual for Assassin's Creed climbing and free running. See More

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Challenging combat mechanics

The combat mechanics in this game require much more thinking-through than in the previous AC games. There's almost no chance to easily defeat multiple enemies at once, you need to block, parry, and know when to change your weapon. You have the ability to either deal a huge one-hit blow or supercharge your weapon by maxing out an adrenaline bar. See More

Conan Exiles

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Extensive crafting system that encourages player interaction

Crafting in Conan Exiles is essentially the name of the game. There are hundreds of items available to craft, and even though it may seem a little daunting at first, the process is very intuitive. You're able to do most things right from your inventory screen with no added help, and other things are deliberately pointed out as needing other amenities to be able to craft them. As you level up, you acquire "knowledge points," allowing you to learn how to craft new things. However, one person can't possibly know how to craft everything in the game. This system is perfect for making players either raid others for the goods they need, or team up and work with people to get further in their quest for survival. See More

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Not suitable for younger players

Conan Exiles contains nudity and a lot of gore. See More

Specs

Genre:Survival, Sandbox

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Exploring the world is fun

There are several different biomes in Conan Exiles. Barren wastelands, harsh deserts, sparkling rivers, and haunted forests are just a few of the ones you'll encounter, but you'll want to get out there and really explore the environment. Every biome holds different secrets to discover and, more importantly, different materials so you can craft new stuff, which is always satisfying. Exploring also lets you scout out enemies that you plan to attack, find new areas you want to settle, or even make new friends to cohabit the area with. You'll have to explore whether you want to or not, but Conan Exiles makes it very enjoyable by making sure it's a rewarding experience. See More

Top Con

Joining a server for online play can be problematic

If the multiplayer servers are full, then you're out of luck. So far, there's no user-friendly functions like queues or notifications to help you out. You're stuck with spamming attempts to join a server or rejoin if you get kicked out for whatever reason. It would have been nice to have some helpful features to ease this process along. See More

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The developers are very interactive with the community

The developers of Conan Exiles do their best to maintain regular and transparent communication with the players, actively seeking feedback, requests, and ideas in order to make the game better. See More

Top Con

The game feels unfinished and unpolished

Even though Conan Exiles is no longer in early access, there are a lot of flaws here and there that add up over time. You have plenty of freedom to roam around, but there's no real sense of progression or a focused storyline. Some areas in the open world just have a bunch of enemies to kill for the sake of killing them. You may also lag a lot, with your character warping around as you try to move. On their own, these things wouldn't be such a big deal, but they really do become a pain as the problems start to stack up. See More

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A great deal of fun to play with your friends

In Conan Exiles, you're able to team up with people and build cities, or even empires if your group is large enough to make it happen. You're also able to do things that simply couldn't happen as a solo player, like waging war on enemy cities, pooling resources to expand your territory quickly, or making group expeditions to find rare resources. As much fun as the game is by yourself, it really shines when you've got a few friends to team up with to take on the world. See More

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The combat is fast-paced and brutal

In Conan Exiles you play as an exiled warrior, so it's no wonder that you know how to fight. You play in first-person and wield a large array of weapons in order to destroy your enemies. Combat often ends quickly, with decapitations, limbs flying everywhere, and blood spattered on the ground. You can even sacrifice your enemies to the gods in order to gain power if you want to. If you like brutality, Conan Exiles has it in spades. See More

Õkami HD

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A lot of different activities

Apart from the main storyline (curing the Demon-cursed areas by looking for guardian sprouts and letting them bloom), there are ample employment opportunities – characters in this mythological Japan need all kinds of help, so you'll get a lot of missions and sidequests. The paintbrush techniques get a lot of use in these missions as well, for solving riddles and puzzles. You might need to win a race to get a guard's mask back to him, look for a lost bunny, or defeat a bunch of demons so that a drunk guy could keep his name as the best warrior in the land. Or you can just fish or feed cute animals. Some sidequests need to be at least partly done to move the story along, some of them are totally optional. However, every good deed restores your status as a God: if you do good in the game, you get points, which can then be used to increase your health or the amount of ink you can carry, and that keeps the player motivated. See More

Top Con

Long unskippable cutscene at the start

Right at the start, there is a ~18-minute long, slow cutscene that you can't skip. Later there are some more cutscenes, but these can be fast-forwarded through. See More

Specs

Genre:Action-Adventure

Controller Support:Full

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Unique and breathtakingly beautiful art style

The unusual art style takes inspiration from traditional Japanese woodblock paintings, called Ukiyo-e. Crisp black contour lines and explosions of color after successfully bringing back life into the world give a constant impression of being inside a work of art: every tree, every building, and every figure looks like it was painted with ink. See More

Top Con

Indiscernible dialogue voice-over can be grating

The voice-over was done by actors actually saying the text that's shown in the dialogue box, but then the recording was speeded up and resulted in a cartoon-like gibberish. These high-pitched voices can become quite annoying over the 40-60 hours of gameplay, luckily, the voice-over can be turned off in the settings. See More

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Large, enchanting, and atmospheric world

Õkami, though not an open-world game, still has a vast map, consisting of seven regions and numerous subregions. You have an opportunity to explore all of Japan and experience everything the country has to offer, going from tall dense forests, over the picturesque coasts, to frosty mountains. Along the way, you’ll find history, rooted in Japanese mythology, and you'll meet a lot of imaginative characters. Some of them might only keep you company for a few missions, but you still get invested in their stories and development. See More

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Unusual and one-of-a-kind combat methods

Throughout the game, you can use three types of melee weapons: mirrors, rosaries, and swords. Each one can be used to weave combos in tandem with your character's acrobatic movements, smashing or slashing the demons you encounter. The real highlight of Õkami, however, are the paintbrush techniques, which can be used for attacking enemies or manipulating the environment. You simply select your paintbrush, which slows the game's speed to a crawl, allowing you to draw anywhere on the screen. For example, drawing a single line over a demon or object will slash it, drawing a circle in the sky will cause the sun to rise, and drawing a path from a body of water will create a waterspout. You don’t need to draw the lines perfectly, it is enough to roughly match the required drawing. It's a really fun and creative way of fighting normally not seen in games. See More

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