What are the best open world games on Steam?

Co-Op:2 Player Online / 4 Player LAN

Controller Support:Full

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

An open sandbox provides a wide variety of activities

Top Pro

There's a dubstep gun

Just that makes the game amazing. See More

Top Pro

Great character customization

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

Top Pro

Two player online co-op

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

Top Pro

Car Customization

Players are allowed to change their car at any time from a wide variety of new and exciting vehicles. See More

Top Pro

2 player online co-op

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

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

42 Other Games Considered

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Top Pro

Huge variety of mods

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:Action Role-Playing

Skyrim has no concept of character classes, and there are no restrictions on what equipment or magic a given character can use or learn. A character's capabilities are defined by skills (e.g. heavy armor, marksman, enchantment) which automatically improve as they are used. Levels are gained by increasing skills, and each level grants one perk -- a passive, secondary effect which further enhances a particular skill -- and increases an attribute of your choice (Magicka, Stamina or Health). See More

Top Pro

Unrestrictive skill-based RPG system

Top Con

Combat is too simple

Fights within the game don't have very many options. "Headshots" don't matter, and most combat options in the game are poorly balanced. Few examples: Doesn't really matter if you go mace, sword or axe, fire, ice or lightning, or even two handed vs dual wielding. The options mostly add flavor to your character and little else. Despite the fact that you might have ranged attacks, dragons are impossible to hit while in the air, so you end up fighting them similarly to a melee character. "Twincasting" the first healing spell is actually worse than just casting it once in each hand. Illusion magic becomes useless at later levels, since the spells don't do anything if the enemy is too high level and enemies scale to your level. Enemies are too stupid to make hiding a bad thing. The worst one is leveling as an Alteration mage, which gives you access to the Dragonskin spell, granting maximum armor for 30 seconds and has a 5 second cast time. Or you could just go Heavy Armor, level that up (so it weighs nothing) and have maximum armor ALWAYS without ever having to cast an Alteration spell before combat ever again. Combat comes down to how you leveled, not how you play. See More

Top Pro

The longest-running RPG-FPS franchise, with world lore rivaling classic fantasy literature

The Elder Scrolls series stretches back 20 years and has always focused on providing a rich world to explore. Skyrim inherits the stories and world-building of over half a dozen previous games. See More

Top Con

Immersion can be broken due to game limitations

While the game offers players many choices some of these choices are not reflected in the game accurately. There are instances where NPCs should know who your character is or what classes they belong to but due to the limitations of the tech used in the game it is unable to "remember" these things and so NPC text will often break immersion in the game by saying the wrong things. See More

Top Pro

Moral choices that can affect gameplay

Things like stealing (and getting caught), fighting or killing in towns will change how the game plays as now those people or towns will be angry with the player, which makes things much more difficult. There are also many moral choices in game such as if one should betray the person who gave then their quest by keeping the treasure they were hired to return. All of these things will change how the game plays and how NPC's react to the character making for a simulated real world of consequences. See More

Top Con

Buggy and crash prone

Skyrim, like all Bethesda in house game engines (GameBryo) is buggy and prone to crashing. Non modded games have plenty of issues, but to then add mods on top is just asking for a crash or corrupt game save. There are still many community mods for Skyrim that try to make the game more stable by addressing memory issues and general buggynes. While the game is not as buggy as it was upon release, there are still many people that have issues with the game crashing on boot or just randomly which is why these mods are still widely used and still very relevant. 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

The entire PC game version has had an engine tweak that allows it to be played in first person view, making for the first time in the series run that this option is available for the full playthrough. See More

Grand Theft Auto V

Top Pro

First person mode

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

SteamPlay22 's Experience

I like GTA 5 See More

Specs

Genre:Action-Adventure

GTA V has included an online multiplayer mode where up to 30 players can play at the same time in the online world. See More

Top Pro

Online multiplayer

Top Con

Forced Rockstar Social Club online registration DRM scheme

Rockstar Social Club is a forced online registration and DRM platform that will not allow one to play the game without first logging in to it. No internet connection, no play. Forget the password to the account three times, get locked out. All hindrances to paying customers that in no way will stop the piracy of this title or effect pirates in any way shape or form. and i know it doesn't work because i seen many pirate sites. See More

FantasticMehit's Experience

Best game ever 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

Top Con

Population density slider in the options does not make much of a difference

The population density option in the PC version does not make much of a difference in the game, while it does have more people and cars than the console counterparts, the increased number is not by much. See More

Top Pro

Rockstar editor

The included Rockstar editor allows for user to create their own Machinima and gameplay videos. The tools are very robust allowing for many different day, weather and character options. See More

Top Pro

Improved graphics over every other version

The PC version of GTA V is the optimal experience when it comes to graphic quality. Improved lighting and anti-aliasing make a big difference over the games XBox One and PS4 counterparts. See More

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

Top Pro

Supports up to 4K resolutions

GTA V supports resolutions all the way up to 4K on the PC version. See More

Top Pro

Well optimized

There were many reservations as to how well Rockstar was going to optimize the game for PC, as some of their past games had a lot of trouble in this area. Luckily it looks as though the game has been optimized quite well with the specs being quite reasonable in order to achieve 60FPS in 1080p on the best settings. 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

Top Pro

Game saves can be imported from console versions

Players that have game saves on their console versions can import the save to the PC version, this way they will not have to start the game over from scratch to enjoy it on PC. Rockstar has a support page specifically to transfer the saves. See More

Top Pro

Runs faster compared to other games.

More so than previous games in the series, Hitman has many objects in the game that can be tampered or interacted with. But before the player can there is usually a tool that will need to be found that allows this. Which means more time spent in the level trying to find and interact with objects in the environment, which can draw the player in and immerse them. See More

Hitman

Top Pro

Interactive environments

Top Con

Too many unknowns to pay full price

Hitman is an episodic game with only the first chapter released so far. To purchase this single chapter costs only $14.99. For those that want to purchase the future chapters there is a choice to pay $59.99. Being that the other chapters are unreleased, it is difficult to know know what the quality will be or even if they will be completed. Seeing that the gaming industry has had issues in the past with delivering promised content it may be a good idea to wait till everything is released in order to pay the full price that is asked. Luckily by that time the game will also be cheaper. See More

haso's Experience

Love the classy style! See More

Specs

Genre:Stealth

While playing single player, if the player looses connection to the games servers (through their own internet going down or the servers going down) the game will boot the player back to the start screen, meaning any advancement made in the game will be lost. To see this happen in single player is an issue as there is no need to be constantly connected online for the consumer and is only a detriment to the player if anything goes wrong. This is of course a single player only game, there is no need for it to be always online, especially considering it already uses a different DRM scheme called Denuvo. Being always online means anyone who lives with spotty internet will have trouble with the game. It also means that you do not own the game even after purchasing as when the servers inevitably are shut down this single player game will be unplayable. See More

Top Pro

Hilarious ways of killing people

Top Con

DRM issues

Top Pro

Tons of choice

Each episodic level for the game will be basically a big sandbox, allowing the player to complete their task in any way they see fit. This makes for a good game to just play around and test ideas out in as many different scenarios can be played out, even multiple times to best ones time or score. See More

Top Con

First chapter does not offer a ton of content

Much of the content in the first chapter are a bunch of training levels that are represented as being done on a set of some kind, giving a feeling of not being real. The problem here is that there is little in the way of giving a feeling of wanting to revisit these training levels, which drastically cuts down on the playable content in this chapter. See More

Top Pro

Hiding in plain sight is intuitive

The game allows for players to easily hide in plain sight such as disguising oneself as a model at a show, which gives the player access to anywhere they would need to go. This is expanded upon by having a hint system that points the player in many directions of how to hide easily (for those unfamiliar), which makes for a good game even for those that have not player or are unfamiliar with the gameplay. See More

Top Pro

Replayability through escalation missions and player contracts

Once the main level and objective is complete players can then move on to escalation missions or player created contracts. Escalation missions are new objectives given to the player that set them on a path of new people to assassinate. Within that objective will be constraints such as what outfits that need to be worn. This makes for a raised difficulty thanks to the restraints as well as a good way to stretch out each episode, considering there is only one level to play in. The player contracts are similar to this but allow the player to choose who their target is and what constraints to put in place, making for an endless list of possibilities in a particular level. See More

You're not just stepping into an arena to fight monsters, you're entering a living and breathing world where monsters go about their daily lives - eating, fighting, hunting, and resting. It's very interesting seeing carnivores assault a flock of herbivores or two winged creatures having a territorial dispute mid-air. These type of events considerably add to the immersion, making you truly feel like a hunter that's intruding upon an ecosystem. See More

Monster Hunter: World

Top Pro

Dynamic and immersive world

Top Con

Frustratingly difficult at times

Even though MH:W has been made slightly more accessible to new players of the series, it still has some of the most difficult combat seen in games with a very steep learning curve. You need to memorize the various map layouts, as well as each monster's habits, attack patterns, and weaknesses, to make beating them even remotely possible. It might also take while before you fully master your weapon of choice because the tutorials are too basic, instructing you just on basic controls and combos. Even when you finally manage to beat a difficult monster, your short-lived triumph will soon turn into dread, causing you to wonder about how difficult the next monster is gonna be. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Multiplayer

MH:W is a game about hunting wyverns, dragons, and many other monsters. You track them down in their natural habitat, be it a giant forest, a valley littered with dead bodies, or an active volcano, engaging them in combat that quickly turns in a struggle for survival. You use any weapon or tool at your disposal to kill or subdue the monster, while it relentlessly chases you, slashing with its claws, biting you, swiping with its tail, and using any breath attack it may have. Sometimes the monster might even try to escape, forcing you to chase it. Or it might become enraged, causing it to attack you more ferociously. As a result, you always have to be on your toes and react accordingly, which makes it a really thrilling experience. See More

Top Pro

Exhilarating hunting gameplay

Top Pro

Engaging crafting-based progression system

Monster Hunter: World is considered an action-RPG, but you don't level up or learn any new skills like in most RPGs. Instead, progression is heavily reliant on your skills as a player and the crafting system, requiring you to craft gear to improve your character. This creates an unusual gameplay loop where you hunt monsters, collect their body parts, and use them as materials to craft better gear, allowing you to hunt even stronger monsters. If you can't beat a monster, you either need to get better at fighting the monster or improve your gear. When you finally beat the monster, it's thanks to your skill and effort as a player, which feels both rewarding and gratifying. See More

Top Pro

Awesome graphics

The graphics look simply stunning, featuring very detailed environments with a great amount of flora, accompanied by great lighting and shadow mapping. The monster designs are especially noteworthy, allowing you to make out even the tiniest details on scales, feathers, and claws. All of this is brought to life by a very vibrant color palette, making the game a treat for the eyes. See More

Top Pro

A great variety of weapons to choose from

There are 14 weapon types total, primarily split into melee weapons and ranged weapons. This includes dual blades, longswords, bows, bowguns, and even hybrids called gunlances. Each weapon type has its strengths, weaknesses, unique combos, and even upgrade paths. For example, the dual blades allow you to move faster, chain quick combos, and enter a “demon mode”, which let you to deal more damage. The downside is that the dual blades have a short reach, so you have to be willing to throw yourself into danger by staying as close to the monster as possible. Another example, the bowgun, can be used to fight monsters at a safe distance and multiple ammo types, tailored for specific monsters and situations. The downside is that reloading leaves you defenseless, ammo can run out, and being too close or too far to the monster reduces the damage effectiveness. As a result, there’s enough variety and depth that most players will be able to find a weapon that suits their playstyle. See More

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is an open world adventure game with some of the best graphics available, and many lands and seas to explore. See More

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

Top Pro

Great graphics that allow exploration

Top Con

Dull story

Nothing newer than the war between the Assassins and the Templars. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Genre:Action-Adventure, Stealth

Co-Op:4 Player Online

A focus on free-running and stealth with easy, simple and interesting controls. Add on top of that naval combat which is in and of itself quite fun. See More

Top Pro

Intuitive controls that flow well and fit the theme of the game

Top Pro

Huge interesting side missions that last for 40 hours

There is a lot of content in the game, especially when considering how much time can be spent in the side missions alone. See More

The police sidequests allow for a wide range of tasks to complete such as tracking serial killers or busting up trafficking schemes. See More

Sleeping Dogs

Top Pro

Police sidequest are some of the best quests in game

Top Con

Triad missions are boring compared to the cop missions

The triad missions feel as though they drag on when compared to the fun cop missions. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

There is a split skill tree system that allows the player to level up as a Triad or Cop or both depending on how the game is played. See More

Top Pro

Split skill trees

Top Con

No multiplayer

Unlike most other open world action adventure games, Sleeping Dogs has zero multiplayer. See More

Top Pro

Intuitive fighting system

The fighting system ins Sleeping Dogs is very reminiscent of the system in Batman Arkham Asylum where the players uses a flowing system of attacks and counters. See More

Throughout the story of the game, the player will be trying to rebuild their private military which was lost in the epilogue of the previous title in the MGS series. Other than building their "Mother Base" which is an ever-evolving giant structure which serves as a base of operations for the player and other NPCs which help the player, players can also recruit enemy soldiers to increase the size of their mercenary company. These soldiers can help based on their area of expertise to either work on developing new projects or be dispatched around the world to complete missions and earn in-game money. See More

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Top Pro

Allows players to create their private military company

Top Con

Micro transactions

Something often found in free to play games is microtransactions, sadly they are included in the multiplayer aspect of The Phantom Pain going so high as $79.99 for a bundle of in game currency that can be used for advantage in the online part of the game. Considering that MGS V already is a full priced title at $59.99, to see Konami milking their fans for never ending microtransactions is pretty disheartening, especially when considering they can be used to get a leg up over others in the multiplayer by easily creating more resources over other non paying players. See More

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

High learning curve

There is so much detail to grasp in the game that it can be overwhelming, especially at first. It will take a good bit of time to become accustomed to everything the game has to offer and how to control and interact with it. See More

Top Pro

Large assortment of tools and options

As one plays through the game they can develop more weapons and tools with the enemies they capture. While not every one has to be used, the sheer fact that their is so much choice makes for a lot of fun experimenting. See More

Top Pro

Multiple ways to approach a mission

Metal Gear Solid V gives players multiple choices on how to approach a mission or clear an outpost. For example, the player can choose to use stealth and cunning in order to complete their mission and kill only when it's absolutely necessary, or they can get in guns blazing and kill every single enemy soldier sometimes even sniping each one of them from afar or calling the helicopter for air support. This gives a special flavor to the gameplay and doesn't let it get stale for a long time since it leaves the choice on how to play to the player, without penalizing them for not completing a mission by using stealth (as other previous MGS used to do). See More

Top Pro

Ever evolving Mother Base

One of the goals of the game is to capture as many enemies alive as possible. With those captured troops users can start building more of their base out, making for an even bigger and better experience as the game progresses. See More

Top Pro

Reflex system

Once spotted by an enemy time will slow down for a short period of time allowing the player to react more accurately in a tense situation. See More

Top Pro

Plays at 1080p and 60fps

There is some frame drops during gameplay but the main target of 60fps is more often reached than not. V-Sync is used, so there is no screen tearing and everything plays at a native resolution of 1920x1080. See More

Top Pro

Extremely intelligent AI

As the player levels up gear so will the AI, who are programmed to constantly keep the player on their toes. Being that the whole game is designed to allow the player tackle any level in a multitude of ways, seeing the AI always react differently makes for an original experience every time something is tackled. See More

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

Mad Max

Top Con

No sense of urgency

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

Specs

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

Top Con

Simplistic combat

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

Just Cause 3 is all about going crazy in its open world environment. To help with this, your character has a wide variety of weapons, including assault rifles, rocket launchers, and even a limitless supply of C4 explosives. You can stand on top of a plane as it flies over an enemy base and rain down fire and death down on it with your RPG. Or you can attach a C4 charge to everything you see, and watch the world's most colorful fireworks simulator. You even have a grapple gun that allows you to perform various hilarious shenanigans. This includes connecting two helicopters with a rope, causing them to spin out and tangle into a massive explosion. Whatever you decide to do, it's guaranteed to be over-the-top action goodness. See More

Just Cause 3

Top Pro

Entertaining over-the-top action

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Top Pro

Entertaining combat

Shadow of Mordor has very fast-paced combat, allowing you to have exciting fights with groups of orcs. You parry, you counter, you roll, and you slash away at the orcs with your sword. You even have supernatural abilities that give you an edge in a bad situation. For example, after stunning an enemy with Wraith Stun, you can perform a devastating combo that kills the enemy. The same ability can be upgraded to affect every enemy in an area, so it can also be used to escape losing battles or exact justice on all of them. Regardless of your methods, you always feel like the dominant force, which makes it all the more satisfying to ruthlessly skewer helpless orcs. See More

Top Con

Extremely repetitive

The game can begin to feel like a chore after 3 hours. Every area has the same missions, requiring you to unlock towers, kill/dominate that orc, or defend/attack a base. There isn't much change over the course of the game, so it can feel pretty disappointing if you're expecting more variety. See More

jungle_mole's Experience

Simply straight up better than anything else on the list. Constantly interesting and fun with zero "idle" time, Underrated for some reason. Witcher is close, but not really. Combat can be compared to Batman Arkham City, but cooler, which is a big surprise. See More

Specs

In Shadow of Mordor there are various ways you can kill enemies while staying unnoticed. You can simply sneak around by staying low, breaking line of sight behind walls and carts, backstabbing orcs when you sneak up on them. You can climb walls and traverse building roofs, dropping onto unsuspecting orcs while impaling them. You can even use supernatural abilities or wait for nightfall to make you even stealthier. All of this coupled with Shadow of Mordor's very smooth controls, makes being stealthy really enjoyable. See More

Top Pro

Great stealth combat mechanics

Top Con

Unskippable cutscenes interrupt gameplay

Every time an orc leader enters the screen, there is an unskippable cutscene where he rambles a bit, focusing the camera on him and halting combat until the cutscene ends. This usually happens as you're fighting another enemy, potentially disrupting your rhythm, which can be really frustrating, especially if mess up your combo or take an unnecessary hit after the cutscene. See More

Top Con

Progressing through the storyline can be confusing

While excessive hand-holding in games is bad, you might get lost in this game with no idea what to do next. This is mostly because the game almost never tells you what you should be doing, so it's up to you to find out, which can sometimes result in you aimlessly running around an area for up to an hour. Anyone looking for a more directed experience might not like Shadow of Mordor that much. See More

Users can find all sorts of mods at Nexus Mods, which will help expand and change the gameplay making for an infinitely playable game due to the vast amount of options available. See More

Fallout 4

Top Pro

Heavily moddable

Top Con

The dialogue choices are limited and non-meaningful

In a lot of the cases the choices you make when talking to people don't actually impact what happens. There are some exceptions, but Fallout 4 is more about telling a story to the player than being able to do things your own way. See More

Specs

Genre:Action RPG

The Fallout world is massive and even outside of the main campaign there are so many things going on that the world feels real and alive. Lots of the buildings are actually enter-able and usually have something unique and interesting to discover. See More

Top Pro

Huge world with a lot to discover

Top Con

Pipboy UI is hard to use

The default UI does not make it easy to manage your items and there are a lot of inconsistencies such as escape and tab both being used inconsistently to exit in-game features. See More

Top Pro

Great storyline that is expanded by sidequests

The main storyline is well written featuring the main character looking for redemption and their lost son. Expanding on that is the many side quests available that flush out the world that is Boston in this post apocalyptic future. See More

Top Con

Buggy gameplay

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

Top Pro

Unique loot

There is quite a lot of loot to be found in the game. Weapons and armor are scattered all over the wasteland map as well as contained in many dungeons. Unique and legendary loot can be found by defeating certain types of enemies as well. Overall this gives a good incentive to keep exploring and defeating bad guys, all in the search of getting that better piece of gear. See More

Top Pro

Deep perk/skill system

The perk/skill system is presented as a large grid of perks the player can pick from. As the player levels up, they earn skill points which can then be used to gain perks in this large grid. The choices are pretty vast with seven different areas that perks can be picked from. This is called the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system, standing for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. Each of these seven skills have their own row of perks, of which those perks cost a certain amount of skill points to use. A total of 70 perks give the player a lot of choice and customization to their character. If you want to make a character centered around being a sharp shooter, there are perks for that, if you want to focus on creating a tank of a character that can plow through enemies with little damage, there are perks for that too. This way anyone can create a very original character on each playthrough. See More

Top Pro

Challenging and diverse enemy types

There are quite a lot of different enemies found in the game, ranging from Super Mutants to Feral Zombies to Blood Bugs. Each has their own weakness and strength, which asks the player to constantly adjust their fighting style due to what is being thrown at them at the 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 a dog. Each companion has their own skills that can help the player in the game, such as the dog can find hidden items in the world and retrieve them. As the player progresses in the game, more companions can be found, though only one can be used at a time. They can be easily swapped out for those that would like to see what each offers easily. Even better is the player does not have to use one if they do not like, which may make the game a little more tough, but some may enjoy that challenge. See More

Top Pro

Base building mechanic that makes for a solid distraction to the main story

Base building is a way that the player can collect components in the world to then use them to make their own base for equipment and supplies. There is also an interesting aspect where the player can attract NPCs in the game to their base in order to create a settlement (basically a small town of people). This can only be done in particular spaces in the game though. The rest of the base building mechanics can be used anywhere the player wants and in any style they like. If you want to build a floating base that only you can access, this can be done. Want to build a giant towering structure that goes as high as you like, you can do that too. Really there is very little limiting the player from creating anything they imagine for their base. This can make for a solid distraction from the main story of the game as the player can sink as much or as little time into it as they like. See More

Top Pro

Weapons and armor can be improved by adding mods

Add a scope, change the barrel or ammo clip, add a stock to turn it into a rifle or remove it to turn it into a pistol. A lot of awesome weapons are to be made. Same goes for armor. Leather lining or metal painting, padding or extra pockets. Then there's all sorts of menacing melee weapons too. See More

Top Pro

Solid gunplay

Fallout has typically used a slowed down time based gun mechanic called VATS, which works as an assisted shooting and aiming mechanic that allows one to pick the body parts of an enemy to target in slowed down time. This system is present in Fallout 4, but the first/third person gunplay has been improved so much over previous titles that it is not as necessary to use anymore (as it once was). Basically the gunplay works so well in this game that players can run and gun with ease, though the VATs system is still there for those that prefer it. Either way, the gunplay feels and plays well, no matter the system used, which makes for a varied design that feels solid and enjoyable. See More

Due to detail-oriented environments, varied characters and great voice acting, the game can draw you in completely. See More

Batman: Arkham City

Top Pro

Immersive world

Top Con

Batman's movements feel stiff

Just as in the first game, Batman's movements when walking around feel very stiff and a bit jerky. See More

Specs

There are quite a lot of side missions players can play to break up the story segments of the game. Even better is that they are still accessible when the main story is completed. See More

Top Pro

Challenge maps and lots of side missions can be used to break up the gameplay

Top Pro

Excellent free-flow combat system

This game's predecessor pioneered a new kind of free-flow combat system that's intuitive, highly responsive and supplemented with power-ups, combos and ability to use gadgets to add variety and depth. See More

Top Pro

It's enjoyable just to traverse the city

The movement system feels fluid, free and exhilarating. See More

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

Assassin's Creed Origins

Top Pro

Choose from a variety of stealth tricks

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:Mixed

Genre:Action-adventure RPG, Stealth

Co-Op:No

Controller Support:Partial

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

Top Pro

Challenging combat mechanics

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 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

There is co-op offered in Watch Dogs but it is limited to specific points in the game where players can work cooperatively or competitively to complete a task. See More

Watch Dogs

Top Pro

Limited co-op play

Top Con

Character is boring and gloomy

The character played in the game has a boring and uninteresting story as well is normally gloomy and downtrodden making it somewhat of a chore playing as such an uninteresting character. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

The multiplayer is a bit like Dark Souls where other players can invade the players world with a twist of them hiding in plain sight while trying to hack the player. See More

Top Pro

Fun multiplayer

Top Pro

Interactive, hackable city

Throughout the game players can use their in game phone to hack items in the city such as red lights or draw bridges. See More

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

Far Cry 5

Top Pro

You can co-op the whole campaign with a friend

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

Stuart Kearney's Experience

This is a game where it's painfully obvious how much love and attention the devs put into it. Far Cry 5 is hilarious, endlessly entertaining but has a realism/seriousness to it that the Just Cause series doesn't. Really fun to just mess around in for a few hours creating havoc and the story is great too. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

Genre:Action-Adventure, First-Person Shooter

Co-Op:Two-Player Online

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

Unique open world setting in rural America

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

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

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 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

Pillars of Eternity

Genre:RPG

The main protagonist is capable of scaling buildings, jumping over obstacles, and vaulting over zombies with ease, making traversing the open world city a lot more enjoyable. See More

Dying Light: The Following - Enhanced Edition

Top Pro

Fluid parkour movement

HealthyNilus's Experience

Once you play Dying Light you will be disappointed with any other open world game. Parkour is by far the best part of this game. You will miss it in any other game you play. Shooting weapons could be a little better but other than that, this open world game will keep you busy for a very very long time!! See More

Specs

Genre:Open-World / Survival / FPS

Co-Op:4 Player Online / 4 Player LAN

Controller Support:Full

There's a wide variety of side-quests and a large chunk of them are multi-part adventures with great storytelling. See More

Top Pro

Rewarding side-missions

Top Pro

Expansive weapon-crafting system

There are blueprints found throughout the gameworld that can be used to modify existing weapons in a wide variety of ways by adding various elements to them and creating weapons such as enemy-seeking grenades, exploding throwing stars, and makeshift bats with nails through them. See More

Top Pro

Satisfying combat

The combat is impactful, visceral, and offers a great deal of variety in terms of available weapons and different enemy types. It presents a reasonable amount of challenge that is rewarding to overcome and offers multiple ways of emerging victorious in each encounter. See More

Top Pro

Enjoyable co-operative multiplayer

Dying Light features up to four player LAN and online co-op. See More

Yakuza 0's story is genuinely gripping and well-written, showing the lengths people will go to in order to gain power and status or to protect the ones they care about. The story is set in 1980s Japan during a high point in the economy, with the plot kicking off with Kazuma Kiryu, a young twenty-something yakuza who gets caught up in his clan's internal battle to claim a lucrative plot of land in the middle of downtown Tokyo. He has a strong sense of honor to do what's right by his sworn yakuza family while getting to the bottom of the scheme against him from the higher-ups in his clan. And then the story shifts every two chapters to Goro Majima, who's the manager of a fancy cabaret club as a way to pay off his debt and get back into the yakuza. He soon gets thrown into an impossible situation where he has to murder someone for the first time to get back in the business, but this of course doesn't go as planned. The way Kiryu and Majima's stories intertwine and branch off from each other is filled with several shocking plot twists that feel natural and organic. It's definitely worth experiencing at least once. See More

Yakuza 0

Top Pro

Intriguing crime drama story with exciting twists and turns

Top Con

Graphics aren't that impressive

Yakuza 0 has weak textures, stiff character animations outside of cutscenes, and too many repeat copies of NPCs around the city. Invisible walls also block off the city's boundaries. Thankfully the characters and facial animations look great during story scenes, helping to make up for the poor visuals elsewhere. See More

Specs

Genre:Action-Adventure, Action RPG, Beat 'em Up

The beat 'em up fights in Yakuza 0 are brutal, with impressive up-close-and-personal cinematics that make the fights a lot of fun. You can hear your opponent's bones crushing as you smash your fist or foot into them, with successive hits building your heat gauge over time. Once your heat gauge is full, you can use a special move against an enemy with a nearby trash can, bike, crowbar, or anything else you can pick up, showing a neat cinematic straight out of an action movie as you smash your makeshift weapon into your attacker. The best part is getting to play as either Kiryu or Majima and experimenting with their different playstyles. Kiryu has three battle styles that he can switch between: Brawler, which is his standard and balanced style, Beast, his slower and tankier build that lets him charge up powerful attacks and carry the heaviest makeshift weapons like whole motorcyles, and Rush, his lightning-fast style with speedy chains and combos. Meanwhile, Majima has three completely different styles: Thug, his equivalent to Kiryu's Brawler, Slugger, a fun yet overpowered style where Majima wields a baseball bat like a sword and nunchaku, and Breaker, a cool style where Majima chains stylish breakdancing moves in succession to keep his enemies stunlocked. The combat here is intense and varied, making you feel powerful while keeping your interest at the same time. See More

Top Pro

Brutal and entertaining brawler combat

Top Con

Starts off a bit slow

The first couple of hours or so are a little slow, with quite a few cutscenes that set up the story in between a tutorial for the controls. It's mixed in with decent exposition and a solid introduction to the characters as Kiryu spends the night out with his best friend Nishiki, so it's something of a slow burn that builds up to the more action-packed story. You need to know these foundations to help you appreciate the story, though, making the lengthier start a necessary evil. It's worth it for the rest of the story, so it pays off to stick with it and try to find some enjoyment. See More

Top Pro

Tons of side content

There's so much to do in between story missions in Yakuza 0, with plenty of quality and polish to keep you entertained for hours. All of the mini-games and side quests almost have a life of their own with plenty of variety and detail. There are dozens of side quests, some of which land Kiryu and Majima in hilarious and wacky situations that never seem too far-fetched. And there are a bunch of other mini-games, like singing karaoke, bowling, golf, gambling at mahjong, "watching" racy videos, managing a cabaret club and a real estate business, disco dancing, and many more. It's hard to get bored with Yakuza 0's plethora side content. See More

Top Con

Not for players who dislike long, involved story cutscenes

If you don't like games that have a lot of story cutscenes, then Yakuza 0 might not be for you. The story shares the spotlight with the gameplay, so you can't really escape the long cutscenes that weave the narrative together, unless you decide to skip all of them. Even though the cutscenes are long, they make sense and they keep you engaged, though players who just aren't into this type of thing may get turned off regardless. See More

Top Pro

Dense and realistic open world set in Japan

Yakuza 0 takes place in the districts of Kamurocho and Sotenbori, both of which are painstaking recreations of the actual Kabukicho and Dotenbori districts in Tokyo and Osaka, respectively. They're not huge locations, but they're packed with details that make them seem much larger. Gleaming with city lights and brimming with people, Kamurocho and Sotenbori are filled with all types of restaurants with various cuisines, stores for you to shop at, and places for entertainment and mini-games. The districts are realistic enough that they make you feel like you're actually there. See More

Top Pro

Incredible English localization

Yakuza 0 is fully voiced in Japanese with an amazing English localization for Western audiences. The localization team did more than simply translate the game -- they made sure everything is relevant for a non-Japanese audience to understand and relate with. Since there's no option for English voices, the subtitles do a great job at bringing the game to life for those who don't know Japanese but still want to appreciate the culture and support the Yakuza series. See More

Top Pro

Perfect for newcomers to the Yakuza series

If you've never played a Yakuza game before, this is the best place to start. Yakuza 0 is a prequel to the other games, and it assumes that you don't know who any of the existing characters are, so it introduces you to everyone in a way that's welcoming to new players. There are a lot of winks and nods to veterans of the series, but they're not done in a way that will confuse newcomers -- in fact, they add some replay value to the game since you can go back after playing the rest of the series in order to understand these little inclusions. This game also has one of the best stories and gameplay in the franchise, with the Yakuza staples of memorable characters, and wacky side stories mixed in with serious crime drama as you get to know Kiryu and Majima when they were younger. It's an excellent introduction to the Yakuza games as the best of the best of the franchise. See More