Open-World Games With The Best Stories

When gamers think about open-world games, they usually think about them in terms of how big their map is and how much they let the player explore. Modern open-world games are often so focused on filling their maps with things to do. This can make for some really immersive open-world games, but it can also mean that telling a compelling story takes a backseat.

Thankfully, that’s not always the case. These days, a lot of gamers expect their games not just to be fun to play but to tell a good story, too. The storytelling in many modern names rivals that of both TV shows and movies. Of course, whether a story is good or not is largely a matter of opinion, so the games featured here were both chosen and ranked largely according to their reputation as well as their general reception upon being released.

Updated 16, October 2024 By Robbie Mitchell: Great new open-world games are always being released, but most of us have massive backlogs of games we’ve yet to play. With that in mind, we decided to update this article with a handful more games that some readers might feel deserve a spot on this list. To qualify, these games had to be truly open-world (sorry Mass Effect) and were chosen primarily on the quality of their stories, not their open-world gameplay. Let us know in the comments if you think we missed any open-world games with awesome stories.

13 Elden Ring

The From Software Formula Makes Us Work For The Fantastical Story

It’s very hard to find fault with Elden Ring. It’s easily one of the best open-world games ever made and a masterpiece of open-world game design. Some readers are bound to be upset seeing it at the bottom of this list, but there is reasoning behind this sacrilege. As great as Elden Ring’s story is, many casual players might not really have a clue as to what’s going on.

Of course, that’s by design. Much like with the Dark Souls games, much of Elden Ring’s story is hidden away in item descriptions and secret locations. From Software likes to make its fans work to decipher what their games are really about. For those who can be bothered, the required effort makes the story all the more satisfying, and Elden Ring’s lore is brilliantly deep. However, the fact is, many players just won’t bother diving deeply into the game’s lore to make sense of its story (co-written by George R.R. Martin). If the developers had made the game’s story just a bit more accessible it would place much higher on this list, but then again, it wouldn’t be the same game.

An Unfinished Masterpiece of the Man Who Sold the World

The Metal Gear Solid games have been praised for their stories for decades. Sure, the overarching plot has gotten more than a bit convoluted, and Kojima’s story-telling style isn’t for everyone, but the man knows how to tell a good tale. Fans of the series had high hopes for Metal Gear Solid 5, and in many ways, it offered the best story in the series.

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The central twist (which won’t be spoiled here) is well choreographed without being too obvious, and the game’s story brought back a host of fan-favorite characters, filling out their story nicely. New additions, like Quiet, were also well received. Yet Metal Gear Solid 5 has a major problem. As good as its story is, it doesn’t have a proper ending. Kojima famously fell out with Konami, and the game was released half-finished. There’s no real sense of closure, and the game just kind of ends. However good it might be, it’s impossible to give an unfinished story a higher ranking.

11 Grand Theft Auto 5

Features Three Great Stories That Connect In Unexpectedly Criminal Ways

Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the highest-selling games in history and has been released on three generations of consoles so far. While part of its success is clearly down to the excellent gameplay and the success of Grand Theft Auto Online, the main game’s excellent story deserves some credit, too.

In an innovative move, the game gave players three of Grand Theft Auto‘s most iconic characters and let fans control them. Michael, Trevor, and Franklin were all well-written protagonists with their own stories to tell. How Rockstar tied the three characters together and built up their shared relationship was a masterclass in storytelling. Grand Theft Auto 5‘s plot was full of epic twists and turns, which peaked with its choice of three endings. Rockstar has long been known for its storytelling prowess, and Grand Theft Auto 5 arguably boasts the best story in the series.

10 Days Gone

A Slow Start Holds Back A Surprisingly Good Story of Bikers and Zombies

Open-World

Action

Adventure

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Released

April 26, 2019

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OpenCritic Rating

Fair

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Days Gone is the sort of game people either love or hate. Close to greatness, those who enjoyed it consider it to be an under-appreciated gem. Others still think it was overhyped and suffered from repetitive gameplay, boring characters, and slow storytelling. While these criticisms aren’t unfounded, looking back Days Gone’s story is much better than people gave it credit for.

It’s true that the story starts slowly, but things really pick up around the halfway mark as the game’s central mystery starts to unravel. Likewise, the initially dull Deacon becomes much more interesting as the game progresses, helped enormously by Sam Witwer’s excellent voice work and the game’s build-up of reveals. Many of the secondary characters aren’t terribly interesting but the relationship between Deacon and Boozer is a hoot. Sadly, the best thing about the game’s story is its ending. Ending with a big reveal and one heck of a cliffhanger (neither of which we’ll spoil here) Days Gone sets up a sequel that could have been awesome. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Bend Studio will ever be allowed to finish Deacon’s story.

9 Ghost Of Tsushima

A Samurai’s Compelling Journey into Dishonor

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In Ghost of Tsushima, players are given control of Jin Sakai, a samurai on a mission to defend his homeland from Mongol invaders. When his samurai code proves ineffective against a ruthless enemy, Jin is forced to decide between his honor and adopting guerrilla tactics to beat an overwhelming enemy. Depending on the player’s choices, Jin can become “The Ghost,” setting him on a collision course with some of his closest allies.

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Jin is easily one of PlayStation’s greatest anti-heroes, and his story is one of both sacrifice and moral ambiguity. The game does a great job of delving into his relationships and the toll his crusade takes on them, and its story is enriched by how it focuses on the themes of loyalty and the burdens of leadership, as well as the emotional depth of Jin’s struggle. The only reason it doesn’t score higher is that, sometimes, the game’s open-world nature works against its storytelling. Jin is meant to be a man on a mission, but he can spend a surprising amount of time chasing foxes and helping random people out with mundane tasks, things that diminish the tale’s sense of urgency.

8 Marvel’s Spider-Man

A Fresh Take On The Hero That Doesn’t Dwell On What Fans Already Know

Marvel’s Spider-Man

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Adventure

Open-World

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Released

September 7, 2018

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Sony has a great track record when it comes to its exclusives having good stories, and it wasn’t easy picking between Marvel’s Spider-Man 1 and 2. In the end, despite the sequel improving on the original’s gameplay in several ways and being one of the PlayStation 5’s best open-world games, it feels like the original had a stronger story (if only just). Marvel’s Spider-Man skipped the usual origin story to give fans a fresh new take on the famous webhead.

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He’s been Spider-Man for a few years, has already made a few enemies, and is working with an about-to-crack Doc Ock. The central narrative was compelling, and the sinister six made for intimidating enemies, with the Kingpin and Mister Negative acting as its highlights. The game also did a great job with the relationship between Peter and Mary Jane, even if her stealth sections were at a low point. The game was also great at introducing and setting up Miles Morales without distracting from Peter’s story. It’s not easy to tell an original superhero story, but Marvel’s Spider-Man managed it, something the sequel struggled to do with its introduction of the symbiote and venom (a story already featured in several previous Spider-Man games).

7 Horizon: Zero Dawn

A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure With A Compelling Protagonist

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Released

February 28, 2017

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Much like with Marvel’s Spider-Man, it’s tough deciding which Horizon game has the better story. Horizon: Zero Dawn wins because of all the heavy lifting Guerrilla Games had to do with its world-building and the fact that the sequel is so dependent on people having played the first entry. The game is set in a fresh apocalyptic setting, one in which machine-based animals have taken over the world.

During the tutorial, the game’s story introduces players to a young Aloy being taught how to survive and hunt. It then fast-forwards several years to her being an outcast and getting out on a journey of discovery. Along the way, she builds relationships, kills a lot of machines, and ends up saving humanity from a rogue AI called Hades. Oh, and she discovers she’s a clone. Horizon: Zero Dawn‘s story could have become lost in incomprehensible techno-babble, but instead, Guerrilla’s writers managed to weave together a thrilling tale full of twists and turns. If there’s a complaint, it’s that all the side content slowed down the pacing, making it easy to lose track of what was going on at times. Being so sci-fi influenced also means the game’s story may not be for everyone, landing it a middling ranking. Those small complaints aside, it remains one of the best free-roam games published by Sony.

6 Assassin’s Creed 2

The Beginning Of Ezio’s Epic Story That Remains the Best of the Franchise’s Narrative

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has always been story-driven, but there’s no denying that the franchise’s priorities have switched over the last decade. More focused on combat and large open-wold maps stuffed with things to do, the storytelling has suffered from pacing issues and too many distractions. While several entries to the franchise deserve spots on this list, we’ve gone for the game that gave us many fans’ favorite assassin, Ezio.

Ezio begins the game as a spoiled, rich playboy who spends his days getting into trouble and disappointing his wealthy family. When his family gets entangled in a political conspiracy and is executed, Ezo is forced to grow up fast. We follow Ezio as he goes from Assassin-in-training to Master Assassin and leader. His feud with protagonist Rodrigo Borgia, aka Pope Alexander VI, is personal, and their final battle is epic. An otherwise serious story is lightened by Ezio’s charming personality and the inclusion of real historical figures like Leonardo da Vinci. Assassin’s Creed 2 did a lot of heavy lifting in setting up the ongoing Assassin-Templar conflict.

5 Fallout: New Vegas

Features One Of The Best Branching Stories In An Open-World Game

It’s likely one of the reasons fans of the series were so disappointed with Fallout 4‘s story was because both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas had such good ones. In particular, Fallout: New Vegas broke the mold by having a protagonist who wasn’t a vault dweller. Instead, the player character was a courier, shot in the head during the game’s opening so that a local gangster could steal the “Platinum Chip.”

This opening literally started the game with a bang, gave the courier a valid reason for going on a rampage across the Mojave, and introduced an intriguing central mystery. From there, the game’s story only got better as the player was introduced to warring factions and was forced to choose between them. Or, players could side with no one and betray them all. Fallout New Vegas‘ true strength, though, was the fact it had one of the best branching stories in an open-world game. Each decision the player makes carries weight and affects the game’s story in exciting ways. New Vegas drops to fifth place because, as good as its story is, its ending comes across as somewhat rushed. This is no surprise considering Obsidian was pushed to develop and release the game in just a year.

4 Batman: Arkham City

The Caped Crusader’s Best Outing

Even over ten years after it was first released, there’s a strong argument to be made that Batman: Arkham City remains the gold standard for superhero storytelling in games. Batman: Arkham Asylum had already done an awesome job introducing gamers to Rocksteady’s versions of Batman and the Joker, letting Arkham City focus on telling one heck of a story.

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That story revolves around the twisted relationship between the Joker and Batman. The Joker is dying from Titan poisoning and wants to go out causing as much mayhem as possible. On top of this central rivalry, the game also featured iconic versions of Batman’s enemies and even opened with Bruce Wayne being captured and interrogated by Hugo Strange. The game’s side stories are just as good as the central plot, with the Ra’s al Ghul storyline being a particular high point. Sadly, Arkham Knight couldn’t quite keep up the pace set by its predecessor, meaning that Arkham City remains the franchise’s highlight.

3 Cyberpunk 2077

Features A Branching Story With A Unique Player Avatar

Cyberpunk 2077 had a famously bad start. After hyping the game up to previously unseen levels, CD Projekt released a game that barely ran on the majority of machines it was purchased on and was filled with countless distracting and game-breaking bugs. It’s taken several years for the game to redeem itself.

The one thing that was never broken about Cyberpunk 2077, though, was its story. Centered around V, a Night City merc with a troublesome chip in their head, Cyberpunk 2077 tells an exciting branching story that has the player building and burning relationships while making hard decisions about how they want V to go out. V is more than a simple player avatar and manages to feel like a fleshed-out character, while Johnny Silverhand is a great mixture of sad-failed revolutionary and entitled rocker. The game’s story also features a handful of excellent emotional gut punches – is anyone over Jackie’s fate? It’s a long game, but Cyberunk‘s story managed to hold the player’s attention throughout, despite the myriad distractions.

2 Red Dead Redemption 2

A Classic Western With A Great Protagonist

At times, Red Dead Redemption 2 feels more like watching a film than playing a game. Rockstar’s storytelling has evolved a lot over the years, and this game is that evolution’s peak. Set in the end days of America’s cowboy period, it’s a story about changing times and how the people who are left behind cope as society changes around them. In the case of the Dutch Van der Linde gang, they don’t cope well at all.

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The player character, Artur Morgan, is Dutch’s right-hand man, and depending on the player’s choices, he can be an honorable rogue or a downright villain. Arthur is largely defined by his loyalty to Dutch, and much of his story follows his personal struggle as it becomes increasingly clear that Dutch is losing it. The other members of the gang are equally well-written and include several iconic Rockstar characters. Despite being a prequel, Red Dead Redemption 2‘s story is never predictable and manages to expand Marston’s backstory without losing focus on Arthur. The gameplay might be a little slow-paced for some, but Red Dead Redemption 2‘s story is a masterpiece from beginning to end.

1 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Ultimate Branching Story

If Red Dead Redemption 2‘s story is a masterpiece, then The Witcher 3‘s is almost perfect. For a start, despite being the third entry in a sprawling, narrative-focused series, the game’s story is surprisingly welcoming to newcomers. Its opening hours do a great job of introducing who Geralt is and building up his relationships with the likes of Ciri and Yennefer (impressive since they are both missing).

Geralt needs to find Ciri and Yennefer so that they can stop the Wild Hunt and save the world. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done, and doing so has Geralt undertaking countless side quests for side characters, both new and old. Each character gets their own story, all of them well-told, compelling, and full of tough decisions. The game’s narrative is complex, without being confusing or overwhelming, and full of fantasy elements that never feel silly. While many open-world games pretend to let the player make decisions, the most impressive thing about Geralt’s story is how much weight each choice carries. A choice made in the opening hours might seem unimportant, but it may have massive ramifications a dozen hours later. Its story is not just the best story in an open-world game; it’s arguably one of the best in all gaming.

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