Best open-world games 2026: exploring magical worlds
Best open-world games 2026: exploring magical worlds
The best open-world games have always been right at home on PC. From the early days of Ultima and Hydlide, to fin de siècle 3D trailblazers like Grand Theft Auto 3 and Morrowind, to the sprawling modern hits we now enjoy, freedom of exploration has always been intrinsic to PC gaming.
These days, open-world games are their own genre. You can find accurate depictions of real-life cities or countries, huge fictional expanses with their own landmarks, complete worlds to check out - or even entire galaxies, depending on where you want to go on your next adventure. Not only are these the greatest open-world games, but a lot of them are among the top PC games, period.
Here are the best open-world games on PC:
1. Red Dead Redemption 2
In RDR2, you'll play Arthur Morgan, a wanted outlaw and part of the Van der Linde gang, led by the infamous and duplicitous Dutch. Even though the gang's fate is sealed, hope is an involuntary reaction that will carry you through this melancholy love letter to the Old West. But it's Rockstar's immensely detailed open world that makes Red Dead Redemption 2 so special.
The diverse landscape changes from frozen lakes and snowy mountain edges to dusty plains and murky swamp waters. NPCs are responsive to your character's honour bar and will react to your presence in town, depending on how well-behaved you've been. If a bounty is out for you, you'll need to visit the local post office to pay it off before you can enter freely into 'wanted' territory or risk being hunted down by bounty hunters. As Sam White says in their Red Dead Redemption 2 PC review: "It's massive yet loses no focus, epic on every level, and combines Rockstar's penchant for immense detail with a surprising amount of heart."
The open world lets you play as you please, with story missions that open up or close off different areas. You are mostly free to roam the expansive American frontier; from meeting strangers on the side of a road, plodding into town to get a haircut, to tracking down RDR2's legendary animals in the severe terrain of the Grizzlies, you'll want to touch every part of Red Dead Redemption 2's intriguing and captivating open world.
2. Oblivion Remastered
Arguably one of the greatest open-world games of all time, Oblivion Remastered takes a true classic and gives it a new coat of paint. It's one of the most immersive RPGs of all time, filled to the brim with incredibly quotable story beats and top-class world-building. It's also highly approachable mechanically, and has a natural flow to its systems that truly showcase its polish.
Oblivion Remastered's visual upgrades are truly stunning thanks to the power of Unreal Engine 5, and the core gameplay remains largely unchanged as the original game engine is running in the background.
With that said, there are some changes introduced in Oblivion Remastered to give the game some important quality of life tweaks, including a much-needed rework of the leveling system, the ability to sprint, and additional animations to make combat feel more fluid and responsive. Give our Oblivion Remastered mods guide a read to see how you can make more changes to this great game.
3. Monster Hunter Wilds
The Monster Hunter series has finally gone full-open-world with its latest incarnation, Wilds. Monster Hunter games have traditionally been pretty unforgiving and a real toughie for newbies to get into, but Wilds is infinitely more approachable than its predecessors - though that doesn't mean you won't get to beat the snot out of big beasties with complex combos if you're after that kind of thing.
As Ken notes in his Monster Hunter Wilds review, it's the successor the series' best seller deserves. Improving on "almost every aspect" of World, Wilds delivers "a tremendous adventure that, if you can make it over the steep initial learning curve, remains the most rewarding action RPG around."
Just make sure you're taking full advantage of our comprehensive MH Wilds guide hub if you do begin your hunt.
4. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
The alien symbiote known as Venom has descended onto Earth, and there's the smaller matter of Kraven the Hunter, who seems to be working his way through a lengthy hit list. Placing you in the suit of both a more experienced Peter Parker and a fresh-faced Miles Morales, the two Spider-Men work together to fight crime as they go up against the franchise's most iconic bosses - while trying to navigate each of their complex personal lives.
When it comes to open worlds, Insomniac's Spider-Man series, with its expansive recreation of New York, is easily up there with some of the best around. New York is the perfect city for web-slinging, filled with tall buildings and tight alleyways to showcase Spider-Man's traversal abilities.
Before swinging in, just make sure your rig's up to par by checking out the Spider-Man 2 system requirements.
5. Ghost of Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima burst onto the scene in a riot of color, wind, and katanas. Jin Sakai is a young samurai and an unlikely survivor of a brutal Mongol attack against his clan. To fight back the Mongol invasion and take his revenge against the warlord Khotun Khan, Jin must balance his samurai training against the dishonorable way of the ghost. It's a classic revenge story in the style of Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi - it even has a Kurosawa mode to capture the experience of playing through an authentic old-school samurai flick.
Between bursts of dynamic stance-driven combat and tense showdowns with love-to-hate antagonists, you're free to explore Ghost of Tsushima's open world at your leisure. Compose a haiku at an idyllic meditation spot; follow a fox to a secret shrine; liberate a settlement from bandits. Ian Boudreau's Ghost of Tsushima review calls it a "masterclass in open-world game design" - a "painter's vision of feudal Tsushima" that breathes new life into the most formulaic open-world game mechanics.
With sensible Ghosts of Tsushima PC requirements, the four-year wait for the port to arrive might have been excruciating for fellow open-world enthusiasts, but the director's cut is well worth it. Not only does it offer director's commentary, but it also includes the Iki Island DLC, performance improvements, and an online co-op mode.
6. Elden Ring
Elden Ring is a masterclass evolution of the soulslike genre of hardcore action RPGs. A large part of Elden Ring's success can be attributed to the new open world, which gives the player the freedom to explore and tackle quests, bosses, and dungeons in whatever order they please. The critically acclaimed ARPG also thankfully manages to avoid existing genre tropes - this is no Assassin's Creed or Witcher - and offers its own unique fusion of challenging gameplay and free-form game design.
As Jordan Forward says in our flawless, 10/10 Elden Ring review: "Elden Ring is not only a masterpiece by its developer's lofty standards, but in packing so much density into the Lands Between, it lights the path ahead for open-world games in general." This only gets better in its first and only piece of DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree. Jason Rodriguez hails "its sense of adventure, epic boss battles, and ambitious new additions" in his Shadow of the Erdtree review, placing it "among the best videogame expansions of all time."
This is a must for Dark Souls fans, but even those new to the genre will find this a more welcoming entry point. We'd highly recommend checking out our Elden Ring bosses guide if you're getting really stuck on a particular encounter, though typically, with enough time and effort, you'll find you can accomplish anything.
7. Cyberpunk 2077
Though it had a bit of a rocky start, Cyberpunk 2077 has firmly earned its place on this list thanks to its vast open world and captivating story. It's easy to lose yourself in the dingy neon alleyways and rain-soaked streets of Night City, playing as V, a mercenary seeking out a new heist.
While Cyberpunk 2077 was plagued by performance issues and lacking features at launch, that didn't stop Richard Scott-Jones from singing its praises. In his Cyberpunk 2077 review, he says: "Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't surpass its brilliant influences, but in Night City, Johnny Silverhand, and its chilling vision of hyper-capitalism, it claims territory of its own."Since then, CD Projekt Red has worked tirelessly to bring the game up to its potential, culminating in the excellent Phantom Liberty DLC. "CD Projekt Red has delivered a dense and impactful expansion to one of the medium's best cityscapes, even if its branching narrative structure stumbles," Will Nelson says in his Phantom Liberty review.
With six unique districts all run by rival gangs and corporations, and plenty of characters to meet on the way, now is the perfect time to play. The game is in a much more stable place now, and we've picked the best Cyberpunk 2077 mods that'll heighten the experience even further.
8. The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Skyrim is one of those games we return to over and over again, and the magic is always there. Its replayability comes from the hundreds of different ways to play through this open-world RPG, from typical character builds like thief and warrior, to trying to play the whole game as a vegan or role-playing as a character from the game's lore. Skyrim's open world is filled with characters and beasts going about their daily business without you, and you'll often happen across a giant kicking a poor wolf into orbit or a couple of Thalmor escorting a captured Nord.
This fantasy open-world RPG explores Skyrim's vast and spectacular region - where you play as a Dragonborn, a prophesied hero thrown amid a tense civil war. The world is heavily inspired by the environments of countries like Norway and Iceland, taking their history, culture, flora, and folklore, and mixing them together with The Elder Scrolls' realistic brand of high fantasy.
Skyrim has a captivating story and astounding attention to detail, which makes this nearly decade-old game still one of the most talked-about open-world games there is. It still has a dedicated modding community, so you can check out the best Skyrim mods once you've exhausted all the ways to play.
9. No Man's Sky
The backlash was brutal during No Man's Sky's release in 2016. The hype for the game was out of control, and the small studio, Hello Games, had an impossible job of delivering what players expected from the game. Six years and many updates later, that little studio has managed to turn No Man's Sky into the best open-world space game.
Forget open-world - No Man's Sky is an open universe. Whereas some open-world games give you a city or even a state to explore, this game starts with an entire planet and only expands from there. You can explore it freely - finding outposts, meeting wildlife, causing trouble, mining for minerals, looking for artifacts, and building bases. Then once you've fixed your ship and blasted off into the stars, you can find other completely different planets to explore and exploit.
You could spend your entire life playing No Man's Sky and not see everything the game has to offer; this is doubly true if you're running No Man's Sky mods. So, prepare to say goodbye to all of your free time.
10. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
While its world is broken up into a series of miniature open-world regions, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt fills each one with enough detail and character that they feel like one cohesive world. Whether you're tracking beasts across the battle-scarred plains of Velen, exploring the cobbled streets of Novigrad, or skulking through ancient woodlands, CD Projekt Red has crafted a world that feels authentic and fantastical in equal measure, and as a result is one of the best open-world games ever.
Your exploration through these rugged locales is constantly rewarded with new quests, characters, beasts, and encounters. In The Witcher 3, you'll never want to fast travel around the map for fear of missing out on a new and exciting adventure, and what higher praise could there be for an open-world game?
We do know that The Witcher 4 is on the way, but you'll be waiting a while to see Ciri again. So, for now, you'll have to be content with the best Witcher 3 mods to tide you over. The next-gen update to The Witcher 3 does an excellent job of improving on what is an already gorgeous game, adding plenty of quality-of-life improvements and next-generation features.
11. Fallout 4
You can sink a lot of hours into Fallout 4. From traversing the dusty post-apocalyptic plains to scavenging hidden resources to build a base and survive this new, uncertain future. The retro-futuristic wasteland of Boston, MA is brimming with adventures, memorable characters, and more locations than you could visit over the course of a 100-hour playthrough. Whether you're battling through the mutant-infested streets of downtown Boston, braving the heavily irradiated Glowing Sea, or taking a tour of the Salem Witch Museum, Fallout 4's gigantic open world never feels empty.
In his 8/10 Fallout 4 review, Matt Purslow says: "The overfamiliar flavour may mean Fallout 4 doesn't quite stand tall, but it does mean you can guarantee what you're getting, and that's a damn fine game." Fans have been so fervent about the game that a modding team has made a full-blown DLC. In his Fallout London review, Lewis White calls it "a sprawling, painstakingly conceived and authored RPG that almost resembles the idealized modern Fallout game."
Before you set off in your hazmat suit to explore the wastes, be sure to check out our beginner's guide to Fallout 4, or if you're ahead of the curve, then see our guides to all the best Fallout 4 mods to tweak your experience further.
12. Grand Theft Auto 5
While Grand Theft Auto 3 basically pioneered the 3D open-world game, GTA 5 is the culmination of everything Rockstar wanted to achieve with that innovative experience. The ridiculously large area of San Andreas is your playground, including the LA-inspired city of Los Santos, and it's one of the most detailed open-world regions seen before or since in a game. There are easter eggs, stores, sports, and countless side missions to occupy you wherever you end up.
If that's not enough, there's also GTA Online, which builds on what's great about it and adds dozens of other players. GTA Online boasts high-octane races, heists, battle royale, biker gangs, and much more, making it a unique GTA experience in its own right.
There are even GTA 5 mods which, when combined with GTA 5 cheats, can create some utterly chaotic playthroughs. GTA 6 is still a ways out (especially after its delays), so there's still plenty of time to get into GTA 5 and revel in all it has to offer.
13. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain stands tall as the only open-world MGS game (we're not counting Survive). It's also very good, hence it has a spot on this list. Many were skeptical of the genre shift ahead of its release, but The Phantom Pain is one of the most satisfying, immersive, and entertaining open-world games ever made.
The PC port is very good. Even when Fraser Brown was putting together our MGS 5 The Phantom Pain PC review back in 2015, they went so far as to call it "the definitive version" of Kojima's Konami swan song. It performed fantastically back then, so we don't expect you to have any issues running it on modern hardware.
The Phantom Pain offers an incredible amount of content; there are at least a couple of hundred missions, for starters. The stealth systems are fantastic, with loads of moving pieces fitting together like polished clockwork. Light, cover, stance, and noise are all things you have to be careful of, and if you arouse suspicion, the guards can even communicate via walkie-talkie or even with other bases if reinforcements are needed.
The open world adds so much to these stealth mechanics by expanding the game's scope. You can observe outposts from miles away and make a plan of attack, and the game gives you complete freedom to do things however you like - no matter how wild.
14. Forza Horizon 5
As open-world racers become more common, it takes an exceptional title to stand out from the pack. Much like its predecessor, Forza Horizon 5 is a celebration of everything motorized, only this time it's set in a breathtaking slice of Mexico. Whether you're hurtling down the side of a volcano or navigating a dense jungle, Forza Horizon 5 pairs solid arcade racing with an open world that rivals anything on this list.
In his Forza Horizon 5 review, Phil Iwaniuk says it's "familiar, excellent, and polished to a degree that hardly seems possible. If you love taking vintage Porsches for joyrides through environments that'd have a poet bawling, then you're going to be very happy here."
Check if your PC can run the game at recommended or minimum specs by comparing against the Forza Horizon 5 system requirements. The last thing you want is an untimely crash mid-race because your frames decided to go on holiday.
New open-world games
Our regularly updated upcoming PC games list is chock full of incredibly exciting open-world games that are on the horizon. The obvious highlights include GTA 6 (gang, it's GTA), and the long-awaited Elder Scrolls 6. It's going to have a tough task topping Oblivion and Skyrim, but Bethesda could yet surprise us.
Until they arrive, you've got 14 immaculate open-world games to delve into; many of them sit on our overall best PC games list. The genre has come a long way since the early days of procedurally generated dungeons in old games such as Daggerfall. Since then, we've had a revolution in the genre, and nowadays, the worlds we play in look and feel more real than ever. We're looking forward to seeing how the games of the future make use of cutting-edge tech to deliver even more beguiling worlds. If you've got your own thoughts on the evolution of gaming, come over to our community Discord server and let them be known.
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