Incredible Open-World Games You Won’t Believe You Missed

Updated on July 4, 2026, by Mark Sammut: We’ve added a few more games – The Saboteur and Echo Point Nova – along with removing two of the more well-known titles.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Grand Theft Auto 5, and Far Cry 3 are some of the most important open-world games of the early 2010s. They helped shape the genre, leading to sequels, spinoffs, and spiritual successors. Open-world games are some of the most popular right now, but even dedicated fans are liable to slip up every once in a while.

Because open-world games are lengthy, usually clocking in around forty to eighty hours, it is seemingly impossible to play them all. So, while these experiences may have slipped past the first time, they are still worth playing even though they may not have scored as well as some of the aforementioned greats.

Click on the game with the higher OpenCritic rating.

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Red Faction: Guerrilla

Make Or Break

Red Faction: Guerrilla is the perfect game for anyone who wants to let out a little steam. Set on Mars, players join a resistance movement to take back the planet from corporate overlords, with one heck of a physics system. Players can use any manner of weapons to destroy buildings in their revolution, and seeing a building topple over dozens of hours in is just as satisfying as in the beginning.

Mars may not be the prettiest open-world setting, but it is a good sandbox to play in. While the original game shows its age nowadays, the 2018 remaster offers enough improvements to make Guerrilla fun for all, not just those with fond memories of playing in 2009.

Echo Point Nova

Shooting In Style

Greylock Studio created two fantastic FPS games: Severed Steel and Echo Point Nova. While they are structured very differently, both titles emphasize movement, speed, and style, challenging you to efficiently take out enemies in creative ways. Severed Steel consists of short levels that need to be completed within a set time; conversely, Echo Point Nova drops you on an open-ended map with floating islands and leaves you to do your own thing.

Honestly, I prefer Severed Steel’s mission-based system, but Echo Point Nova is nevertheless an incredible indie open-world shooter with controls that just feel good. Lasting less than 10 hours, the FPS game is short, sweet, and addictive.

The Saboteur

Pandemic’s Final Masterpiece

As Pandemic Studios’ final game, The Saboteur represented one heck of a swan song for a developer who excelled at producing top-notch AA open-world titles. Honestly, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction could qualify for this discussion, but The Saboteur is both more underrated and way more accessible nowadays.

Set in Paris during World War 2, you play an Irish mechanic who has had enough and starts a one-man rebellion against the Nazi occupation. While under control, the city’s sections are presented in black and white, only for color to splash back in when they are liberated. Even if the gameplay loop is relatively normal, the actual progression is so satisfying, as you literally bring life back into the world.

Far Cry Primal

Back To B.C.

Primal is one of the strangest Far Cry spin-offs, taking place thousands of years before modern society was established. As a tribal hunter, players travel through the prehistoric era and hunt all manner of strange animals, such as saber-toothed tigers and Wooly Mammoths. The story and weapon system may be lacking from other entries, but the historical value is unmatched. It’s worth checking out just for this reason, as there aren’t many games like it on this scale.

Obviously, Far Cry is such a big property that none of its games can really be described as underrated or overlooked, especially everything released after the third entry. However, Primal can actually be recommended to people who are not fans of the core games, playing differently enough to stand on its own two feet.

Dragon Quest Builders 2

Build Me Up Buttercup

It seems like no game can ever compete with Minecraft in terms of popularity, but if more players checked out Dragon Quest Builders 2, it might reach Minecraft heights. The characters and monsters are more detailed, but the world is built from the same basic building blocks.

Players can dig and look for materials to their heart’s content to craft new gear and rebuild society. Dragon Quest Builders 2 has two advantages over Minecraft. There is a story, which is a bit cliché, but at home for Dragon Quest fans, and the combat is more engaging.

Immortals Fenyx Rising

Kid Icarus 4*

Immortals Fenyx Rising was Ubisoft’s attempt to make a lighthearted action-adventure game on the scale of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but in a Greek-inspired fantasy world akin to a lesser-known Nintendo property, Kid Icarus. Players can create their character and then get dropped into a world of mythical monsters like cyclops and Minotaurs to fight and explore freely. This is one of the best examples of a game that came out at the wrong time, at the end of the year in December 2020.

Although hardly free of issues, Immortals Fenyx Rising is just a pleasant romp that blends hack and slash combat with puzzles and exploration fairly well. It doesn’t necessarily excel at any one area, but it doesn’t drop the ball in any either (well, the story’s humor is polarizing). Unlike so many modern Ubisoft open-world games, Immortals Fenyx Rising doesn’t overstay its welcome, lasting roughly 20 hours.

Cat Quest 3

Kitty Konnections

Overall, the Cat Quest series is something players may not think will be fun because it looks like it’s aimed at young children, and it is. However, the games are so relentlessly charming that everybody can enjoy them, and the two sequels even incorporate co-op.

Cat Quest 3, in particular, is a great game for open-world enthusiasts who also like pirate adventures. Players will get their ship relatively quickly and can set sail across the world and even participate in ship battles. On land or in dungeons, players can hunt for loot in action-based combat, and the game does support two-player couch co-op.

The Good Life

Transformative Countrysides

The Good Life is a Swery65 game, the same mind that brought fans Deadly Premonition, another underrated open-world game. While the story is not as weird, the premise is certainly strange. As reporters, players will arrive in a seemingly sleepy village in the countryside, where they will soon gain the power to transform into a dog or a cat.

With their spare time, players can investigate the citizens to find clues leading to a murder and other suspicious activities, in either their human or animal forms. The Good Life has a slow-life element to it, while still managing to weave an air of mystery and suspense.

Sand Land

Anime Fallout

Sand Land was the last major project by the father of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama,before his untimely death. Set in a world devoid of water, an alliance of humans and demons band together to solve this problem once and for all.

Players can engage in action-based combat with the demon prince protagonist, Beelzebub, or they can pilot a number of vehicles, like tanks and robots. The inventive gadgets, machines, and quirky characters will please Dragon Ball fans and even Fallout fans who have been looking for a more action-packed post-apocalyptic experience.

Mad Max (2015)

The Phantom Game

Mad Max came out at the wrong time twice. Initially, it didn’t release next to the biggest summer blockbuster of 2015, Mad Max: Fury Road. Then, when it did finally launch, it was next to Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Mad Max seemingly couldn’t win, and while it isn’t as action-packed as the film, which it does tie into, it’s still the best game based on the franchise to date.

There’s great car combat, a world full of sickos, and the gunplay isn’t bad either. In fact, an argument could be made that Mad Max has the best vehicular combat of any open-world game, and it is worth the price of admission on its own. Although naturally barren due to the setting, the wasteland is still a blast to explore and drive through.