Best Open World Game From Each Console Generation

Open-world games are quite common today, and people play them all the time, whether it’s jumping into a new game of Minecraft or the latest Assassin’s Creed title. Whatever your interest, there’s an open-world game for you. The genre started small and has been growing since its inception; contrary to popular belief, it’s been around for a long time, dating back to the 1970s. Granted, it took time for open-world games to evolve into the massive ones we play today, but the seeds of open-world gaming date back to the ’70s. We found the best games from each console generation, chosen based on contemporary critics’ reviews upon release, their influence on the genre as it developed, and how much fun they are to play.

1st) Colossal Cave Adventure

1st Gen: Atari Pong | Coleco Telstar | Magnavox Odyssey

The first console generation didn’t feature a game that could be classified as an open-world game. While there wasn’t a console game, there was one on computers that somewhat featured what could be considered the beginnings of open-world gaming: Colossal Cave Adventure. The free-roaming aspect of the game’s exploration enabled non-linear exploration in an open world. However, this was still very limited in scale when compared to what would follow in successive generations. Still, Colossal Cave Adventure is one of gaming’s most influential titles, and it would help pave the way for the next generation’s open-world games.

2nd) Adventure

2nd Gen: Atari 2600 | Channel F | ColecoVision | Intellivision | Magnavox Odyssey 2

While still very limited, Colossal Cave Adventure inspired and influenced the development of 1980s Adventure on the Atari 2600. While the game isn’t fully an open-world action-adventure title, the free-roaming ability and open-ended environment that allows players to move freely throughout the game’s various screens offer a glimpse of how open-world gaming would ultimately develop. Like the game that inspired it, Adventure would also inspire a great many games that followed, including several that adapted the exploration mechanic to a wider area, opening their game worlds into a more true open-world experience.

3rd) The Legend of Zelda

3rd Gen: Atari 7800 | Nintendo Entertainment System | Sega Master System

Gaming historians point to 1984’s Elite as the first pioneer of open-world gaming, but it was a computer game. On consoles, The Legend of Zelda arrived just two years later with a massive open-world map. As far as console gaming goes, The Legend of Zelda is one of the first true open-world games, as the player could take Link pretty much anywhere they wanted to go. Exploration is one of the game’s key mechanics, as the player is encouraged to wander and look for hidden passages and items. As the franchise developed, it would expand on its open-world design, making it bigger and better.

4th) Final Fantasy VI

4th Gen: TurboGrafx-16 | Genesis | Neo Geo | Super Nintendo Entertainment System

By the 4th console generation, open-world games had developed significantly, offering much larger areas to explore than previous generations. There were tons of excellent role-playing and adventure games featuring huge, explorable maps released across multiple systems during this time. One of the best with an expansive world to explore was Final Fantasy VI, released on the Super Nintendo in 1994. This was the last game in the franchise to feature 2D graphics, and it’s widely regarded as one of the best in the series, having sold incredibly well while remaining influential to other RPGs.

5th) Super Mario 64 & Final Fantasy VII

5th Gen: 3DO | Jaguar | PlayStation | Nintendo 64

Choosing the winner for the 5th console generation was tough. In the end, it was a split decision between Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64 and Final Fantasy VII on the PlayStation. When it was released, Super Mario 64 was a revolutionary game, excelling at camera controls in a 3D environment while producing a large free-roaming world to explore. This hadn’t really been seen before. On PlayStation, Final Fantasy VII wowed players as one of the greatest RPGs of all time, and it, too, featured a huge open world to explore. Both games are considered among the greatest ever made, so they share the top spot for the 5th console generation.

6th) Grand Theft Auto III

6th Gen: GameCube | Dreamcast | PlayStation 2 | Xbox

When Rockstar Games published Grand Theft Auto III in 2001 for the PlayStation 2, it completely changed how open-world sandbox games were designed. The game is one of the most influential in history, having changed how the franchise was made while also influencing a plethora of other game franchises that followed. It features a huge open-world environment with plenty of NPC interaction, numerous missions spread across it, and more to do than most can accomplish. Grand Theft Auto III helped set the stage for games like Fallout 3 and the Yakuza franchise, not to mention its own sequels.

7th) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

7th Gen: PlayStation 3 | Wii | Xbox 360

By the seventh generation, console exclusivity began to wane, and games were released on multiple consoles. There was a lot of competition during this time, as games in the Assassin’s Creed and Batman: Arkham series, among others, were released. Still, after sorting through them all, the winner for the 7th generation was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The game was critically acclaimed worldwide upon release, with praise for nearly every aspect, including its vast open-world environment ripe for exploration. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is widely considered one of the greatest video games ever made and has influenced many titles that followed, including the winner of the 8th console generation.

8th) The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

8th Gen: Nintendo Switch | PlayStation 4 | Wii U | Xbox One

For the 8th console generation, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt absolutely kills the competition with its exceptional fantasy open world that makes the player want to explore as much as possible. The game has a main quest, and you can certainly follow it, but it’s so much more fun to wander about and get lost in one sidequest after another. Of course, the main quest features an excellent story and brilliant voice acting, because The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an exceptional game widely considered one of the best. It sold more than 60 million copies, which is impressive to say the least, and spawned a sequel that has remained in development across multiple console generations.

9th) Elden Ring

9th Gen: Nintendo Switch | PlayStation 5 | Xbox Series X|S

The 9th console generation saw tons of great games released on multiple consoles, but the winner of best open world game is definitely FromSoftware’s Elden Ring. The game is a master class in how to make an action RPG, as it is brilliantly written (thanks to legendary scribe George R. R. Martin) and features an amazing open world filled with terrors and plenty of interesting things to do and see. The game was a huge hit upon release, selling tens of millions of copies and winning numerous awards. It’s even being adapted into a feature film and has already spawned a multiplayer spinoff, Elden Ring: Nightreign, released in 2025.

10th) The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

10th Gen: Nintendo Switch 2 | PlayStation 6 | Xbox Project Helix

As of writing, there isn’t a consensus as to the start of the 10th console generation, though some in the industry have pointed to the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 as its starting point. Using that, the best open-world game released thus far is definitely The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The game took everything great about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and turned the dial up to 11, adding both a subterranean world and an aboveground world with multiple levels. It’s a massively dynamic open world that’s simply huge in scale, and the game is absolutely amazing. A better open-world game may come sometime later, but for now, Tears of the Kingdom reigns supreme.

Honorable Mention

You’ll notice that I didn’t include any Assassin’s Creed, Batman: Arkham, LEGO games, Terraria, Fallout, or Minecraft. This was a difficult decision, but after racking and stacking all the games for each generation, the winners emerged. Still, I had to at least mention Batman: Arkham City, which is one of the greatest games ever made, and I’ve personally logged at least 1,500 hours into Minecraft, with about half as much time given to Terraria, so they deserve mention. The same is true of Assassin’s Creed, as each game is absolutely amazing, especially the attention to detail in the buildings and overall setting, which is often historically accurate. The LEGO games often include incredibly large open worlds, and while I didn’t include GTA V, I wanted to. Essentially, there were about 73 games I wanted to include, but couldn’t.

What’s your favorite open-world game? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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