Set during ancient China's Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (about 907 to 979 AD), the game is this fantastical amalgam of MMO, action-adventure, and RPG mechanics that seamlessly blends into an open-world environment you can play either in solo or multiplayer modes. There are epic sword fights with flashy combos, Tai Chi moves to basically force-throw animals and enemies, and bosses that rival a From Software game in size and difficulty.
The core ideas of Watch Dogs have always been as engrossing as they are prescient. Playing as a hacker on the fringes of a surveillance state is an inherently cool setup for an open-world game, and when you add in a bunch of novel tech-based abilities that let you alter the world around you, you've got a franchise that meaningfully breaks away from more popular titles in the genre.
"I am desperate for there to be a third-person action-adventure, Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, that kind of open-world thing," Trachtenberg told IGN. "Concrete Jungle was something that I missed unfortunately. And that was a long time ago. And there's just so much fun to be had game wise, I think, with Predator. I hope it could happen."
After shaking up the Pokémon formula with Pokémon Legends: Arceus, its successor, Legends: Z-A, pushes things even further - and it's a very welcome change of pace. With , Nintendo and Game Freak demonstrated how much more vibrant, weird, and exciting the monster catching series could become with a few key changes to the classic formula. Arceus' historical story and open-ish world made the Pokémon universe feel like a bigger, wilder place, just as the revamped battling and catching mechanics turned the familiar process of filling out your pokédex into a completely different kind of experience.
This idyllic destination is located on a moon called Eden, and while it may sound lovely, it's embroiled in a three-way conflict between the game's primary factions: The authoritarian Protectorate, the ruthlessly capitalist Auntie's Choice, and the scientific church that is the Order of the Ascendant. Following The Outer Worlds 2's prologue chapter, this is where players become truly acclimated with the game's new and improved systems in an open-world setting.
Ghost of Yotei is a violent game about hunting down murderers on a quest for revenge. You kill a lot of people along the way. There are tons of sick showdowns in which you gracefully cut down foes as fountains of blood spurt from their slashed limbs. But what I actually love to do most in it is just occasionally stand still.
Fantasy games take you away from any semblance of the real world, instead trading in unique worlds and universes, often featuring magic, but sometimes lean into fantasy technology as well. These games are often in the RPG genre, and many of them feature open-worlds as well. The most important and defining aspect of fantasy games are their settings though, featuring magical creatures and special powers.
It's been only a, *checks watch*, casual 15 years since the last Skate game came out. Now, we finally have an early access release date for skate. (styled lowercase, with a period): September 16, 2025. The early access version is free and heading to PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store and the EA app.