Hello everyone!

On the hunt for some new games, and I'm desperately craving some good, open world games. The more sandbox the better. I thought who better to ask than my compatriots at the gamesas forums, as I know your tastes will be somewhat similar to mine.

Naturally any best, or most engaging open world list needs to have the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series in them. But what about others? This list doesn't necessarily demand that it its a multi million dollar budget blockbuster games. I've played and enjoyed what I would consider to be "B" level games and enjoyed them quite a bit; games like Two Worlds etc.

So chip in and throw some of the best, most engaging, or just fun open world and sandbox games at me and let's make a good list for those of us who enjoy these types of games!

Guild Wars 2 has a pretty good sandbox, but I am not sure if you prefer online-free games.

http://playstarbound.com/ (beta)

Nice art style, tons of loot, great gameplay. Check it out.

The End-all-be-all was Star Wars Galaxies. Though Sony shut the servers down, there is an emulator out there. Other that that, you're in a Bethesda Forum. Try The Elder Scrolls or Fallout. If that's not good enough, GTA V is Open world, but the vehicles and PC's in Online are more sandbox than anything else in the game. Then there's Minecraft. I don't think i have to go any further with that one.

GTA San Andreas is pretty big and is fun to roam around

Saints Row, GTA, State of Decay possibly? Though that last one can be pretty unforgiving at some points.

The Yakuza series, 4 in particular. The world map is small compared to games like GTA and TES, but it's so well realized, with a lot of detail put into it. I constantly get sidetracked by one thing or another, because I always seem to find a new side activity to try out every time I walk down a different street. It's weird how even the smallest things like arcade machines are so in-depth.

Oh, and there are plenty of interesting side quests as well.

Well, only sandbox i've played lately in is Saint Row 3. Pretty standard three island city, but there's plenty of fun toys to play with in it


Given it's size, flying around it is fun, especially with the VTOL fighter jet, whatever it's name was, but it's really a Harrier http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sM9RvWwIH0

Yup, played fallout and the elder scrolls for years and love them all. Also I knew someone would have to bring up minecraft, but that is one game I've successfully managed to avoid so far. Tried the demo on xbox360 and wasn't impressed in the 15 minutes I gave it.

One that I have my eye on is Star Citizen, but that's a long way off before I'll be able to get my hands on it...And I'm always a little skeptical of crowdfunded games. We'll see though.

Anyone know of some lesser known gems that I may have overlooked?

GTA V, Rockstar saved us.

The Hydra. And it's a crime that it wasn't put in GTAV.

Give Crackdown a try? Though I guess it would be more the Garry's mod end of things as opposed to the Skyrim end of things...

Yeah, i got the impression from the Zero Punctuation video that Rockstar doesn't like it when people have fun in their games. I certainly didn't in IV

two worlds 1 and 2, far cry 3/ blood dragon, daggerfall is free now though controls are meh. dragons dogma/dark arisen, kingdoms of amular the reckoning. that's all i can think of for now.

Engaging, not enraging.

Cue Jack Bauer. I think that's still in his sig.

I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids! and thay dog of yours!

Depends on what you want to do in that open world, I guess.

Going a bit old school, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Magic is one of my all time favorite games. It randomly generates 2 planes of a world each game you play. It is labeled a "4X" game, meaning you eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate. You play the role of a wizard and try to oust other AI wizards by either conquering them, or achieving the "Spell of Mastery" before they do. It is an old game, circa 1994. You also need either an old DOS machine or DOSBox to run it

Gothic 2 & 3
Mount & Blade
DayZ

No mention of the Gothic series yet? Gothic 1-3 and Risen definitely need to be mentioned in this kind of thread.

EDIT: And of course I get ninja'd.