10 Most Memorable Open World Maps

3 weeks ago 8

Ronald Goncalves is a contributor at DualShockers and a Venezuelan political scientist and economist who seeks to express his passion for video games through the always subjective interpretation of the interactive experience. With more than 10 years of experience in the sector, hundreds of articles written, and even more video games analyzed, he has studied the medium so much that he feels like he has seen it all. Fortunately, he has always been proved wrong. He loves Bloodborne and Berserk above all else, although he admits that Disco Elysium and the works of Yoshiaki Kawajiri are also his weaknesses.

At the same time, he is a professor of Political Science at the Fermín Toro University of Venezuela, he runs a YouTube channel where he intends to replicate the teaching exercise but in relation to our environment and he manifests himself on Twitch as a justification to talk about Dark Souls while he does something productive: teach that the video game is more than what is believed about it.

Maps are to open worlds what the buns are to a hamburger: the element that's taken for granted but holds the whole thing together, and on whose shoulders rest the weight of the entire experience.

While everyone recognizes the importance of adequate physical space for titles where exploration is key, I feel we fail to understand that its role isn't just relevant but rather the facet that distinguishes the great games of the genre from the very best.

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As a matter of fact, you could count on four hands the maps in the history of interactive media that have truly managed to remain in the collective consciousness of gamers, and most of them belong to open worlds.

Therefore, in order to acknowledge this fundamental factor that has contributed so much to this fascinating genre, here I present to you the ten best open-world maps.

10 Yakuza 0

Kamurocho Steals Your Heart

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Unlike most of the maps you'll see on this list, Kamurocho in Yakuza 0 isn't a vast territory or a plain where you can contemplate life while riding on horseback, but rather a city whose density is astonishing.

Besides perfectly capturing the urban aesthetic of Japan at the time, what truly impresses me is the sheer number of interactions that take place within its confines, making you feel like you're in a genuinely living space.

We often make concessions to fantasy titles regarding details like population density or the amount of activity within their towns because it's understood that these aren't part of their context, though Yakuza 0 takes the opposite approach and transports you to the actual feeling of being in Kabukicho.

However, the best part is how the game integrates it all, making every story, mission, dialogue, and even structure speak about both Kamurocho and the game's intentions. It's a marvel in terms of design, and it makes you connect as much as you could even with your own neighborhood.

9 Dragon’s Dogma 2

The Power of Mythology

Despite what I said before, I'm a fan of medieval titles where the journey is as intriguing as the destinations themselves, which is why Dragon's Dogma 2 is a must-have on this list.

Not only are Vermund and Battahl two distinct ecosystems with countless settlements, caves, bosses, secrets, and breathtaking visual wonders, but the trip between them is pure adventure.

Since fast travel is rather limited, you spend a lot of time familiarizing yourself with the environment, recognizing where you might be ambushed and where you can find resources or encounter fights, vividly putting yourself in the shoes of a hero in the midst of a war and an apocalypse.

Walking at night and having to deal with a pack of wolves, defeating a lich, resting by a campfire, and finally resuming your journey to reach the city, only to find it besieged by an ogre, is a concatenation of wonderful events in both the first hour and the fiftieth, and that's why Dragon's Dogma 2 is incredible.

8 Death Stranding

The Post-Apocalypse Can be Beautiful

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Speaking of apocalypses, few fascinate me as much as the one presented in Death Stranding, as it approaches the subject in a completely different way compared to other titles of the genre, such as Fallout and The Last of Us.

Although aspects like the struggle for resources and the establishment of settlements remain, Kojima Productions manages to give it a different feel by placing the weight of the experience on the intrinsic difficulties of movement and, therefore, the importance of the geography and environmental conditions.

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Each visual is more beautiful than the last, so much so that you can't help but use its wonderful Photo Mode constantly, but what is really captivating comes from its combination with the atmospheric sound design and the gameplay, where mastering the map is essential.

Knowing which vehicle to use depending on where you're going, understanding the areas where BTs might be, circumventing MULE camps, and marveling at each biome are Death Stranding's soul, and this is true both from a narrative and a gameplay perspective.

7 Assassin’s Creed 2

An Attractive Renaissance

Among the dozens of reasons why Assassin's Creed was one of my favorite sagas during its heyday, one of the main ones is its ability to transport us to historical settings, though none quite like Assassin's Creed 2's Italy.

When you see the architecture, roads, costumes, and the combination of natural and urban landscapes, paired with the game's inherent fantasy, you find a truly fascinating fusion of worlds that enhances the experience on multiple levels.

Above all, because it gives an amazing sense of life to parkour, making exploration a delight with few precedents, but also because it manages to immerse you in the era, helping you appreciate even more its Renaissance and the importance of painting, its technological advancements, sculpture, and even mathematics.

Assassin's Creed 2 creates an outstanding symbiosis of reality and fiction, and its depiction of places like Florence demonstrates this in a virtually undeniable way. Just remembering using Eagle Vision to see those incredible panoramic views of each area gives me goosebumps, and that says it all.

6 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Middle Ages were Never so Astonishing

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Creating a dynamic open world is difficult, as is making it realistic or alive, so it's no surprise The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has impressed everyone by managing to embody all three of those qualities.

It's not just because, in terms of both quantity and quality, it's a stunning medieval setting that makes you want to move there (Griffin attacks aside), but because it possesses such a dense interconnectedness that all you can do is applaud.

Traveling through Velen, Novigrad, or Skellige, noticing their natural, urban, and even political and cultural contrasts, generates an indescribable sense of epic scale, the kind you usually only find in books, as it's so difficult to materialize beyond the realm of imagination.

That, in itself, is astonishing, though The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt blends it all through interactions with NPCs, quests, and the consequences of player decisions, impacting every context and artificial life form to such an extent that we haven't yet seen it replicated.

More than ten years have passed since its release, and it remains to be seen when anyone will match the depth and scope of CD Projekt RED's work. If riding on Roach's back weren't absurdly uncomfortable and tedious, it would be tough to dethrone it.

5 Red Dead Redemption 2

Realism Taken to the Extreme

Pursuing realism in video games has always been both a goal and a challenge, and none have come as close and as wonderfully as Red Dead Redemption 2.

The natural beauty of its environments, with lush flora and fauna, contrasts with the everyday authenticity of its towns, teeming with characters I hesitate to call NPCs, creating a stunning world where embodying an outlaw becomes as easy as breathing.

It's easy to feel immersed when everything fits together perfectly, works in unnecessarily detailed ways, and is presented with an almost obsessive meticulousness, because everything—from the physics to the behaviors and the weather—replicates our reality with an overwhelming degree of accuracy.

Virtual reality aside, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the closest we've come to transporting ourselves to a bygone era. It's a masterpiece for countless reasons, and I can't deny my affection for Valentine and Saint-Denis is among the main ones.

Immersion like Never Before

Solitude sits on a rock outcrop stretching over a river in Skyrim, as snow falls.

Imagine the scenario: it's 2011, you're 13 years old, and after playing nothing but PES, Call of Duty, and Grand Theft Auto your entire life, you stumble upon The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which changes your brain chemistry so much that you decide to start writing about video games.

Yes, the previous paragraph is an autobiographical introduction to why Bethesda's best video game is on this list, as its ability to transport your senses to a fantastical world defies comparison.

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Whether we're talking about contrasts between regions with different biomes, factions, characters, and enemies, or about secrets and adventures scattered across a colossal landscape, both conversations lead us to find in Skyrim a pinnacle of the open-world genre.

It's no coincidence that this is the single-player game I've sunk the most hours into, to the point of disabling the HUD to simply wander around, enjoying the ambient sounds, the occasional encounter with bandits, and the always delightful discovery of a crypt door that holds a thousand years of history.

Thanks to its mythology, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim not only presents a colossal map, but also an equally rich lore. You can spend years studying its story and still have things to learn, something that is more than palpable in the series' icy latest installment.

3 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Pinnacle of Dynamism

Talking about dynamic worlds often involves a degree of relativity, given that everything operates within a context of limited variables—unless we're talking about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Of course, its representation of Hyrule, like any other game, has a limited number of interactions and content to experience, but no other open world in history manages to conceal those limitations as effectively as this one.

If we're talking about creating the impression of infinite possibilities, every imaginable title pales in comparison to the only game capable of challenging Ocarina of Time's supremacy, which takes us back (however impossible it may sound) to the innocent feeling we had as children when we discovered what video games were capable of.

In that sense, I believe The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's greatest merit lies precisely in taking us back to a previous cognitive state where everything feels fresh, novel, and new, like a baby experiencing touch for the first time.

However, all of this can only be true within its open-world nature, and its open-world nature depends entirely on a map curated from beginning to end to be a playground where, coincidentally, you are saving the world.

2 Cyberpunk 2077

The Liveliest City of All

Cyberpunk 2077 Riding Motorcycle in City

While we all know what happened with Cyberpunk 2077, and how it relied on numerous updates to become the magnificent work it is today, its qualities as an open world undeniably reinforce CD Projekt RED's reign over the genre.

Unlike The Witcher's medieval setting, however, the futuristic dystopia of Night City is concentrated and vertical, with countless skyscrapers and underground spaces that prevent the horizon from ever being seen, always hidden behind advertisements and commercials.

It's a powerful setting not only because of its audiovisual characteristics, constantly imprinted on your retina to strengthen its narrative, but also because of how it blends with the gameplay, reducing the dynamism of Geralt's adventures to prioritize spectacle and scale.

The result is less player agency, but a much more prominent role for the map. Night City and its surroundings encapsulate everything Cyberpunk 2077 represents, aspires to, and even rejects, offering as much entertainment as humanly possible and as much criticism about it as it can muster.

You may have completed all the side missions, seen all the miscellaneous objectives, bought all the apartments, and used all the vehicles, but you'll still want to return to explore more, and that's something few open-world games can claim.

1 Elden Ring

The Ultimate Interactive Fantasy

Even with less dynamism than Breath of the Wild, less density than Cyberpunk 2077, and fewer activities than Skyrim, not a single fiber of my being doubts that The Lands Between in Elden Ring is the ultimate video game map.

Never in my more than 20 years as a gamer, half of which I've spent as a video game journalist, have I experienced such a degree of awe and wonder with each discovery, and I'm only referring to the strictly geographical aspects.

Going down to the Siofra River, arriving in Leyndell, discovering Farum Azula, teleporting to Caelid… In terms of biomes and their differentiation, size, and number of both visible and hidden areas, including the interconnectedness that compels you to become an expert in topography, this game is unparalleled.

Then you delve deeper, stumble upon Stormveil Castle, the Academy of Raya Lucaria, or Volcano Manor, and spend 20 hours immersed in each one, gratifyingly lost among passageways, staircases, elevators, and more, increasingly realizing you're experiencing a scale and level of detail you've never seen before.

Elden Ring doesn't have the critical depth, population density, or gameplay diversity of its contemporaries, though it sacrifices those qualities precisely for the sake of its map. Therefore, this conversation is much easier than if we were comparing them generally as open worlds, so I have no doubt which one is the king of the terrain.