10 Open-World Games Where You Can’t Truly Choose The Wrong Path

There’s such an incredible list of open-world games to explore nowadays. The genre has fanned out to envelop many others, with FPS franchises like Halo all the way to narrative-heavy adventures like Death Stranding all choosing to explore wider worlds with more options behind them. Of course, it is possible to go down a wrong path or do something with this freedom that isn’t correct.

But many open-world games allow players true freedom from early on, with no real wrong answer behind their choices. This is fortunate for players who like seeing different paths a game has to offer, but who don’t necessarily want it to ruin their experience with a really horrible ending. Instead, these games give players choices that all lead to the same place or to similar endings that don’t affect the overall experience too much.

10 Minecraft

Play Whatever Way You Like

The most open that a game has ever been. Minecraft offers millions of ways to play and experience the block-based world in which players find themselves. Technically, the real end of the game is defeating the Ender Dragon, but even that is only a technical ending that leads to opening up The End for all sorts of future exploration.

Players have taken to building new worlds for specific goals they have in mind. The greatest thing about Minecraft is that there’s no one right way to play. Players can attempt victory in a hardcore setting, build wondrous monoliths, or just allow time to pass by while they continue living in and enjoying whatever part of the world they choose to call home. From building a zoo, to adventuring for millions of blocks in one direction, I’ve played a whole lot of Minecraft and never once felt bored or like I was out of things to do.

9 Fallout 4

Choose Your Faction, They’re All Fine

A great example of how a game can give players choices that do affect the ending, without there really being a wrong way to go, is Fallout 4. The player must choose as they head into the third act which of the four main factions they will align with. Personally, I usually go with the Minutemen, as I believe their ending to be the most morally right, or the Brotherhood of Steel, because fighting alongside a giant (communist-hating) robot is just so amusing.

But the player can also choose to join the Institute and discover their dubiously moral choices regarding the future of the Commonwealth. Or the Railroad, who seem to have an immediate plan of destroying the Institute but not much clue where to go from there. No matter which of these choices the player makes, they generally reach similar endings and get their faction’s particular consequences, benefits and side missions. Still, fans will argue over which of these factions represents the best future for the Commonwealth even a decade after the game’s release.

8 Halo: Infinite

A Firm Story But A World Of Activities

While Halo: Infinite might not feature a fan-favourite story from the franchise, the latest entry in the beloved FPS series made a significant change from previous ones. It gave players a truly open world setting to adventure around and clear enemies from in different tasks and side quests.

This change was one I absolutely loved. Continuing the split-screen co-op of previous entries in a wide-open setting made this an instant favourite for me. The simple fun of a Halo-style shooter game, the additional interest in the story of a Cortana clone that Master Chief hesitates to trust, and the wealth of extra activities around the beautiful map. While there are no choices at all really in the story for this game, it didn’t need them to make it a fresh and exhilarating experience.

7 Far Cry 6

A Secret Ending Is the Only Divergence

Okay, there’s one choice that isn’t a sneaky secret ending where you quit everything and go retire in Miami. This obviously doesn’t end as well as the actual story of the game. The Far Cry series is known for multiple endings, with Far Cry 5’s different bleak options being an infamous example.

So it was slightly surprising to me when I reached the end of Far Cry 6 and not only got a good ending, but found out it was the only real one available. Though revolution proved messy, and both Clara and Diego die in the finale, Dani correctly refuses to lead Yara and continues the fight against surviving Anton loyalists. The open-world nature of the game gave players a lot to do, but fewer choices than previous Far Cry games, something I didn’t mind at all.

6 Marvel’s Spider-Man

Web-Slinging Fun Leads To One Place

The open-world, Marvel-influenced world of the first Spider-Man game in the currently running franchise was epic. The web-slinging mechanics and freedom to explore many different side activities and quests around New York City was an exhilarating experience. I still sometimes revisit this particular game now just to swing around the city and complete random tidbits.

However, despite the awesome level of freedom given to players to complete other bits at their leisure, the story of Spider-Man was a firm one, and a somewhat sad one. Peter is forced to choose after defeating Doc Ock whether to use the limited vaccine he has to save Aunt May, or to save all of New York by synthesising more with it. He chooses the latter, spelling the end for Aunt May. Lack of player choice bugged some people about this game, but I found it refreshing that the developers focused on building a future for the franchise rather than letting players choose their own ending.

5 Horizon: Zero Dawn

A Thrilling Adventure With One Conclusion

Here was another huge open-world franchise game that ended with a firm conclusion. Horizon: Zero Dawn mostly had such a proper ending to set up a future for this to become a series, which I always think is fair reasoning. Aloy saves Meridian and uses the master override on HADES so that it can no longer wipe out all life with the Faro Plague.

Horizon has a beautiful open-world which encourages exploration. It’s another game I’ve easily spent extra hours in just to exist within the world and explore the many features and clear the corrupted zones. Though Horizon might not be one I achieved the full platinum trophy in, it’s a game with a huge amount of exciting content, and I don’t think the firm story ending took anything away from it.

4 Ghost Of Tsushima

Different Endings, But Is There a Wrong One?

This is a tricky entry for this list, and whether there is a wrong ending might just be down to player preference. In the final battle with Lord Shimura, the uncle of Jin Sakai, the player does have a choice whether they will kill Shimura, following the true Samurai path, or whether he will spare him, choosing to become the ghost.

Of course, while these endings feel very different, Jin is branded the ghost either way and hunted by the Shogun. For me, I felt like the game needed the firm conclusion of Shimura’s death, if only because the combat in this game was so great. But each way works excellently as a conclusion to Jin’s story throughout the game. A fantastic work, it would feel like a shame to have other endings to this game when the central quandary between the two options feels so indicative of the themes running from the very start.

3 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

A Wondrous World But Without Choice

Having briefly attempted some speedrunning with Breath of the Wild, I can say that no matter how much of the story a player skips, the ending itself doesn’t change. Players have the option, though I’d advise against it, to fight Calamity (and Dark Beast) Ganon very early on in their journey through Hyrule.

However, the main reason not to is that exploration is by far the best thing about Breath of the Wild. The open-world take on Hyrule helped this entry in the long-running franchise immediately surpass almost everything that had come before it. Sitting on the sofa with something on the TV while I simply exist in this game and try to see everything it has to offer remains a hobby for me still.

2 Subnautica

A Watery Planet With One Correct Answer

There’s never been an open-world I’ve felt more frightened to venture further into than the watery open world of Subnautica. Go too far in one direction, and you won’t find a traditional barrier at the edge of this huge map. Instead, a massive ghost leviathan will come for you and kill you to reset you within the map.

That sets the tone for Subnautica. The game has the guise of choices, but the player always has the main goal of escaping the planet. This comes with the addendum that you’ll be shot down by a huge alien weapon if you don’t break the quarantine on the planet by curing a disease infecting much of the life there, including you. The final ending is hugely satisfying, and firmly chosen. However, on my first playthrough it definitely took quite some time to reach it, because I was scared to enter regions of vast open water, particularly the Lost River. Nobody really wants to go that close to leviathan-class creatures in my defence.

All Directions Point To Sovngarde

Skyrim is a game filled with choices, to a surprising degree if you’ve never played it. It’s my personal favourite game of all time, and I love that different choices can provide differing gameplay while the main quest finishes the same way no matter what. Though the main campaign is affected by choices, particularly Imperial or Stormcloak, and whether or not you choose to kill Paarthurnax, you go to the same place every time.

Sovngarde is the Nord afterlife, and it is where the dragon Alduin hides after you attempt to banish him. It is there that the Dragonborn kills him in an epic fight alongside other Nord warriors, no matter what other choices the player makes. Other campaigns in the game, like The Dark Brotherhood and Dawnguard, have outcomes heavily affected by player choices. But the main quest is not. It offers a breathtaking open world which I continue to love simply existing in over fifteen years later, and a story with a firm and memorable conclusion.