Beautiful New Open World Games That Already Look Next-Generation

The term next gen is thrown around a ton, but sometimes, there are games where, when you turn them on for the first time, the feeling of "wow" hits you. The times I've felt this while playing a game are small, but memorable.

Some of those times were the first time playing Spider-Man PS4, God of War, and Horizon: Zero Dawn. Clair Obscur was also a wow moment for me, showing what the possibility of games from studios of all kinds and sizes could be going forward.

We're not into 2026 yet, and we're already seeing some open-world games that look to recreate that wow feeling I'm talking about. These games have a ton of potential, and they're coming from companies that you might not expect.

The big boys seem to be taking the year off, save for Rockstar Games, and what we've got in store may make them rethink everything. Here are some incredible-looking games coming our way.

8 Light No Fire

A Beautiful World

Light No Fire is Hello Games' follow-up piece to No Man's Sky. Other than the requirement of having No in the title, that comes with massive expectations and tons of promise. As we saw with the disastrous launch of No Man's Sky, Hello Games will likely be a bit more reserved when it comes to promising features for this game, but that doesn't stop us from speculating over the jaw-dropping trailers.

Light No Fire looks absolutely gorgeous, with art style being emphasized over realism, and it's proving that there isn't just one direction graphics should go in the future.

The colors just jump off the screen in the brief action we've seen from the game, and it's clear there is some incredible technical wizardry happening in the making of this game. Our PCs are already shaking in their boots at what it's going to take to run this one.

7 Beast of Reincarnation

A New Kind of Beast

Beast of Reincarnation comes from developers Gamefreak, who are much more familiar with Pokémon, and lower-quality graphics in general. Despite that, they are swinging for the fences with this one. The visuals here look like a cross between Ghost of Yotei and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, which is a good thing because those are two of 2025's most jaw-dropping games graphics-wise.

Now, whether this game can separate itself in the graphics department remains to be seen, as it does have the look of "just another Soulslike", but that's not exactly a bad thing, as we've seen some amazing-looking games in the genre, and a few games that definitely look the part of next gen, like Demon's Souls for example.

Beast of Reincarnation pops off the screen at first glance, and while the gameplay may look familiar, it's that visual draw that always puts butts in seats. In 2026, we should see if that theory holds.

6 The Blood of Dawnwalker

New Blood in a Familiar World

The Blood of Dawnwalker comes from a new studio, but seeing as it's made up of some former CD Projekt Red developers, we're in good hands here. The similarity to The Witcher 3 in terms of look is immediately apparent, but in many ways, it looks to be the next iteration of that type of world.

The gameplay we've seen so far looks amazing, with wild amounts of detail, beautiful lighting, and a world that looks to be quite large to explore. The day and night cycle will also lend itself to some amazing lightning changes for sure, but the graphical fidelity as a whole really does look next level. The cutscenes in the trailer are incredibly crisp, with a dark fantasy feel that veers a little bit from realism to give us a style that feels gothic and fantastical despite being based in a semi-realistic world that just happens to be overrun with vampires.

Gameplay is up for debate, but it's a certainty that this will be one of the more stunning-looking games that can effectively uphold the title of looking next-gen, and we should see it in the near future.

5 Fable

A Fairytale Come To Life

Fable is a game that has been dormant for far, far too long. In 2026, we're theoretically going to see it, but regardless, whenever it eventually comes out, the look of this game is otherworldly. The brief amount of the game that we've seen looks so different than any other open world game.

It's got this fairytale quality that the old games in the series also had, but with a mix of modern graphic tech that gives it almost a Pixar-type feel to everything. The closest similarity graphics-wise would probably be Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and regardless of how you feel about 2024's most polarizing game, the graphics were absolutely amazing. Whenever this comes out, it'll at least look the part.

4 Chronicles: Medieval

A View of War

Chronicles: Medieval has an incredible amount of potential. It looks like a combination of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord. As far as dream come-true matchups come, you can't do a whole lot better than that. It looks spectacular, with amazing vistas and huge numbers of soldiers on screen at the same time, and the animations for combat look great as well.

This isn't coming from a big developer, but the technical wizardry is on display here, as everything looks incredibly high quality while managing to juggle tons of characters on screen at the same time. Chronicles: Medieval is trying to do something bigger than most games of the open world genre; it's trying to replicate war on screen.

Not only that, but it's trying to replicate it in a realistic way. This is not going to be a Dynasty Warriors-type game, and the looks of it reflect that. Everything is pointing to this one being a hidden gem in the sea of big 2026 releases.

3 The Witcher 4

The Main Event

Whenever The Witcher 4 actually releases, all other games will be obsolete at that moment. We haven't seen much in the way of gameplay yet, but we have seen the graphics, and, my oh my, are we in for a visual feast for the ages. While The Witcher 3 was no slouch in the graphics department, this is a whole other level.

Everything has this sleek, incredibly sharp, and detailed feel to it. It looks like liquid art moving on a screen, and it's highly possible that this ends up being the new standard for what graphics can be in a video game. This is all done without ruining the style of the series, which has always veered slightly away from full realism to deliver something that still feels firmly in the fantasy genre.

It's going to be a monumental effort to run this one, regardless of whether it's on the PS6 or running on a PC with a graphics card we can't even comprehend yet. It's a real game, though, and that's enough to start dreaming about it.

2 Crimson Desert

2026's First Big Thing

Crimson Desert is coming in March 2026, and it's going to be the first big open-world splash of the year, as far as we know. The world looks enormous, and it's all going to be viewed through some of the best-looking graphics around.

We've seen so much of this game, and each time it makes you think, "Is this thing even real?" But it is, it's real, and it looks phenomenal. From the wild-looking environments that look like sci-fi fused with fantasy to the characters who look ripped right out of Game of Thrones to the creatures that are stunning in their design, it looks like this will be one of the games to beat come next year's Game of the Year awards.

The visual quality of the game should be the first thing to notice, as it comes from the Black Desert Online developers, and that game was definitely a looker. This attempt at taking that series open world should only increase that visual quality to go along with one of the most potential-filled games in ages.

1 Grand Theft Auto VI

The Godfather Comes Home

This time next year, we will likely have our hands on Rockstar's long-awaited next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, Grand Theft Auto VI, and it's looking like one of the most visually impressive games of all time. From the trailers, we're more or less in for an incredibly realistic look at a fictional version of Miami, Florida, and everything from the environments to the characters looks positively unreal.

Facial details, clothing details, lighting, cars, explosive effects, it's all insanely high fidelity, and considering the absurd budget the game has been reported to have, we should have one of the most breathtaking worlds ever, a year from now.

We're still waiting for a gameplay deep dive, but the bottom line is Rockstar does not mess around with graphics. Red Dead Redemption 2 is still one of the most stunning games around 7 years after its release, and Grand Theft Auto VI will likely be no different.