With the highly anticipated release of Cyberpunk 2077 and Watch Dogs: Legion just around the corner, it's worth taking a look at other futuristic games during the wait. The open-world genre allows players to roam a breathtaking world full of activities, enabling a less linear and more creative approach to the game.
Great games such as Red Dead Redemption and Breath Of The Wild fall under the open-world category. However, this genre paired with the limitless and untethered gameplay brought about by a futuristic setting makes for some of the most engaging games out there. With that said, here are ten of the best futuristic open-world games according to Metacritic.
10 Destiny 2 (Metascore: 87; User Score: 4.4)
Destiny 2 is an open-world RPG with literal worlds to visit and explore. While other open-world games have regions and provinces to visit, Destiny 2 lets players travel across different planets, each with their own biomes and enemies. Players can customize their own character, assign him a race and a class, and team up with up to three other players to take on hordes of enemies. The party will also team up in fighting the huge boss at the end of every level. Though levels are set in linear stages in Destiny 2, players can have mindless fun in various free roam activities and events. However, despite a decent Metascore rating of 87, the game's user score is a low 4.4. But, most negative reviews were made before the game went free-to-play in 2019; so that's something to consider.
9 Death Stranding (Metascore: 82; User Score: 7.3)
It takes a lot of patience to appreciate this game, but once that taste is acquired, there's no going back. Death Stranding takes the most frustrating quest types—fetch quests, and makes it the central element of its gameplay and level design. The game takes it a step further and implements impossible terrain, realistically janky walking controls, plus the occupational hazards every delivery guy faces. Set in a post-apocalyptic world plagued by the cataclysmic 'Death Stranding,' players play as Sam, a delivery guy who has to push through with couriering packages for their respective customers despite the occurring devastation. That pizza's got to be delivered somehow. With its unique approach to the open-world genre, Death Stranding makes a mundane walking simulator feel so fulfilling.
8 Watch Dogs 2 (Metascore: 82; User Score: 7.6)
Set in a dystopian San Francisco future where technology gathers data on the lives and privacy of everyone, Watch Dogs 2 shows the negative and invasive effects of cutting-edge lifestyle technology. With their ability to hack into the system, Marcus and his band of "hacktivists" look to put a stop to the erroneous ways of the tech giants.
In the world of Watch Dogs 2, everything can be hacked from the vending machine to the city's power grid. The hacking is the fun part since every stoplight, every wearable, every car, even the coffee making machine is "smart" like a smartphone.
7 Final Fantasy XV (Metascore: 85; User Score: 8)
Taking place in a beautiful open-world, Final Fantasy XV is a JRPG centered around four youthful dudes who are basically the human counterparts of the Ninja Turtles. With 10 years in the making, the outcome is a wondrous jump from the previous Final Fantasy games. Players take control of Noctis. Though they control only one person, they are immersed in the friendship of the unified group from road trip banter to team-based attacks and combat dynamics. Final Fantasy XV is an amazing blend of action-packed slashing and character chemistry that justifies the long wait for this game.
6 Warframe (Metascore: 86; User Score: 8.4)
Though it wasn't initially an open-world game, Warframe has indeed gone into that direction. Released in 2013, the looter-shooter RPG featured an open-world area in 2017 where players can explore and do all sorts of different quests. Players can select from 75 warframes to play as, each with their own unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Up to four players can band up against hordes of enemies in this free-to-play game. Like Destiny 2, Warframe is packed to the brim with content and possesses some of the most engaging action elements seen in a shooter game; putting most $60 titles to shame.
5 Horizon Zero Dawn (Metascore: 89; User Score: 8.4)
Horizon Zero Dawn mixes the setting of the earliest known time period with the most futuristic elements possible. This futuristic timeline would be the result if cavemen discovered circuitry and coding instead of stone tools and weapons. Horizon Zero Dawn has a massive open world riddled with mechanical behemoths to hunt down.
Each enemy plays out like a Dark Souls boss with their own unique attack pattern and weaknesses. Players are given a plethora of weapons and traps, courtesy of cutting-edge technology, to take down these beasts.
4 NieR: Automata (Metascore: 91; User Score: 8.6)
NieR: Automata takes place in a dystopian universe where robots have taken over the world, prompting humans to live out their lives on the moon. Players take control of an android called '2B' to win back earth for the humans. This futuristic open-world game has huge bosses, hack-and-slash mechanics, and an interesting story underneath all the carnage and action. Nier: Automata does some wonderful work crafting a post-apocalyptic world abandoned by humans, showing how earth would look like colonized by a whole new civilization of robots.
3 Fallout 3 (Metascore: 91; User Score: 7.8)
Set before the events of Fallout 4, Fallout 3 takes place in post-nuclear 2277. Like its sequel, the game showcases technological advancements with a '50's aesthetic and feel. Fallout 3 takes a more industrial approach to the future with its huge power armor, giant post-apocalyptic vaults, and other big and clunky machines. Fallout 3 is a sandbox for players to experiment with different weapons and abilities in a world riddled with various enemies; from menacing raiders to radiated monstrosities. This RPG also has a dedicated modding community, allowing players to further push the creative boundaries of the game.
2 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Metascore: 95; User Score: 7.4)
Though Metal Gear Solid V is set in 1984, the advanced military technology featured in the game's franchise suggests that this is a game universe far advanced than our own. From bionic robot arms to four-legged metal gunners, the Metal Gear Solid universe possesses weaponry nowhere near 1984.
Gameplay-wise, Metal Gear Solid capitalizes on its open-world aspect, allowing players open-ended creativity to their approach to levels. The freedom this game gives to players is unlike any other open-world game. This stealth game can be as calm and tactical as Hitman, but also get as chaotic and reckless as Just Cause.
1 Batman: Arkham City (Metascore 96; User Score: 8.8)
2011's Batman: Arkham City lets players play as the caped crusader in a technology-forward yet crime-infested Arkham city. The urban landscape is dark and gritty as it should be, enriching the Batman experience for fans and gamers alike. However, the star of the game is its fast-paced combat system with its intuitive ease-of-use and punchy brutal attack animations. Players are given the entire arsenal of the bat-inspired vigilante, allowing them to glide across Arkham, and swoop down butt-kicking justice on thugs and cronies. With that being said, Batman: Arkham City is one of the most action-packed open-world games to date.