Open-world gaming has had a sharp rise in popularity over the last decade. When done right, open-world games provide great value for money by offering players a huge game world to explore that is packed with quests to complete, sights to see, and various activities to take part in.
Although bucket-loads of new open-world games are releasing every month these days, it certainly wasn't always the case, as hardware limitations and budget constraints made open-worlds a rarity in the past. The following games were all instrumental in making open-world gaming what it is today and deserve credit for taking a chance on the open-world genre when its success wasn't a certainty.
7 Burnout Paradise
When people think of quintessential open-world video games, street racers don't tend to spring to mind. However, Burnout Paradise fully deserves its spot on this list, as the way that players approached its open-world changed how developers would treat the genre in the future.
When Burnout Paradise's open-world was announced, many Burnout fans were unhappy, as they thought that it would detract from the events and races. It seems that many people changed their tune, though, as "90 percent of players didn't even touch the races," which surprised producer Matt Webster who said, "we looked at some of our data and realized we didn't know our audience at all."
Instead of partaking in racing events, many players were instead choosing to simply drive around and explore the open world while utilizing the game's social features. Other developers took notice of this, and the rest is history.
6 Assassin's Creed 2
The Assassin's Creed series has become one of the biggest names in not just open-world gaming but gaming in general. The third-person adventure games are known for adopting the quintessential "Ubisoft style" of open-world design, an approach that is divisive but undeniably successful.
Assassin's Creed 2 was the first game to truly nail this "Ubisoft style" of open-world design with its plethora of quests, side-quests, and activities to partake in, which fill the player's map once they synchronize the area. Although some criticize this approach for being too railroaded and lacking subtlety, there's no denying how influential it has been.
5 Fallout 3
Fallout 3 may not have aged as well as some other games on this list, though its influence on the open-world genre can certainly still be felt. The game kicks off with a fantastic tutorial section where the player is confined to a vault, giving them a familiar sense of linear claustrophobia that was common in mid-2000s games.
However, once the protagonist manages to escape the vault, they and the player both share a sudden sense of freedom as they look over the baron wasteland. Although this sense of freedom is common in mainstream gaming today, it was a jarring feeling for many people at the time.
4 The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
From one Bethesda game to another, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim was released, believe it or not, over a decade ago now, though it is still one of the most played open-world games today. Skyrim may not be the most innovative game on this list, though its popularity has persuaded numerous developers over the years to adopt many of its design features in their open-world games.
Even after all these years, Skyrim is still a go-to game for many people, which is a testament to how much there is to do in the game's gargantuan world.
3 Shadow of the Colossus
When Shadow of the Colossus was first released, there was almost nothing else like it in gaming. Not only was the concept of an open-world still fairly unique at the time, but the lack of basic enemies was jarring for many people and enough to make some gamers dismiss Shadow of the Colossus without even playing it.
Japan Studio and Team Ico were right to stick to their guns, as the 2005 release would go on to become one of the most beloved releases of the 2000s. The "emptiness" that put many people off the game would become one of its charms, as for many people, Shadow of the Colossus introduced the joy of simply exploring a game-world, leading to countless playground myths and theories about what else could be lurking in the mysterious land.
2 Grand Theft Auto 3
Grand Theft Auto 3 was released in October 2001 and had a drastic shift in gameplay style from its two predecessors. Whereas the first two Grand Theft Auto games featured a top-down perspective, Grand Theft Auto 3 introduced the third-person perspective that is now synonymous with the series.
The game also offered an incredibly detailed open-world for the early 2000s, which went above and beyond anything else seen in gaming at the time. Grand Theft Auto 3 has been improved upon in almost every aspect since its release, but the game deserves recognition for laying the foundations of modern open-world gaming.
1 The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda is by far the oldest game on this list, having first released all the way back in 1986 on the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was the first entry in the long-running series of the same name and is one of the most influential games of all time.
The Legend of Zelda was the first introduction to an open world for many people, as hardware limitations at the time meant that most players were used to full levels that entirely took place on one or two screens. Nintendo's game, however, dropped players into an open world that seemed enormous for the time and gave them complete freedom to go in any direction that they wanted and complete dungeons in any order.
Although the game's open-world is primitive by today's standards, the design ideas were years ahead of their time in the mid-80s. The game was even a significant inspiration for the latest main series Legend of Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, as it adopted a similar design philosophy of giving players complete freedom in their adventure.