Open-world gamesaren’t a new thing. In fact, many people don’t know that the first open-world game came out way back in 1985. It was Mercenary, and while the game was very primitive in every way, it did give rise to one of the most-popular genres of gaming and paved the way for some of the greatest, most immersive open-world titles.
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But developers are always trying to innovate, and simply creating an open-world game wasn’t enough, which is how players got these six titles that were so ahead of their time when they were released that they’re still discussed today.
6Need For Speed: Underground 2
The Peak of the Franchise
Need for Speed: Underground 2
Even today, fans beg EA to create a remake of the legendary Need for Speed Underground 2. The newerNeed for Speed gamesjust aren’t the same thing, and it seems almost impossible that any game will be able to capture the charm of what these older titles did. It’s safe to say that Underground 2 probably ranks among the very best Need for Speed games, owing much of that to its revolutionary open world.
Apart from being the first Need for Speed game that featured a huge map where players could roam around as they pleased, the game made the world feel immersive and not just a random sandbox of empty roads and invisible walls. There’s traffic to watch out for, racers roaming around the map that players can challenge, shops to enter, cash to collect, secrets to find and race start-points to reach. All the races in the game take place on that very map, making it feel like an actual world to which the player belongs. This formula was later on used by nearly every open-world racing game.
Just Like Real Life
Released in 1999,Shenmuelaid the groundwork for what modern open-world games would later strive to achieve. Sega didn’t just create a typical open world with the freedom to explore, but an almost uncanny rendition of the city of Yokosuka, Japan. And it was so well done that players almost felt like they were present in this virtual world.
Much of that was due to the details the developers added to the game. With its dynamic day-night cycles, weather systems and unique daily routines of every NPC, Shenmue felt more like a slice of life than a traditional video game. Players could interact with almost every part of the environment, from vending machines to arcade games, creating an immersive experience that was unheard of at the time.
4The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Game that Pioneered RPG Genre
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Many people trace modern open-world action-adventure games back to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which pioneered what this genre should look and play like. When it was launched in 1998, there was no other game in the genre that could match its grandeur.
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The vast fields of Hyrule, combined with dungeons, villages and secrets scattered throughout, set a new standard for exploration and adventure. It also introduced mechanics like context-sensitive actions and a day-night cycle, making its world feel dynamic, and more importantly, real and immersive. The freedom to roam, discover and engage with its sprawling environment was a monumental step forward for open-world design in an action-adventure game, influencing countless games that followed.
3Grand Theft Auto 3
Rockstar Revolutionizing the Gaming Industry
Grand Theft Auto 3
Being one of the most revolutionary, if not the most popular, open-world sandbox titles in the history of video games, Grand Theft Auto 3 blew away every single gamer when it was released in 2001. Never before had players imagined being able to do literally anything they can imagine, legal or illegal, moral or immoral, socially questionable or not, with fully open arms and a roster of limitless possibilities.
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Liberty City wasn’t just a map; it was a fully-realized urban playground. The game allowed players unprecedented freedom; on top of completing the missions and experiencing the story of GTA 3, players could steal and drive cars and bikes, wreak havoc in the city using any of the various weapons in the game, and go on a rampage against the cops.
2The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
A Living, Breathing World
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Both the first two entries of Elder Scrolls had procedurally-generated worlds, and while that does mean that players can roam a world that is almost endless, such a setting won’t be well crafted and will lack the details and personalized touch that’s important to make a world feel more believable.
Enter Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, which was released in 2002 and set a benchmark for all 3D open-worldrole-playing gamesthat came before it. The game’s map wasn’t just massive, but was also packed with lore, unique locations and an unparalleled sense of freedom. Unlike many games of its time, Morrowind didn’t hold the player’s hand, but let them go wherever they wanted, take on hand-crafted quests that were meaningful and interact with characters that felt like they were part of a world where things happened whether the player was there or not.
1Sub Culture
Subnautica Before Subnautica Was a Thing
It’s almost sad that almost no one knows about Sub Culture. Manypeople who play Subnauticathink that its developers did something revolutionary by creating a fully-explorable underwater world full of flora and fauna of different kinds, but they fail to realize that this concept had already been executed by an old but criminally-underrated title called Sub Culture.
Developed by Criterion Games, published by Ubisoft and Released in 1997, Sub Culture was ahead of its time with its fully 3D underwater open-world setting. Players controlled a tiny submarine and explored a detailed aquatic world filled with diverse marine life, hidden treasures and warring factions. Never before did a game take on underwater open-world exploration to this level, and Sub Culture almost won GameSpot’s 1997 “Most Original Game” award. Sadly, because it was such a niche genre at the time, the game didn’t do too well commercially, which is why there was never a sequel.
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