There’s hardly a better way of investing a player in the lore of a world than allowing for them to explore it themselves. Watch Dogs 2 Today's Prices Tom Clancy's The Division Today's Prices No Mans Sky Today's Prices The Witness Today's. That isn’t to say that open world game design is inherently bad, and it’s a particularly useful tool in story-rich RPG game development. No easy feat, but the year’s nominees manage to walk that ground comfortably. It's a third-person action shooter where players get to stack up crazy buffs and modifications for their guns. However, that doesn't diminish Risk of Rain 2's fun factor one bit.

In ancient times, gamers would refer to these gameplay segments as ‘levels,’ though those who grew up playing early Nintendo games couldn’t have known the joys of picking up fifteen different side quests and losing track of what you were doing on six separate occasions on your way from A to B. Risk of Rain 2 is a unique title as far as open-world games go since it's also primarily a rogue-like game. We’ve got 6 upcoming zombie games in queue. There comes a point where, rather than trek through empty fields or abandoned streets, it may be more convenient to simply expedite the process and cut straight to the next story mission. Zombie games are a stable in the wonderful world of video games, and 2016’s release schedule shows that zombie games are still as popular as ever. These days, of course, every third game that releases seems to boast the largest, most content-packed open world ever devised. Show Your GameFace The innovative character creation tool is revamped with deeper modifications, more apparel, equipment licenses, and specialty items. This may come across as gross hyperbole, but early open world games really were that rough. The game features 15 of the worlds top players, including Tiger Woods, John Daly, Vijay Singh, Ian Poulter, Michael Campbell, and Annika Sorenstam, the most decorated golfer on the LPGA Tour. Sure, games like Elite or Zork were commendable in terms of scope back in the day, but it wouldn’t be until recently that gamers could truly explore vast, fleshed-out landscapes without either putting up with obscenely-restrictive draw distances or trudging through a litany of loading screens. The concept of a free-flowing, expansive open world was, not so long ago, little more than a total pipe dream.

Best open world games of 2016