Top 10 Video Game Series That Should Go Open World

It seems that everything is going Open World these days, from Zelda to Metal Gear, so maybe its time these games joined the fray! Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today, we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Video Game Series That Should Go Open World.

For this list, we’re looking at game franchises that have never bothered stepping into large open world maps, some of these entries do have freely explorable locales, but are nowhere near open ended enough to be considered open world … yet.

#10: “Deus Ex” (Jenson era) (2011-)

Specifically thinking about the Jenson era (being “Human Revolution” and “Mankind Divided”), the “Deus Ex” series is due to make a leap into open world gameplay – and ideally, they’d be able to preserve some of the environmental density that made the latest installment so intriguing. Littered with government conspiracies, hacking, stealth mechanics, and even the dreaded Illuminati, making the game open world would be like making a Matrix video game that’s actually good. Call it an excuse, but we’d also like to play as Adam Jenson a little while longer. Once the end of the campaign hits, our only quench is playing through the game again. Should the move be made, we’ll happily pay the $60, so long as we don’t go through that Augment Your Pre-Order B-S again.

#9: “Mega Man Legends” (1997)

The closest we ever had to open world Mega Man was this classic series on the first Playstation. Volnutt’s adventures were one of the last of the fun Mega Man games before we started getting games with names that seemed like they were generated by slot machines. These games are loaded with all kinds of awesome! If the series were to return, today’s technology would allow a more elaborate connection of the worlds. Where could Mega Man take inspiration from anyways? Well, there’s a pretty big list, but we’re thinking the “Fallout” series from Bethesda. Odd choice of reference, yes, but the results could prove interesting.

#8: “Kingdom Hearts” series (2002-)

So, Square Enix, what are you doing sitting on all of those Disney properties? You can show us the world, shining, shimmering, and splendid, yet, we’re restricted from full exploration. We have the technology to let you paint with all the colors of the wind. Don’t turn us into poor unfortunate souls and keep the linear gameplay when you release “Kingdom Hearts 3”. Open those borders up and you can go from zero to hero in no time flat. Zero to hero. Just like that. Wow, did we really just go through a whole entry referencing Disney songs?

#7: “Sly Cooper” series (2002-2013)

With a cocky personality akin to Robin Hood…hell, who are we kidding? He pretty much is Robin Hood. This deceptive raccoon of justice has only had four games in the series, the last being “Thieves in Time”. What’s even weirder is that developer Sucker Punch has done open world games before. Anyone remember “Infamous”? So, why haven’t these guys applied what they learn to a new Sly game? We understand if you want a move on, but release one more game? Just to bring the series to a close? Give it the same treatment as Infamous, borrow some pages from Assassin’s Creed, and everything will be dandy.

#6: “Sonic the Hedgehog” series (1991-)

Let’s address the elephants in the room; Sonic ’06, the Sonic Adventure games, and Sonic Boom. Many of the recent games had Hub world, but that’s not quiiite the same thing. All three were also downright terrible games, but that’s beside the point. Sonic still has a chance to come out with a good game that isn’t made by the fans. Don’t get us wrong, though. “Sonic Mania” looks amazing. However, considering the improvement in game animation and hardware, we wouldn’t mind seeing “Sonic Adventure 3”. This time, let’s try going off the rails, literally. A lot of the fans seem to think so.

#5: “Spyro the Dragon” series (1998-2000)

We’re specifically talking about the original trilogy, and not the hideous Skylanders version. Exploring the Dragon Kingdom really made us feel like there was a whole universe waiting for us. From chasing egg thieves in the beautiful valleys of the Artisan World to burning the bums of Ripto and Gnasty Gnorc, living the life of a dragon has never been this much fun, that is, if you leave out that greedy, bribing Moneybags. Expand the world, scatter those devilish egg thieves and hard-to-find gems, and Spyro’s ability to fly making traversal a breeze, and you got yourself Spyro’s next successful game! Or a remaster trilogy a la Crash Bandicoot style.

#4: “Uncharted” series (2007-)

With the tale of Nathan Drake brought to close as of May 2016, is it necessary to say this is the end for the franchise as a whole? Well, it doesn’t have to be, and creative director Neil Druckmann doesn’t think so either. Uncharted 4 gave us a tease of what an Open World rendition of the series would have been like with sequences such as Madagascar’s plains portrayed in such expansive beauty. Instead of sending players on direct courses, why not let us find the temples and tombs ourselves? It’ll add to the sense of wonder and will certainly intrigue players with different lore scattered among them. And hey, if Uncharted won’t go open world, Tomb Raider surely will, right?

#3: “Halo” series (2001-)

Here’s an interesting tidbit; Halo was actually planned to be an open world game. What held them back was our old friend, time constraints. That’s a shame because the idea of being able to freely explore a giant ring in space, where you could see the opposite side of the world by looking up had a lot of potential. Imagine having the ability to grab a Pelican or Banshee and fly directly to the opposite end of the ring at anytime, or better yet, imagine how this would play out in Multiplayer. Considering we saw a Halo ring at the end of Halo 5, It’s certainly possible for the series to go back to its roots.

#2: “Monster Hunter” series (2004-)

Hunting monsters in the wild never gets old. You know what would be even more kickass? Traversing across an expansive world in order to hunt them. Currently the areas in Monster Hunter have large sweeping vistas, but in reality, the maps are segmented into different zones, and while the standard quest structure of taking up hunts would largely remain the same, the scripted nature of said quests offer little in the way of surprises. I mean with a free roam mode how awesome would it be to find a Kirin you weren’t even expecting?Open world play could implement real-world hunting skills. Hop to it, Capcom!


Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few Honorable Mentions:

“Prince of Persia” series (1989-2013)

“Duke Nukem” series (1991-)

“Ninja Gaiden” series (1988-2014)

#1: “Pokémon” series (1998-)

For years fans have be demanding a fully realized AAA Pokémon title, with fans often pointing to either Skyrim or World of Warcraft for examples. Traditionally Pokémon has remained on Handhelds due to Nintendo pushing the incentive of meeting up with friends and trading with those who have different versions of the game, but now with the Nintendo Switch showing that it can be a Handheld unit AND support games like Skyrim, there really is no reason for why the series shouldn’t go open world. Whether it ends up being an MMO or a 3D adventure game, it could easily make a case to be the very best, Like no Pokémon game ever was.


Agree with our list? Which games would you like to see make the move to open world gameplay? For more explorative Top 10’s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com!