It’s hard to dispute the fact that The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is still a masterclass of an open-world RPG, which still gets praise and frequent new content thanks to the mods that make it so popular over a decade after release. Even with the numerous re-releases and special editions, however, much of Skyrim‘s legacy has only been kept alive due to those fan-made expansions that elevate the experience far beyond what the vanilla game could provide.
While few games have offered the same unique blend of open-world exploration and incredible atmosphere that Skyrim provides, the years haven’t been too friendly on the classic open-world RPG. With new entries in the genre offering revolutionary new mechanics or simply expanding upon the foundations laid by open-world games like Skyrim, several titles have managed to outshine Skyrim‘s original gameplay offerings.
Kingdom Come Deliverance Delivers Gritty Realism Over Fantasy
Although it might lack the fantastical scale that make Skyrim and most of the other games on this list stand out, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is one of the few games out there that offers a historically grounded open world while still being a joy to explore. Benefited by an unparalleled level of immersion in its first-person experience, KCD2 rarely pulls its punches when it comes to forcing players to engage with its unique gameplay mechanics.
While the grounded experience might not be for everyone, KCD2‘s medieval setting is incredibly detailed and filled to the brim with environmental storytelling and characters that breathe life into the world. It excels at making you feel like you’re truly a part of the story rather than being the sole focus, unlike games where the world and its characters seemingly bend to your every whim.
KCD2 offers astounding levels of immersion that easily rivals The Elder Scrolls at its best with its visuals, dynamic NPCs, and tactile traversal mechanics that don’t let you take easy shortcuts. Each encounter rewards you for playing into its combat systems and role-playing mechanics, offering real consequences for those that try to play it like it was any other bog-standard open-world RPG as opposed to the grounded immersive sim that it aspires to be.
TLOZ: Tears Of The Kingdom Beats Out Skyrim’s Sense Of Discovery
While it might not have the most in-depth character dynamics that you would expect from most of Skyrim‘s competitors, if there’s one thing that both The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and its predecessor Breath of the Wild have in common, it’s that their open-worlds are some of the most inspiring environments you’ll ever come across.
Even with the hardware limitations of the Switch, TOTK‘s world has an absolutely gorgeous cell-shaded style that still holds up well against modern triple-a titles, which pairs excellently with its wide open vistas and expansive world-building. An unparalleled level of freedom that lets you explore almost every inch of its world either by climbing, flying, or barreling through fields on horseback, which beats out Skyrim‘s more limited verticality.
While all of these features are similarly included in the original Breath of the Wild, which could still be described as somewhat on the level of Skyrim, Tears of the Kingdom takes the experience to even greater heights. With the introduction of several new mechanics and the ability to construct your own vehicles to explore its massive open world, the sequel is constantly finding new ways to encourage players to venture out far distances, while offering countless side quests and additional content that can take hundreds of hours to complete.
Elden Ring’s Sense Of Adventure Is Absolutely Unparalleled
Although the narrative of Elden Ring is not nearly as straightforward as Skyrim‘s far more digestible story and quest presentation, that’s part of the charm that made Elden Ring so endearing when it released. Revolutionizing the open-world genre that had become stale with objective markers and endless collectibles, Elden Ring instead offered an open-world experience solely driven by player curiosity and the innate sense of exploration.
While you can certainly power through the main bosses and ignore most of Elden Ring‘s side content if you want to, opening the doors to Limgrave for the very first time and realizing the sheer massive scale that the world of Elden Ring operates on is an unprecedented feeling of freedom. Since its release, almost nothing has been able to recapture the same sensibility, except for its own Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.
Elden Ring‘s revolutionary scale can be its downfall for some players, with fighting repeat bosses, dungeons, and incredibly confusing questlines being a common criticism of the GOTY-winning title. Even these drawbacks couldn’t stop Elden Ring from becoming one of the most iconic open world games of all time, however. Years after release, it’s still getting official new content and seeing players find new methods to defeat bosses, uncover mindblowing secrets, and craft new lore theories.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Takes Immersion To A Whole New Level
If there is one studio you can trust to make games with massive open worlds to stand up to the likes of The Elder Scrolls, Rockstar is easily at the top of the list. Red Dead Redemption 2 blows its predecessor out of the water, and the incredibly immersive open-world experience offered by its Wild West setting is also one that is still being used as a benchmark for countless games years after release.
The game offers plenty of freedom and even encourages players to explore the open world through its various hunting activities, side quests, collectibles, or simply to see what else the world has hiding for them to uncover. Red Dead Redemption 2 ultimately set a new bar for open-world games moving forward, much like Skyrim did when it released back in 2011.
Even putting its gorgeously open world aside, the story, characters, and performances of the Red Dead Redemption 2 cast are leagues ahead of Skyrim in just about every measure. It all comes together to create an unforgettable narrative experience that sticks with players years after putting the controller down for the last time, which is only further enhanced by its beautifully crafted open world.
The Witcher 3 Provides Far More Engaging Character Stories
While Skyrim‘s open-world is one of its best-selling points, time hasn’t been too kind to the actual quest lines offered by its RPG experience, which the environmentally diverse world of The Witcher 3 has managed to continually improve upon. With the world of The Wticher playing just as much of a role as its inhabitants in pushing its story forward, the believable fantasy setting offers fantastic storylines in spades that were further expanded through its award-winning expansions.
Even putting aside the advantage of already having well-established characters to build upon, both the main cast and the side characters of The Witcher 3 provide memorable moments for veteran Witcher fans and those have no prior knowledge of the franchise alike. Quests turn from simple objectives into meaningful decisions and stories that have genuine consequences based on your actions, many of which don’t have a clear-cut answer for their morally grey outcomes.
Although The Witcher 3 does lack Skyrim‘s ability to forge your own destiny that its more fantasy sandbox setting provides, the level of quality that the writing of The Witcher 3‘s characters, overarching story, and countless questlines operate on an entirely different level than Bethesda’s flagship RPG. Its similarly massive open world has countless secrets and hidden stories for you to uncover, ultimately providing an experience that can be even more memorable than The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
- Released
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November 11, 2011
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
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Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher(s)
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Bethesda Softworks
- Engine
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Creation Engine
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