Open-world games have been around since gaming’s early days, but the genre has exploded in popularity since the 2010s, with titles like Skyrim and Elden Ring redefining gaming. However, while these games are wildly popular, many more open-world games never got the attention they deserved and were mostly overlooked by gamers.
Games like Batman: Arkham Origins are on par with the best open-world games, but for some reason, they didn’t become smash hits. Anyone looking for a new open-world game should take a look back at these lost classics, whether they’re revisiting them or experiencing them for the first time.
Mad Max Is an Amazing Video Game Adaptation
Movie tie-in titles are always a little hit-and-miss. Often, the developers involved aren’t given access to the property they’re meant to draw from. However, the 2015 Mad Max title from Avalanche Studios was in a very different position, because it had access to the IP and was able to do anything it wanted with it. That meant it became an original Mad Max game.
Part of the reason this title is forgotten may be that many assumed it would be a poor adaptation of a franchise that so many have come to love. Instead, with a desolate world to explore alongside some of the best racing and car-combat mechanics in an open-world game, Mad Max showed how much respect and love it had for the wider series.
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Spore Is an Exceptional Open-World Sandbox Title
A select few may remember the strange open-world sandbox title Spore. However, it wasn’t exactly a mainstream hit, nor was it conventional in its gameplay mechanics. Released in 2008 and developed by Maxis, it centered on creating a species in an alien-like environment. Players could explore this world and watch their creations evolve organically.
What may first seem like a creation suite focused on building an early organism soon becomes something far more ambitious as civilization develops. Players follow their species through the centuries as it rapidly changes, with the planet becoming a zone of conflict as factions war against one another. It isn’t a conventional open-world title, but it’s a brilliant one.
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows Was a Great Crossover Game
In recent years, the Spider-Man gaming slate has been dominated by the Insomniac games. Those titles are modern classics, but many earlier Spider-Man games have been overlooked, including Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, a 2008 crossover game featuring characters like Venom, Spider-Man, and Wolverine.
Web of Shadows had a lot of potential, along with an open world for Spider-Man to swing through. While the mechanics may not be as polished as later Spider-Man games, the comic book-inspired narrative was a real strength. It was one of those original Marvel games that felt as if it belonged in Earth-616 continuity, and it’s a must-play for fans of the best superhero games.
Sunset Overdrive Is an Underrated Xbox Game
Speaking of Insomniac Games, the studio is known for far more than just the Spider-Man series. One open-world title that set the stage for what the company would go on to achieve: Sunset Overdrive, a spectacular outing that used incredible traversal abilities and made the most of a truly smooth combat system.
Released in 2014, the game was energetic and inventive, with players moving across an imaginative city and fighting all manner of mutant-like enemies. This was a title built around style, soundtrack, and speed. While it didn’t become the franchise it should’ve been, it remains a great reminder of the developer’s original work.
Red Dead Redemption Has Been Overtaken By Its Successor
Red Dead Redemption 2 is still considered not only the best game Rockstar Games has ever produced, but also the height of the RPG genre. It’s a fantastic Western title too, but it took many cues from its predecessors, and the original Red Dead Redemption is often overshadowed by the success of its sequel.
The first Red Dead Redemption is a tremendous open-world experience in its own right. It’s bold, narratively gripping, and doesn’t hold back in its combat either. Released in 2010, it may be held back from feeling like a modern gem because of the technological limitations of the time, but it remains close to perfection all the same.
ToonTown Was the Ultimate Online Game
ToonTown is a game that will resonate with a very specific generation of players because it’s a throwback title steeped in nostalgia. Developed for Disney by Schell Games, the 2003 online experience offered an open world to explore, full of toons and the Cogs threatening to overrun this fun environment and make everything boring.
With young players getting a whole creative suite to enjoy, pets to own, houses to design, and prank battles to engage in, there was simply so much to do. It was eventually replaced by Club Penguin as the go-to social title, but ToonTown still offered classic Disney fun in spades. Many still try to return to the title today, despite it never quite becoming as mainstream as its competitors.
Maneater Was the Jaws of Its Time
Maneater is essentially the Jaws of the gaming world and one of the most underrated horror games ever made. Released in 2020 and developed by Tripwire Interactive and Blindside Interactive, it’s a game where players control a shark in an open world, seeking bloody revenge on some fishermen. However, she does so through brutal force.
This is a survival game where players chomp their way through enemies, one bite at a time. It’s hilarious, eccentric, and plays on so many tropes of the genre. While it’s pretty straightforward in concept, it’s executed so perfectly that it’s hard to overlook what it contributes. It’s a shame so few remember this near-hit.
Batman: Arkham Origins Is Largely Ignored By Fans
The Batman: Arkham series consists of some of the greatest superhero games ever produced. Rocksteady is well known for the spectacle and detail put into those Batman titles, but one of them stands out from the rest. That’s because Batman: Arkham Origins was treated differently, developed by WB Games Montreal, and set as a prequel to the main series.
Released in 2013, the game is often forgotten because it isn’t part of the main run and uses different voice actors in the lead roles, yet it’s a gorgeous open-world interpretation of Gotham and a great insight into Batman and Joker’s relationship in the early days. It’s a great shame that more people didn’t give the title a chance, as it’s a love letter of sorts to DC Comics.
The Original Assassin’s Creed Was Actually Open-World
There’s a huge discussion over which Assassin’s Creed game is the best, especially as the series continues to shape the open-world genre. However, many people forget the massive map and storytelling components of the first game in the franchise, which was released back in 2007.
Not only did the title kick off the franchise, but it also mastered the stealth mechanics that made the series famous. Sure, its early sequels may have overshadowed its successes, and later RPG releases changed the franchise entirely, but that first Assassin’s Creed is an exceptional example of building firm foundations on which to flourish.
Forspoken Deserves a Second Chance
Forspoken wasn’t well-received when it debuted, and many would be shocked to see it featured here at all. The Square Enix experience failed to fully capture what it set out to do, and yet the 2023 release somehow had so much potential. Players may have passed it by, but there’s an argument to be made that it achieved everything it needed to.
It portrayed a gorgeous open world, great traversal and combat systems, a solid narrative arc, and a really interesting franchise base to build from. Forspoken might not have been able to progress beyond that initial game, but players should come to appreciate exactly what works about the title and celebrate what it brings to the table.
