The open-world games trend certainly isn't going away because last year we saw many solid games that also just happened to feature large explorable worlds. Now lets take a look back and round up the best open-world games. So here are 10 of the best open-world games released throughout 2021.

Mafia Definitive edition

Starting off at number 10 let's talk Mafia Definitive edition. This game takes you the protagonist Tommy Angelo and drops you into the fictional city of lost heaven Illinois which was loosely based on Chicago. And man did they do a good job with this. Just the way the city looks, this 1930s great depression prohibition-type thing where culture is rapidly evolving and organized crime run rampant. The districts are really the most interesting thing, you have like the downtown area with the elevated trains, the tall buildings, the glitz and glam, and neon lights. Then you go over to more factory-style areas. There are suburbs there's a lot to experience here. This is based on the original mafia classic game there are not a ton of like open-world side quest shenanigans here. Mostly it's a straightforward single-player narrative. It's still fun to explore just because of the tone and atmosphere and just the general look of the buildings, the architecture, all of that it's just really cool because we don't get open world games like this that often. There aren't a ton of things to collect or random side missions or anything like that but the world they built here is commendable and is worth experiencing.

Mountain Blade 2 Banner Lord

Next over at number 9, we have Mountain Blade 2 banner lord. Which if there's one game on the list we're kind of making an exception for it's this one. It's like sort of open world sandbox. Some of it is separated by load screens but then you have the main overworld map which you can plan your conquests and all that. This game is more than you would think there are RPG elements to it and you can explore open environments and go about more of an RPG style thing. You can talk to NPCs, you can build relationships, you can engage in the local economy with shops and stuff like that which the developers did spend a lot of time on. You ride around on horseback or you go on foot and this is of course all while you build your army and conquer and fight and engage in the world of coloradio. Now the main name of the game of course still is the large-scale massive battles and all the strategy and stuff like that but we thought pointing out the open-world elements were important. 

Yakuza Like a Dragon

Next over number eight, we have Yakuza Like a Dragon which takes place in Yokohama and like any good yakuza game worth it's salt it takes place in a seedy red light district and once again they nail it. We've been advocating for these games forever and they are worth experiencing specifically because when you're not beating people up in the streets you're experiencing this world and they always go for more of a quality over quantity type thing. The cities aren't massive in these games and definitely not here you're not driving around in a car going wherever you want, you are on foot walking around getting to know all these people on the streets engaging in weird interesting wacky side quests, doing mini-games, spending money in all the highly detailed shops, besides the combat all of this stuff the experiences in this world you know engaging in this culture and just having fun in weird unconventional ways is why these games are so special and Yakuza like a Dragon definitely understands that. 

Immortals Phoenix Rising

Next over at number seven we have Immortals Phoenix Rising which is probably one of the more overlooked games of the year. It's probably one of the stronger Ubisoft games they've offered up in a while and that's because essentially what they did here was made very much a breath of the wild inspired game but mashing it with some elements they learned from making assassin's creed odyssey. So you're thrown in this massive cartoony world of greek mythology where you fight enemies, discover puzzles, go in dungeons, and climb up stuff, and fight big monsters and all that. It's so satisfying because of the way it rewards your progression everything you do if you discover like a hidden nook or cranny or solve an environmental puzzle in the world all of it goes directly towards improving your character in satisfying ways from loot or just resources and stuff to upgrade yourself. It's fun to just glide around with your wings or ride on horseback or on a mount or just run around and kill stuff. Either way we found it incredibly satisfying and a big surprise for the year.

Watch Dogs Legion

Over at number six, if we're talking about Ubisoft games we gotta mention Watch Dogs Legion which is also open world and it plops you into a near future London. It's so fun exploring this london, the way they built it is incredibly convincing especially with how they do the near future surveillance and tech riddled world. It almost kind of feels like a precursor to a real cyberpunk world and it's cool to check out especially if you've got a good pc. This thing might bring your PC to its knees but it's worth checking out because it can be absolutely gorgeous at times. Now while you might not fall in love with the characters or some of the gameplay elements doing open world shenanigans and just bopping around in London can be pretty satisfying if you give it a chance especially because they do a lot of interesting things here with elevation and the way vehicles work it's pretty clever in spots.

Ghosts of Tsushima

Next over at number five we have kind of a stark contrast with Ghosts of Tsushima which takes open world gameplay elements that we've seen in a million games but just makes them feel a bit more simple and more moment to moment more meaningful. Everything you do in this open world japanese island everything you discover any side quests you waste your time on doesn't really feel like time wasted or anything like that. It all feels directly meaningful to either the story and developing the world and jin the main character. Or improving your character like getting maybe a cool new katana or some very important resources. But it's done in a very natural way with how the game organically guides you from place to place with visual cues on screen so you're not constantly accessing the mini map and it's not overblown with a bunch of clutter. Not to mention like the combat and the story just make it a fantastic game all around but the actual world is beautiful and fun and worthwhile to explore and that's important.

Cyberpunk 2077

Now next over at number four we have Cyberpunk 2077. The big open world game of the year which has had some issues, cyberpunk has a lot of bugs and glitches and design flaws that make it a little tricky for everybody to enjoy. But beneath all of its problems and its shortcomings there is still a pretty decent solid game there. And at the top of that is probably night city itself this big massive californian cyberpunk city set in the future is visually just unlike anything you've ever seen. Yes there are some things that need to be worked out the npcs are brainless, the car traffic is absolutely mindless, you may get stuck in a building or you might fall through the ground because of all the glitches and bugs but if you are truly looking for immersion, you put on that cool music, you explore this world at night with the cool neon lights. If you have a decent pc or a next-gen console there is something special there and we're talking about the open world game so we're gonna highlight the open world of cyberpunk here. It can be pretty cool there are a lot of hidden little things to discover, weird characters to see, and just rpg style stuff to engage in. Is it the game to end all games? It was really hyped up to be? Maybe not but night city is pretty sweet and it lives up to what was developed in the tabletop game that this game is actually based on.

Spider-Man Miles Morales

Next at number 3 we have Spider-Man Miles Morales which many people will chalk up as just glorified dlc. Exploring the world is just as fun as it was with the original Spider-Man Ps4 game because you can't beat swinging around it's just it's just so much fun. It's more fun to get around web swinging than it is driving a car in any other open world game. So even if you're just going to do another random meaningless side quest the fact that you're swinging and jumping and flipping and while running to get there is awesome. Spider-man miles morales does take steps to make the side quests interesting and meaningful to what is going on and to developing and building out the world around miles and it works. Plus it's worth pointing out that the world is beautiful it features different times of day, different weather patterns, if depending on what you load in and it's set around christmas time in new york city which is one of the most magical places in the world. 

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Now down to number two we have Assassin's Creed Valhalla which is another big old Ubisoft open world game. But the near ancient setting of london is very cool and it's very fun to explore it as a viking. Cruising around the environment on your boat through these rivers hopping off your boat raiding and pillaging or just doing regular old assassins creed exploration can be very satisfying. There's still a lot of things to accomplish here there are tons and tons of things riddling the map to keep you busy. But it's worth pointing out that some of the side quests you'll stumble upon some of those characters you stumble upon are really really interesting and really out there. This assassin's creed game more than any other in the past was allowed to just go totally buck wild with the side objectives and try wacky experimental stuff and just weird story concepts that made this game memorable. While in some ways it just felt like another one of these games, the random things they make you do out in this massive open world can sometimes be pretty cool and very entertaining.

Microsoft's Flight Simulator

Now down to number one if we're talking open world games of 2021 we're gonna go for the unconventional pick for number one but it should actually be the most obvious. It's Microsoft's Flight simulator because it has like basically the whole world. This open world game uses real world data streaming in weather patterns, map data to give you the experience of flying anywhere in the world, and it is absolutely incredible and downright a sight to behold. What they built here is incredibly impressive even if you want to put on a more casual setting and just fly around easily and not really engage in the more hardcore simulation stuff it's kind of like experiencing google maps for the first time all over again. Remember when you first discovered google maps and you were like hey let's look up my house or hey let's look up my school basically now you're doing this in an airplane in three dimensions and it's pretty dope. Especially with the way they do it, with the way it's designed, with all the effects, the the real world wind physics, the detail on the ground level it all really sells it and makes it feel engaging.  Thank you for reading, leave a comment and See Ya!