Here are some of the best games with open worlds, that are compressed but beautiful.
A Short Hike is a game that is just as calming and wholesome as the name suggests. It's about exploration, relaxation, and enjoying the little moments. You play as Claire, a bird who goes on a small adventure to reach the summit of Hawk Peak. Along the way, you explore a beautiful and charming island, meet quirky characters, and uncover hidden treasures. The island is designed with a lot of love for detail and allows you to roam around freely and discover everything in your own pace.
© Adam Robinson-Yu
Outer Wilds is an open-world, mystery-adventure game set in a solar system trapped in a 22-minute time loop.
Developed by Mobius Digital, it places players in the shoes of an astronaut exploring various planets to uncover the secrets behind an ancient alien race, the Nomai, and understand the cause of the impending supernova that resets the universe.
The game world is rich and diverse, featuring unique planets, each with its own physical properties. For example, you can explore a hollow planet that crumbles away, or visit an underground city slowly consumed by rising sand. The game focuses on exploration and discovery over combat, allowing players to solve environmental puzzles at their own pace.
© Mobius Digital
Though the world is focused on a small district, the Yakuza games make Kamurocho feel vibrant and full of life. Every corner offers unique mini-games, side stories, and activities that create the illusion of a much larger world.
Kamurocho is filled with eccentric characters, and you can engage in everything from karaoke and arcade games to running cabaret clubs or construction sites, depending on the game. The district evolves with each title, adding new locations and expanding existing ones while still maintaining that familiar feel of the streets that we know from older titles.
© Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Dishonored is an action-adventure game developed by Arkane Studios. Released in 2012, the game is set in the industrial, steampunk city of Dunwall, where you play as Corvo Attano, the bodyguard to the Empress. After being framed for her murder, Corvo takes revenge, using supernatural powers granted by a mysterious figure known as the Outsider.
The game's world is rich with dark, atmospheric environments, blending elements of Victorian England and steampunk aesthetics. Players can approach missions with stealth or aggressive combat, with multiple ways to achieve objectives. The player’s choices throughout the game affect the outcome, creating a dynamic narrative and environment based on their decisions. Overall Dishonored is a must-play for anyone who appreciates good environmental design and dark aesthetics.
© Arkane Studios
Set aboard Talos I, a space station orbiting the moon, Prey follows Morgan Yu, who must survive an alien outbreak. The player can use a variety of weapons, tools, and supernatural abilities gained from the alien research to explore the station, solve puzzles, and uncover a complex narrative about identity, memory, and human experimentation.
The game’s world is highly detailed, with a mix of art deco design and futuristic sci-fi environments. Talos I is a sprawling, interconnected station where players can explore freely, using different approaches to combat and problem-solving. Prey is praised for its atmospheric tension, deep world-building, and the flexibility it offers in playstyle, which draws comparisons to other immersive sims like System Shock and Bioshock.
Fun fact: Prey (2017) is not a direct sequel to the original 2006 game of the same name, but a reimagining of the concept by Arkane Studios.
© Arkane Studios
Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided offer a blend of stealth, action, and RPG elements in dystopian, cyberpunk settings where players must solve conspiracies and choose between various moral decisions.
While Human Revolution is praised for its narrative, Mankind Divided stands out for its gameplay enhancements and level design.
Both games don't have open worlds in the conventional sense but still offer large, interconnected environments with multiple ways to approach objectives. The focus is on creating a rich, immersive atmosphere rather than sheer map size, allows you to explore everything in your own pace and way inside a confined but open-feeling space.
© Ion Storm
The latest Zelda: Link's Awakening is a remake of the iconic 1993 Game Boy classic. It captures the same feel that the old-school top-down Zelda games had, while taking designs from Breath of the Wild and other 3D Zeldas and making it cute. Echoes of Wisdom, which just came out in 2024, took that same art style and gave it some of that creativity and sandboxy vibe that Tears of the Kingdom gave us.
Both of these games found the perfect way of blending the nostalgia of classic Zelda with the depth of modern gameplay. Divided into our known Zelda biomes of Water, Fire, Desert and even some new ones, both of these games give you so much of that beautiful Zelda energy whilst still being accessible to all kinds of players, even if you never played a Zelda game before you'll have a LOT of fun with both.
© Nintendo
Subnautica really is a game like no other. The game is set on an alien ocean planet, 4546B, where the player controls Ryley Robinson, a survivor of the spaceship Aurora, which crash-landed on the planet. You are exploring the depths of the ocean, crafting tools for your survival, and need to scavenge for resources while trying to survive the planet's dangers, including various marine life and environmental hazards.
If deep waters give you chills, this game might not be your cup of tea—because that's exactly what it's all about! Subnautica brilliantly captures the awe-inspiring beauty of an untouched underwater world, teeming with vibrant life and mystery. It’s an immersive experience that showcases the wonders (and terrors) of the ocean in a way that feels both mesmerizing and fantastical.
© Unknown Worlds Entertainment
Blacktail is a first-person action-adventure game that reimagines the Slavic folklore of Baba Yaga. Developed by The Parasight and published by Focus Entertainment, the game puts players in the role of Yaga, a young woman accused of witchcraft and cast out of her village. As Yaga, you explore a mystical forest full of strange creatures, magic, and secrets, all while shaping your own destiny.
The game world is a beautifully eerie forest filled with vibrant yet haunting visuals, where both light and dark forces seem to coexist.
© The Parasight S.A.
Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of the most legendary games in history. For many, it was the first ever 3D game back in the 90s, opening the doors for fantasy worlds, adventures and heroes. The world in Ocarina of Time was semi-open, giving you access to a wide areas and opening up some sections later on. Until now, this game has truly aged like a fine wine, yes- it was quite innovative upon release already, but still remains highly replayable and features some of the best soundtracks in videogame history.
So, the story of Ocarina of Time is not only about the tale of Hyrule and the Triforce, but also generally a story about good (Link, Zelda) versus evil (Ganondorf). Additionally, it is the story about a boy who has lost his childhood and was forced to grow up, only to carry the burden of a whole country.
© Nintendo
Open-world games are awesome but they sometimes tend to be a bit too overwhelming with thousands of side quests, teleporation features and a map of the size of a whole country. Let's take a look at the games that have managed to create worlds that are condensed but just as effective, meaningful, beautiful and rich in content as those huge AAA monster open-world games - or even better.
