The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is our recommendation for players who want to solve problems creatively. Elden Ring is the stronger choice for dangerous, self-directed discovery, while The Witcher 3 suits someone who wants memorable quests to give travel a purpose. Open-world games vary most in how they reward curiosity. Map size alone tells you little about the kind of decisions you will make between destinations.
Editorial illustration, not a game screenshot.
Four worlds built around different motivations
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Ultrahand lets Link combine objects into practical contraptions, while Fuse changes how equipment behaves. Choose this when inventing a solution sounds more enjoyable than following a single intended route. The freedom also asks for patience: an awkward creation can fail before the useful idea becomes clear.
- Elden Ring. The Lands Between reward choosing a direction and investigating what you find. A blocked route can become an invitation to explore elsewhere rather than repeat the same fight immediately. Choose it for uncertainty and challenge, not for an itinerary that explains every objective before you begin.
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Geralt’s work gives seemingly small journeys a human story. This is a strong match when you want conversations and consequences to justify the next detour. You shape decisions, but you are still playing an established character with an existing history rather than inventing an identity from nothing.
- Red Dead Redemption 2. Arthur Morgan’s life within a gang makes the world more than a collection of activities. Choose it if traveling slowly, listening and observing are part of the attraction. Its open landscape does not mean every story mission allows unrestricted improvisation, so expect a more directed narrative rhythm.
Compare the choices
| Game | Main appeal | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | Creative tools and physical puzzles | Experimentation can slow the journey |
| Elden Ring | Danger and hidden discoveries | Demanding combat and sparse direction |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | Authored quests and difficult choices | A defined protagonist rather than a blank slate |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | A detailed outlaw story and landscape | Deliberate pacing and guided missions |
What drives your exploration?. Comparison by play preference, not a numerical score.
Pick your preferred kind of freedom
Freedom can mean building an improvised vehicle, choosing which dangerous ruin to enter or deciding how to respond to a troubled stranger. These are different pleasures. Match freedom to your habits rather than assuming every open world should offer the same flexibility. If you mostly follow main quests, an excellent story matters more than hundreds of optional map markers.
Check hardware requirements and edition contents for your chosen platform, especially when expansions or upgraded versions share similar names. Open-world games on PS5 form one useful platform-specific subset; role-playing games and soulslike games describe different kinds of character progression and combat within these worlds. None of those labels guarantees a relaxed experience, so consider difficulty and pace alongside the scenery.