The PlayStation Plus Game Catalog is a great home for open-world games, and the amount of content you can get from your subscription is a pretty great deal. PS Plus’ proclivity for open-world titles is due in no small part to it being a destination for many PlayStation exclusives well after their release, but a few all-time great third-party games make the cut as well.
The games below don’t all necessarily take the “biggest” moniker at face value. Some have truly massive open worlds, while others dazzle with their breadth of content, and a few qualify as “biggest” in a more metaphorical sense. All of them feature open-world maps to some degree, though, and they’re all worth your time if you have a PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium membership.
Elite Dangerous
Frontier Developments, 2014
Elite Dangerous is technically the biggest game on this list, when taken literally. In the MMO space flight sim, you can explore more than 400 billion star systems, each with unique stars, planets, moons, and other cosmic bodies.
The main draw of Elite Dangerous is its persistent online universe. Players and the interactions between their factions end up organically telling Elite Dangerous‘ story – a living world of sorts. It’s an impressive space sim, with more than a hundred thousand star systems modeled on real ones found in the Milky Way.
Fallout 4
Bethesda, 2015
Fallout 4 sees quite a bit of derision among the modern Fallout games simply because of its voiced protagonist, but it’s still more than worth your time if you’re looking for a great open-world game. The nuclear wasteland that was once Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding towns is incredibly well realized, and just wandering around will get you into all sorts of odd adventures.
The recently released (and unfortunately buggy) Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition bundles in the official DLC and a bunch of curated mods, but starting out with the vanilla experience via PlayStation Plus won’t leave you feeling like your missing out. Its setting makes it a great game for American history buffs, as all sorts of revolutionary happenings get twisted to fit Fallout‘s trademark satire.
Grand Theft Auto 5
Rockstar Games, 2013
If you’re not among the masses not-so-patiently waiting for Grand Theft Auto 6, it’s likely because you haven’t played GTA 5. Even over a decade later, the ambition behind Grand Theft Auto 5 is plain to see. Its narrative has three different protagonists, all professional criminals, who plan a series of heists in a Los Angeles analog called Los Santos.
Even if the story doesn’t hook you (I prefer GTA 4‘s narrative myself), booting up GTA 5 just to drive around and cause some havoc can be a great way to mindlessly decompress. Racking up wanted stars in Grand Theft Auto is a timeless video game activity for a reason, and GTA 5 has the most modern, reactive version of the series’ hallmark bedlam yet.
Bethesda, 2011
This list wouldn’t be complete without another bona fide open-world classic: The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. It needs virtually no introduction; Skyrim is a must-play if you are looking for an open-world RPG. Also made by Bethesda, Skyrim has a lot of the same appeal as Fallout 4 – head in any direction, and you’ll find something fun to do, this time with a fantasy slant.
What I personally appreciate about The Elder Scrolls is its extensive, cohesive world-building. Skyrim is just one of several provinces on the continent of Tamriel, which itself is on a large planet known as Nirn. TES is a long-running Bethesda original, and if you’re looking to get lost in a new fictional world, look no further. There are even hundreds of in-universe books to read.
God Of War / God Of War Ragnarök
Santa Monica Studio, 2018 / 2022
You caught me – I’m cheating a little bit by putting two games here (and I’ll do it one more time on this list), but both the 2018 soft reboot of God of War and its direct sequel, God of War Ragnarök, are in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, so there’s no reason to stop with just the first. Both games are split into various explorable zones, so they’re not contiguous open worlds, but there’s still plenty of exploration to be had.
I’m a big fan of the series’ revamped combat in these two titles, but the real draw is their cinematic storytelling. Both are animated in such a way as to make the entire game seem like one continuous camera shot (think Birdman or Russian Ark for film equivalents). If you’re interested in the technical side of gaming, they’re both very impressive, and you might shed a few tears at the touching father/son story.
Shadow Of The Colossus
Bluepoint Games, 2018
Few games enjoy a vaunted status like Shadow of the Colossus, and the 2018 remake deserves all the praise. Bluepoint Games revamped Team Ico’s 2005 original with all new visuals and a more intuitive control scheme. If you’re looking for incredible (and dare I say, unprecedented?) atmosphere, read no further. Just download Shadow of the Colossus and play it.
If you require a bit more convincing, the game is about exploring an almost melancholic world with your horse to hunt down several gargantuan colossi in the interest of returning the soul to a woman you brought to the abandoned land. For being so stripped back, Shadow of the Colossus has an astounding amount of emotion, and climbing all over the giant beasts is unforgettable.
Marvel’s Spider-Man / Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Insomniac Games, 2018 / 2020
Another one-two punch, this time from your friendly neighborhood Spider-Men (Spider-Mans… Spiders-Man…). Marvel’s Spider-Man and its sequels have, in my opinion, the best implementation of the freeflow combat system since it was popularized by the Batman: Arkham series. Beating up various supervillains’ goons is both high-flying and acrobatic, with a very high ceiling for mastery because of the sheer number of gadgets in Peter Parker’s and Miles Morales’ possessions.
But even the combat doesn’t approach the sheer joy of swinging around New York City in these games. They take place in a truncated adaptation of Manhattan (and Miles Morales has a pervasive holiday theme), and they’re a couple of those games where you will never be compelled to fast travel until you go back to clean up all the side content for the platinum trophies.
Ghost Of Tsushima
Sucker Punch Productions, 2020
Much like Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, Ghost of Tsushima has excellent combat, but really excels in open-world exploration. Its exacting katana fights use a stance system to give you a sort of rock-paper-scissors way to always have the upper hand based on what kind of enemy you’re facing, but the highlight is getting to explore its gorgeous world.
Ghost of Tsushima‘s digital adaptation of Tsushima Island pops with a full technicolor spectrum, and to lead you through it is the all-important Guiding Wind. There is no mini-map or quest icon to lead you to your objective; instead you get to soak in the scenery as you follow where the wind blows, occasionally being waylaid by a fox or bird that emergently takes you to another place of interst.
Cyberpunk 2077
CD Projekt Red, 2020
Open worlds don’t get much more technically impressive than Cyberpunk 2077‘s Night City. The dystopian, hyper-corporatized urban sprawl is absolutely packed with NPCs, most of whom have no shortage of cybernetic implants. Cyberpunk 2077 is gorgeous, stylish, and a joy to explore with its immersive-sim-adjacent gameplay.
And it’s got an incredible story to boot. Your character, V, is haunted by the ghost of long-deceased rockerboy corpo-terrorist Johnny Silverhand after a heist goes awry. Silverhand’s engram – a copy of his personality – is slowly taking over V’s brain after the bio-chip it was implanted with is damaged. Narrative choices abound as the fate of Night City hangs in the balance.
Death Stranding
Kojima Productions, 2019
There’s nothing quite like Death Stranding. What at first appears to be just a post-cataclysmic delivery game also quickly snowballs into a truly bizarre (in a good way) infrastructure sim. As leading man Sam Porter Bridges sets out to reconnect the fractured cities of America after the eponymous Death Stranding – an event that brought the world of the dead in contact with that of the living – he builds roads, bridges, generators, and all sorts of other structures.
The real magic from Death Stranding‘s open-world maps comes from its asynchronous multiplayer elements. Materials you contribute to the game world will build infrastructure for others, and vice versa. Trails frequently trodden literally get etched into the landscape, making your job as a courier easier. It’s an experience only matched by its equally incredible sequel, and is a must-play if you’re looking for open-world games on PlayStation Plus.
- Brand
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Sony
- Original Release Date
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June 29, 2010
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$59.99 (Essential), $99.99 (Extra), $119.99 (Premium) – Per Year
- App Store
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PlayStation Store
