Cairo Yepez // OPEN WORLD

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Open World

Vast lands, brutal bosses, quiet sunsets on a hillside. Games that swallow you whole.

9 entries 2010–2023 RPG / exploration soulslike

The Open World Collection

These are the games where the map is the point. Not fast-travel checklists, but worlds with internal logic — places that reward patience, punish carelessness, and sometimes just let you sit on a cliff and watch the sun go down. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut enim ad minim veniam, the Lands Between alone justifies this entire category's existence.

// on Fallout New Vegas

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet — the writing. The factions. The moral weight of every single choice. Obsidian built something that Bethesda has been chasing ever since. The Mojave Wasteland is still the high-water mark for open-world narrative RPGs two decades later.

The Collection

chronological order9 entries
Fallout:
New Vegas
RPG — the Mojave Wasteland

Fallout: New Vegas

2010

★★★★★

The writing, the factions, the moral weight. New Vegas is still the high-water mark for open-world RPGs. Wild West post-apocalypse done to perfection.

RPGopen world
Bloodborne
Action RPG — Yharnam bleeds

Bloodborne

2015

★★★★★

Gothic horror and cosmic dread wrapped in the tightest, most aggressive Soulslike ever made. No shields. No mercy. Ludwig alone justifies the price.

soulslikeactionhorror
No Man's Sky
Exploration — infinite procedural universe

No Man's Sky

2016

★★★★☆

The greatest redemption arc in gaming. What launched broken became a living galaxy. Explore planets, build bases, chart what no one has named before.

open worldsurvivalco-op
Dark Souls 3
Action RPG — the Age of Fire fades

Dark Souls 3

2016

★★★★★

A grand farewell to the trilogy — interconnected legacy, blistering boss fights, and a melancholy that seeps into the bones. The Ringed City DLC is sublime.

soulslikeactionRPG
Red Dead
Redemption 2
Action RPG — the dying West

Red Dead Redemption 2

2018

★★★★★

The most detailed open world ever made, anchored by the best cowboy story ever told. Arthur Morgan is a character study dressed as a video game.

open worldRPGaction
Subnautica:
Below Zero
Survival — alien ocean, Planet 4546B

Subnautica: Below Zero

2021

★★★★☆

Claustrophobic deep-sea tension with moments of breathtaking alien beauty. The ocean is not safe. You are very small. Robin Ayou carries the narrative.

open worldsurvivalatmosphere
Elden Ring
Action RPG — the Lands Between

Elden Ring

2022

★★★★★

FromSoftware's masterwork. Open-world exploration married to Souls precision. Every zone reveals something that recontextualizes everything before it. Malenia alone.

soulslikeopen worldRPG
Sons of
the Forest
Survival — cannibal island

Sons of the Forest

2023

★★★☆☆

Base-building survival on a gorgeous, terrifying island. Kelvin and Virginia as companions are worth the price alone. The horror elements earned their teeth.

survivalhorroropen world
Lords of
the Fallen
Action RPG — dual realms

Lords of the Fallen

2023

★★★★☆

The Umbral dual-realm mechanic is one of the most creative Soulslike ideas in years. Brutally difficult, visually stunning, deeply underrated.

soulslikeactionRPG