The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Top 10 Zelda games

What Zelda game is the best? Check to see if yours topped our list!

Take a look at any list of the best games on any Nintendo console. For each system, you can expect to see a Zelda game at or near the top of the list.

Why is that?

It’s because Nintendo knows that The Legend of Zelda series is special. Each entry in the franchise is a game-changer in terms of gameplay, puzzle-solving, and graphics.

With that being said, there is so much contention to which Zelda game is the best. Arguably, there is more debate as to which Zelda game is the best than any other series of games ever created. As lifelong fans of the series, we took this list very seriously, and we are open to further discussion in the comments below.

Top 10 Zelda games

10. The Legend of Zelda

It’s kinda crazy just how much the first Zelda game was able to cram in that NES cart. Along with a huge amount of power-ups, dungeons, and secrets, the game even had a save feature. Think about that: the Mario franchise (which was Nintendo’s golden child for years) have just as much to cram in its games but didn’t include a save feature.

As popular as the game was when it first came out, it’s still a jam today. There are even a ton of gamers who play the game with various challenges.

If you’re a fan of the franchise, you need to go back to where it all started. The Legend of Zelda is still just as fun today as it was back in the day!

9. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap has really fallen under the radar in terms of Zelda games. It’s definitely not a title you hear brought up often when people discuss their favorite Zelda games. However, that’s a crying shame because The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is a phenomenal game.

The game takes elements from other Zelda games such as enemies, characters, and power-ups, but it tells a creative story and adds an original mechanic to the series. Link now has to solve puzzles both in his normal size and also while the size of a bug. Sometimes, in order to get to a boss’s weak point, you’ll have to shrink like Ant-Man to get past the armor to its weakness. The shrinking mechanic is a ton of fun. The best parts of the game are just exploring the world in your shrunken state and seeing how you can now interact with the world around you.

8. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

The Nintendo DS received two Zelda games: Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. When compared to other DS games, they’re not bad. When compared to other Zelda games, they’re trash. They employed heinous controls for Zelda standards paired with extremely sub-par stories and dungeons. Yeah, there’s a reason why they aren’t on this list.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds truly learned from the mistakes of its predecessors. A Link Between Worlds has great controls and great dungeons that all tie in with a great story!

7. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

There simply isn’t another Zelda game like Link’s Awakening. It has a story unlike any Zelda game and introduces characters extremely dissimilar from your typical Zelda game.

Link is trapped on an island and is planning his escape. While on the island, the community takes him in and treats him like one of their own. Unfortunately, the island is only an illusion in the mind of a giant flying fish. If that sounds weird it’s only because it is.

Link has to make the choice about whether he should live in this dream world with his new friends, or escape the island to return to his home. This wildly emotional story somehow fits entirely on a small GameBoy cartridge.

6. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Let’s go back to E3 2005 really quick when we first saw the trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Oh man, this trailer is still incredible. When this trailer first dropped, fans went ballistic. The internet erupted with speculation about what Link would be facing, why he turned into a wolf, who the children were, and what on Earth was happening to Hyrule.

Unfortunately, Twilight Princess didn’t quite live up to the hype. Him transforming into a wolf was by far the weakest part of the game. The wolf mechanics weren’t as polished as they should have been, and the collecting missions you did while you played as the wolf were insanely boring.

However, beneath all of that, there is still a really good game. Some of the dungeons in this game are the best in the entire franchise. New weapons like the Double Clawshot and the Ball and Chain have become series favorites. Also, the game’s new character Midna is so beloved that fans are begging for her return.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

When we first saw trailers and screenshots of Wind Waker, fans were pretty upset. The more cartoony version of Link just wasn’t what anyone was expecting. The games always had a more adult and serious look, so seeing Link look like a cringey anime character was disheartening.

The hatred was so loud that a lot of fans boycotted the game and refused to buy it. However, those fans missed out on something truly great. Wind Waker has quite possibly the smoothest combat mechanics in all of Zelda. Link works his sword like an artist. It always seems like every time you get hit, there was something you could’ve done to parry it, or to avoid it altogether.

If you can look aside from the artistic choices the game made, you are in for one of the best games in the franchise.

4. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Oh man, here comes the controversy.

No, we don’t think Link to the Past is the best Zelda game. We don’t even think it should make the top three. However, it is still a darn good game.

In many ways, Link to the Past set the framework for every game to come. At first, you think that the game is going to be relatively short. After beating only three dungeons, you go toe-to-toe with the game’s main villain. However, you then discover that you aren’t even close to being done. You now have to rescue seven maidens (one of which is Zelda) from being trapped in the Dark World, and then face the game’s true final boss, Ganon. No other Zelda game had that same shift in tone. However, so many other Zelda titles have followed that same formula since: (Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, and Skyward Sword just to name a few).

Link to the past is an incredible game. However, it missed the top three by just a hair.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

It’s so weird but Majora’s Mask feels both dead and alive at the same time. The game takes place in this extremely somber world where all of the characters are facing certain doom. There aren’t a lot of happy moments. Instead, there is an over-arching feeling of dread encroaching on this world. However, everyone still goes about their day like everything is normal.

The game runs on a schedule where everyone makes their in-game appointments. You always know that the Goron is going to make a reservation at a certain time, you know that there is a wedding scheduled mere minutes before doomsday, and you know that aliens are going to invade a farm at night!

The game is made with all of the same bones of Ocarina of Time, so sometimes it feels like you’re playing a really good ROM Hack. However, the completely original story, mechanics, and gameplay make for a truly refreshing game.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Breath of the Wild isn’t just a Zelda game; it’s a celebration of Zelda. It takes pieces of core Zelda traditions and turns them into a masterpiece. There are only four main dungeons (minus the DLC), as well as a final battle in a castle filled with booby traps and easter eggs.

The game is centered on exploration and charting your own course. You decide the order in which you take down the dungeons, and you decide how you will tackle each obstacle. Do you want the Master Sword? Go get it! Do you want to skip all of the dungeons and go straight to Ganon? It isn’t optimal, but you can do that too!

On top of all of that, there are dozens upon dozens of mini-dungeons in the form of shrines throughout the game. You simply can’t play this game for just an hour. You will only be satisfied if you spend hours upon hours taking this monster apart.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

We had to. There simply isn’t a better game.

Not only can you see the change in the Zelda franchise from before and after Ocarina of Time came out, but you can also see it in the history of video games altogether. This is the type of game that makes other game studios go “What are we even doing with our lives?”

Ocarina of Time is the embodiment of everything that’s great about video games. It is universally loved and adored by gamers everywhere. It’s not just the greatest Zelda game, but it’s also the greatest video game ever created.

Mic drop.

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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gets a sequel

Journey back to Hyrule in this new trailer for the sequel to Breath of the Wild.

Nintendo won E3.

At the end of Nintendo’s Day One E3 presentation, they shocked gamers everywhere with a trailer announcing a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game will be for the Nintendo Switch.

In the announcement trailer, we got a glimpse at the new threat facing Hyrule.

However, it might just be an old foe who has come back to wreak havoc.

A new baddie, or a returning threat?

At the end of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, the main villain Demise swore to return one day. Well, it looks like that day might have come.

Demise is no Ganon, but he is very threatening. After being defeated, he says that Link and Zelda‘s bloodline are cursed to forever fight his incarnations. Ganon’s many appearances in Zelda games appear to be the fulfillment of that promise. However, now that Ganon is dead in the Breath of the Wild universe, Demise might be back to handle the matter himself.

However, if it is not Demise, we have another idea. That symbol on the right looks a lot like a medallion you might see on a sage. Sages are godlike beings in the Zelda universe that help keep order across Hyrule. If it is not Demise, perhaps this is a dark or corrupted sage that is trying to come back to destroy the land of Hyrule.

Playing as Zelda?

In the trailer, a mysterious power appears to infect Link’s right arm. We think this means one of two things.

Option 1: Link is out of commission

This could mean that Link is in trouble. He could very well be corrupted or on the brink of death. If he is corrupted, then Zelda has to free his mind and break the spell. If he is on the brink of death, then Zelda has to find the cure for what ails him. In both of these scenarios, Zelda would be at the forefront of the game rather than Link. Honestly, we are 100% down to play a game entirely as Zelda.

Option 2: Link has new powers

This glowing arm stuff could also mean that Link literally has new tricks up his sleeve. For all we know, Link has new magical abilities that can be used for both adventuring and combat. This could be cool, but between the two options, we like the one where we play as Zelda trying to save Link more.

Callbacks to Majora’s Mask?

In the trailer, Link and Zelda appear to be searching under Hyrule Castle. While there, they find an ancient evil that is spiraling this ominous looking energy upwards into the land of Hyrule. At the end of the trailer, we see Hyrule Castle begin to sink into the ground. Immediately, this gave us the same vibes as The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.

We can’t help but notice a ton of similarities. Like Majora’s Mask, this game is a sequel to a smash hit that came out only a few years prior. It also uses a similar overworld and similar characters. Finally, in Majora’s Mask, you are trying to save Termina from being destroyed by a falling moon. In this game, you appear to be trying to save Hyrule from a similar fate.

What we’re anticipating is a very similar experience. We are guessing that the Breath of the Wild sequel will include many side-missions that feed into the main story. If we finally get to play as Zelda, this would mean that the princess herself is helping out the citizens of Hyrule with their problems.

What do we want?

We only found out this game was coming out a few hours ago, and we already have a list of demands.

At the end of the day, we are hoping for a dark game like Majora’s Mask. We want to play as Zelda, and fight an ancient evil that is threatening to destroy everything she just saved.

We want an ominous, gloomy aura throughout the game that is only stifled by the joy that comes from helping out the colorful cast of supporting characters.

Breath of the Wild was unlike any Zelda game we have played before. The fact that this is its own game rather than more DLC is incredible. We don’t have a release date yet, but we can only hope that Nintendo will divulge more in the coming months.

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Best exclusive games for each console

Some people like Nintendo, some like Sony. But when it comes to the big three consoles, who has the best exclusives?

The grass is greener on the other side… or is it?

Some people buy consoles for the tech specs. They want the PS4 because the graphics look crisper They want the Xbox because the user interface works like a charm. They want the Switch because it’s portable and versatile.

When it comes down to it, tech specs aren’t always the game changer. In the end, whatever console you choose comes down to one thing — preferences.

This may be controversial, but we believe exclusive games are the real difference between consoles! In fact, they’re so important we almost find ourselves annoyed by the disparity. PS4 players are clearly hogging God of War and Spider-Man. Thank goodness Xbox has Halo and Forza!

So, to see where the grass grows greenest, we compiled each main consoles’ three best exclusives in one place.

Best exclusive console games

PlayStation 4

Sony’s PlayStation 4 appears to have some of the biggest exclusives by far. We were hard-pressed to sort through honorable mentions like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Bloodborne to choose the greatest among them.

We should note: these exclusives are suspiciously only single-player, story-driven games. It seems the best multiplayer exclusives lie elsewhere…

Okay, we’re just trying to be fair to the others; this lineup rocks!

god of war 4

God of War 4 received universal acclaim for its storyline, gameplay, graphics, and more. It was voted Game Award’s Game of the Year, a coveted title.

If you’re unaware, the story goes a little something like this: After the death of his wife, Faye, the god-killing Spartan warrior Kratos journeys with his son Atreus to the “highest peak of the nine realms.” From there, they plan to spread her ashes and complete her last wish.

On the way, they get into a bit of a tussle; the world serpent Jörmungandr shows up, Norse gods stop by to party, it’s a whole thing.

Kratos swings around his mighty ax, making you feel like Thor swinging around Mjolnir. If action games are your jam, this is the game for you.

This one is well worth the price, and you will not be disappointed.

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marvel’s spider-man

We loved Spider-Man games ever since we tried our first on the GameCube! Swinging through New York City, fighting bad guys, and inevitably jumping off the Empire State Building was a blast!

If you haven’t jumped off the ESB, have you really played Spider-Man?

Fast forward 16 years: in the midst of the MCU adventure, Insomniac Games creates a PS4 exclusive with all the majestic charm of the MCU. Swing through the streets of a Manhattan and fight bad guys!

This time, Peter Parker is dealing with a convoluted conspiracy that centers around the bioweapon Devil’s Breath. Naturally, everyone wants it: from Kingpin to Osborne to Doc Ock. Good luck with all that, Parker!

Marvel’s Spider-Man gives you all the tools you need for your web-slinging experience.

uncharted 4: A Thief’s end

Nathan Drake, the infamous thief, goes on one last journey.

Metal Gear games are known for being cinematic experiences that play out like a James Bond flick, where the player gets to be the spy. Uncharted thrusts the player into a similarly movie-like experience, However, rather than venturing into a military melodrama, you go on an adventure with all the swashbuckling excitement of Indiana Jones!

Drake’s brother, Sam, reappears after years of imprisonment and asks Nate for help. They must retrieve the treasure of the pirate captain Henry Avery or he will be killed by a drug lord. Together, they race to find the loot against their former financier and the cause of Sam’s imprisonment.

The epic end to a legendary story doesn’t disappoint! The story is thrilling, the combat is fluid is fast-paced, and the exploration has never been better!

honorable mentions

Horizon: Zero Dawn
Bloodborne
Shadow of the Colossus

Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch doesn’t have as many exclusive titles as we’d like. However, we are excited for Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, coming out later this year.

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The Switch is unlike anything on the market. Players can play games from home or on the go all on the same console. If you want, you can play something like the L.A. Noire remake or Saints Row: The Third remake at home, or race against friends in Mario Kart on the go!

Throughout time, many heroes by the name of Link fought to defend Hyrule and its princess, Zelda, from the evil Ganondorf. Each of them succeeded in warding off the darkness after a great journey…

Until now.

After 10,000 years of safety, Calamity Ganon reappears and turns Hyrule’s ancient, advanced robotics against them. Link falls in battle, and their heroes are killed. As a result, Zelda has to use the power of the gods to hold Ganon at bay for a long, long time…

Then Link wakes after 100 years of recuperation in a stasis chamber and begins his quest anew. Monsters roam the land, the robotics still control Hyrule’s capital, and Zelda’s power won’t hold much longer.

He failed once, but the hero is back in the game.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a massive open world game. The developers allow the player to play the game however they want to. Players can complete dungeons in whatever order they want in this very non-linear game. If you want, you can grab the Master Sword and all of the best armor you can find. However, you can also collect all the tree branches and rusty swords you can find and challenge Ganon in your undies.

The choice is yours.

super mario odyssey

Yep: Mario loses Peach again.

In order to save her this time, he joins a sentient hat named Cappy, whose sister has been stolen by Bowser for use as Peach’s wedding tiara!

However, Cappy has a few tricks up his sleeve… if hats had sleeves.

Cappy has the ability to let Mario take control of nearby creatures. When under Mario’s control, you have full access to their abilities. You can become a T-Rex and destroy everything in your path. You can become a Hammer Bro and throw an onslaught of hammers at enemies. The choices seem nearly endless.

There are a ton of worlds to choose from and a ton of things to do. Cappy’s introduction adds a fresh level to the game, and the new worlds and enemies all have the familiar Nintendo charm.

This addition to the Mario Bros world holds up so well. In fact, many would argue it belongs higher than Breath of the Wild. If you agree or disagree, let us know in the comments!

Will Mario games ever go out of style? We hope not.

super smash bros: ultimate

This is the definitive party multiplayer. Got an argument? “Settle it in Smash.”

Oddly enough, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate performs double-duty here. Not only does it reach the top 3 for Nintendo exclusives, it champions every single one of their other characters and games.

You can play as characters from Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, Xenoblade Chronicles, Pokémon, Kirby, Animal Crossing, and more!

Smash Bros. players range from the pros who compete in huge tournaments, to newbies who mash buttons and hope for the best.

The game now also features customizable stages. However, those are another story…

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All of these characters blend perfectly in one of the greatest titles of our favorite fighting game series! (No offense to Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter fans.)

Honorable Mentions

Octopath Traveler
Splatoon 2
Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Xbox One

Xbox has some of the most surprising games. These are titles you wouldn’t immediately think of when someone says “exclusives.”

Except Halo. Everyone would think of Halo.

Xbox is a bit tricky. Most of their exclusive titles aren’t necessary console exclusive. They are exclusive to Microsoft but can be played on both home console and with Windows 10.

halo 5

Oh yeah.

When the super-soldier Master Chief, goes rogue in pursuit of his AI friend Cortana, an elite team called Spartan Locke goes on a mission to track him down. Through their collective adventures, we gain insight into the mysterious happenings surrounding the Guardians, huge beasts controlled by an artificial intelligence network known as the Domain.

Aside from quick-moving, futuristic, first-person shooter gameplay, you can find one of the greatest video game storylines here. We even like the book series, which continues to release novels yearly!

The world still feels great, and we’re excited for Infinite!

gears of war 4

Years after the defeat of the Locust, a new aggressor arrives: The Swarm.

Gears of War 4’s oddly emotional storyline shouldn’t mesh so well with the violent, chainsaw-borne violence. Somehow, it does, and it does really well.

This time, the Lancer falls in the hands of Marcus Fenix‘s son, J.D. The only appropriate response to a new invasion is to buckle down, crouch behind the ubiquitous shoulder-high walls, and keep firing!

forza: horizon 4

This is one of those games that your grandfather will confuse with a movie or real-life sporting event. In all honesty, it has tricked us, too.

Forza has long been lauded as an excellent, realistic driving simulator with all the safety benefits of being a video game. This basically means if you’re still too much of a kid at heart to drive between the lines, you can crash some of the nicest cars known to man!

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honorable mentions

Rare Replay
Sea of Thieves
Crackdown 3

Wrapping Up

“Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.” Or, in this case, exclusives lead to jealousy, jealousy leads to hate, and hate leads to the console wars! Don’t be a console crusader, friend.

When it comes down to it, we wish every one of these titles were available for every console, even though such a move wouldn’t make any sense from a business standpoint for developers. Still, could you imagine playing Breath of the Wild with the controls and graphics the PS4 can offer?

Exclusives bring business. To play them all, you’ll just have to buy more consoles or borrow from friends. While you’re at it, whoop their butts at Smash Bros. real quick.

The Nintendo Switch turns 2 years old

A look at the highs and lows of the incredibly popular portable console.

Happy birthday to the Nintendo Switch!

First released on March 3, 2017, the Nintendo Switch has made a huge splash in the gaming market. Bringing some much-needed momentum back to Nintendo after the Wii U flopped, the simple “portable-console hybrid” concept has resonated soundly with the gaming public. As of February, the Switch has over 32.27 million lifetime sales, which means that it has already overtaken the lifetime sales of the Wii U and Gamecube, and is on track to outpace the Nintendo 64’s lifetime sales soon.

From the massive success of the Wii to the floundering of the Wii U, Nintendo has clearly learned a lot from the past 15 years. While the Switch isn’t perfect, Nintendo is having its biggest hot streak in over a decade, and it’ll be interesting to see where they go from here. Here, we’ll look at the Nintendo Switch’s biggest improvements, innovations, and missteps.

A brief history of the Nintendo Switch

First-party knockouts

One of the biggest selling points of a Nintendo console is its lineup of excellent first-party titles. With the Switch, Nintendo once again proves that they are unequivocally the best first-party developers out there. Super Mario Odyssey took players on a breathtaking journey filled with fresh, creative new worlds and mechanics, becoming a worthy successor to Super Mario Galaxy. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is one of the best entries in the franchise and deserved a better home than the Wii U. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate celebrates the franchise’s history with an all-star cast and significant gameplay improvements. Despite being a controversial title among longtime fans, Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee sold like hotcakes and introduced the Pokémon Go generation to a more traditional game.

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And of course, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the most critically acclaimed game of the console generation, often entering talks as one of the greatest games ever. The game brings to life the sense of wonder and exploration present in the original Legend of Zelda, truly allowing players to save Hyrule in any way they see fit. The game’s deceptively complex physics and chemistry systems give players freedom in how they approach and overcome obstacles. All of this combines with a world that feels huge and fleshed out without falling victim to the typical pitfalls of open-world gaming. It is arguable that Breath of the Wild alone is worth the price of entry for a Switch.

Lifelong Nintendo fans have been gushing over Nintendo’s first-party titles so far with good reason. Super Mario Odyssey, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, and Breath of the Wild already stand as bona fide classics, and with many more first-party games on the way, the Switch’s already excellent library shows no signs of slowing down.

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Actual third-party support

One of the biggest downfalls of the Wii U was its drought of third-party support. Developers didn’t want to bother adjusting their titles for the cumbersome Gamepad, especially to an audience that was primarily interested in first-party titles. The Nintendo Switch’s portability is a much more seamless gimmick that requires little to no consideration on the part of the developer in terms of game design. This has led to the best third-party support Nintendo has had since the days of the Gamecube. Though the system’s underpowered specs lead to several major third-party games skipping over the Switch, it has still garnered an impressive third-party lineup.

Ports of major titles like Dark Souls, Skyrim, Doom, Fortnite, and Warframe run smooth as butter, with the system’s portability giving them new life. While major third-party support is still far from perfect (the system still lacks certain major sports titles like Madden, for example) the system’s third-party lineup is already solid. Upcoming major third-party titles like Mortal Kombat 11 will also hit the Switch in the near future, so Switch-exclusive owners will miss out on far fewer third-party hits than they did with other Nintendo consoles. Hopefully, popular titles like Apex Legends and Overwatch will find their way to the Switch in the future.

Indie game heaven

If you’re a fan of indie games you owe it to yourself to get a Nintendo Switch. What’s not to love about playing indie games on the go or in bed? The system already has indie juggernauts like The Binding of Isaac, Shovel Knight, Stardew Valley, Overcooked, Terriaria, Dead Cells, and Celeste. If you prefer playing indie games on a console to a PC, the portability and vast lineup of the Switch make it the obvious choice.

Many indie developers create their games nowadays with a Switch port in mind, meaning that the system should see even more indie support throughout its lifespan. Hopefully, classic indie games like Hotline Miami and Spelunky get ported soon to round out the whole package.

Nintendo proves once again they can’t do online

Oh boy, here we go. The enormous and obvious black spot on the Nintendo Switch is its abysmal online service. Even as fans have come to expect nothing about Nintendo and online, we are left disappointed as Nintendo Switch online is baffling at best and unacceptable in 2019 at worst.

At $20 a year, the service is much cheaper than Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus, yet it offers a small fraction of the value of either of those services. Having a bunch of original NES titles available is nice, but at this point, anyone who wants to play these games already has. Having either a Virtual Console or games from other retro consoles available would be of significantly more value than 20 NES games.

Additionally, basic features that were present on the original Xbox Live in 2002 are lacking on the Switch, such as party chat or direct messages. Puzzlingly, Nintendo requires a smartphone app to access basic online features like voice chat. All in all, Nintendo Switch Online is an embarrassing mess that proves Nintendo is not only completely unwilling to learn from past online mistakes, but they are confident enough to start charging money for it. We can only hope Nintendo’s upcoming collaboration with Xbox Live will jumpstart the company’s online evolution.

Looking toward the future

There are plenty of upcoming Switch games to be excited for. From new entries in long-running franchises like Animal Crossing, Bayonetta, or Luigi’s Mansion to brand new IP’s like Daemon X Machina and Astral Chain, there’s plenty to look forward to, no matter what games you play.

Especially interesting is the unprecedented partnership between Nintendo and Microsoft, which will really take shape later this year. Will they fix Nintendo’s online service? Will we get Xbox games on the Switch? The possibilities are tantalizing.

How to design a great open world game

What separates a great open world game from a bad one?

Many see open world games as the be-all-end-all genre of gaming, and it’s easy to see why. It seems that gamers and game developers alike consider a massive, immersive open world as the pinnacle of game design. Being able to go anywhere and do anything was a driving promise of the early 3D era, and within the last ten years or so the technology to realize this promise finally became available. Open world games like Grand Theft Auto V, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Minecraft, and Red Dead Redemption 2 are among the best-reviewed games of all time, and the open world genre shows no signs of slowing down.

Where shooters were the prevailing genre of the early-2000’s, open world games are the hottest genre of the current decade. Not every open world game can be a masterpiece, however. For every Skyrim, there are dozens of boring copy-pasted open worlds that impress with their size but let down with their gameplay. To show where these games come short, we came up with some of the most important elements of making a fun and immersive open world.

What separates the best open world games from the competition?

Don’t gate off the world

In Breath of the Wild, you can head off to fight the final boss Ganon right away. You'll get your ass kicked, but the point is you can try. — In Breath of the Wild, you can head off to fight the final boss Ganon right away. You’ll get your ass kicked, but the point is you can try.

Let’s start with the basics. The most appealing basic description of an open world game is the ability to go anywhere and do anything. With this in mind, why do so many developers gate off their massive worlds? By not allowing players to enter certain places, game developers are imposing linearity onto them. Linearity is the arch-enemy of open world game design. In well-designed open world games, the entire world should be explorable from the beginning. A perfect example of a freeform open world would be the one featured in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

In Breath of the Wild, the player gets every major tool they need in the very beginning. Armed with their hang glider and Sheikah Slate (which grants access to several world-altering abilities), the player can now freely access any point on the entire map. This is not to say that the map is easy to explore, however. The player must carefully prepare for the various areas of the map, such as wearing warm clothing and cooking hot food before exploring a snowy mountain.

In Breath of the Wild, exploration isn’t limited by having special items or filling out a skill tree, it’s limited by the player’s knowledge of the world and its mechanics. By giving players every major tool they’ll need at the beginning, the game encourages players to get creative within the game’s sandbox in order to explore every inch of the world. A balance must be struck where players are able to access every part of the world, but the difficulty of navigating new areas must depend on the player’s creativity.

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Let players experiment in a sandbox

This ramp in GTA V is more fun than many full games — This ramp in GTA V is more fun than some full games

While some use the terms “open world” and “sandbox” interchangeably, they aren’t quite the same thing. Games with sandbox designs have the player creating some of their own fun by experimenting deeply with the world and the systems at play. For example, the chemistry engine of Breath of the Wild allows players to light grass on fire, causing an updraft and allowing players to fly and get to hard to reach areas. Not all successful open world games have sandbox elements (Skyrim notably doesn’t really feature any deep sandbox systems to play around with, and relies more on the strength of its writing and worldbuilding), but sandbox elements can add a much-needed sense of depth and replayability.

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Perhaps the best example of sandbox open world design is the Grand Theft Auto series. The highly detailed physics system of modern GTA games makes simple objects like ramps a lot of fun to play around with. You can use ramps to try and get on top of tall buildings, fly as far as you can in a sports car, or do flips and tricks on a motorbike. While these actions don’t grant any sort of reward to the player, the ability to do all kinds of fun things with a simple ramp demonstrates that sandbox systems allow players to personalize their experience and create their own fun.

The best-designed sandbox systems allow the player to create an infinite amount of gameplay scenarios with simple, easy to understand game mechanics and interactions.

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Make traveling the world fun

Just Cause's gadgets make navigating the world one of the most fun parts of the game — Just Cause’s gadgets make navigating the world one of the most fun parts of the game

As technology has improved, open worlds have gotten bigger and bigger. In poorly designed open world games, the world is not filled with enough things to do, making traveling from place to place tedious and uninteresting. To get around this, most open world games incorporate fast travel, allowing the player to instantly teleport to specific locations. The problem with fast travel is that players will miss content by skipping around the world, as a lot of the fun of open world games is encountering small events or quests as you travel from one major location to another.

The solution to both problems is to make traveling the world a fun experience in itself. Several games have engaging movement systems that make traveling fun, including Spider-Man’s web swinging and Breath of the Wild’s hang glider, but the shining example of open world movement is the Just Cause series.

In the Just Cause series, you have two major tools to get around the island: the grappling hook and the wingsuit. The grappling hook allows you to quickly attach to any object, quickly pulling you towards it. You can press the jump button at any time to let go of the hook and fly forward, conserving your momentum and allowing you to quickly and precisely fly through the air. Your wingsuit allows you to take this momentum and use it to fly, allowing the player to soar through the air and make quick evasive maneuvers like barrel rolls. By combining these two actions, players have a huge amount of freedom in how they want to fly through the air towards their next objective.

These movement systems are easy to pick up but difficult to master, allowing skilled players to chain together death-defying stunts. With a movement system like this, you’ll never want to use fast travel, and all open world games should strive towards making their world fun to travel.

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Make exploration its own reward

Minecraft does a great job of creating a sense of discovery

In poorly designed open world games, your map is filled with an endless number of icons, missions, and objectives. Giving the player all of these objectives discourages exploration and can make the player feel like they’re playing the game wrong for avoiding them. Waypoints and guidance are fine, but they must be obtained naturally, such as by talking to an NPC or finding a clue. It is fine for the game to have objectives, but the player shouldn’t feel pigeonholed into only completing objectives. Exploration and discovery is the core of the open world genre, and the best open world games encourage players to explore the world how they want.

Minecraft is a unique game in that it does not have any defined objectives. Instead, the player is just dropped into a randomly generated world and it’s up to them to figure out where they want to go and what they want to do. Since the world is randomly generated, there will always be new places to explore no matter how many times you start a new save. As the player gathers tools and resources, they’re able to explore farther and farther from their base. This combination of exploration and progression is a hallmark of the open world genre, and similarly free-flowing games like Breath of the Wild have clearly taken inspiration. The appeal of Minecraft’s survival mode is the ability to tell your own story by adventuring through a world in your own unique way for your own unique reasons. You don’t need a million objectives and scripted moments to make an immersive open world, you need a world that creates a sense of discovery that makes it worth exploring.

What are your favorite open world games? Any other suggestions? Let us know!