I would like recommendations for open world games where the player has abundant ways to interact with the world, be it with the NPCs or buildings, and does not have to worry about survival aspects of the character or spending time exploring a static world. I would not mind if it comes at the cost of a smaller sized world, as long as it remains an open world game.
By interaction, I am not just talking about side missions or the main story. I wish for the ability to perform actions that affect the NPCs directly or make them react to it, like combat or conversations. I also wish to interact with the outside objects and buildings, like sitting on a bench, driving a random parked vehicle, or entering a building to observe or interact with its interiors. I am not keen on base building nor caring for hunger/thirst/shelter.
A great example of this could be the Watchdogs franchise. I have never seen the level of interaction with the world in any other game the way Watchdogs provides. From the streets to the vehicles to the individual people, there are so many ways to how I can mess up with the city, meanwhile the game does not bother me to eat or sleep. Overall I think of it as GTA but better. Another example could be the first Assassin’s Creed game (since it’s the only one I’ve played so far) where the interaction comes in the form of stealthily killing enemies, hiding and blending with the environment and parkouring through the rooftops of the various cities. Maybe another example of such a game could be Skyrim. Though it does contain a great amount of exploration and villages are small and scarce in the world, there is surprisingly a lot of interactive elements in the villages themselves. Plus the different types of loots when raiding a dungeon of fighting a monster with your own arsenal of weapons, this partially qualifies as a match for me.
I am sure there is some genre or a category that perfectly encapsulates what I am looking for and it is just at the tip of my tongue. Please provide me with any game titles that match my requirements as stated above. I would understand if I am asking for too much.
The legendary RDR2
Check out other Assassin’s Creed games! I agree that Red Dead Redemption is anther good suggestion. I suggest the first one as well. Maybe Fable? The second one was my favorite, but people rave about the first one as well. I didn’t play the first one until I didn’t have as much time to game.
This might be a miss, but the Sims can be insane with mods. You can cheat their needs and not worry about those. Sims 3 is open world and the best of the series, but I’m not as familiar with the mods available for it. There are Sims 4 mods that introduce murder (guns and knives provided of course), drugs and gangs, zombies, prostitution, murderous toddlers, and much more that I can’t think of right now.
Modders are fucking lunatics when it comes to the Sims. Someone made a mod for Sims 3 where you could grill and eat a baby. EA stepped in to shut that down…
Finger slipped and accidentally deleted my comment instead of editing a comma in. Here we go again:
Someone made a mod for Sims 3 where you could grill and eat a baby
I remember this! It was the OMGWTFBBQ. I only remember a Sims 2 version, though. The Sims 2 version can still be downloaded here, it’s just not on modthesims.info anymore.
BBQ
babyque?
I think it was intended to be OMGWTFBarbecue, because you barbecue the baby.
Someone made a mod for Sims 3 where you could grill and eat a baby
I remember this! It was the OMGWTFBBQ. I only remember a Sims 2 version, though. The Sims 2 version can still be downloaded here, it’s just not on modthesims.info anymore.
I agree with the other Assassins creed games. At least with Odyssey, that’s what I played most. You can explore all of ancient Greece and there are lots of really good and fun side quests. Just don’t think of it as a pure stealth game, like the first game was, more like an action adventure with stealth elements, or you might be a bit disappointed.
Kingdom Come Deliverance; Red Dead Redemption 2
I think the genre you are looking for is “immersive sims”. Notable historical examples are Thief, Deus Ex, and System Shock.
And if you are looking for a more modern game, checkout Prey from 2017. It’s fantastic! Also System Shock just got a Remake. I only played its demo but it was really captivating.
I think zelda: botw and totk both fall to an extent in itgat category. NPCs react to the weather, if you are fighting enemies and are giving basic responses about their current circumstances, aswell as the physics interactions that those games allow.
Fallout: New Vegas might be enjoyable for you. It is a smaller game than skyrim, and has everything you like about skyrim and more.
I’m replaying this now (after playing it when it first launched). It is worth a go!
Witcher 3:
- NPCs have at least some rude remarks for you, but a good number also have hints and background info hidden in their dialogue.
- You should eat to heal, but on the lowest difficulty setting this is not required anymore. Just meditate and everything is refilled.
- You can explore different landscapes and their flora and fauna, but you can also go to the towns and cities and checkout their sociological patterns. The settings even change after you meddle with higher politics in the main and side quests.
If you prefer something besides swords and monsters maybe (haven’t played it myself) Cyberpunk 2077.
Another one I have started (but far from finished) is Mass Effect. In my first sessions I was overwhelmed by the many dialogue options and factions present in the citadel.
I think Life is Strange (I’ve only played the first one) may possibly be of interest. There’s no action like GTA or Watchdogs, but it’s all about your interactions with the NPCs and the town.
It felt there was blowback at the ending when it came out because people said your choices didn’t matter, but I thought the point of the game was to influence you to make thoughtful and impactful decisions, not to influence the NPCs. I really got a lot out of the experience.
There are moments the game won’t tell you about like when opening a window or watering a plant will change future events. Whether you find this outcomes significant or not will be related to your enjoyment of the game as whole.
Life is strange is pretty far from a open world game though and the options for meaningful interactions are virtually non existent.
Greedfall comes to mind. It has many meaningful choices, interesting factions, multiple endings and some well written companions. The combat and running around around for quests can get repetitive or even tedious, but the story and the impact of your choices kept me playing all the way through.
You might want to take a look at Shadows of Doubt. It’s a sci-fi noir game where you’re a private detective in a procedurally generated dystopian city. You’re supposed to solve murders but usually just end up causing more of them.
NPCs have homes, workplaces, acquaintances and routines, and you have the ability to interact with (and disrupt) all of it. It’s an Early Access game so expect jank, but there’s a load of really good let’s plays on YouTube if you want to see if it’s your kind of thing.
I really want to buy this game when I have some cash money for it
I bought it as a result of it being recommended here a while back and I must say that the game is surprisingly in depth. The first murder took me quite a few hours to complete. The second was one that was super quick as a result of the random luck with the murder weapon still being in the body lol.
I love the atmosphere and the depth to the actual investigation of it!
I watched Josh from Let’s Game it Out do his regular Josh things, and the game was like “No, no, proceed. This is all allowed, and I’ve already accounted for it” and it still wound up with him doing the full investigation and finding the murderer, and it was like… This looks like something special
