10 Best Open-World Games Of 2018

The year may have ended on a low for open world adorers thanks to Bethesda's poor decisions, but taken as a whole, 2018 has been the best yet for sandbox lovers and would-be adventurers. Capcom got the party off to a riveting start with Monster Hunter: World and its inescapable addiction of killing and skinning man-eating monsters in the name of Hunter fashion, a fantastic war against nature followed in the spring with Sea of Thieves and Sony Santa Monica's award-winning God of War.

While the latter attracted instant classic status, Rare's swashbuckling adventure needed a few extra months to reach peak condition, but now it stands proud as a must-have Xbox exclusive alongside Forza Horizon 4. But it's not just Microsoft and Sony's first parties to have yielded the juiciest fruit. A slew of multi-platform delights, some built on eye-watering budgets, others through gracious crowdfunding campaigns, have spent the last 12 months competing for life's most precious resource, forcing the difficult choice: 'which one do I play first?'

Personal taste dictates that not all of 2018's best and brightest will be loved by all, but appreciating the absurd number of man-hours that went into the creation of every sprawling world gifted to us in 2018 is something we can all celebrate. Here's to you, 2018.

Sea of Thieves, like Hello Games' No Man's Sky before it, suffered from severe content malnourishment on launch last year. Despite its charming visual aesthetic and the truly epic feeling of captaining an old-style vessel on the open seas, Rare was ultimately unable to give players a meaningful reason to stick around after satisfying their curiosity.

The parallels have always been plain to see, but now, more than ever, the two games share an eerily familiar history. Since release in 2016, No Man's Sky has evolved beyond what anyone thought possible with a deluge of free content updates that have literally reshaped its entire universe, as has Rare's swashbuckling adventure. New areas to explore, sea monsters to hunt and frequent limited-time events, to name but a few, have injected Sea of Thieves with reasons to spend time in its water-filled playground at no extra charge.

With a completely revamped quest system and player-vs-player focused Arena update due to dock within the first few months of this year, Rare's turnaround of a seemingly inescapable sinking ship has been remarkable. If you've not played beyond launch, do yourself a favour and regain those sea legs. You won't regret it.