10 Best Open-World Video Games Of 2017

Just when open-world fatigue was starting to set in, Zelda and Mario happened.

by Josh Brown
Zelda Breath Of The Wild
Nintendo

As prevalent as ever, the open world genre has once again dominated the gaming industry over the course of 2017. Despite many people (myself included) anticipating that open-world fatigue would start to set in by now, it appears as though audiences are still enjoying new sandbox experiences. That's hardly a surprise though, especially when offerings have been as good as those dropping over the past year.

Although the biggest title - Red Dead Redemption 2 - missed its 2017 release date, the other studios more than made up for that huge omission, with sequels to iconic franchises, classic titles going open world for the first time and brand new properties keeping players occupied in the meantime.

There's been a string of quality sandbox releases over the past 12 months, and there's a good chance that one of the games on this list will end up going on to win Game of the Year.

With such a diverse set of brilliant titles to choose from though, which one has beaten out the rest and earned the top spot?

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Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.