10 Best Open-World Video Games Of 2017

6. Assassin's Creed: Origins

Assassins Creed Origins
Ubisoft

Although Ubisoft disappointed this year with Ghost Recon: Wildlands, their return to Assassin's Creed after a two-year break was embraced by players with open arms.

Building upon what the series had already been doing when it shipped Syndicate in 2015, although nothing too major had fundamentally changed in the intervening years, Origins was such a confident release that it didn't really matter. The open world itself is one of the best the series has ever seen, and the new combat mechanics made exploring new locations and taking down enemies more satisfying than ever.

Some of the same problems of previous releases still haunted the sequel, for sure, but the game added just enough new to keep the long-running franchise feeling fresh that these issues didn't seem as pronounced. Instead, players happily lost themselves in the beautifully detailed Ancient Egypt that the developers so painstakingly created.

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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.