10 Insanely Long Open-World Games That ARE Worth Finishing

Your school/work/family can wait, Hestu needs more korok seeds!

red dead redemption 2
Rockstar

Open-world games are getting a wee bit ridiculous with their size, if we're being entirely honest.

Used to be, we were impressed by the size of Wind Waker's open-world, whereas nowadays even some of the most mediocre open-world game have Wind Waker beat in terms of both size and detail. It's getting to the point where it's becoming a bit intimidating.

I mean, being dropped into such a gigantic world and just told to find something to do can scare all but the strong hearts. Sorta like the open-world equivalent to some RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 proving intimidating to some players by the sheer breadth of choices in front of them.

Despite this though, there are some nightmarishly large open-world games that are 100% worth playing all the way through to the end. Some of them are obvious, some not so much. But all of them have something to offer that sets them apart enough to be worth dedicating quite a lot of your time to them.

10. Fallout: New Vegas

red dead redemption 2
Bethesda

While not being much larger than Fallout 3 in terms of game world size, Fallout New Vegas is one of the densest open-world games ever made, with every nook and cranny packed to the gills with stuff to do, weirdos to talk to, and bandits to shoot.

Every village and settlement has at least three things to do, and at least one of those things will take you somewhere else with more things to do. The way every quest in this game is interconnected with each other is nothing short of breathtaking. That, combined with the length and breadth of the main story and the massive DLC storylines, shakes out into a game that still feels gigantic today.

While at the bottom due to it not being nearly as big and long as the entries that will follow it, New Vegas is large enough to potentially intimidate but pulls you in with how flowingly it guides you from quest to quest in a digestible manner, while also providing an immersive atmosphere that makes you want to keep playing.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?