16 Essential Open-World Video Games Coming In 2017 & 2018

4. Super Mario Odyssey

Many past Marios - going all the way back to Mario 64 - have played with the notion of open-worlds, though Odyssey is the first to truly wear the genre on its sleeve. From the get-go we've seen Mario leaping about cityscapes, climbing buildings and bouncing on taxi cabs - all alongside the sort of universe-hopping more associated with Mario Galaxy.

It's strange to think that we still don't have the faintest idea as to why anything is happening or why Mario is in this land of giant people (if he himself is not a person), though Nintendo are looking to flesh out the porky plumber's moveset more than any other game to date. Simply by letting you place your possessed hat (named Cappy) onto literally anything, you're free to control objects, other characters - even T-Rexes - to do your bidding.

Again, no idea as to the wider purpose of this other than fun experimentation, but as Nintendo are back to being on top form at the moment, 2017's addition to the Mario legacy doesn't look like it's going to let him down.