PS4 was first launched around 11 years back, and through all these years, the console has been home to a solid collection of open world games. We have compiled a list of what we think are 20 of the best open world PS4 games that you can play right now.
20. Far Cry 5
| Developer | Ubisoft |
| Release Date | March 27, 2018 |
The 5th main entry into the franchise brought in the Far Cry style of gameplay to a more American setting of the fictional region of Hope County, Montana, and took on far more complex themes that generated a lot of controversy around launch.
However, the open world elements that the series had become known for—the super-addictive loop of clearing outposts silently or going in all guns blazing, and the typical mayhem-causing possibilities—are all present in Far Cry 5. While the fatigue factor of similar gameplay led to the sequel not being received well, this is still one of the best Far Cry games for fans of the series or for someone wanting to give the series a shot.
This is by far the most polished version of the Far Cry style of gameplay and hence finds itself in the list of best open world PS4 games.
19. Mad Max
| Developer | Avalanche Studios |
| Release Date | September 1, 2015 |
An underrated gem, which had the misfortune of releasing alongside a much bigger name that also finds its name in the list ahead—Metal Gear Solid V – Phantom Pain. However, post that, gamers have gone back and kind of re-discovered the game.
Mad Max has good combat mechanics styled along the lines of the Batman games, plus a big emphasis on vehicular combat—all the time upgrading your vehicle ‘Magnum Opus’—with more and more ridiculously fun additions like flamethrowers and turbo boosts. The open world also perfectly captures the sense of being in the Mad Max world as we see in the movies, and is an easy game to recommend for open-world fans on PS4.
18. Hogwarts Legacy
| Developer | Avalanche Software |
| Release Date | February 10, 2023 |
Hogwarts Legacy gave a lot of gamers a wish-fulfillment of being a wizard/witch in Hogwarts by giving a fairly well-designed open world, a good storyline, a great bit of character customization, and all the small touches that showed care and attention to detail, like the moment you get to choose your own wand at Ollivanders.
You also attend classes and get graded, learn spells, brew potions, tame beasts and engage in surprisingly snappy combat with a variety of spells. This is an open world crafted by a team that loves the books and is brimming with things to discover for fans of the Harry Potter universe.
17. Death Stranding
| Developer | Kojima Productions |
| Release Date | November 8, 2019 |
Death Stranding is very likely one of the most polarizing games on this list. Some were moved by the entire story-telling, world-building, and the overall different gameplay, while for others, this was way too over-rated—some even called it (rather unkindly) a glorified walking simulator. As it is easy to tell, we fall under the former category.
You play the game as Sam Bridges, a porter delivering cargo to various cities in a post-apocalyptic world while fighting enemies called BTs and rain called ‘timefall’. The game has appearances from Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Guillermo del Toro, and Lea Seydoux, a typically dense but captivating storyline, some great cutscenes, and a superbly rendered open world.
16. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag
| Developer | Ubisoft Montreal |
| Release Date | October 29, 2013 |
Regularly featuring as the best Assassin’s Creed game of all time (and we agree with that sentiment here in our list of the top 10 Assassin’s Creed games), the game brought a refreshing change to what was becoming too overbearing a lore in the whole Assassins vs the Templars story arc, by having a main protagonist who did not belong to either.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag features an action-packed, swashbuckling pirate-styled open world set in the Caribbean Islands during the Golden Age of Piracy. The game boasts naval combat of a scale and quality that was good enough to be a separate game in itself, and an overall sense of adventure that was lacking in earlier entries.
15. Cyberpunk 2077
| Developer | CD Projekt Red |
| Release Date | December 10, 2020 |
This game has the most dramatic redemption arc—from being roundly criticized for being littered with game-breaking bugs, missing gameplay elements from pre-release promises, and an overwhelming sense of a rushed and unfinished launch back in 2020 to what is now widely regarded as one of the best open-world settings in Night City.
In its current state, Cyberpunk 2077 features skill trees that make a variety of builds possible, a great variety of ranged and melee weapons, multiple approaches to combat, and a great DLC as a companion to an engaging storyline for the main game. This shows the heart and commitment of the devs to put in the hard hours post-launch, take criticism, work on it, and deliver improvements consistently. As a result, the game now sits in several top lists, including our best PS4 open world games.
14. Days Gone
| Developer | Bend Studio |
| Release Date | April 26, 2019 |
Days Gone is a game that has steadily acquired a dedicated fan base after not the best of launches (and a continued push for a sequel that unfortunately does not look like it’s happening). This is easily the best open world game set in a post-apocalyptic zombie-infested world. The story, while slow to start, picks up quite well—riding Dean’s bike through the world is a thrill that never gets old. The game also keeps giving a steady stream of weapons and upgrades throughout the game, and the gameplay always remains fresh and exciting.
The clear highlight of Days Gone is, of course, clearing out the zombie hordes. Carefully charting out the route that the zombies will follow, putting traps and explosives along, marking narrow areas to funnel them through, and then executing all of this to perfection, and frantically clearing out the last few through machine guns and baseball bats is a guaranteed adrenaline rush. No wonder why Days Gone finds itself in our list of the best open world PS4 games!
13. Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain
| Developer | Kojima Productions |
| Release Date | September 1, 2015 |
If you are looking for a stealth-infiltration sandbox, this is the one. Yes, there are repeated missions in the end that take away from what comes before and don’t give a sense of ending. But when it is good, it is the very best.
Phantom Pain features wesome world-building, dizzying levels of player freedom, great narrative design, an element of base-building that gives you incentive to traverse through areas collecting as many resources as possible, and of course, the ultimate cool protagonist voiced by Kiefer Sutherland.
12. Nier Automata
| Developer | Platinum Games |
| Release Date | March 7, 2017 |
The first 20 minutes of Nier Automata give you a taste of what is to come—almost a pledge by the developers that this game is going to be a very different one altogether. You could be battling a huge machine at one moment, doing a side-scrolling Metroidvania-style section the next, and then taking on a puzzle-like hacking section—all the time accompanied by some of the best music in a video game.
Some set pieces remain with you long after the game gets over, particularly a fight sequence on a roller coaster. The story also starts pulling you in as you get immersed in the game, and the payoff is worth the time it requires you to invest in it.
11. Yakuza 0
| Developer | Yakuza Studio |
| Release Date | January 24, 2017 |
The Yakuza games are enjoying a bit of a revival with recently released ones like Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and Like A Dragon: Ishin being received quite well. However, Yakuza 0 is one game that shows Yakuza Studio at the peak of its powers.
It has a smaller open world as compared to other games on the list but with probably twice the number of things to do, side activities that are good enough to be released as separate games themselves, a protagonist that is magnetic enough to last through 6 games, and story-telling with twists, turns, boss fights and memorable moments told cinematically. Yakuza 0 is a much-deserved entry into the best PS4 open world games list.
10. Fallout 4
| Developer | Bethesda Game Studios |
| Release Date | November 10, 2015 |
In Fallout 4, you can easily sink 100 hours into doing anything but the main quest, or any quest for that matter. Just roaming the wastelands, stumbling upon an old dilapidated factory, clearing out raiders and looting it dry, hoarding all the scraps and loot to your workbench, and crafting that upgraded silencer to your 10 mm pistol is a loop that just never gets old. Add to it a superb combat system through VATS, a settlement-building mechanic with thousands of different items, a hyper-active community with some crazy mods, and an excellent set of DLCs that followed the main game—all of this make it an easy one to recommend and one of the best open world games on PS4 to play even today.
9. Horizon Forbidden West
| Developer | Guerrilla Games |
| Release Date | February 18, 2022 |
The first entry in the series Horizon Zero Dawn could also qualify in this list, but we have gone ahead with the sequel, which not just introduces a bigger open world and everything that comes along with it.
Forbidden West features more settlements, NPCs, side quests, collectibles; a wider variety of weapons, improved melee combat, improved traversal systems, and a grander storyline with higher stakes.
8. GTA 5
| Developer | Rockstar |
| Release Date | November 18, 2014 |
More of a cultural phenomenon than just a game, this is easily the most recognized brand across the world – no surprise that when the trailer for the eagerly anticipated sequel was finally launched, it crossed 93 million views within the first 24 hours of its launch.
GTA 5 features a triple cast of protagonists with their own campaigns and missions with several memorable sequences and offers a breathtaking range of things to do in the fictional world of San Andreas and Los Santos. The game also boasts of an extremely engaging multi-player mode in GTA Online, where up to 30 players can engage in several cooperative or competitive modes.
7. The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim Special Edition
| Developer | Bethesda Game Studios |
| Release Date | October 28, 2016 |
Skyrim is a phenomenon that just does not get old with Bethesda keeping on launching a variety of versions of the game every few years. We have put up here the Special Edition launched in 2016 (to the base game that was originally launched in 2011).
Sweeping orchestral notes, and an open world to match, with races, skill trees, weapon, spell, and armor varieties throwing up almost infinite build and character possibilities, and an open world brimming with things to do, this is another one of the 100+ hours timesinks in the list that Bethesda seems to specialize in.
6. Batman: Arkham Knight
| Developer | Rocksteady Studios |
| Release Date | June 23, 2015 |
It has been almost nine years since the game launch and the fact that Gotham still holds up in terms of graphical fidelity and as an open world even against similar renditions much later (looking at you, Gotham Knights) is a testament to Rocksteady Studios’ masterpiece of a game. Playing as Batman (and in this one with the Batmobile also!) was never so much fun!
Add to it a great story to boot (maybe not as great as the earlier 2 games in the series), powerful gadgets, multiple approaches to combat, and an addictive multiplier-based combat system—it’s easy to see why the game is still held on such high esteem by fans as one of the best open world PS4 games of all time.
5. Elden Ring
| Developer | From Software |
| Release Date | February 25, 2022 |
This is a rare case where the actual game turned out to be miles better than all the hype that surrounded the pre-release wait (and it was a long wait from its first reveal some three years back in E3 2019). Elden Ring is a winner on almost all counts, the best two, in our opinion, being a truly organic landscape in The Worlds Between and bringing a sense of discovery as you discover a hidden cave entrance and stumble upon a game-changing piece of armor, weapon, or spell.
It is just so refreshing not to see it marked out on your map and you completing it as a chore on your to-do list. It also made the game accessible by bringing mechanics that you could either use or ignore, depending upon your comfort level with the (punishing!) level of difficulty—ranging from summons to throwables that put the enemy to sleep and spells that can destroy enemies from a distance. This is a gem of a game from the masters of the genre.
4. Marvel’s Spider-Man
| Developer | Insomniac Games |
| Release Date | September 7, 2018 |
Insomniac Games in their first entry in the series successfully captured the feeling of being Spider-Man, and gave a great open world to unleash yourself in full glory with the brilliant traversal mechanics. You unlock fast travel after having discovered places the first time around, which people generally prefer to use especially during mid-game or end-game. It was the least-used feature in the game for me. The traversal mechanic is that good! Add to it a simple but good combat system and a story to boot, this one is easily the best superhero game out there, and one of the best PS4 open world games of all time.
3. Ghost Of Tsushima
| Developer | Sucker Punch Productions |
| Release Date | July 17, 2020 |
Ghost of Tsushima succeeds in the one true test of a good open world game—it makes the simple task of moving from one place to another an absolute joy. This is probably the best-looking game (we have a truckload of screenshots to prove this!) on this list by a mile. The environments, the weather effects, the HUD-free display, with a gentle wind guiding you in the direction of your quest as you stumble onto an old person sitting on a crossroad, who regales you with the story of a legend, or a group of enemies whom you can challenge for a showdown or take them out by stealth—Ghost of Tsushima takes the best parts of an open world and almost perfects it.
2. Red Dead Redemption 2
| Developer | Rockstar |
| Release Date | October 26, 2018 |
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a masterpiece in open world design where with 6 years in players are still discovering new things in the game six years after its launch. The number of things that Rockstar has stuffed into this wide open world is astounding.
The epic scope and scale of RDR2 perfectly capture the wistfulness and longing for a world that is rapidly disappearing. The way the story slowly makes its descent towards the conclusion we all know is coming but is so incredibly heartbreaking when the moment arrives, or the simple joy of lighting a campfire in the wilderness as you gaze at the vast uncharted expanse—RDR2 is a win on all counts and an easy entry into not just a list for the best PS4 open world games, but for the best games of all time.
1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
| Developer | CD Projekt Red |
| Release Date | May 19, 2015 |
The Witcher 3 is a beast of a game and a triumph on almost all counts. A superb protagonist to base the game on, story and world-building based on a solid set of lore and history, supporting characters that are better realized than protagonists in other games, a good combat system combining spells, potions, and swords, and multiple endings—this is as good as it gets when it comes to open world games.
And that is our list of the best open world PS4 games – if you liked this list, you can also check out our list of best souls-like games.
