The best open-world games

Though Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales were exceptional open-world action-adventure games, it’s really Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 that sees the series truly meet its potential. Everything here is bigger, bolder, and more exciting than ever, providing players with an opportunity to play as both Peter and Miles on a quest that sees them working side-by-side while also dealing with personal conflicts that threaten to pull them apart. If you’re a fan of web-slinging fun, there’s no better Spider-Man game on the market.

The Surge featured a novel limb-targeting system and interesting streamlined take on a Souls-like experience, but its world was drab, and areas blended together because of the large industrial complex setting. For The Surge 2, Deck13 took the action into a nearby city with much more variety. Giant forests, museums, corporate facilities, shopping centers, and even waterside depots are all included in the world, and it still manages to fold in on itself — sections you reach hours into the game will reveal themselves to be right next to much earlier areas. What didn’t need to change was the combat, and it remains as tight and intense as ever. Players can choose from even more weapons, many found by defeating powerful bosses, and the game’s later stages kick up the difficulty considerably and test every move at players’ disposal.

Wildly different from every preceding game in the series, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is ostensibly a game about the ongoing war between the Assassins and the Templars, but it’s actually the best pirate game ever in disguise. With a ship loaded up with crew members, you can sail into the sea and ambush passersby, launching cannonballs at their hull before hopping aboard yourself and picking apart their measly fighters. Small island villages are surrounded by trees, creating unique stealth scenarios when taking out targets on land, and buried treasure gives you reason to explore the entire map.