It’s Falcon. And today on “Gameranx,” the top 10 small open world games

Open worlds are usually associated with

just mass but big world doesn’t

necessarily equal good world hi folks

its Falcon and today on game ranks the

best small open-world games out there

part one starting off at number 10 it’s

dying light the map of this zombie based

parkour game isn’t really that big and

but it’s actually kind of a good thing

because you don’t get a car like in the

expansion to get around so you have to

go everywhere on foot the city of Harran

where the game takes place is this

playground for freerunning it’s so well

designed it is a game where it’s just as

fun to avoid zombies as it is to deal

with them the maps actually kind of

split into two parts the slums in the

old town neither is huge but they’re

really vertical and you’ll spend a lot

of this game standing on roofs rather

than the city streets this is a game

where you’re on a time limit as well

it’s relatively safe during the day but

during the night it gets really really

dark not like video game darkness but

more also during the night you’re forced

to deal with volatile x’ which are

super-powered zombies that stalk around

at night oh and kill you in seconds the

map is really small compared to a lot of

massive open world games out there but

being forced to get around it on foot

makes you feel every step

and number nine is the mall from Dead

Rising 1 which is not totally open world

but it’s cool and worth mentioning it’s

a huge mall but pretty small for being

the entire area you play the game in

there’s only 7 main areas plus the

maintenance tunnels no Dead Rising is a

pretty unique game and there’s always a

ticking clock you’ve got three days to

complete your investigation well you’ve

got to avoid zombies rescue survivors

and deal with some ridiculous psychos to

figure out what’s really going on All

Things Considered three days is not a

long time span playing the game you’re

gonna have to really learn the ins and

outs of the mall like learn where the

best weapons are where to find healing

items etc and plotting your route to

avoid zombies and not waste too much

time is a really big part of the game

you’re obviously on that time limit and

it’s tough to get everything done in one

playthrough your progress carries over

every time you start over so there’s

incentive to play through the game

multiple times fully understanding the

mall can make the game much easier

though and number eight is bully it’s

set in the Bulworth Academy in the town

called obviously Bulworth and this game

is pretty unusual for a rockstar game

just because of the smaller stakes the

protagonist is smaller your objectives

are smaller like raiding the girl’s dorm

or protecting a believ nerd and the map

is well suitably smaller it doesn’t

really feel small because at most you’ve

got a bike and that’s obviously not like

driving around in a car on a mat and all

the while you’re going to school so

you’re pretty much on a time limit just

how much you can even go out and do

things hell it takes a while before you

even get access to the town a big chunk

of the early game has just limited the

academy still it’s a great game that

adds a ton of variety and detail to the

GTA formula many of the students and

townies are specific characters who have

certain routines they do and in general

the town feels a little bit more

lived-in than any of the previous

rockstar games

at number seven is vampire the

masquerade bloodlines it’s a vampire RPG

and it actually only takes place in a

few small areas of Los Angeles Santa

mamita downtown Hollywood and Chinatown

and each area is really only as big as a

city block or two but they’re just

jam-packed with details

this RPG is really dense there’s not a

lot of downtime between missions and

it’s better for it each map is dotting

with things to do when people to talk to

and of course opportunities to do

vampire stuff like the hypnotize people

sneak around savants at sewers or of

course suck some blood

I mean bloodlines is a little bit on the

short side but rather than it feel kind

of like a ripoff it feels concise and

it’s fun and it really just it doesn’t

waste your time it’s it’s worth every

minute at number six is shadow of Mordor

this open-world Rocksteady Batman like

game sees you sneaking around two

relatively small areas of Mordor I mean

it’s the Lord of the Rings cam on a

quest of vengeance against some dudes

who killed your family or something I

mean the main plot isn’t really that

important in this game it’s really just

the orcs that are the star of the show

because of the relatively small map

sizes you’re pretty much seeing orcs all

the time and because of how fast you can

run it makes it pretty easy to get from

one end of the map to the other you add

in the Nemesis system and you’re dealing

with all kinds of randomly generated

orcs and that game will keep you busy

for sure though thankfully the game

isn’t actually that long which given how

many orcs you end up stabbing does a

good job of help keeping it from seeming

repetitive I mean this game isn’t like

algorithmic or anything but the systems

in plays are basically what attracted

people to the game and the people that

love it love it for that reason and

number five is mafia 2 which takes place

in the city of Empire Bay now Empire Bay

is a pretty cool-looking city but it’s

not very big

this criminal open world games map is

relatively small in comparison to the

gigantic ones you see in other even

gangster games but it makes up for the

size of it by being extremely detailed

some of the environments are impressive

even 10 years on you play as Vito

Scaletta and the game is about your rise

to becoming a made man

so basically good fellows but in the

1950s well all in the 1950s the world of

this game how the game itself is really

all about all the period details when

you go into an apartment it’s really

really 1950s feeling driving around is

very different from grand theft auto

because the cars are from the 1950s and

all of this stuff was really

meticulously researched to make it look

super authentic and add so much to the

game I mean you kind of have to

specifically pay attention to map size

to notice that it’s not that big at

number four is the outer worlds here’s

the three word pitch for the game

fallout in space and not like cheap

fallout in space it’s made by the

original guys behind the original

Fallout and fallout new vegas and what

this game does trades a sprawling open

map like in new vegas for a series of

smaller locations that are set on

different planets other than that is

fallout it’s first-person RPG with a

heavy emphasis on guns you can talk your

way out of situations you can sneak

recruit party members it’s it’s all that

stuff outside of just being sat on

smaller Maps then and fallout it’s just

in general a smaller more focused camp

if you feel like some of the newer

Fallout games feel bloated or barren or

just too damn big outer worlds and

everything that it has to say and do

will definitely appeal to you because

it’s not only more manageable but it

puts all of that extra effort that you

might see put into the mat into charm in

my opinion the outer worlds has charm

that even fallout 4 doesn’t really have

not that fallout 4 doesn’t have any

charm it’s just the outer worlds is it’s

it’s hard to resist and number three is

the Shenmue series which is really known

for its detailed environments especially

in the first and third games Hong Kong

and Shenmue 2 is actually gigantic

compared to the small town of Yokosuka

and Shenmue 1 and bailu village and

Shenmue 3 but what’s special about these

games is how you can explore the

environment you can go into a lot of how

says you can open drawers generally just

rifle through people’s stuff there’s

also tons of stuff to do like gamble and

play arcade games practice martial arts

and what’s pretty wild about the 1st and

3rd games is how almost every character

has unique dialogue depending on what

point in the story you’re at it’s just a

huge attention to detail that makes

these small areas feel more alive even

if the games can get pretty goofy at

times at number two is the Yakuza series

in Camarillo I mean we can’t really

mention Shenmue and praised it in that

way without doing the same for Yassa

Yakuza is kind of the refinement of that

formula to a point of perfection but

Camacho is its main hub of activity for

pretty much every Yaak is a game and

there’s been a lot of them

what makes this location so unusual

isn’t just how detailed it is I mean

it’s relatively small it only covers a

few city blocks but there’s tons of

stores arcades restaurants the back

alleys check out but that even though

it’s the same place in every single game

there’s always something new to find

seriously if you’ve played this series

for a long time you start to learn this

place like the back of your hand I mean

if you just describe to somebody the

fact that they use the same map and

pretty much every single one of these

games they’d probably accuse them of

being lazy but it’s easy to see why they

do it the place has just become so

beloved with fans but it’s also easy to

see the amount of detail and love they

put into it every time basically Yaka so

games are open world beat-em-ups where

you wander around beat up bad guys play

some Virtua Fighter and race toy cars

it’s a weird series a lot of

melodramatic stuff mixed up with some

truly goofy side content as well at this

point the Yaak is a series is almost a

genre of its own and though the city is

small it’s literally every single time

fun to explore it and at number one it’s

Batman Arkham City it’s hard to imagine

but the entire play area of this game is

not even close to a square mile I mean

it is absolutely tiny compared to some

of the more massive open world games out

there but it’s just packed with stuff I

mean do we need to go into a detailed

explanation this game it’s just a fan

little Batman game the open world is

dense and detailed it’s fun to get

around using Batman’s gadgets and you’re

always finding really cool stuff to do

or Riddler trophies this is one of those

games where by the end of it you just

feel like the world is your domain so to

speak and of course the map that

Rocksteady made for it is entirely wide

but what do you think leave us a comment

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you next time right here on game wings

 

[Falcon] When we talk about great open worlds,it’s often the large ones that get the most attention,just because of the accomplishment of the scale.

However, it’s not always the biggest ones that are the best.

It’s Falcon.And today on “Gameranx,”the top 10 small open world games, part two.

For reference, if you’re
interested in part one,

we did “Dying Light,” “Dead Rising,”

“Bully,” “Vampire: The
Masquerade Bloodlines,”

“Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor,”

“Mafia 2,” “The Outer World,”

“Shenmue,” “The Yakuza” series,

and “Batman: Arkham City.”

It’s a good video.

I would recommend going back to it,

but now you know why those
aren’t in this video.

Let’s get going.

Starting off at number 10,

the Talos 1 from “Prey.”

It’s a great one to start
with because, at first,

it doesn’t really even seem like “Prey”

is an open world game at all.

If you played other immersive sims before,

you’re probably expecting a
linear sequence of levels,

similar to something like
Arkane’s’ previous games,

like “Dishonored” or games
that inspired “Prey,”

like “System Shock 2.”

But after you get through
the first major area,

the whole station really
starts to open up.

What’s so cool about it,

is that the station map is accurate.

And if you actually combined

all the different parts of Talos 1,

it would mostly make sense.

The bridge is at the top,

just like it shows on the map,

while the docking bay is near the bottom.

You can see everything wherever you go,

on the exterior of the station too.

In reality,

Talos 1 is basically one
huge immersive sim map

that’s split into different sections

by loading screens.

It’s like if an an entire game

was set on a single “Hitman” map,

because the amount of
work they had to put in

to make everything line up and make sense,

while still making an entertaining game

is really impressive.

(electronic trilling)

(intense music)

The best small open worlds
aren’t simply measured in

how few square miles they take up,

but how dense and lived-in
the world actually feels.

Few of them out there

feel is detailed and complete
as the one in “Prey.”

At number nine is Hong
Kong from “Sleeping Dogs.”

Compared to “Prey,”

the open world of “Sleeping
Dogs” is actually huge,

but compared to a lot of
other open world action games,

it’s actually pretty small and very dense.

Sometimes that can be
a little disappointing,

but with “Sleeping Dogs,” it
works absolutely perfectly.

Hong Kong is super dense,

very lively and filled with detail.

And while it doesn’t cover a huge area,

like something like “Grant Theft Auto 5,”

it still manages to create

a really compelling version of the city,

while only being a fraction
of its actual size.

It does help that there’s
less of an emphasis

on driving and gun play in this game

than other open world games,

that, you know, trend towards crime.

Most of the fighting is
actually hand-to-hand

and half the time you’re
chasing someone on foot,

rather than doing anything in a vehicle.

What stands out to me,

compared to other open world crime games,

is that the interiors are, like, insane.

And the on-foot sections
like the night market

are really cool.

Like, it’s just a really cool
place to explore on foot.

And the kind of detail
you really just don’t see

in a game that’s aiming
to give an open world.

(bystander screams)
– Oh, shit!

(glass shatters)

(bystanders screaming and chattering)

– [Falcon] In reality,

the city of Hong Kong
is ridiculous in size,

so the “Sleeping Dogs” version
isn’t exactly accurate.

But the smaller size makes
getting around easier

and also makes it so that

they can get the feel of Hong Kong,

perhaps a little bit better,

while giving us a more fun game overall.

At number eight is Prague and
“Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.”

“Mankind Divided” is pretty unique

among the “Deus Ex” games,

because instead of having
several small hub areas,

you can explore as you
go through the story,

the game’s only got one, Prague.

And that seems a little limiting,

but the developers made the most of it

and turned the city into one of the best,

but also smallest, open
world locations ever.

It’s a place that’s
incredibly dense with detail

and it just looks so cool

with this mix of, like,
old European architecture

next to hyper-modern
structures and art displays.

Ask anybody about this game,

they’ll probably tell you the hub world’s

probably the best part about the game.

The main story’s kind of short

and ends on, what I would call,

a disappointing cliffhanger.

But the time you spend in
Prague is just fantastic.

A lot of the games’ best moments

are found in the side quests in this area.

And it seems like, yeah,

that’s kind of damning the
game with faint praise,

but seriously,

some of these side quests
are genuinely phenomenal.

The serial killer side
quest is especially good

and plays out slowly over the
course of the entire game.

And it’s exclusive to the open world.

Prague is just a really
interesting and dense place

to explore in this game.

And it’s amazing to look at, even now.

The actual open world is
only a few city blocks,

but it’s one of the best
open worlds out there.

At number seven, the
island from “The Witness.”

This one’s a little different,

a puzzle game rather than an action one.

But the bones of an open world are there.

After getting through, what
amounts to, a tutorial,

you pretty much get free
reign to explore on the island

and go wherever you want.

There’s nothing stopping you

from attempting end game puzzles,

right from the start, if you want to.

But if it’s your first time playing,

you basically have to explore
the easier areas first

to understand how to solve

some of the later brain teasers.

That’s kind of, what’s so
brilliant about “The Witness.”

Once you get past that initial part,

there’s really no tutorials
or locks on anything.

If you wanna progress,

you basically have to learn

about the various rules of the game

and apply them as you go.

It’s a structure that allows
for a lot of Eureka moments,

where your brain like suddenly
puts all the pieces together

and you feel like a damn genius.

In comparison to a lot of
open world games though,

the island’s actually pretty small.

It takes only a minute or two

to run from one side to the other,

but compared to a lot of
puzzle games, it’s gigantic.

It’s just a cool place to explore as well.

The visuals are kind of basic,

but they really done well.

So each area has a unique identity

that makes it pretty
satisfying to explore.

If “The Witness” was
just a linear collection

of line puzzles,

it wouldn’t been nearly as good.

It’s the island that really
pulls everything together.

At number six, is London from
“Assassin Creed Syndicate.”

As the maps in “Assassins Creed” series

just keep getting bigger and bigger,

it’s easy to forget that
sometimes less is more.

And that’s definitely the
case with “Syndicate.”

Compared to the sprawling epics

that most of the other
games have in the series,

“Syndicate” is way more
humble in its ambitions.

Instead taking place in multiple cities

or even an entire country,

the entire open world of this game

takes place in central London.

It’s a city that’s been done to death

in open world games too,

but the industrial revolution setting

does a lot to make the city feel distinct.

Another huge positive

is all the interior
locations you can explore

during the games’ more “Hitman” style

assassination missions.

They were introduced in “Unity,”

but basically like everything

about “Syndicate” that
was introduced in “Unity,”

way less janky here.

It’s just a solid game, all around.

The grappling hook feels
like they put it in

because the Batman games were popular,

but it makes getting around a lot easier.

And the vehicles are really
fun to play around with.

But probably most importantly,

the actual stealth seems like, to me,

probably the best in the series.

In comparison to a lot of
other “Assassin Creed” games,

it’s pretty modest in size,

but it’s much more focused.

And in our opinion here,

honestly, a lot more fun because of it.

At number five is Faranga from “Risen.”

Released Beck in 2009 by Piranha Bytes,

the masters of Eurogenic RPGs,

like “Gothic” and “Alex.”

Yes, a developer that I have

both a lot of respect and criticism for.

“Risen” may have been
the developer’s smallest,

but best open world.

And you’ll probably be
able to tell exactly why

with my criticism of “Alex.”

“Risen” is set entirely in Faranga,

which in terms of an RPG,
this place is pretty small,

but it makes up with depth.

It may not look like a lot now,

but in 2019, this was an
absolute joy to explore.

Everything feels handmade and interesting.

And there’s a real rush

to explore places that you haven’t been,

just because you, like, want to see it.

It is a tough one.

When you start out,

even the most pathetic and
basic enemies can kill you.

And it doesn’t get a
lot easier from there.

Compared to “Gothic,”

the difficulty’s a little more reasonable,

but it’s a tough and unforgiving game,

especially for this time.

Oddly enough, “Demon
Souls” came out, like,

four days later in North America.

So I guess that’s what 2009 was all about.

You actually have access
to most of the island,

right from the start.

It’s just that if you go
in the wrong direction,

you’re probably gonna
get clobbered pretty hard

by high-level monsters, blocking your way.

And also combats.

It’s a Piranha Bytes game.

It’s a little awkward and the
translation isn’t the best,

but the world design’s amazing.

Just a fun game to explore.

And the difficulty makes
it even more satisfying,

when you manage to explore
some new and different place

(chuckles) and survive.

The later games in the series
aren’t as well regarded,

but the first game really holds up,

as long as you got a
high tolerance for pain.

At number four is Hekseville
from “Gravity Rush.”

Probably the strangest open
world game on the list.

Originally developed
for the Playstation Vita

and quickly gathered a cult following.

Sony was like, “Woo, gotta go to PS4.

‘Cause it would be good

if more than a dozen people
bought and played it.”

Joking aside, it’s kind of a weird game.

You play as Cat, a girl with
the ability to control gravity,

which you can use to basically fly

by shifting gravity for yourself

so that you’re always falling sideways.

It’s a really unique gimmick

and it works well in the city

it takes place in, Hekseville.

It’s one of the most
unique locations in gaming,

a city attached to a massive pillar,

in the middle of an endless void.

There’s only four relatively
small districts here.

So the surface area is not huge,

but there’s tons of nooks
and crannies to explore.

You’re not just flying
all over the city either.

A lot of the time,

you’re flying under it as well.

And there’s some pretty
surreal stuff down there.

When you’re flying around
struts and supports

that keep this place from literally

collapsing into an endless abyss.

It’s just a really unusual location

and one of our favorite open world cities.

At number three is New
Marais from “inFamous 2.”

All three of these games
have relatively small cities.

But New Marais is probably the smallest

and probably the best.

It’s basically a fictional New Orleans.

And it’s built for maximum depth,

in a relatively small area.

Compared to a lot of open world games,

it’s tiny.

But for an “inFamous” game, perfect.

They manage to squeeze

everything you would
expect from New Orleans,

there’s a Bourbon Street area,

Old Spanish Fort,

flooded section,

a huge port area, to name a few places.

It’s incredibly dense,

while managing not to feel
like an amusement park,

which is incredible.

Looking at this map,

it’s gotta be one of the smallest

open world games of all time.

It’s not very big at all.

Two islands split into
four, sort of, districts.

Like in truth, it could be
an open world Tony Hawk game.

But a big part of that

is just the developers really
leaning into what works

in an “inFamous” game.

These games are fast, fun, and very dense.

And at least until “Second Son,”

you didn’t really get any
super fast movement powers.

So making the map relatively
small makes sense.

Maybe some people prefer
Seattle from “Second Son”

or Empire Bay from one.

But to me, it’s just the best
open world in the series.

At number two is Hyrule and Lorule

from “Legend of Zelda:
Link Between Worlds.”

This is an interesting game,

’cause it really looks like

your standard top-down
“Legend of Zelda” game,

but it’s got a large amount

of open world DNA in it as well.

Unlike “Breath of the Wild”
though, which is massive,

the world’s pretty compact.

Built as a sequel to the
legendary “Link to the Past,”

what makes this game unique
among “Legend of Zelda” games

is that you can tackle the dungeons

in pretty much any order.

It’s a true open world,

one that you can explore as you see fit.

That’s because instead
of earning equipment

that gets you access to dungeons

like a regular Zelda game,

you can just buy or rent equipment

from the store whenever you want.

It’s a small thing that
makes a really big difference

and opens up the game world

in a pretty unprecedented
way for the series.

You might think it throws everything off,

but actually against all odds,

it’s a fantastic game.

Probably one of the best in the series.

It’s all around incredibly fun.

It’s easy to get into

and it’s really refreshing
for the whole series,

just like “Breath of the Wild,”

but in a completely different way.

And finally, you knew
this had to be coming,

Manhattan from Marvel’s “Spider-Man.”

In real life,

the island of Manhattan is not very big.

It’s about 22.8 square miles.

And in Marvel’s “Spider-Man,”

it is shrunk to a fraction of that size.

Still, it remains one
of the most realistic

and well-realized open
world games out there.

Few games actually
manage to capture a city

as well as this one does.

It’s a small detail,

but one of the things I really
appreciate about this game

is how realistic the traffic is.

Like, most open world games have to cheat

and keep the roads open to
make it easier to get around,

so the game doesn’t have
to draw a lot of vehicles

or just generally be in your
way as you’re in a vehicle.

But this game is just
like, “You know what?

You’re Spider-Man.

Traffic can suck in this New York.”

And it does.

From either street level
or swinging around,

it all looks amazing too.

Interiors,

still,

probably among the most
topnotch of any game out there,

that’s an open world.

It’s all just like a
major graphical showcase.

Interestingly enough,

compared to the many other

Spider-Man game versions of Manhattan,

it’s probably one of the biggest.

But it’s actually relatively small,

compared to most open world cities.

When you can’t fly and you’re not driving,

it only makes sense to
condense a world a little bit,

so you’re not spending too much time

going from one place to another.

I mean it’s, “Spider-Man,”

it’s one of the few open
world superhero games

that can actually contend with
the “Batman: Arkham” games.

And while the city is definitely bigger

than the one from Arkham city,

it’s pretty small in the grand scheme.

When it comes to superheroes though,

unless your Superman,

smaller’s probably better.

And it doesn’t get much better
than “Spiderman’s” New York.

It’s so fun to swing around in

and it just looks amazing.

Like, what is there left to say about it?

And that’s all for today.

Leave us a comment.

Let us know what you think.

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I’m Falcon.

You can follow me on
Twitter @FalconTheHero.

We’ll see you next time,

right here on “Gameranx.”