While many open worlds today rely on the same mechanics, these games have come with new gameplay ideas that have helped redefine the open-world approach.

Genre over-represented for a little over two generations, the open world sometimes seems to have a hard time renewing itself. Or at least it doesn’t achieve it as much as some players would like. However, if we look closely, there continue to be open-world games from time to time that bring their small stone to the building by offering new gameplay mechanics. And if this does not necessarily always represent a revolution, it does allow players to approach the world around them in a different way—the proof with these five games.

1 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Free Climbing

We will all agree that on its own, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has revolutionized the open world on many points. There are no more barriers, no more limits, just a massive world just waiting to be explored. But it’s undoubtedly its free-climbing system that brought the genre the most, giving players a sense of freedom never before seen.

2 Batman Arkham Asylum and its combat system

When talking about hand-to-hand combat, it’s evident that there was a before and an after Batman Arkham. Landing with its highly fluid and intuitive “free-flow” system, Rocksteady revolutionized the genre with the release of 2009’s Arkham Asylum. It’s not for nothing that a game like Marvel’s Spider-Man was inspired by it nearly a decade later.

3 Fable and the Morality System

While the morality system is present in several games today, it was still a rare mechanic outside of pure RPGs at Fable’s release. By offering players the possibility of becoming good or bad depending on their actions, the title of Lionhead Studios has thus established itself as one of the precursors in this area on the open-world side.

4 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its Nemesis System

With its Nemesis system, Monolith has completely changed the approach to the open-world by allowing it to be constantly evolving. Indeed, Shadow of Mordor was accompanied, for example, by a system of hierarchy of enemies, which implied that the latter was promoted or demoted according to our actions.

5 Ghost of Tsushima and the Guiding Wind

When players are increasingly rejecting open worlds filled with on-screen markers and indicators, Ghost of Tsushima has arrived with a nice evolution. Indeed, to not harm the immersion, Sucker Punch had the idea of ​​using the wind to guide the player through the map. An ingenious idea that will probably be picked up and adapted by many in the future.