Key Takeaways
- Not all open-world games are limited to one setting; diverse biomes offer unique adventure opportunities.
- Games like RDR2, Subnautica, and Just Cause 4 showcase a variety of settings from mountains to oceans.
- Each game mentioned, from Rain World to Minecraft, presents a distinct and immersive world for exploration.
Open-world titles are highly praised for their exploration and interesting landscapes to discover. While some open-world titles tend to focus on a singular city or a small island, other open-world games have instead taken it a step further by allowing players to adventure through a diverse number of biomes.
From the openness of the plains to the ominous nature of a wetland environment, some players may be surprised to find that some open-world titles feel like multiple games in one due to the assortment of places they can explore. These open-world games are some of the best due to them having the most diverse biomes available to players.
8 Red Dead Redemption 2
There’s More To The West Than Cacti And Tumbleweeds
Starting strong, Red Dead Redemption 2 was not only one of the greatest open-world games to release in 2018 because of its story but also due to its incredible map. Players were free to explore every inch of it as either Arthur Morgan or as their very own outlaw in Red Dead Online, with an assortment of places to explore.
Set in a fictional version of America, Red Dead Redemption 2 showcases the variety of diverse beautiful biomes that can be found within the States, with some areas of the map being incredibly humid, such as seen within Roanoke Ridge, while other areas are covered in thick layers of snow, as seen within the region of Ambarino while exploring Mount Hagen.
7 Subnautica
Vast Underwater Biomes
While the majority of Subnautica is set underwater and therefore may at first seem like there couldn’t be a diverse number of biomes, some players may be surprised to see how much the waters, even on alien planets, vary depending on various factors from the temperature of the water or how deep they are.
Players are encouraged to explore this ominous ocean filled with fright and beauty if they hope to survive. Each biome has different resources that the player will need if they hope to upgrade their gear or create a vehicle that will allow them to travel further than the pod in which they begin their adventure.
6 Rain World
Twelve Regions To Explore With Various Creatures And Atmosphere
Rain World is an interesting title filled with exploration, survival, and an interesting story to go alongside it. While Rain World might not be as open as many other titles mentioned, the freedom to explore over 1,600 static screens that span across 12 regions is not only a beautiful world to look at while avoiding death but is also filled with various fauna and flora that fit perfectly with the atmosphere.
Related
Best Open World Roguelikes
These games effortlessly combine the depth and difficulty of roguelikes with the broadness of open-world games.
Not every biome is one that has naturally occurred, like a grassland or a swamp, as many of the regions within Rain World have an urban twist, such as one of the areas the player can explore being the Garbage Wastes, while others feel far more mystical, like the Sky Islands.
5 Just Cause 4
Explore Diverse Biome With Even More Unique Weather
One of the biggest praises players have had for the Just Cause franchise, especially Just Cause 4, has been its open world that truly allows a player to freely explore some incredibly diverse biomes. Within the title that was released in 2018, players were able to adventure through a jungle, a grassland, a desert, and a snowy mountain biome.
Each biome has its own unique style as well as the weather that the player is likely to experience while adventuring through these places. This includes some extreme weather moments too, such as players finding themselves trapped by tornadoes within the grasslands, or listening to the intense thunderstorms while within the jungle.
4 Horizon Forbidden West
A Diverse World Of Biomes And Machines That Fit Them
Stepping up its world, Horizon Forbidden West not only has an assortment of tribes for players to visit and gain the help of but also a wonderful variety of biomes to explore that many of these tribes now call home. Horizon Forbidden West is already an incredibly beautiful-looking game where many players make the most of the photomode to capture these wonderful landscapes and the assortment of animal-like machines that have also made their home within these diverse biomes.
Even within a world that was once threatened by a disaster that saw all its cities destroyed, it’s incredible to see how nature has taken over once again and the assortment of new biomes that have occurred within a post-apocalyptic America.
3 Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
Learn How To Survive In Seven Unique Biomes
Survival games that have an open-world environment are some of the best for diverse biomes, with Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey being a great example of an open-world title with some unique areas for players to explore.
In a game that is all about evolution and learning how to survive, each new biome is filled with an assortment of challenges and new things to discover, from examining the threats that call these new biomes their home, as well as discovering what is safe for the player to eat and where their tribe can live within this new biome.
2 Minecraft
An Open-world Sandbox That Keeps Expanding
Although Minecraft may be a survival sandbox title made out of cubes, the incredible exploration within Minecraft allows players to adventure across a variety of diverse biomes that have been gradually added to the title since its original release in 2011.
From a game that was once made of only grass blocks, players are now able to explore various biomes that are even diverse deep underground. While the biomes on the surface may already be incredible, players are also able to adventure through dripstone caves, lush caves, and they could even find an ancient city deep under the crust too.
1 The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
Distinct Beauty In Each And Every Region
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was already an incredible open-world that allowed players to freely explore the various regions at their own pace and choose how they wished to approach the story. With the introduction of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the world is almost identical, other than the expansion of the biomes, as players can now also adventure across various islands in the sky, or fall deep below Hyrule to explore the ominous caves found underneath.
Tears of the Kingdom also remains one of the most beautiful open-world titles, allowing players to truly lose countless hours riding around on their horse, collecting various ingredients from the different biomes to not only cook but also create interesting weaponry.