Just because a developer can create an open-world, does not mean they should. For better or worse, it is safe to say that the last decade has seen the rise of the open-world craze. Games such asAssassin’s Creed OdysseyandFallout 76dedicated a substantial section of their pre-release marketing to highlighting the massive size of their maps, even if bigger is seldom better.
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While explorable maps that give players the freedom to roam and wander are highly coveted, open-world titles are still relatively rare. Unsurprisingly, crafting such an experience requires resources, time, and - most importantly - talent. At the minimum, these ten games were lacking in one of these areas. Here are the worst open-world games of the 2010s, according toMetacritic.
Unlike other genres, a 100% consensus has yet to be reached on what constitutes an open-world. For example, doArk Park’s small but free-roaming stages qualify as open-world? How aboutPostal III’s barren world of nothingness? Well, for this list, they do not.
10Generation Zero (45)
Published in 2019 by Avalanche Studios, a studio well-known for theJust Causeseries and 2015’sMad Max,Generation Zeroshould have been a safe bet. Set in a post-apocalyptic alternate reality of Earth, Sweden has become overrun with deadly machines, so it is up to a teenager to survive this hellscape.
Avalanche Studios has always earned praise for its open-worlds, even if the story and gameplay do not always live up to the hype. WhileGeneration Zerois not without its strengths, the art style is particularly nice, the overall package feels half-baked.
9Deus Ex: The Fall (45)
The original iOS version garnered a decent reception from critics, even if it was seen as a strange move after the fantasticDeus Ex: Human Revolution. However,The Fall’s lackluster PC port is what earns this game a spot on this list.
Admittedly, Panama City is an incredibly tiny open-world, but players are free to explore the area as they see fit. As tends to be the standard for the series, situations and missions can be approached in a variety of ways. Frustratingly, little effort was made to properly adaptThe Fallto the new hardware, causing the game to just come across as a lazy port.
8Last Rebellion (44)
By and large, JRPGs managed to avoid making this list. The one exception happens to be Nippon Ichi Software’sLast Rebellion, a largely overlooked PlayStation 3 title released in 2010.
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In a somewhat strange move, the world of Junovald is devoid of towns or much in the way of personality, opting for a free-roam desolate landscape that gets repetitive rather quickly.Last Rebellionproved to be so bad, NIS America’s president actuallyapologizedfor releasing it in the States.
After going back and forth on whetherEscape Dead Islandqualifies as open-world, the franchise’s legacy and the interconnectedness of the map ultimately won out. A spin-off of the polarizingDead Island,EscapeDead Islandfeatures various small areas that are interconnected through tunnels. The third-person action game is relatively linear, but users can still explore the small world.
Sure, there might be nothing to actually discover inEscape Dead Island, but the option is still there. Along with just not being particularly fun to play,Escape Dead Islandhas an undercooked open-world.
6Troll And I (39)
Troll and Itries to replicate the brilliance of games likeThe Last GuardianandMajin and the Forsaken Kingdom; sadly, Spiral House was not up to the task. Set in Scandinavia,Troll and Iputs players in control of Otto and a large troll, who must work together to clear puzzles and survive some truly grueling battles.
The campaign is relatively linear, but the map itself is open-world, which comes as a detriment to the experience.Troll andIdoes a terrible job of properly directing players towards their next objectives, meaning too much time is spent traversing the map in hope of stumbling into something.
57 Days To Die (35)
7 Days to Dielaunched in a glitchy state that led to the survival horror game amassing a pretty bad reputation, despite somewhat improving since then. The PS4 and Xbox One versions were both detested by critics, although the latter fared quite a bit worse.
Following an “end of the world” scenario, players spawn in a randomly-generated world and are told the brave the environment, find shelter and food, and withstand attacks fromzombies. In 2019,7 Days to Dieisn’t bad, even if the same could not be said in 2016.
4Ark: Survival Evolved (29)
This entry is specifically referring to theNintendo Switchport, an undertaking that proved to be a step too far. Even if the open-world survival game is not without its detractors, two thingsArk: Survival Evolvedcannot be faulted for is lacking ambition and scale.
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Simply put, the Switch does not have the required juice to properly renderArk’s expansive world. Putting aside the poor framerate and ugly visuals,Survival Evolvedseems to be perpetually stuck in an asset loading state on Nintendo’s current console.
3Wild West Online (29)
A PVP MMORPG set in the old west,Wild West Onlinelaunched in 2018 on Steam, amassed an avalanche of negative comments, and was quickly delisted. It was a short but wild ride.
An MMO with no story or NPC enemies,Wild West Online’s puny open-world served as nothing more than a backdrop to attack other players. With the game expecting its userbase to essentially create their own narratives and fun,Wild West Onlineended up dying a quick and painful death.
Vehicular combat games are becoming increasingly rarer, especially those with a hint of quality.Road Rageis not one of those games. Taking place in a city overrun with bike gangs,Road Rage’s open-world is split into multiple districts, although they are almost all identical.
Road Rageboasts unresponsive controls, inconsistent hit detection, hilarious ragdoll physics, and very little to do that passes as entertainment.
1Infestation: Survivor Stories (20)
The lowest-rated open-world title of the decade on Metacritic,Infestation: Survivor Storieswas an online survival game that pivoted around players working together to try and survive a zombie apocalypse. Yes, the premise was quite original. As the servers closed in 2016,Survivor Storiesis down for the count.
Along with some audaciousmicrotransactionsthat bordered on the absurd,Survivor Storieswas simply a poorly designed game that rightfully got destroyed by critics.
NEXT:The 10 Worst PS3 Games Of The Decade (According To Metacritic)
