Best Open World Games on Game Pass

Ghost of Tsushima taught me that a historical setting makes walking around feel like it means something. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II takes that further than I expected. Bohemia here is a place where being filthy gets you treated differently, guards remember what you did, and a single errand can turn into an hour because someone offered you a better one on the road. I went in braced for a survival chore. It never felt like one. The swordplay does take real practice, and hunger and sleep will nag you early on. It's the one on this list I'd install first.

Planets do start to rhyme after enough hours, and that's the fair complaint. What keeps me coming back is the hour-sized loop. I land, scan a few odd animals, pull some resources, upgrade the ship a little, and leave before the evening is gone. Nothing forces your hand. Short evenings suit it well. Years of updates have turned base building, freighters and ship progression into real reasons to stay. Online play is optional, and I treat it as a solo game. It ranks second because discovery is the entire point, not a side feature.

Forza Horizon 6 is the one I'd hand to someone who claims not to like open worlds. There's no homework. You pick a car, point it at something interesting in Japan, and the road does the rest. Twenty minutes later I usually can't remember which event I was driving to. I came to it after Gran Turismo 7 and a lot of Need for Speed, and what struck me is how little it asks of you before the fun starts. It ranks third on polish and ease, not depth. Some series regulars have been cooler on it than the technical quality suggests, and if cars bore you, no map will fix that.

Night City after dark on a QD-OLED is a flattering sight, and I will admit the S95F does some of that work. Even so, the density holds up. Every block has a gig, a vendor or a stranger with a problem, and I keep getting pulled sideways. I haven't seen the ending, and I'm fine with that. The city is the draw. It sits fourth because the map is dense rather than free. You can't wander out into nothing the way you can in the games above it, and the driving still feels like the weakest part.

Fantasy is my favourite genre, and Oblivion Remastered is the game where I plan a route and immediately abandon it. A cave on the horizon, a guild notice, a stranger asking for help with a ruined shrine. Cyrodiil rewards that kind of drifting. It sits behind the newer worlds because it plays like a game from 2006 wearing a very good coat. Conversations are stiff, the levelling system is awkward, and combat is not the reason to stay. The wandering is. Install it when you want a fantasy map with no pressure and several guild questlines to fall into.

I once spent ten minutes at the foot of a ridge, cargo stacked on my back, working out which slope wouldn't topple me. That was when Death Stranding clicked. Walking is the game, and the Director's Cut adds extra gear that makes the trek a little kinder. The appeal is narrow, which is why it isn't higher. If you want combat to break up the roaming, the open zone will feel empty, and the story drops long cutscenes into the middle of an evening. I admire it more than I reach for it. For a quiet solo wander, though, nothing else on Game Pass feels like it.

Not the best game ever made. It is also an obvious Ubisoft one, with the map-clearing rhythm that comes with that. But I've watched the films, and being able to roam Pandora myself is something special, particularly after dark when the forest lights up on the S95F. The world looks good, and that carries a lot of the hours. Combat and mission design are serviceable at best, and the story won't stay with you. It lands seventh because the spectacle is real and the depth isn't. Think of it as a very pretty place to spend evenings, not a game with much to say.

This is not a true open world, and that's why it sits eighth. Honolulu is a set of districts you walk through, not a map you cross. What it does have is more distraction per street than almost anything else on Game Pass. I'm a Pokémon player, so Sujimon swallowed one evening, and building up Dondoko Island, which scratches an Animal Crossing itch, swallowed the next. The main story hadn't moved. Turn-based fights are lively but they add up, and the plot is long. If you like side activities more than horizon-chasing, it earns the slot.

Spider-Man on the PS2 is where I learned to love city traversal, and Arkham Knight scratches the same itch with a cape. Gliding across Gotham and diving into a drop-kick still feels great a decade on. Gotham is compact, so crossing it takes minutes and the world never drags. What drags is the Riddler. Hundreds of trophies are exactly the sort of padding I skip without guilt, and the Batmobile tank sections wear out their welcome fast. It lands ninth because the city is small and the checklist is long. A solid pick for a story-led evening, not a place to live.

An hour into The Planet Crafter and I'm usually watching a number tick upward. Oxygen, heat, pressure. Then one evening you look up and the sky has changed, and that small reward is the whole hook. It's the quiet entry on this list, the one I reach for when I want to switch off and still feel I got somewhere. The world is smaller and more hand-built than the games above, and the mid-game asks for patience while resources trickle in. Rough edges explain why it closes the list. Solo is fine, and co-op is there if you have a friend who likes base building.