Besties Battle Bracket: Best Open World Game Worlds
Added 2025-01-07 08:01:03 +0000 UTC
The Besties strive to challenge themselves with each new Besties Bracket. Sure, for this month we could have done something safe and familiar like "Best open world game." But you can find the answer to that question on your video game publication of choice.
We craved something bigger. Bolder. Nearly impossible to answer. We looked inward and dared to ask, "What is the best open world games world?"
Did we fly too close to the sun? Are our wings melting as we fall to the open world world beneath us? Listener, it's up to you to decide.
Rubric:
How convincing is it as a “real” place?
Which has the most to do?
Where would you rather go on vacation?
Round 1 Matchups:
Shadow of the Colossus’ The Forbidden Lands vs. Sea of Thieves’ Sea of Thieves
No Man Sky's Space vs. Microsoft Flight Simulator’s Earth
Skyrim's Skyrim vs. Elden Ring's The Lands Between
Spider-man 2's New York City vs. Grand Theft Auto 5's Los Santos
Minecraft's Randomly Generated Chunk vs. Fallout New Vegas's New Vegas
The Witcher 3's The Continent vs The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild's Hyrule
Cyberpunk's Night City vs. Red Dead Redemption's Wild West
The Yakuza series’ Kamurochō vs. Lil Gator Game's Campsite
Comments
Will the besties or resties be playing KCD2?
PoohGhoulBear
2025-04-01 13:49:12 +0000 UTCWow, Red Dead Redemption 2’s Wild West is the most immersive and alive open world I’ve played so I was shocked to see it so unanimously dismissed. Even 6 years on, it’s still a staggering achievement.
Hamish Jupp
2025-03-04 11:17:27 +0000 UTCFunniest thing about this episode is how they kept all the "Chris Plant is gone" stuff and then he just rejoins the conversation with no comment or explanation
Iris Celestine
2025-02-05 08:22:21 +0000 UTCThis used to break my heart a bit and it took me longer than I'd like to admit to realise that this ranking doesn't actually affect the fact that I love both Skyrim and Elden Ring and think an urban open world could never hold a candle to either of them. I have to remember not to take it personally haha.
Sacha Torregrosa
2025-01-24 17:47:40 +0000 UTCDamn it’s crazy cause New York blows, Jersey is better in every single way (; born and raised bitchessssss
Brad MacDonald
2025-01-21 22:42:38 +0000 UTC"How Small Open-World Games Feel Big" by Razbuten on Youtube is a great vid that this bracket battle made me think of, def recommend checking it out!
Will Metzler
2025-01-12 18:07:10 +0000 UTCYeah, a very different episode than what I was expecting. TotK and Lands between not in the top five, plus no showing for Outer Wilds or Subnautica was pretty surprising at first. After listening to the whole thing I got what they were going for, but it would be interesting to see an episode using something closer to your rubric
Jonathon Mathon
2025-01-10 18:00:39 +0000 UTCI'm surprised Azeroth wasn't considered.
Baxwell
2025-01-10 16:58:09 +0000 UTCThe rubrics are so stupid but I love the insanity they cause. I think I have Stockholm syndrome
Daltraxx
2025-01-10 01:25:25 +0000 UTCIt was amazing to finally here some love about night city from you guys. Even on its release on PS4, sure it was ropey, but I played it through and could still absorb the atmosphere. But when they updated it with phantom liberty, they truly realised their intention. As a big fan of the genre I thought "finally someone has done it!". What a game, what a world. I would take it over any gonk-assed empty open world full of fetch quests.
Grant Cameron
2025-01-09 19:15:24 +0000 UTCI think what differentiates Fallen Order (and Metroidvanias in general) from open world games is that you can go anywhere, but the paths you have through the world are very finite. It's more like a set of interlocking paths, rather than a open space.
Gibson Garner
2025-01-09 15:29:15 +0000 UTCWelp. It only took a year of covering Infinite Wealth but the word “pervert” has officially lost all meaning to the point it doesn’t sound like a real word 😂. Anyways this episode with No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk being so prominent got me thinking, and maybe this could be a topic for a Resties episode or just part of a mail bag: but how do you guys consider/justify giving games second chances as consumers? I’ve been scared off of buying both aforementioned games because of their launches and having those in my circles saying we shouldn’t reward launching games incomplete only to fix them later. But I’m not sure I 100% agree, and there’s also other cases like Early access where they do that but are up front about it, or games like FF14 where it seems it was so easily forgiven the initial launch is barely a footnote.
William (Biggggg5) Mason
2025-01-09 13:58:00 +0000 UTCim sure they didnt include it because only griffin has played, but its funny they didnt include final fantasy 14 considering it would absolutely obliterate every other game on the list by the rubric ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
SiSi
2025-01-09 03:19:52 +0000 UTCGreat show guys! Redemption for Night City feels nice. As someone who lucked out at launch and had an amazing first run I've felt since then and multiple play throughs that Night City is the most immersive form of escapism in gaming. CPDR created such an incredible world that just feels good to move through and enjoy the sights and sounds. PL and the 2.0 patch really breathed new life into it. I'm still a little bit salty about Ron coming to guest on the show and then basically just trashing the game the whole time. Anyway, love the show and always look forward to more eps!
Randy Simon Jr
2025-01-09 02:26:23 +0000 UTCRuss really pulled up with hate in his heart today. Love to see it
rylander
2025-01-08 21:20:49 +0000 UTCLoved the discussion and glad Night City got its due redemption. I do think Minecraft threw this off quite a bit - it's kind of a different discussion as to what the best open world is that *has been made* vs. what is the best open world *you can make* in a game.
Rob W
2025-01-08 17:35:48 +0000 UTCNot a kid -- Minecraft movie looks cringe AF. Why Jack Black? Why is Steve not blocky but the llamas and world are?
Casey Shinn
2025-01-08 16:37:43 +0000 UTCand this is not a criticism whatsoever, i love the bracket episodes and think the rubrics/structure are a great way to streamline what could otherwise be a meandering, argumentative 5-hour conversation! But i’m realizing NONE of my top-5 fave “open worlds” are even listed considered here: Horizon 1, AC3 or 4 (can’t decide!), Far Cry 5 (def a flawed experience but LOVED the environment), RDR1 (more focused and concise to me than RDR2) and i think i’d honestly have to say Azeroth from WOW vanilla/classic. And that’s ok!
Chris
2025-01-08 16:17:03 +0000 UTCAre we reaching the point where “open world” as a genre or even a concept needs to be updated or refined? Russ tried to float Castlevania and Hollow Knight as open world games (and he’s wrong, IMO! 😁) and that got me thinking about something like Jedi: Fallen Order (havent played the sequel yet). It’s gated, sure. But you can “go” anywhere as soon as you land on a planet, right? You may reach a temporary block, but you’re still exploring, you can backtrack, you can return to any planet you’ve visited before to explore all over again with new powers and equipment, but no one would consider that “open world,” right? Makes ya think IMO.
Chris
2025-01-08 16:09:46 +0000 UTCExcellent picks! Love both of these!
Chris
2025-01-08 15:36:31 +0000 UTCNot sure either one would have faired amazingly in the bracket against some of the heavy hitters, but I can dream.
bsquiklehausen
2025-01-08 13:36:32 +0000 UTCMaybe I'm just crazy but I'm super bummed not to see Watch Dogs 2's Bay Area or Just Cause 3's Medici on this list - for lived in worlds, I don't think it gets much better than WD2, and the scale of JC3's world actually feels like the population of Medici could really live there.
bsquiklehausen
2025-01-08 13:36:04 +0000 UTChorizon zero dawn, next!
Chris
2025-01-08 12:15:22 +0000 UTCLoved this episode! I do think it’s wild to say Witcher 3 has less to do than TotK - the density and amount of secrets that are impossible to discover in one play through of W3 is far greater. TotK’s version of “more” is all user generated and unmotivated by the core game
John Wahl
2025-01-08 12:11:43 +0000 UTCThank you plante for knowing what i was really asking for when i first asked about open worlds i didn’t know what i needed 🫡🫡🫡
Max!
2025-01-08 06:01:02 +0000 UTCGive me more unhinged Russ, I need it.
Samuel Pulley
2025-01-07 23:42:08 +0000 UTCDid DD2 improve upon the empty dungeons that only fill with enemies during associated quests? If not I could see why it would be left out.
Casey Francis Alger
2025-01-07 23:23:23 +0000 UTCAnother case where the fundamental flaw of brackets rears its head. It's a terrible way to rank a list, even if the rubric is good. Fun to listen to, but when 2 good options go against each other at the start, it's tragic
Faith Quist
2025-01-07 22:38:38 +0000 UTCHow was FF14 not included in the matchups? Kugane, Sharlayan, Gridania, and Tuliyollal are all places I would love to visiti in real life 😂
Joseph McDonald
2025-01-07 22:32:49 +0000 UTCI’ve never agreed so hard from start to finish, including and especially the final 5 order.
Antonio Sifuentes
2025-01-07 22:29:18 +0000 UTCSkyrim over Oblivion's Cyrodil breaks my heart. That being said NEW VEGAS BABY I GOT SPURS THAT JINGLE JANGLE JINGLE!!!!
Casey Francis Alger
2025-01-07 22:16:26 +0000 UTCI’ve looked through 14,000,605 futures trying to find the one where you guys FINALLY TALK ABOUT MARVEL RIVALS…sorry, didn’t know where I should leave this comment. good bracket episode tho.
Kyle Alexander
2025-01-07 22:02:47 +0000 UTCI’ll start by saying I think that Minecraft should beat New Vegas based on the rubric (more to do, better vacation spot) but theres no planet in No Mans Sky where Minecraft should’ve beat New Vegas on “how convincing is it as a real place”. Heresy! On a related note; we need a New Vegas remaster so bad!
ThanaThots
2025-01-07 19:58:30 +0000 UTCInteresting episode. I think the rubric really says something about what you guys look for in open world games. For me, open world games are defined by their exploration. My rubric would have been 1. How much is there to discover? 2. How enjoyable is it to just wander around in the world? Tie Breaker: Which world is less linear and more open? I tried to do my own bracket based on this rubric, but then I realized that I haven't played most of these games. FWIW, I think the realism/stuff to do/vacation rubric is totally valid, it's just not what I would have chosen, so it makes sense that my favorite worlds got eliminated pretty quickly.
KendallCast
2025-01-07 19:47:16 +0000 UTCI loved the final top 5 and agree to it from a pure what I think are the most memorable. However I would as a rubric hater like to defend the rubric. A lot of the points that were given to No Man's Sky and Minecraft were based off mechanics and not the open world. You cannot find a fully playable version of minecraft in minecraft. You have to use the mechanics that Redstone provides to build your own. Griffin even talked about it in No Man's Sky the world gets good when you start loop of building your base and doing the mechanics of the world to create the open world. Though I do agree No Man's Sky still deserve its spot because to be honest it's not just an open world game but an open galaxy and that in itself procedurally generated or not is impress as the microcosm environment of Nightcity.
Josh Andrews
2025-01-07 18:52:32 +0000 UTCCan't believe Chris didn't include Dragon's Dogma 2???
Will Gosson
2025-01-07 18:37:30 +0000 UTCSide note: How getting to the top 5 versus ordering the top 5 shook out is absolutely hilarious and also kind of perfect.
supercres
2025-01-07 18:31:16 +0000 UTCOk but that joke about New York to Jersey was fantastic. Also applies to Ohio 😂 just kidding Ohio besties
Caleb Ackerman
2025-01-07 18:02:10 +0000 UTCCan't believe new vegas got thrown off a cliff. What about the dlc?! MR HOUSE DIED FOR THIS.
Chris Gillotti
2025-01-07 17:54:03 +0000 UTCThis would be fun
Caleb Ackerman
2025-01-07 17:34:08 +0000 UTCuh oh
ran
2025-01-07 17:23:20 +0000 UTCthere's nothing scarier than seeing a game you adore and feel very strongly about in round one...
ran
2025-01-07 17:16:43 +0000 UTCI feel like the rubric often ends up working against the spirit of the conversation and ends up producing a technical debate of semantics. I would love some way for the rubric criteria to be a bit more vibey akin to the GOTY bracket discussions. That said, I recognize that everyone is busy and perhaps the imposed structure of the rubric is needed to keep the episodes more contained.
Bill Davis
2025-01-07 17:00:25 +0000 UTCWhen we heard this announced on the last pod I started rattling off a list of expected contestants to my son and they're all here except an Ubisoft representative (Far Cry/Assassin's Creed), which is actually pretty shocking. Love the inclusion of Lil Gator Game so much!
AaronElWhite
2025-01-07 15:56:57 +0000 UTCI am once again requesting for next bracket battle best game franchise reeboot/genre switch. Examples: helldivers 2, Zelda ocarina of time, Mario 64, metroid prime, risk of rain 2, mortal kombat 9(switching back from 3d to 2d fighter)
Walker Weber
2025-01-07 15:39:34 +0000 UTCAs someone who essentially mains open world games I had to keep reminding myself that this is just for fun and the rubric is to make the podcast happen in a timely and efficient manner haha! Great conversations about the games though
Kas
2025-01-07 10:36:18 +0000 UTCplaying Cyberpunk (+PL) for the first time now on the strength of Griffin’s recommendation earlier this year and couldn’t be happier with the 40-some hours i’ve dropped into it so far over the past few weeks. Stealthy pistol hacker feels almost broken at times but it’s *so* fun and the characters are so good.
supercres
2025-01-07 09:48:10 +0000 UTCI'm right there with Griffin. When I saw the Spider Man 2 vs GTA V matchup I wondered "what's a GameCube game doing on this list?"
BrentBlueAllen
2025-01-07 08:39:59 +0000 UTC
