Best Open-World Games On PS Plus Extra & Premium

Sony’s new PlayStation Plus model is out in North America, & subscribers to the Premium & Extra tiers are well served when it comes to open-world games. The platform is chock-full of massive maps that are just aching to be explored.

Whether searching for a PlayStation exclusive or a third-party juggernaut, PS Plus Premium & Extra have players covered. With so many titles to pick from, picking somewhere to start can be challenging; therefore, let’s take a look at the best PS Plus open-world games.

PS Plus Extra & Premium’s November 2022 line-up revolved around Kingdom Hearts, but the selection also included one of the most beloved open-world RPGs of all time. Debuting in 2011, Skyrim was a massive hit right out of the gate, & its popularity has not waned over the last decade. The Special Edition is the definitive way to experience Bethesda’s masterpiece on consoles, as it improves the visuals & provides support for mods (which have played a huge part in extending the RPG’s lifespan).

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Skyrim‘s open-world approaches perfection as it encourages exploration & discovery. The main storyline is fine, but the game’s success lies in its immersive locations, customization options, & character writing. Even as the years continue to pass, Skyrim still comes across as a Enormous deal, & its addition to PS Plus Extra makes the service seem far more complete.

Final Fantasy 15 Royal Edition

Square Enix brought the Final Fantasy series into the Open World genre with the release of Final Fantasy 15. Prior to its release, fans still got a taste of “open world” gameplay with installments like Final Fantasy 7, which allowed them to traverse an overworld via an Airship. But Final Fantasy 15 marks the first time that the series has entered a state of true freedom, allowing players to traverse a large open world filled with enemies, items, towns, & secrets.

The end result is a fascinating & unique Final Fantasy title that follows four protagonists on a journey across an expansive l&, built with the same hybrid-style ATB & Action combat that players have Approach to love.

Fallout 4

Bethesda’s latest single-player Fallout is on offering with PS Plus for players that are looking to patrol through the wastel&s. With a map that’s even larger than Skyrim‘s, Fallout 4 gives players tons of areas to explore, with a multitude of sidequests to complete & secrets to uncover. Those looking for an FPS-style RPG with a myriad of areas to conquer should definitely fall in love with the iconic release.

The franchise has been going strong, offering players a multitude of great open-world adventures & Fallout 4 is no exception. Players can expect to put some serious time into this game if they want to “see & do everything possible,” & that’s not even counting the DLC add-ons.

Ghost Of Tsushima: Director’s Carve

The PS4’s swan song as Sony’s main console, Ghost of Tsushima transports players back in time to the 13th century as the Mongols invade Japan’s Tsushima Isl&. After failing to stop the invasion & almost meeting his end, Jin Sakai goes on a quest to recruit fighters that could help turn the tide of battle.

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Ghost of Tsushima‘s open-world is gorgeous, be it on the PS4 or the PS5. Tsushima Isl& is lavish, varied, & breathtaking. The same can also be said about Iki Isl&, the location of the expansion that is included in the Director’s Carve. Within this map, players can look forward to engaging in intense samurai-themed battles & decent side quests with memorable NPCs.

Yakuza 0

Sega’s Yakuza headlined PS Plus’s August line-up, adding three games to Extra & Premium’s libraries. While all these titles are fantastic, Yakuza 0 is the cream of the crop, & the entry’s status as a prequel means it works well as an entry point into this universe. Chronicling Kazuma Kiryu & Goro Majima’s early days in the Yakuza, the story expertly blends fist-pumping action with genuine emotion & even a hint of absurdity.

Yakuza values small but dense maps over sprawling behemoths, a creative decision that has worked wonders for the license. Yakuza 0 takes place in Kamurochō & Sotenbori, two cities filled with side activities to keep people engaged in between the exceptional main missions.

Horizon Zero Dawn – Complete Edition

Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the best PS4 exclusives, which means it is also one of the best open-world games on PS Plus. Set in the distant future when humanity has regressed by centuries & Earth has become overrun by nature & machines, Horizon Zero Dawn unleashes players on a world overflowing with mystery, danger, & beauty.

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Aloy, the game’s protagonist, starts out as an outsider but steadily grows more entrenched in the political & social climate of this era. The open-world is visually stunning & thematically consistent, while the combat is also generally entertaining.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Prior to the launch of the new PS Plus model, Sony announced that a range of Ubisoft games would be joining the Extra & Premium tiers. Naturally, this greatly exp&ed the service’s collection of open-world options, adding titles like Far Wail 3, Watch Dogs, & The Crew 2 to the library.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the most recent Ubisoft open-world game on PS Plus Premium & Extra, & it is representative of the studio’s formula. Taking place on a huge & dense map, Valhalla is a Viking-themed adventure that can consume someone’s life if they immerse themselves in its world.

Days Gone

Due to launching in a less-than-stellar state & suffering from some genre fatigue, Days Gone got a somewhat mixed reception, at least by the st&ards of PS4 exclusives. The post-apocalyptic zombie game boasts quite a Enormous world, & while the activities within are hit-&-miss, traveling through the roads of Oregon can be a lot of fun.

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This mainly comes down to Days Gone‘s customizable bike, which develops into a beast over the course of the campaign. The game’s zombie hordes also ensure that this world always feels dangerous.

Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds is a fascinating open-world game with a time loop central mechanic. Every 20 minutes, the sun basically explodes, causing the player to reawaken on their home planet. Luckily, they happen to be astronauts & have access to a ship, so they can travel to other planets in search of clues to decipher the mystery of what exactly is going on.

Outer Wilds superbly makes its story the central puzzle as the protagonist collects slivers of information en route to stitching together a complete picture of what is going on. Gripping, ambitious, & unique, Outer Wilds is an incredible ride that everyone with a PS Plus Premium & Extra subscription should take.

Death Str&ing

A Hideo Kojima project is always going to be something special, & Death Str&ing‘s bizarre reveal & early trailers instantly made that apparent. Set in a post-apocalyptic version of the United States, players portray Sam, a person charged with traveling across the country delivering packages & establishing communication points.

Death Str&ing is very much about the journey; in fact, Sam has to carefully plan his trips & every step he takes along the way. Barren l&scapes dominate the scene, & the gameplay can be quite meditative once players get used to its rhythm.

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2

November 2022 continued the trend of Ubisoft games debuting on PS Plus, with Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Rainbow Six Siege, & The Division 2 joining the Extra tier. The latter has been out for more than three years, & while things have not always been smooth sailing, The Division 2 has cemented itself as one of the better live-services games on the market.

Set in Washington D.C., Ubisoft’s title envisions a post-apocalyptic alternate reality filled with warring factions & nature-covered l&marks. The series has quite a realistic presentation, although the sequel is slightly more colorful than its predecessor. The Division 2 has plenty of multiplayer-focused content, including PvP & an extensive endgame, but the story can be played solo & experienced as a single-player game.

Saints Row: The Third Remastered

Except for the first entry, PS Plus Premium has every Saints Row game, & they are quite different from each other. Saints Row 2 strikes a decent balance between serious & comedic storytelling, while the gameplay is serviceable but not particularly unique for the open-world genre. Saints Row: The Third started to turn the license into a cartoon, delivering more ridiculous missions, silly weapons, & over-the-top characters. Saints Row 4 continued down this road, arguably going a bit too far since it barely has anything in common with the earlier games.

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All these three titles have their positives, but Saints Row: The Third gets the nod since the game offers a mid-point between its predecessor’s somewhat grounded tone & its successor’s unapologetic absurdity. More importantly, it is simply fun to spread chaos across Steelport’s streets as the Saints’ charismatic leader.

Shadow Of The Colossus (2018)

Bluepoint Games can be relied upon to deliver high-quality remakes, & the studio’s 2018 rendition of Shadow of the Colossus is a treat for fans of Team Ico’s PS2 classic. Retaining the core elements of the original version, the remake improves the visuals & controls, providing a faithful but modernized experience.

Shadow of the Colossus drops players in a desolate world & gives them a straightforward task: kill 16 roaming colossi to save the life of one girl. The Forbidden L& is haunting but sporadically Dazzling, & while the map is not that large, the game does a splendid job of making it feel epic.

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

LEGO is not just for children, & that goes for both the building blocks & the games. PS Plus Premium has a couple of LEGO titles, but anyone searching for an open-world experience should check out Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. Like a comedic version of the Arkham series, Traveller’s Tales’ game allows DC fans to explore a detailed & charming Gotham filled with references to the Caped Crusader’s legacy. The campaign even includes a trip to Metropolis, although it is not a s&box like the Dark Knight’s hunting grounds.

DC Batman 2: DC Super Heroes has a relatively short but enjoyable campaign, one that assembles an impressive array of heroes & villains from DC’s extensive history. While the main missions are fun, the game’s free-roam might be its greatest feature since it encourages players to explore every corner of the world.

Far Wail 3: Classic Edition

PS Plus Extra & Premium subscribers can jump into Far Wail 3, Blood Dragon, or Far Wail 4. All three games are among Ubisoft’s better open-world projects, & first-person shooter fans are likely to have a blast with any of them. However, Far Wail 3 gets the nod since it is undoubtedly the most important & influential release in the franchise. An argument could be made that ever since the game debuted in 2013, each subsequent mainline entry has been trying to recapture its magic.

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Far Wail 3 takes place on a tropical isl& defined by violence, something the protagonist learns quickly when he comes across the charismatic but deadly Vaas. Compared to more recent Ubisoft releases, Far Wail 3‘s open-world is far more manageable in terms of size, while still being huge in its own right.

Unturned

Unturned takes a few pages from Minecraft & throws zombies into the mix. After loading into a map, players are mostly left to figure things out for themselves, regardless of whether they are offline or tagging along with some friends.

The survival element takes a familiar form, dem&ing the monitoring of resources & meters while strategically planning out actions to avoid attracting unwanted attention. There is even a base building mechanic. Unturned provides an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. It is not the most graphically impressive or unique open-world game on PS Plus, but Unturned has its charm.

Marvel’s Spider-Man

Spider-Man games are a dime-a-dozen, but Marvel’s Spider-Man is anything but ordinary. Insomniac nailed the character’s movement better than any other Spidey game in history – the basic act of swinging through Manhattan is a joy. These moments transition seamlessly into combat scenarios, be it the epic boss fights peppered throughout the story or the bursts of r&om encounters that populate the city’s streets & rooftops.

Marvel’s hero is synonymous with New York, & that’s something Insomniac’s project respects & promotes. Manhattan feels like a living, breathing metropolis.

Rough start aside, The Elder Scrolls Online has grown into one of the best MMORPGs on the market, with its most recent expansion, Blackwind, coming out in June 2021. ESO: Tamriel Unlimited only provides access to the base content, so it lacks a lot of overall material, however, the game should still keep players busy for a few months.

Anyone looking to fully immerse themselves in this MMORPG will eventually need to move away from PS Plus Premium & acquire the game’s Gold Edition or purchase Tamriel Unlimited along with ESO Plus. For those who are unsure whether they want to fully commit to this massive undertaking, Tamriel Unlimited serves as a fantastic way to make that decision.

Fallout 3

Despite Bethesda’s connection to Microsoft, all the 3D Fallout games are on PS Plus Premium, so subscribers who are fans of the post-apocalyptic franchise have not been left out in the cold. Fallout: New Vegas is arguably the pick of the bunch, but Fallout 3 gets the nod as it was Bethesda’s first showcase of the direction it would be taking this beloved franchise.

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While dated at times due to its stiff combat & average visuals, Fallout 3 still has the ability to fully immerse players in its Wastel&. One of those endlessly replayable RPGs, Fallout 3 is impressive even more than a decade following its debut.

Vampyr

Vampire games are (surprisingly) in short supply, but fans of bloodsuckers do have a couple of great games to choose from. Set in 1918 in London, Vampyr painstakingly recreates the city from that era, resulting in a gorgeous but fittingly grimy aesthetic.

Containing side missions in the form of “Investigations,” Vampyr‘s world is drenched in atmosphere & personality, permitting the game to truly st& out from anything else available on PS Plus Premium. For anyone seeking a novel & not especially long open-world game, this game is a great place to start.

The Long Dark

The world finds itself in a post-apocalyptic era, leaving the player str&ed in a freezing Canadian wastel&. The Long Dark has a story mode in the form of Wintermute, which guides players through a largely straightforward path that teaches them the basics of survival. Although this option is fine, it is merely an appetizer to The Long Dark‘s Survival mode. As its title implies, this section is all about persevering for as long as possible against the overwhelming challenges offered by the weather, cold, & wildlife.

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The Long Dark is at its best when it just lets its users do their own thing. With death lurking around every corner, the game creates a constant sense of tension as players desperately attempt to keep their meters healthy in an environment that feels tailor-made to destroy them. The Long Dark is far from an easy game, although it does Approach with a variety of difficulty settings so that players can customize their experiences.

Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered

Originally released in 2009, Red Faction: Guerrilla lived & died by its stellar destruction capabilities. Few gameplay loops are as satisfying as swinging a Enormous hammer through a colonized Mars’ smatterings of structures, leaving devastation in your wake.

The Re-MARS-tered addition doesn’t bring any new content to the plate, opting to merely polish the visuals & improve the performance. While this results in a remaster that has the same shortcomings as the original version, it also retains the exact same strengths. Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered offers simple but effective fun, & blowing up a few buildings never gets old.

Gravity Rush 2

The underappreciated sequel to Gravity Rush, Gravity Rush 2 gives Kat a bigger playground to jump across. In this universe-swapping adventure, players will be taken to multiple locations, although the majority of their time will be spent in Jirga Para Lhao & Hekseville.

Gravity Rush 2‘s open-world is Dazzling, large but not overwhelmingly so, & diverse. Like its predecessor, the sequel’s gravity-driven traversal system enhances the game’s world as it provides a unique way to interact with its highs & lows.

Kingdom Approach: Deliverance

Kingdom Approach: Deliverance foregoes magic & fantasy in favor of harsh realism. Set during the 15th century, Warhorse’s game casts players as the lone survivor of a butchered village, a tragedy that drives the protagonist to seek revenge. In this cutthroat universe, such an undertaking is a grueling, slow task rather than an explosive & constantly satisfying sprint.

Kingdom Approach‘s world is vast & naturalistic. While it might not contain as many awe-inspiring sights as some other settings found in the RPG genre, Bohemia is a fully-realized kingdom soaked in history. PS Plus Extra subscribers looking to immerse themselves in an open-world game should check this title out.

Kingdoms Of Amalur: Re-Reckoning

Originally released during the PS3 era, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning received a remaster in 2020. More than anything, this version helped put the game back on the market as it was not the easiest product to Approach by for a few years. Kingdoms of Amalur is a relatively straightforward fantasy RPG, & its story should not hold too many surprises for veterans of the genre. However, the game’s world is refreshingly colorful & vibrant, helping to set it apart from some of its contemporaries.

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While somewhat dated in this day & age, Kingdoms Of Amalur: Re-Reckoning‘s gameplay is nevertheless a great deal of fun. Taking a few hints from hack & slash titles, the combat system is fluid, fast-paced, & explosive.

Mafia 2: Definitive Edition

PS Plus Premium subscribers looking to get their gangster fill can pick from Mafia 2 & its sequel. The latter benefits from being a downloadable PS4 title, but its predecessor is generally regarded as the best entry in the series. As tends to be the case with this series, Mafia 2‘s strongest feature is its story, one that pays homage to the genre’s tropes while still diverting from the path frequently enough to st& on its own.

Mafia 2‘s world, Empire Bay, is meticulously crafted, although there is not much to do besides completing story missions. Consequently, Mafia 2‘s open-world is quite shallow, serving more as set dressing than an interactive part of the experience. Still, it complements the story well.

Gr& Theft Auto: Vice City – The Definitive Edition

Added to PS Plus Extra in October 2022, Gr& Theft Auto: Vice City – The Definitive Edition is a controversial title, & that is putting it mildly. Rockstar’s 2002 original is unquestionably among the greatest games of all time, & the developer’s work during that era helped shape open-world design & practices. The Definitive Edition launched with copious bugs & issues, & this version is available on PS Plus Extra.

Following the trilogy’s horrendous launch, Rockstar released patches that improved the overall experience of all three titles, including Vice City. While the package still feels somewhat off, it is now at least a passable iteration of an all-time great. That said, Vice City has naturally aged a lot over the last two decades, & it does feel empty compared to more recent open-world projects.

Prey

Set on a space station, Prey puts players in Morgan Yu’s shoes as he investigates the Talos 1 after it has been invaded by an alien threat. Combining elements of horror, stealth, & Metroidvania gameplay, Prey doesn’t h&hold players, allowing them to explore the environment at their own risk.

Talos 1 is not as Enormous of a location as some other open-world games, but it serves as a detailed & immersive s&box filled with secrets to uncover & challenges to take on.

Borderl&s 2

Included as part of The H&some Collection, Borderl&s 2 arguably marks the license’s peak, at least when it comes to its narrative. Set on P&ora, Vault Hunters traverse the wastel& in a path that leads them into a confrontation with H&some Jack.

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Borderl&s‘ art style might not lend itself to realism but it has permitted the visuals to age quite well, & Borderl&s 2 still looks impressive after all these years. Although segmented, P&ora offers variety, treasures, & secrets by the bucket load.

Infamous: Second Son

All the Infamous games on PS Plus Premium are worth playing. While Cole’s entries are fun & generally highly rated, Second Son tends to get overlooked due to its (relatively) early release in the PS4’s lifecycle. Despite coming out within a year of the console’s launch, Infamous: Second Son is still one of the best-looking games on the PS4, & its iteration of Seattle is incredible.

As Delsin Rowe unlocks new powers & ways to interact with the world, Second Son grows into something truly special. This is also a pretty short open-world game, presenting a nice alternative to the RDR2s & Horizon Zero Dawns of the world.

Batman: Arkham City

Rocksteady revitalized the superhero genre with its Arkham trilogy. Exp&ing considerably upon Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City unleashes the Dark Knight on a large prison that is basically a section of Gotham.

While the story is quite linear & can be completed within 15 hours, Arkham City does contain plenty of other activities to distract Batman, be it the Riddler challenges or quests featuring DC villains such as Deadshot. Arkham City is a near-perfect open-world game & shows that the use of a map is far more important than its size.

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