Open-World Games That Offer the Best Value for Money
Buyer’s remorse: everyone’s gone through it. Plenty of people have either taken a chance on a new game — or got it as a present — because it looked like it’d be up their alley; then they play it, and it turns out to be a street in a completely different town to their tastes. Or, perhaps just as bad, a shorter journey than they thought it’d be. Either way, it becomes a loss for the buyer, especially if they didn’t have the receipt.
Longest Open-World Games
Even the most sophisticated gamer will be bewildered by the sheer scale of these games. These are the open-world games that take the longest to beat.
However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any good deals out there. For gamers who want to dive deep into the open-world genre without going as deep into their bank accounts, these games will give them the best value for their cash. These titles are not only massive, but they seem to be consistently discounted, usually for a price that is too good to pass up.
We are going to focus on traditional single-player games that go on deep sale often, and no free-to-play games. Therefore, we aren’t including Elden Ring due to $29.95 being its lowest historical price on PC, which is a bit too high for this topic. Don’t get me wrong, that is still a lot of content for the price. Same for Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, which basically never go on sale.
Minecraft has also been left out.
10
Yakuza 0
Japan’s Economic Bubble at an Economic Price
It’s not enough to just recommend any long, open-world game, especially since a fun but brief journey is better than an eternal grindfest. However, these games are all about finding that sweet spot where it makes the most of at least 40 hours of playtime. That could fit nearly any Yakuza/Like A Dragon game, though some are better at keeping the fun levels consistently high than others.
Yakuza 0 gets the nod as it offers 60+ hours of fun taking care of its main story, substories, and side activities. It generally costs $19.99 from digital storefronts but often goes on sale, so you can pick it up for dirt cheap. The sheer volume of content is enough to make this one an easy recommendation, but what puts it over the top is the reliable quality. The substories are often funny, touching, or weird, and the main story never misses a beat.
Metal Gear’s Swansong
Metal Gear Solid 5 The Phantom Pain
9/10
- Released
-
September 1, 2015
The Metal Gear franchise went from being linear games with too much story to an open-world one with not enough story. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain’s tortured development is still infamous nearly 10 years after the fact, and the game suffered story-wise for it, thanks to cut content and Konami’s insistence on using microtransactions for its Forward Operating Bases.
Luckily, they can be ignored, as the general game offers two giant maps with multiple locations, offering prime opportunities to sneak in any way the player likes. They could go all aggressive and have an easy time of it, or get sneaky and have a more testing yet more rewarding experience. Either way, it offers 80+ hours of game time for $19.99 on average. It frequently goes on sale, with places offering it for $10 or less.
8
Horizon Zero Dawn
When FOMO Gets Realized
Chances are that PS4/PS5 owners might already have this hanging out on their console. Horizon Zero Dawn’s Complete Edition was free in 2021, so you might have this added to your library already. If not, the game is relatively cheap to pick up on all systems, including PC. You might want to wait for a sale, and I definitely recommend going for the Complete Edition that comes with the fantastic “The Frozen Wilds” expansion.
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In many ways, Horizon Zero Dawn is a fairly straightforward open-world action-adventure game, one that delivers a huge sandbox, a decent story that gradually amasses momentum, and plenty of side activities that vary in engagement or novelty. You have checkpoints, some loot, upgrades, and minor NPCs. Nothing too extraordinary, but everything comes together to provide one of the more complete and enjoyable experiences in the genre.
Horizon Forbidden West also fits, but it is going to be more expensive.
7
Grand Theft Auto 5
No Need to Rob a Bank To Buy This One
Fans might not have been pleased about the decade-long wait for Grand Theft Auto 6 or Rockstar moving on from single-player content to keep updating Grand Theft Auto 5’s online mode. However, it does mean the base game is easy to find at a low price, and it seems to be forever on sale or coming and going from subscription services.
The single-player campaign alone can keep you busy for months on end, and Los Santos is just one of those cities that demands to be revisited every once in a while. Sure, the story is good and lasts for a lengthy 30 hours, but GTA 5 shines in its sandbox gameplay rather than scripted events. The simple act of messing about is a blast and timeless.
If we take GTA Online into account, GTA 5 would be first.
Multiple Ports, Multiple Prices
The price of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim depends on the edition one gets. Since it’s been ported to nearly every machine in existence, including the Switch, there are multiple options to keep players busy. On the whole, they can all last more than 100 hours, provided you don’t just run through the main quest and call it a day.
Skyrim‘s longevity comes not from its storytelling, but its immersion, playability, and absurd range of mods. Even if you just stick to the vanilla version, you will enjoy a relatively massive world, great build variety that awards replayability, mechanics that allow you to build a life, and an exploration-driven structure.
5
Batman: Arkham City
Goes Easy on the Bat-Credit Card
The Batman: Arkham games didn’t start as open-worlds, as Batman: Arkham Asylum is more of a tightly designed Metroidvania game. Players can move the caped crusaders around the asylum at their leisure, but without the right tool, they’ll soon find their progress blocked. Batman: Arkham City, Arkham Origins, and Arkham Knight are more like standard open-world games by comparison.
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Arkham Knight’s campaign is longer, but Arkham City is more consistent and longer for completionists. It is also generally regarded as the better game, although its length will depend on just how willing you are to track down Riddler’s clues. If you are just going to play through the main campaign, then you are looking at roughly 10–15 hours, which is still great value for money as the game is often dirt cheap.
If you, somehow, have never played the Arkham trilogy, keep an eye out for the Batman Arkham Collection, which periodically goes on sale for around $8. It is an incredible deal.
4
Just Cause 2
Swooping In On Sale
Depending on who gets asked, they’ll say either Just Cause 2 or Just Cause 3 is the best in the series. Just Cause 2 is longer, as it’ll take completionists roughly 86 hours to finish everything in the game and fully liberate Panau from “Baby” Panay. However, it’s also a PS3/Xbox 360 game that hasn’t been re-released since 2010. This means that, unless people still own a PS3, the only people who can still get the most out of the game are Xbox and PC owners.
All the Just Cause games are backwards compatible with the Xbox One and Series X/S, and they’re going for good prices online. Although the gameplay loop is relatively simple, Just Cause 2 is just relentlessly fun, giving you all the tools to cause as much wanton destruction as you could want. It is over-the-top in the best possible way.
3
Fallout: New Vegas
War Never Changes, But Prices Do
There are newer Fallout games, but fans raised on the more action-based games might say they peaked with Fallout: New Vegas. The courier’s quest to regain his package in the remains of the City of Sin will last just over 50 hours, and even longer if they want to get every possible ending and its different scenarios.
Due to its age and accessibility, Fallout: New Vegas can be picked up for peanuts, and that’s if you don’t have Game Pass already. While showing its age at times, PC users can download mods that modernize the game or even add entirely new content, greatly extending the time spent with New Vegas.
2
Red Dead Redemption 2
Rockstar’s Longest Single-Player Campaign
Frankly, all of Rockstar’s open-world games are great value for money, but if you are specifically looking for a single-player story, you cannot do better than Red Dead Redemption 2. Even if you rush through the campaign and mostly focus on the main beats, you are still looking at roughly 50 hours; in truth, you will almost certainly engage in stranger missions, camp activities, and just slow exploration, significantly amplifying the game’s length. Importantly, RDR2 rarely seems to pad out its content, with every mission having weight and adding to the overall experience.
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Although never just given away, RDR2 is regularly on sale for about $15, especially on PC. That is a fantastic deal considering the quantity and quality delivered by the game. Also, we haven’t even mentioned Red Dead Online, the multiplayer mode that can hook players for a few dozen hours. It isn’t quite as addictive or active as GTA Online, but it has its charm.
1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
I mean, how could it be anything else? The Witcher 3 is maybe the best fantasy RPG of all time, and age has done absolutely nothing to dull its flame. While you should definitely go with the Complete Edition, which comes with two expansions that are as long as most single-player games, the base version is nevertheless a no-brainer, especially when it is available for less than $5 on Steam or GOG.
Quantity means nothing if quality is not there, and The Witcher 3 delivers the most quality quantity out of any open-world RPG, including CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077. It is not just that you can spend 100+ hours in this world, but that almost all of it feels meaningful. Heck, the very good main storyline is arguably weaker than the side quests, which set a new standard for open-world games on the whole.
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