I like open world games and particular favourites are Red Dead Redemption 2 (I’d love to play the original but don’t have a console. Love me a western!) and Fallout.
I think I prefer a shooty style game rather than melee combat (although I don’t mind using melee weapons occasionally in those type of games) - I didn’t really get on with combat in Skyrim, for example.
What would you gamers recommend?
I’m well out of video game territory. And this doesn’t check several boxes. But Divine Divinity. It’s a top-down (like Diablo) open world quester / dungeon crawler. It’s older (and cheap). There’s something about it that is just … right? I can’t even say what it does right. Thoroughly enjoyed it for the open world.
But yeah, not a shooter.
Not a true open world game (but somewhat)… we really enjoyed the Borderlands franchise here. As a bonus it has up to 4 player coop mode. Very shooty 
Pretty cool story. I’ve only played #2, #3 and Tiny Tina’s Wonderland.
edit: my colleague is mentioning Far Cry and Metro Exodus for open world shooty stuff.
Yes, very much Far Cry (I know that 3, 4 and 6 are good).
I’d say Starfield except I think it’s terrible.
It’s possible to be very shooty in Cyberpunk 2077.
I am also interested in this, so am keen to hear suggestions.
I don’t mean I want shooty - roleplaying stuff is cool too - but i don’t get on with hand to hand fighting with things like Gods of War etc
From my 16 year old…
Destiny 2 is good but grindy (he has spent a lot on this game)
Sea of Thieves also good but grindy (we hear a lot of laughing when they play this)
Deep Rock Galactic
The Outer Worlds is extremely Fallouty (made by Black Isle , I think - the developer of the original Fallout games)- it’s also got a Serenity/ Western in space vibe. I got a little bored of it in the end but it’s a heck of a lot better than Starfield.
Ps not to be confused with The Outer Wilds, which everyone tells me is fantastic but which I have bounced off 3 times now.
Cyberpunk 2077 is very open world with great combat and stealth options. Big fan.
Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy is open-world-ish. More linear than CP2077, but it was a lot of fun when I tried it.
And another vote for Outer Worlds, which has issues but is quite open and good combat. Ending is subpar, but the ride is good.
Spider-Man is apparently great.
My partner would probably second Sea of Thieves, I found it really really boring. I think this really needs a group to shine. And I was the person down in the hold trying to put water in buckets.
In Deep Rock Galactic the map confused me and I kept losing the group (however I enjoyed Deep Rock Survivor à la Vampire Survivor) a lot.
I forgot Cyberpunk because I–regrettably–never finished it but it’s pretty awesome, shooty, has a cool story and tons of great stealth options. Also: it’s cyberpunk. And Cyber + Punk > ALL. Definitely want to go back once my first run of BG3 is finished (almost there. almost there).
Not quite so shooty but definitely open world and cool story is Horizon Zero Dawn.
edit: My partner says if you liked Red Dead Redemption, why not play GTA? And he does indeed second Sea of Thieves if you specialize for 2 handed shooty weapons.
Sorry I should say I have played, although not finished, all the GTA games. Perhaps I should focus on finishing them first! I just found the storyline of RDR2 so strong, GTA story not quite as good!
Me too! I tried a few missions, got lost each time, tried a solo mission, still got lost, and gave up.
The new Star Wars games Jedi survivor and fallen order are good, not the largest open world or emergent gameplay.
Not precisely an open world, and a tad old, but the Mass Effect series could tickle your fancy? I bet their price must be quite low now…
Add me as another vote for Cyberpunk, based on what you said it should be a really good fit and I really enjoyed my time with it. It’s probably my favorite game in the Elder Scrolls/Fallout mold.
There’s some dissonance between the narrative and the gameplay that irks me, but it has some top-notch characters and Night City is just amazing to look at.
Plan to eventually return to play it again with the expansion once I’m done with Helldivers 2.
Someone else mentioned Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor and if you’re a Star Wars fan, I think they’re worth playing, I put them on the Rogue One/Mandalorian/Andor-level for recent Star Wars content.
And if you’re a fan of Star Wars Droids, BD-1 is a GOAT-level Star Wars droid, and the droids in general are top-notch in Jedi: Survivor.
It is a melee combat focused game, though it has actually enjoyable combat compared to Skyrim. And neither is really open-world, Survivor has some open-world elements. So unless you’re a fan of Star Wars, or want a good, easier Dark Souls-lite experience, they might not be the right fit.
I’m a big fan of Horizon: Zero Dawn (and its sequel Horizon: Forbidden West). I’d call it shooty (although you’re shooting a bow-and-arrow instead of a gun), and the story and world are great. The premise sounds dumb (robot dinosaurs!), but the games actually justify it pretty well, and taking down a mechanical T-Rex never gets old.
Excuse me, but robot dinosaurs is an amazing premise. Can’t get much cooler than those two things. Haha.
I can see why people bounce off it–and there’s a good chance I would right now too–but playing The Outer Wilds is quite possibly my favorite modern gaming experience. I look back on it with a fondness only reserved for my childhood memories of playing the SNES and my time spent playing PSO on the Dreamcast as a young adult.
The only thing that comes close is Breath of the Wild for me. Which, I think makes sense, because both games just really captured the joy of exploring for me.
It also helps that The Outer Wilds has possibly my favorite ending of any game ever.
For something quite different, I really liked Death Stranding.
There’s also the mixture of action, drama, and utter ridiculousness that is Metal Gear Solid V.
I enjoyed Elden Ring an amazing amount. It is open world but not a shooter though you could play as an archer or mage.
Also right now till tomorrow (Thursday) 5pm GMT+1 you can get Outer Worlds for free on Epic Store.