Nailing the spirit of adventure is extremely important in the open-world genre. What’s the point of enormous maps and a story built around an epic journey if there are no surprises along the way? From stunning views and landmarks you can’t wait to reach and explore up close to well-hidden areas underground, high in the mountains, or deep underwater, open-world fans are always looking for that feeling of unexpected discovery in games they can play at their own pace.

For this selection, I prioritize non-RPG, discovery-driven open-world action-adventure titles, focusing on worlds that sustain that sense of wonder. Even if some activities become repetitive later on, their worlds stay fresh through diverse regions that remain worth admiring and thoroughly exploring.

Ever since launch, Crimson Desert has been praised for its vast and beautiful world of Pywel, with players noting they haven’t felt this adventurous since Elden Ring or even Skyrim. Its scope is the first major draw, with some players spending 50 hours in the first region, Hernand, alone. Not that the other areas lack allure — even Hernand is packed with cities, settlements, enemy camps, deep caverns, gorgeous vistas, and smaller discoveries. Slowly learning the world’s rules, lore, history, and relationships between factions is a big part of its charm, but things only get more exciting from there.

From new entries in popular series to completely new IPs, 2027 looks promising for the open-world RPG genre, so what are we playing?

Crimson Desert is in no rush to show all its cards, so you keep discovering things you wouldn’t expect to find even 50 or 100 hours in, be it intricate puzzles in the sky realm of the Abyss, steampunk architecture and robotic enemies in Delesyia, or the vastness of the titular desert itself.

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