Regardless of the genre, perfect games are essentially non-existent, and that goes double for open-world fantasy adventures. We are talking about stories set in fantastical realms that require significant world-building to be made real, and they must maintain an absurd standard of quality for roughly 30 hours (and that could be seen as short).
Even all-time greats like Skyrim and Breath of the Wild have elements that keep them from achieving true perfection, be it the former’s lackluster main storyline or the latter’s annoying weapon degradation system. Open-world masterpieces can be deeply flawed, but a handful of titles exist that are consistently perfect (or as close as a game can get).
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
The Perfect Open-World Zelda Game
While considering candidates for this article, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom were the first two games that came to my mind, and an argument could be made that they are close to perfect. Ultimately, I opted against including them, just because I think they have enough little annoyances that make them less-than-ideal fits for this topic.
Also, The Legend of Zelda has another open-world fantasy game that is actually perfect.
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As a 3DS project, A Link Between Worlds doesn’t fit the traditional idea of an open-world game, but it certainly belongs to the genre. It is also arguably the tightest entry in the series, along with being the best example of classic Zelda. Rather than forcing you to complete the Lorule dungeons in a specific order, A Link Between Worlds lets players rent or buy the required items from Ravio, giving them the freedom to shape their journey.
The core gameplay gimmick turns Link into a 2D painting so he can merge with walls, a concept used heavily in all parts of the campaign. Not only is this a great mechanic, but it also accommodates exploration, combat, and puzzles incredibly well. A Link Between Worlds also doesn’t overstay its welcome, meaning this gimmick remains interesting throughout.
Shadow of the Colossus (2018)
Remaking A PS2 Masterpiece And Achieving Perfection
The original Shadow of the Colossus is 100% a masterpiece, but the PS2’s technical limitations hold it back from the “near-perfect” label. Even though it doesn’t change all that much about the base experience, the 2018 remake preserves its ancestor’s beauty, tragedy, and brilliance without seeming like it’s always on the verge of collapsing.
Before open worlds became synonymous with bloat, the genre’s early days were defined by focused experiences like Beyond Good & Evil and The Getaway. Shadow of the Colossus is the crowning achievement of this era, serving as a masterclass in minimalism, atmosphere, and silence. The premise sounds simple, as you have to kill 16 Colossi to save one girl, but the execution really set it apart from the crowd.
Each of the Colossi acts as a moving level and puzzle, with the gameplay loop being both straightforward and constantly engaging. In-between hunts, you (and Wander) are left to your own thoughts, as you contemplate whether what you are doing is the right thing.
Honestly, the biggest issue with Shadow of the Colossus is that everybody nowadays knows the twist, which hurts the ending quite a bit.
Outer Wilds
The Perfect Science-Fantasy Open-World Game
I expect this to be a controversial pick since Outer Wilds is generally labeled as “sci-fi” rather than “fantasy,” but I would argue it is closer to “science-fantasy.” The protagonist might be an astronaut in a space suit, and the game might touch upon subjects like quantum physics, but the whole experience has a mythic fantasy vibe, especially since so many planets don’t have many futuristic elements. More importantly, Outer Wilds is the absolute best example of an open-world game that is perfect from start to finish.
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Rather than stats, missions, or weapons, Outer Wilds uses knowledge as its main resource, and players decide when and how they use it. For the uninitiated, the game revolves around a 22-minute time loop that resets when the sun explodes and eradicates everything. To hopefully stop this, you need to find information about a long-dead alien race.
Right from the start, you can travel to any planet in the solar system, and this lack of gated content significantly reduces the chance of triggering a mid-game slump, something that most open-world games suffer from. Outer Wilds isn’t the most accessible game ever, but it executes what it is trying to be almost perfectly.
Elden Ring
About As Perfect As A Soulslike Open-World Game Is Likely To Get
FromSoftware translated the Dark Souls formula into an open-world structure in a way that mostly retained or even amplified its quality. Now, to be honest, Elden Ring is way too massive to have no lulls or frustrating moments, and the last few areas (like Mountaintops of the Giants) don’t quite maintain the impeccable pacing of the rest of the game. Still, we are discussing an absurdly ambitious RPG that has enough content for easily 100 hours; a few “good” rather than “perfect” sections are to be expected.
A full rejection of the Ubisoft formula, Elden Ring drops players into The Lands Between’s Limgrave and simply lets them go. Although you can follow a recommended path, most people tend to ignore that aspect and explore freely, and the map is so dense that they will never stop running into new challenges, loot, or NPCs. Randomly, you might stumble on an elevator that takes you down into an underground civilization, or a sleeping dragon who quickly turns into a boss fight.
The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
The Perfect Open-World Fantasy Expansion
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt might be the greatest open-world fantasy game of all time, or at least a top contender; however, Skellige’s map bloat and the rushed final act are just two flaws that keep it from achieving near-perfection. Fortunately, the “Blood and Wine” expansion doesn’t have that issue at all!
Acting as a send-off to the Geralt of Rivia era, the DLC can easily last more than 25 hours, making it longer than quite a few open-world games. CD Projekt Red introduces Toussaint, a whole new region with a far more vibrant aesthetic than the vanilla game’s areas. “Blood and Wine” leans into Medieval folklore beyond just the incorporation of monsters, as the expansion has a fairy tale vibe.
Due to Toussaint being relatively small and more self-contained, its map doesn’t suffer from repetitive busywork that impacts parts of the base campaign. The actual main quest is fantastic, too, and shines a spotlight on Geralt’s detective skills. The expansion even added an element of depth to character progression through mutations, although the combat remains the same.
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