Best Open World Games on PS5
Image: Push Square

What are the best open world games on PS5? One of the most common ways a game is structured these days is with an open world setting, giving you the freedom to explore its map with no restraints. They're very popular and have been for years, the result being a tonne of large scale, free-roaming titles with lots to see and do.

Open world games can come in all shapes and sizes, whether it's an enormous, sprawling epic like Elden Ring or GTA 5, or a more condensed sandbox experience like Judgment. The common thread, however big the games are, is an immersive world to get lost in, usually with no loading screens, letting you soak in the sights and explore at your own pace.

Some of them take you to real-world locations, such as Assassin's Creed Valhalla's tour of ninth century England, while others will immerse you in fantastical landscapes — Skyrim, Immortals Fenyx Rising, and many others fill that role. Whatever your choice, the best open world games on PS5 offer unparalleled freedom to toy with your surroundings and just exist in these virtual spaces.

While we can talk up the benefits of an open world all day, you're on this page for a reason: you want to know which are the best PS5 has to offer. Fortunately, we have a list just below that ranks the best open world games on PS5. The best part is that this list is driven entirely by you, our readers. You can find your favourite PS5 open world games with the search bar below and rate them accordingly, and these ratings will directly influence the order of titles on display.

It's worth noting that a game will need at least 50 ratings before it pops up on this page. If there are any glaring holes in this list, it might just be that the game hasn't been rated enough times yet.

Let's waste no more time: here are the best open world games on PS5, as rated and ranked by you.

20. Assassin's Creed Valhalla (PS5)

In a lot of ways, Assassin's Creed Valhalla is like a blend of Origins and Odyssey. Like Origins, there's much more focus on storytelling in this epic Viking saga. But like Odyssey, Valhalla leans heavily on expanded RPG mechanics, such as levelling up, equipment, and skill trees. You play as Eivor, a vision-haunted Viking warrior who leaves Norway to establish a new home in 9th century England. Featuring a lush open world stuffed with all kinds of landmarks and secrets, Valhalla is a real time-sink of a game, but its story-driven acts offer up some of the best characters and narrative beats in the entire series.

19. The Pathless (PS5)

The Pathless lives up to its name with a gorgeous open world to explore, but it's how you get around that sets this adventure apart. Playing as an archer, firing arrows at targets dotted throughout the map provide you a speed boost, letting you blitz through the natural environments and mysterious ruins with amazing flow. This traversal leads you to discover the secrets of a corrupted world, and you'll solve puzzles and tackle fearsome creatures in your quest to cleanse the land. A beautiful game in many ways, this is quietly one of PS5's best.

18. Immortals Fenyx Rising (PS5)

Developed primarily by the team that crafted the gigantic Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Immortals Fenyx Rising is an open world fantasy RPG with an emphasis on fluid combat and puzzle solving. You play as the customisable Fenyx — a hero tasked with ridding the realm of a corruption spread by Typhon — a key figure in Greek mythology. In fact, Immortals is heavily based on Greek myth, but the story's told through humorous character interactions and offbeat narration. As such, it can be a fun adventure for players of all ages.

17. No Man's Sky (PS5)

The initially rough reception of No Man's Sky can safely be put to bed. Hello Games has stayed fully committed to its procedurally generated space exploration adventure, fleshing it out with a staggering number of huge updates. Not only does the game look and run much better these days, it's bursting with things to see and do, and that's without considering the 18 quintillion planets waiting to be discovered. The PS5 release is the best version you can play on console, too, with minimised load times, great DualSense integration, and now even optional PSVR2 support.

16. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition (PS5)

One of the most enduring games in history, Bethesda's iconic RPG comes to PS5 with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Anniversary Edition. What's more, it's quite simply the best version of Skyrim to ever grace a PlayStation console. This is a real cut above previous versions (which were often riddled with bugs), offering a mostly locked 60 frames-per-second at 4K resolution. It's taken a decade, but Bethesda has finally delivered a smooth experience with this PS5 release — and crucially, the game is still a fantastic, enormous RPG well worth playing today.

15. Metro Exodus (PS5)

4A Games' post-apocalyptic adventure Metro Exodus feels like it was meant for PS5, with silky smooth performance, great looking ray-traced graphics, and complete DualSense functionality. While some flaws of the original release do persist — those accents! — there's a lot to like about this game on Sony's current-gen system. Featuring loads of tense story moments and some super atmospheric exploration, this train ride through the Russian wasteland makes for a memorable journey.

14. Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5)

Following a disastrous PS4 launch, Cyberpunk 2077 might as well have been a brand new game on PS5 over a year later. CD Projekt Red stuck to its guns, delivering a much improved version of the open world RPG on Sony's current-gen console, free of the game-breaking bugs and crashing issues that plagued the initial release. The result is memorable and often engrossing dark future title, peppered with great characters, punchy combat, and some excellent freeform mission design. Better late than never!

13. Judgment (PS5)

It may have launched on PS4 not long before this PS5 port, but Judgment is so good that it deserves every chance at success that it can get. This Yakuza spinoff puts you in the sneakers of Takayuki Yagami, a private detective living in the heart of Kamurocho, a fictional red light district that's always teetering on the edge of chaos. Tangled up in a series of brutal murders, Yagami is forced to dig deep into the city's criminal underbelly, resulting in a truly gripping story. With a brilliant cast of characters, a great combat system, and a map that's stuffed with fun distractions, Judgment is right up there with the absolute best that Yakuza has to offer.

12. Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (PS5)

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name covers yet another chapter in Kazuma Kiryu's action-packed life. This is a 'shorter' experience that adds context to Yakuza: Like a Dragon by expanding upon the behind-the-scenes events of its main story. But unlike Ichiban's adventure, Gaiden goes back to full-on action combat in what almost feels like a celebration of Kiryu as a character. It doesn't quite have the scope of a mainline instalment, but Gaiden is still a fantastic and surprisingly emotional example of SEGA's long-running series.

11. Grand Theft Auto V (PS5)

In its third generation, GTA 5’s unwavering commercial popularity looks unlikely to ease. Presented for the first time on consoles in 4K at 60fps, this is undoubtedly the best-looking version of Los Santos to date. While elements of the graphics and gameplay are beginning to show their age, this open world is largely unmatched, and despite GTA Online having some serious onboarding issues, its continued expansion makes it an unparalleled multiplayer mode with an identity all of its own.