Best Open-World Games With High Skill Ceilings, Ranked

Most players love video games that let them practice their skills and reach greater heights. This is precisely why some of the best open-world games integrate combat loops with gameplay that is easy to understand and a bit harder to master.

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Players love getting into these titles and slowly getting the hang of things before unlocking skills and forming builds that can help them take out the game’s strongest enemies without any problems. This gameplay loop will keep fans coming for more until they become masters of their craft.

8 Dragon’s Dogma 2

Players Can Do Some Wild Things With This Game’s Combat System

Dragon’s Dogma 2 may not be a massive improvement over its predecessor, but fans don’t mind as long as they get to engage with more of what this scintillating combat system has to offer. Even with little to no knowledge of how combat works, players will love hacking at enemies until their thumbs start hurting.

However, as players become more adept and learn how the game works, they can decimate the strongest foes in the game by exploiting their weaknesses and using optimized Vocations. It’s a rewarding sense of progression that helps players take out the many monsters standing in their way.

7 Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

The Two Spider-Men Can Juggle Enemies With Ease In The Right Hands

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a huge improvement over its predecessor when it comes to gameplay. Everything from swinging and traversal to combat has been improved on tremendously, rewarding players who unlock abilities and improve their familiarity with the game.

Maintaining momentum during movement and nailing everything from parries to special moves in combat never fails to be engaging. Both Peter and Miles have somewhat unique movesets and bring their strengths to the table, making it a blast to control these two web-heads in a high-stakes adventure involving a Symbiote invasion.

6 Lost Judgment

Switching Between Four Combat Styles On The Fly And Smashing Opponents Feels Great Every Single Time

With the mainline Yakuza games shifting to turn-based combat, the spinoffs picked up the slack to let players enjoy some tantalizing brawling combat. Such is the case with Lost Judgment, a massive improvement over its predecessor in terms of gameplay.

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For those seeking great open-world games featuring supernatural abilities, these video games have got you covered.

Players have access to three combat styles (four if they download the School Stories DLC) that can be chained to take out enemies efficiently. Mastering Yagami’s movement makes for a great time as players juggle enemies effortlessly and make them helpless to resist his overpowering assault.

5 Ghost Of Tsushima

With All Skills Unlocked, Players Can Toy With Enemies If Their Skills Are On Point

Ghost of Tsushima is one of the best open-world games that PlayStation fans can enjoy. Jin Sakai’s stylish adventures are amazing as players explore a beautiful world and master the game’s tantalizing swordplay.

As players slowly unlock skills and get a read on enemies and their movesets, combat scenarios become more manageable. Eventually, even the intimidating brutes become easier to handle as Jin uses a variety of stances and diverse tools and weapons to drive the invaders from his home island of Tsushima.

4 Cyberpunk 2077

Update 2.0 Rewards Player Skill In Combat As They Take Out Multiple Enemies Without Any Issues

Cyberpunk 2077‘s gameplay has slowly improved by leaps and bounds courtesy of the many updates that CD Projekt Red has released for this title. With the launch of Update 2.0 and Phantom Liberty, major changes were made to the gameplay that had a positive impact on how players approached combat.

Now, instead of spamming heals, players need to be mindful of their health and optimize their approach in combat. Taking out enemies in stealth before using both ranged and melee weaponry to kill opponents is satisfying and feels smoother as players become experienced in how the combat works.

3 Elden Ring

A Player’s Aptitude, Coupled With The Tarnished’s Stats, Governs What Players Can Achieve In This Game

Elden Ring is one of the best open-world games of all time. As is the case with most FromSoftware games, players will form a powerful build and eventually understand how the game’s sometimes enigmatic mechanics work.

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8 Best Open-World Games Were You Constantly Change Weapons, Ranked

Many open-world games provide the player with a great many different weapons, and encourages them to switch weapons often.

This leads to rewarding moments where players manage to take out bosses who are giving them a hard time after a ton of struggles. Eventually, the combination of a high level and the player’s own learned skill ensures that a game they were struggling in becomes a cathartic experience as numerous powerful bosses are forced to bend to their will.

2 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

At Higher Difficulties, Geralt Must Use Every Tool In His Arsenal To Survive

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the best open-world RPGs that players can sink upwards of a hundred hours into. Geralt’s adventures end on a high note as he becomes stronger throughout this journey and is eventually able to take out the most challenging enemies in the game.

At higher difficulties, players must make the most of every tool in Geralt’s arsenal if they wish to survive. It makes for a fun experience as players use oils, potions, special moves, Signs, and everything else possible to take out the game’s hardest monsters.

1 The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

Link’s Skills Are Directly Dependent On The Player’s Knowledge Of His Moveset And Abilities

Breath of the Wild‘s combat was deceptively complex and rewarded players who mastered its gameplay systems. The same applies to Tears of the Kingdom even more so, which enhances the game’s skill ceiling even more courtesy of its unique powers.

Players must be smart about using Fuse to enhance the damage of their weapons and can craft diabolical machines using Ultrahand that can potentially trivialize combat. This will help Link overcome the game’s strongest enemies and become a powerhouse in combat.

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8 Best Open-World Games If You Like Difficult Boss Fights, Ranked

For fans of open-world games looking to challenge themselves, here are some of the best titles to check out that feature difficult boss fights.