Okay let me start with two heavy hitters right from the get go and don't forget these are only personal oppinions and I absolute understand if you like those games. Good for you!
Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Not a bad game per se, but I don't get the hype behind it. Sure the dungeons are fun but the world is so lifeless, the story non existent, the combat pretty shallow, the tower climbing is very much like FarCry but for some reasons it's okay here while Ubisoft gets the blame...like I said I dont get why the game is so beloved. Never finished it after the 20 hour mark and probably never will.
Red Dead Redemption 2 - Just like Zelda not a bad game, but imho highly overrated. Graphics and and atmosphere are amazing but the controls are clunky and overloaded, nearly everybody is an unlikable douchebag who I would love to shoot myself at the first opportunity (maybe except Jack and Abigail) but I have to root and care for them. The game is just so long and feels very stretched, you already know that you won't get Dutch because it's a prequel and for an open world game you often get handholded in your weapon selection or things you can do because you have to wait for them to be unlocked by the game. I'm now nearly done with the game, playing the epilogue at the moment and I would say the last chapters are more entertaining than the rest of the game, but I still can't understand why this game was on so many game of the year lists and I really wanted to put the controller down a dozen times.
So there they are, two highly controversial oppinions by me and now I'm really curios what your takes are and how highly I get downvoted into oblivion ๐
I can't think of a large open world game I liked. Skyrim, RDR2, the new Assassin's Creeds, Biomutant, Horizon Zero Dawn, GTA5. I feel like they sacrifice the story to fill a world with so many random side quests that it seems like I'll never be able to finish it. I miss games that I could complete in less than 25 hours of playtime.
Zero Dawn had too many side quests? Imo, it felt like there wasn't enough sidestory content. Like one or two side quests for a couple towns outside the main city of the game, and that's it.
I actually really liked the Frozen Wilds DLC because it was a mini distraction from the rest of the game, and explored more of the people that live in that new world.
Cyberpunk 2077 or The witcher 3 maybe? I think both of these open world games are absolutely fantastic.
I've never finished Witcher 3, bit I did like it. Still waiting on a good discount to try cyberpunk.
I also have never been able to finish Witcher 3, started it at least half a dozen times or more, but always ended up losing interest in it after a day or two. Cyberpunk, on the other hand, I think is great. I have several hundred hours into that game and just bought the phantom liberty expansion and started a fresh play-through. I'm really enjoying the changes they made, and I just love how alive Night City feels.
I'm shocked to see you put this in the same breath as the others. I found the story SO in-depth and fascinating that I spent hours just reading lore on the fan wikis. Loved that game but the second one stripped a lot of the lore out and made it more mindless.
I liked the early game, but my interest fizzled out by the time I got to the large city out west.