Best Upcoming Open World Games 2023

As the gap between console and PC gaming shrinks, we’re seeing new open world games looking bigger and better than ever before.

And while the most common forms of open-world games are RPGs, action-adventure, and survival games, we’ve chosen to showcase a few that look to defy convention.

In this list, we’ll highlight the best upcoming open world games releasing on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch platforms.

Make sure to check back in the future for updates and announcements regarding new open world games for 2023 and beyond!

Related:Best Upcoming RPGs 2023Best Upcoming Indie Games 2023 (And Beyond)Best Upcoming Video Game Remakes 2023 (And Beyond)

Forspoken is an upcoming open world action-adventure game currently in development at Luminous Productions, a new Square Enix game studio formed by members of the Final Fantasy 15 development team.

The game sees you controlling a fleet-footed young woman, likely named Athia, as she explores a “world not her own,” comprised of snowy mountains, lush forests, and ancient ruins.

In the teaser trailer, we can see Athia possesses the power to make roots grow out of the ground and fire-breathing wolves are among the game’s enemy types.

Considering the developer’s affinity for JRPGs, it’ll be interesting to see them apply their talent to a new genre; If you’re a Final Fantasy fan, definitely keep your eye on this one.

On the PC and PlayStation side of things, gamers can look forward to playing the upcoming game SEASON: A letter to the future, by Scavengers Studio.

Billed as a narrative-driven exploration adventure, the game casts you as a young traveler named Estelle on their first journey away from home.

Exploring vibrant and stylized environments affected by changing seasons, Estelle will record and photograph various characters she meets to learn more about the world.

It seems like one of the more relaxing upcoming games we have to look forward to, and there’s definitely always room for more of those!

Outside of movie tie-ins and the occasional mobile release, we haven’t really seen many games explore the magical world of Harry Potter.

That’s set to change when Avalanche and Warner Bros.’s upcoming open world action RPG Hogwarts Legacy releases next year.

Set during the late 1800s, it casts the player as a new student at Hogwarts tasked with choosing their House and attending classes while exploring the school’s mysterious grounds.

Over time, they’ll learn to cast different spells, brew potions, tame magical beasts, and battle enemies while navigating a morality system based on their actions.

Initially announced as a 2018 release, Atomic Heart has had one of the more interesting development stories, with rumors suggesting it may not even be the same game anymore.

Categorized as a “first-person shooter with RPG elements,” the game is well into the process of development at studio Mundfish, a Russian-based indie game studio.  

Evoking memories of sci-fi staples like BioShock and Fallout, Atomic Heart takes place in an alternate reality where the Soviet Union’s research has led to a technical revolution.

Players assume control of a Soviet KGB officer tasked with infiltrating a secret facility that’s gone radio silent.

The Day Before is an upcoming open world MMO about trying to survive in a deadly post-pandemic United States overrun by flesh-hungry infected and untrustworthy survivors.

After your character awakes with amnesia, they set out to uncover the truth while scavenging for resources to stay alive.

You’ll explore a beautiful world plunged into chaos and search abandoned vehicles, houses, and buildings looking for useful items and defending yourself from enemies.

So far, the game looks surprisingly polished despite not having a confirmed release date, leaving us a bit skeptical as to whether the full game will be as consistent.

Skull and Bones‘ development has been plagued by numerous delays, reboots, and internal turmoil stemming from the game’s creative director leaving mid-production.

At the moment, the upcoming game’s release date points towards sometime in March 2023 for PC and consoles.

We bet many of you are looking forward to getting your hands on this one, and with good reason.

Some of its systems are genuinely interesting, such as using landmass for cover and territory control as well as camouflaging your ship by raising the enemy’s flag. 

Each day brings us one step closer to the release date of Nintendo’s upcoming sequel to Breath of the Wild.

Officially titled The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the sequel will see Link exploring both the land and sky portions of Hyrule with new powers.

This includes expanded object stasis manipulation and teleportation abilities that should make traversal even more delightful.

At one point in the trailer, we can see Link riding on a stone bird and skydiving down to the now-familiar Hyrule open world.

From Rocksteady Studios, creators of the beloved Batman: Arkham series, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is an upcoming action-adventure game set in the DC Comics mythos.

It takes place in an open world based on Metropolis and sees players controlling four playable characters that make up the Suicide Squad: Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and King Shark.

The story centers on the four-man wrecking crew as they attempt to defeat Brainiac after he invades Earth and brainwashes the Justice League.

Designed with co-op in mind, Suicide Squad will let players team up with friends throughout the story or play solo, switching between characters and relying on AI teammates.

Next up is Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, a new open world action RPG that comes courtesy of A44 Games and Kepler Interactive.

Played from a third-person POV, this game sees players controlling Nor Vanek, a member of a special coalition tasked with saving mankind from extinction.

As part of their mission, players must fight against the “old Gods” using crafted melee weapons and flintlock-triggered firearms.

Flintlock’s open world spans three distinct regions and side activities that, upon completion, can affect the state of the world and its population.

Fans of open-world survival crafting games can set their sights on Voidtrain, an upcoming indie game by Hypetrain Digital.

Designed for both co-op and single-player, this game has you becoming a crew member of an Interdimensional Express Train.

Your mission? To discover a new world packed with weird creatures, enemies, and locations housing valuable resources.

These resources can be collected to upgrade and customize your train, allowing you to visit new places and build better weapons.

In 2019, German developer Daedalic Entertainment announced they were working on a licensed game set within The Lord of the Rings universe for next-gen gaming consoles.

The new title is depicted as an action-adventure game that intends to “tell Gollum’s story from a perspective never seen before, in any storytelling medium, all the while staying true and faithful to the legendary books of J.R.R. Tolkien.”

Best described as a cinematic stealth adventure, LOTR: Gollum will have you traversing faithfully detailed environments, many of which have never appeared in a LOTR video game.

With the success of other LOTR spin-offs such as Shadow of Mordor and its subsequent sequel Shadow of War, it’s clear that there’s an audience of players who would jump at the chance to explore Middle-earth from a new point of view.

Next on our list of upcoming open world games, the STALKER series is known for getting nitty-gritty with its approach to post-apocalyptic open worlds.

While they’ve always been reminiscent of games like Metro and even Fallout RPGs to some extent, the series suddenly disappeared after just three releases.

STALKER 2 will see players venturing into “The Zone,” an irradiated wasteland surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site.

The area stands out for its high radiation levels, which causes scavengers to develop supernatural abilities that affect traversal and combat.

Bethesda announced Starfield back in 2018 with a teaser trailer and we haven’t heard much aside from some small leaks of info leading up to an update during E3 2021.

We now know the game will be released exclusively for Xbox and PC and coming to Game Pass on launch day.

Similar to previous Bethesda RPGs like Skyrim, Starfield will see players embarking on an epic open world adventure, only this time in space.

There’s still some mystery surrounding what mankind is turning to the stars in search of, though if we had to wager, it probably has something to do with aliens.

Tchia is an upcoming open world adventure game in which you play as a young girl exploring a physics-driven sandbox.

The game offers tropical locations to discover, characters to get to know, and hidden surprises around every corner.

Additionally, Tchia has a special ability that lets her magically transform into 30+ different animals as well as 100+ objects.

This is reflected in both the story and gameplay, with Tchia using her powers to help her friends, explore the island, and escape danger.

Toeing the line between weird and genuinely exciting, Palworld is an upcoming open-world game from Pocketpair Games, best known for Craftopia.

It puts its own spin on the survival crafting genre by throwing in Pokemon-inspired creature collecting, with various “Pals” for you to tame.

Monsters you collect have special powers that can come in handy during battles, farming, building, fishing, and more.

While it’s a bit jarring to see such adorable creatures appear alongside shotguns, assault rifles, and rocket launchers, there’s something so interesting about Palworld’s concept.

Crimson Desert is an upcoming open world game that comes from developer/publisher Pearly Abyss, the same studio behind the hit MMORPG Black Desert.

Originally, the game was meant to be a prequel to Black Desert but was ultimately scrapped and rebooted as a standalone experience set in a medieval fantasy world.

In it, players take on the role of a mercenary traversing a war-ravaged world where they’ll have to complete quests and recruit other mercenaries to join them in battle.

The extra help will definitely come in handy seeing as the game will reportedly feature harsh weather conditions across its open-world regions.

Avowed is a brand-new IP from developer Obsidian that’s currently in development. It’s described as a first-person RPG set in a fantasy-inspired world called Eora.

In it, you play as an unknown hero who wields a sword and casts magical spells using some really cool-looking hand gestures.

It’s not surprising to see Obsidian racing to make another RPG when you consider it’s their bread and butter. Fallout: New Vegas, KOTR2, Pillars of Eternity, the list goes on and on.

Thematically, Avowed gives off a much darker tone than we’ve seen Obsidian explore in the past, so it’ll be interesting to see what they come up with. 

A third entry in the zombie survival horror series State of Decay is currently in development for Xbox Series X and PC.

State of Decay 3 intends to offer the ‘ultimate’ zombie survival simulation, and judging by the announcement trailer, Undead Labs is off to a great start. 

Fans can look forward to battling even more undead humans along with a new contestant: brain-eating zombie deer.

We anticipate the game’s graphics will significantly benefit from the next-gen hardware and overall shorter load times.

Even though Bethesda is more occupied with Elder Scrolls: Online, they still like to occasionally remind us Elder Scrolls VI is coming.

That being said, we haven’t received an update since 2018, so it’s likely Bethesda will have something to show before the year is through.

Current speculation suggests ES6 might be set in the Skyrim-adjacent region High Rock based on the announcement trailer depicting a mountainous northern province.

It’s also rumored that the ongoing conflict with the Thalmor may be a key element in the game’s plot.

While it may not be the long-rumored Fable 4 sequel we had in mind, a new Fable game is confirmed to be in development at Forza Horizons’ studio Playground Games.

Intended to be a reboot for the series, Fable will retain the spirit of the original trilogy, which saw players engaging with magical creatures throughout fantasy-inspired locales. 

Other than a cinematic reveal trailer, we don’t have much to go off of in terms of gameplay or even story.

The game is still a long way off but is expected to launch on Xbox Series X and PC as well as come to Xbox Game Pass.

Insomniac is hard at work on a direct sequel to 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man that will come exclusively to PS5.

Little is currently known regarding the story or new gameplay elements but we can confirm that both Peter Parker and Miles Morales will be reprising their roles as Spider-Man, or is it Spider-Men?

Additionally, Kraven the Hunter, Venom, and likely a host of other recognizable Marvel villains will be making an appearance.

Much like the original PS4 exclusive, we anticipate Spider-Man 2 will fully utilize the PS5 hardware to allow for faster load times, smoother performance, and more detailed environments.

Joining the competitive open world MMO landscape, DokeV is another upcoming title currently being developed by Pearl Abyss.

In it, players assume control of cute chibi-like avatars and set out to explore colorful environments.

Along the way, they’ll encounter Dokebi, unique creatures that gain strength from people’s dreams and can be either friendly or hostile.

Joining forces with the Dokebi, players will carve out their new adventures while unlocking new weapons, abilities, and methods for traversing the world.

Another upcoming open world game to keep on your radar is Dune Awakening, a new MMO developed and published by Funcom.

Drawing inspiration from the beloved sci-fi epic, the game has you surviving and eventually thriving in a sprawling open world inhabited by thousands of players.

As part of the journey, you’ll travel to different planets meeting characters from both the movies and books that can become either allies or enemies.

This all depends on your chosen identity, as Dune Awakening features deep character creation tied to acquiring certain skills, abilities, and gear.