10 Open-World Games With The Most Bustling Metropolises (2024)

While there are many open-world games around nowadays, and the idea has become hugely popular over the last decade, not all of them make players feel integrated in a bustling world. While players can explore entire cities in many of the currently available open-world games, it is less common for gamers to be surrounded by NPCs throughout.

Sometimes, in MMO games with open worlds, players may feel surrounded by other players who are online. However, open-world games that are more single-player-based only rarely do a superb job of making players feel surrounded by a very alive city.

Updated August 9, 2024, by Chris Harkin: Although gaming has continued to advance over the last decade and more, some of the most fascinating cities featured in open-world games that manage to feel truly alive and bustling came out years ago. The ambition of gaming has slowed in certain ways, and while some new games have overachieved on many different levels, there are only a few major companies interested in providing players with the feeling one would get when wandering a bustling metropolis. Though the options are somewhat limited, some open-world titles genuinely go out of their way to provide realistic experiences like this.

10 Grand Theft Auto 5

An Impressive Imagining Of Los Angeles That Never Sleeps

Grand Theft Auto 5

Open-World

Action

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:92/100 Critics Recommend:92%

Platform(s)

PS5 , PS4 , PS3 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Xbox One , Xbox 360 , PC

See Also

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Released

September 17, 2013

Developer(s)

Rockstar North

The Grand Theft Auto games, for many years, have been at the forefront of creating bustling cities that are filled with some truly bizarre NPCs. Grand Theft Auto 5 was the absolute pinnacle of these ideas, and Los Santos is a city that is filled to the brim with a wide variety of people.

Plenty of fascinating characters fill the metropolis, and strange side missions abound around every corner as players wander around the city. There are quieter sections, such as restricted areas and the countryside, but the main city of Los Santos is always well-occupied by a huge number of characters, and it is one of the best cities in the series.

9 Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Captures The Bustle Of Victorian-Era London

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:77/100 Critics Recommend:63%

Platform(s)

PS4 , Xbox One , PC , Stadia , Amazon Luna

Released

October 23, 2015

Developer(s)

Ubisoft

Though there are many Assassin's Creed games, and all of them are open-world and set in various real-life cities, there are few that achieve such a memorable setting and world as Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Following the Frye twins as they arrive in London and try to free it from Templar control, Syndicate is set in mid-19th century England during the Industrial Revolution, and it features many of the traditional quirks of Assassin's Creed cities while being as alive and different from those others as can be believed.

The major difference is simply the period chosen for the setting. After so many medieval and ancient civilizations were explored by the franchise, it was new for fans to see and experience an Assassin's Creed game so relatively close to modern times. This marvelous, alive version of London gained points with fans for feeling so raw and real, as well as having a wealth of side quests that made the open-world feel even more full of life.

8 Sleeping Dogs

An Incredible Version Of Hong Kong

Sleeping Dogs

Systems

Platform(s)

PS4 , PS3 , Xbox One , Xbox 360 , PC

Released

August 14, 2012

Developer(s)

United Front Games

Many great open-world games craft entirely new settings or, like Grand Theft Auto, do a fictional take on an existing city. But Sleeping Dogs was one of the few games brave enough to be set in a major real-life city: Hong Kong. Following a Chinese-American cop working in Hong Kong to try and dismantle the Triad forces there, Sleeping Dogs gives players the sort of world feel and bustle that most are accustomed to only seeing in Rockstar Games.

A truly incredible experience in a unique part of the world, Sleeping Dogs gives players the opportunity to run, swim, drive and adventure in any other way they fancy around a beautifully designed version of Hong Kong that is split into four huge districts, all based on a real part of the city. While Sleeping Dogs definitely doesn't give a one-to-one recreation, it manages to fill the streets with bystanders and locals, making the city feel alive in a way few games accomplish.

7 Cyberpunk 2077

An Amazing City Developed Over Time

Cyberpunk 2077

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:76/100 Critics Recommend:65%

Platform(s)

PC , Xbox One , Stadia , PS4 , PS5 , Xbox Series S , Xbox Series X

Released

December 10, 2020

Developer(s)

CD Projekt Red

From the very beginning of its conception, Cyberpunk 2077 looked as if it would be similar in style to the Grand Theft Auto games. This more futuristic take on a massive, bustling metropolis in Night City made for an incredible experience once the initial fixes were made to the game following an unsteady first release.

Cyberpunk 2077 has improved a lot since then. There is a constant sense of danger as players traverse the city, with there always being another potential mission or distraction along the way. It makes for a fascinating style of RPG. It's completely different from most other busy cities that players are used to seeing, and it is also one of the largest.

6 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Novigrad Is Filled With Medieval Life

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Systems

See Also

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OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:93/100 Critics Recommend:95%

Platform(s)

Nintendo Switch , PC , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

May 19, 2015

Developer(s)

CD Projekt Red

Many things about The Witcher games were improved upon and perfected with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This game managed to make huge Witcher fans out of many gamers, and part of the reason behind that is how it managed to easily immerse players in the world of the Continent.

Cities that appear throughout The Witcher 3 are built in a uniquely bustling fashion for games set in fictional fantasy realms. There is constant street life in cities that players visit such as Novigrad, making for a much more real experience. The game also provides side quests around every corner and plenty of strange NPCs to chat away with as Geralt continues his journey.

5 Red Dead Redemption 2

A Busy Saint Denis & The Open Frontier

Red Dead Redemption 2

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:96/100 Critics Recommend:94%

Platform(s)

PS4 , Xbox One , PC , Stadia

Released

October 26, 2018

Developer(s)

Rockstar Games

There are few games as beloved or memorable for their huge rosters of NPCs and incredibly built cities than those of Rockstar Games. Outside of the Grand Theft Auto series, it is the Red Dead Redemption games that are their most loved, and Red Dead Redemption 2 brought players into a wilderness like few games by the company have ever done.

Despite getting to adventure across the American Frontier on a map encompassing fictional versions of five different states, Red Dead Redemption 2 also allowed players to visit larger cities like Saint Denis, based off Louisiana and New Orleans. This former French colony was a bustling cityscape that provided a wonderful contrast to the quiet of the wilderness, giving players the full cowboy experience in multiple ways across the huge open world.

4 Assassin’s Creed Unity

The Greatest Assassin's Creed Cityscape

Assassin's Creed Unity

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:71/100

Platform(s)

PS4 , Xbox One , PC , Stadia

Released

November 11, 2014

Developer(s)

Ubisoft

Many of the Assassin’s Creed games put a big focus on a faithful recreations of cities, and there are several of them that do a pretty good job at filling out those cities with characters. However, there is one that went above and beyond in this manner, and that game is Assassin’s Creed Unity.

Set in Paris, this entry in the franchise managed to put players in a positively beautiful version of the famous French metropolis, all while filling it with enough NPCs that players feel the real bustle of activity they’d expect as they run through or above the streets of such an place. Giving the impression of something truly alive, Ubisoft managed to make Paris into its own character in Unity, helping turn the title into one of the best open-world stealth games ever.

3 Yakuza: Like A Dragon

An Incredibly Detailed And Alive Yokohama

Yakuza: Like A Dragon

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:86/100 Critics Recommend:91%

Platform(s)

PC , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

November 10, 2020

Developer(s)

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio

The Yakuza franchise is famed for great action-adventure games, but Like A Dragon changed everything up by creating an open-world, turn-based RPG in which players were provided with a lot of freedom to run around the real-life city of Yokohama and create their own stories in a surprisingly mature-themed JRPG.

While the city is large and beautiful, it is separated into districts that each have a different feel to them. However, in all of them, there are a lot of people, providing players with a surreal sort of feeling despite it all taking place in a faithfully recreated version of a real-world city. Offering one of the best chances that gamers will get to see this beautiful part of Japan, Yakuza: Like A Dragon is well worth checking out.

2 Marvel's Spider-Man

A Huge Map Of New York That Is Crawling With People

Marvel's Spider-Man

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:88/100 Critics Recommend:95%

Platform(s)

PS4 , PS5 , PC

Released

September 7, 2018

Developer(s)

Insomniac Games

Part of the major success of Marvel's Spider-Man was in its ability to make players feel like they were truly this street-level hero. Instead of riding above it all like in Marvel’s Avengers, players were placed on the streets. They could encounter a huge number of people in New York City, and they could also pursue a variety of side adventures.

The huge number of quests available (as well as the other storylines that came with the DLCs) allowed players the freedom to swing their way aimlessly around a bustling city and fight crime along the way. The New York City of Marvel's Spider-Man is home to countless NPCs, and their presence makes the world feel incredibly real and alive.

1 Watch Dogs: Legion

A Futuristic London That Is Busy & Beautiful

Watch Dogs Legion

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:74/100 Critics Recommend:60%

Platform(s)

PS4 , Xbox One , Stadia , PC

Released

October 29, 2020

Developer(s)

Ubisoft

The Watch Dogs games have always prided themselves on bringing futuristic versions of cities to life in amazing recreations. Watch Dogs: Legion is the best example of this, turning eight of the boroughs of London into a sprawling map that players can navigate in several ways. Whether players prefer to take the underground, travel on foot, or parkour their way through the streets, this game allows them to live out their dreams.

Seeing London in such a beautifully designed shape is unusual, particularly in a futuristic game, but feeling like there are plenty of people around and sensing the realism of the city is something that adds a lot of great world-building to the story that Watch Dogs: Legion manages to tell.