Open-world gaming has become an immensely popular genre in recent times, with numerous titles pushing the boundaries of what this genre can achieve with truly mind-blowing results. Players have been flocking to open-world games for years, relishing the freedom they offer as they let players roam around in a vast and meticulously constructed landscape that is a joy to explore.
Given how popular this genre is, it's only a given that many open-world titles end up being forgotten... even when they gathered a decent following early on! It's to be expected given how populated this genre is, but fans of the following open-world games hate the fact that the industry has seemingly forgotten about these great games.
8 Prototype 2
Prototype 2 is the sequel to an excellent open-world action game, with both titles allowing players to control superhuman characters with shape-shifting abilities. The game's violence and gritty story made it pretty popular, with its ties to the original Prototype being explored in a clever manner.
The game's combat and parkour mechanics are easily two of its biggest assets, and it's a shame that more people don't talk about this title. James Heller was a great protagonist, and having him face off against the main character of the first game heightened the emotional stakes of the story even more.
7 Mad Max
Based on the iconic post-apocalyptic film series, Mad Max is a title that took everyone by surprise when it was launched. The game was lauded for its visuals, vehicular combat, and unique setting.
Unfortunately, it seems that Mad Max never managed to wow players aside from the initial surprise factor. The story was pretty barebones and the combat was another take on the Arkham combat — albeit a good one — that didn't really help it stand out all that much in the long run.
6 Infamous
Infamous was an excellent PlayStation 3 exclusive that allowed players to control Cole MacGrath, a bike courier who gets superhero powers after a package he was carrying explodes. For its time, both combat and parkour were a blast in every way.
The game received two sequels, both of which are pretty fun in their own right. However, despite a strong fan following, Infamous was pretty much discarded as a series, with nary a peep about it escaping Sony's lips nowadays.
5 Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is a game that many people feel was unfairly lampooned across the board despite being a great superhero game. It allowed players to control Spider-Man in a world overrun by symbiotes, with its fluid combat system being quite engaging.
However, the game's lackluster story and weird voice acting really took the game down a peg. Despite being pretty popular at the time, Web of Shadows has been discarded as a mediocre Spider-Man game, with Insomniac's take on the series forever shoveling Web of Shadows to the depth of obscurity.
4 Sunset Overdrive
Before working on the phenomenon that is Marvel's Spider-Man, Insomniac Games developed a fast-paced and energetic open-world title called Sunset Overdrive. The blend of third-person shooting and unique movement mechanics in a colorful, post-apocalyptic setting made for an entertaining game in many ways.
While the game was praised for its energetic gameplay and unique art style, people forget that Sunset Overdrive was released around a time when players wanted realism in their open-world games. As a result, Sunset Overdrive's early popularity couldn't hold for too long and the game was eventually forgotten.
3 Sleeping Dogs
Born from the ashes of the True Crime series, Sleeping Dogs is a game that blended open-world action with a hand-to-hand combat system that is infinitely enjoyable to this day. The game also made car chases quite engaging and epic, despite the weird driving physics.
For all the goodwill this game generated over the many years since its launch, Sleeping Dogs eventually became a footnote in the gaming industry. The instances when players used to bring this game up as an example of a truly fun video game have become rarer, which is pretty saddening for many fans of this imaginative open-world title.
2 Maneater
Maneater really wanted players to know that they could control a man-eating shark and wreak absolutely havoc both in and out of water. It was a great idea that this game executed decently well, even if some people found the gameplay to be pretty repetitive after a point.
Players were surprised to see that the developers had actually put some thought into the story, even if it wasn't all that engaging. The marketing for this game attracted many eyes to Maneater, but its uninspired gameplay led to the game exiting the limelight just as quickly as it had entered it.
1 Batman: Arkham Origins
Batman: Arkham Origins is the only game in the Arkham series to not be developed by Rocksteady. This is perhaps the reason why this game has never been re-released or referenced in the Arkham trilogy.
Sure, it may be true that Arkham Origins doesn't really bring anything new to the table... but did it really need to? The game is a blast to play through if players look past the narrative inconsistencies and the lack of innovation, and the fact that many people don't really bother to talk about this game when mentioning the Arkham games is disrespectful to a great prequel that deserves way more credit.