There are all kinds of open-world games, and flexibility is one of the reasons the genre is so popular. There are open-world MMOs, sandbox games, and RPGs, and plenty to go around for both consoles and personal computers.
One of the metrics players use to rate these kinds of games is the level of destruction involved. The more mayhem, the better, and several MMOs cater to the players that like to build stuff just so they can wreck it. That includes other players in MMOs that have a PvP setting or battlegrounds dedicated to player versus player action.
6 New World
Early beta versions of New World had all kinds of issues with PvP, some of it being that some abilities and skills could be exploited to have overpowered effects. That was fun, if short-lived, and later additions to the game improved the PvP features, along with an assortment of AoE spells and the addition of explosive ranged weapons like the blunderbuss. Combined with one of the magic-wielding classes, especially the Fire Mage, players can wreak all kinds of havoc.
Players can choose to be flagged for PvP, however, there are so many quests, zones, and battlegrounds that require it that open-world PvP can happen at any time and often does. There are also the three Factions and their control of each zone depending on their PvP achievements, which can turn a whole region into a veritable war zone to get control of an important strategic point, like a Fort.
5 World Of Warcraft: Classic
The retail version of WoW streamlines the open-world PvP options, but in Classic PvP servers, players are flagged any time they're in an area outside of their cities or designated sanctuaries. Never mind the battlegrounds, visit neutral areas like Stranglethorn Vale to see the jungle blow up during the weekly fishing contest event, or witness a spontaneous explosion of all-out war in Hillbrad Foothills.
And then there's the chaos of the various world events that flesh out the lore and continue the storyline of Azeroth. The Zombie Plague event that heralded the Wrath of the Lich King expansion turned the World of Warcraft upside down, and it was inspired by a real-life unplanned disaster now famously known as the Corrupted Blood Incident. Imagine the chaos of walking into a friendly city and seeing a pile of dead bodies and skeletons, without even a living NPC in sight.
4 Grand Theft Auto 5
Why limit players to medieval or historic settings when the modern urban jungle has so much to offer when it comes to destruction? This much-lauded sequel takes all of the murder and mayhem of the previous games in the Grand Theft Auto franchise and puts it in an open-world setting so players can get even more destruction done.
Primarily an action-adventure game with a flashing red ERSB rating, this installment allows players access to three characters. All of them have criminal backstories and are experts in their own versions of crime, destruction, and mayhem, which they bring into the open world with them.
3 Minecraft
For those open-world gamers that would prefer destroying buildings or landscapes in addition to attacking other players, Minecraft is an ideal choice. Players always have the option of hosting their own servers and tailoring their own personal zone of mayhem to their exact preference.
In addition to dealing with other players, who could have malicious intentions, there's the constant threat of Pillagers. These hostile NPCs can roam in groups on patrol and are hostile to both players and townsfolk. The player can choose to emanate a similar level of hostility should they choose, which is one of the benefits of a sandbox game within an open world.
2 EVE Online
Take all of that destructive energy and bring it into outer space with EVE Online. The longest, biggest, and most destructive open-world battles in MMORPG history took place in this game, and that's one of the things it's designed to do. It was called the Battle of B-R5RB, and it took place mainly between two rival guilds whose names can't be repeated here, but suffice to say the fight lasted 21 hours and involved over 7500 player characters.
What caused this mayhem was a simple missed payment that made a whole star system vulnerable to capture, triggering a war on a galactic scale. Prices have also been calculated in real dollars and in terms of lost or damaged equipment, and the costs are, pardon the pun, astronomical. The conditions in the game that made this possible still exist and are touted as a feature as opposed to a bug, with similar but smaller incidents still a common event.
1 Skyrim
Skyrim is one of the few standalone games that still keeps players engaged without any trappings like monetization or multiplayer interaction. The mods help, courtesy of the many fans that wanted to add their own creative flair to the game, and many of them can add to an environment that already gives players a lot of mayhem to make and denizens to destroy.
There are no limits tied to classes or races in Skyrim, so it's possible to build an axe-wielding barbarian equipped with two axes, who knows a few nasty spells and doesn't have any qualms about killing city guards. Or be a shifty murderer, take over the Dark Brotherhood, and rule with an iron fist. Take no sides in the war and just murder everyone the character meets if that's the kind of game the player wants.