Progress is a key tenet of any good video game design that aims to keep its players engaged in their massive sandbox environments. Whether it’s the sprawling post-apocalyptic wastelands, the mythical dark fantasy worlds, or the outlandish sci-fi settings, one thread runs through all of them: the endless possibilities of acquiring the best loot.

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This sense of balancing progression with a good loot system, regardless of the setting and genre, has been responsible for so many successful franchises over the years. For players who can’t keep themselves away from games with prevalent loot-grinding mechanics, here are some of the best open-world settings that provide a satisfying experience for loot gathering and progression.

Updated June 19, 2024, by Waseem Muhammad: Open World games in recent times have changed quite a bit, and a lot of the popular titles nowadays allow the player to explore the worlds looking for better loot. As many of the games listed below have endgame content, grinding for loot is essential to increase overall stats or make the game more manageable.

Rise of the Ronin and Dragon's Dogma 2 are two new additions to this list, both of which were released in 2024. Given the massive worlds both games have to offer, loot can be acquired throughout the vast areas.

12 Rise of the Ronin

Metascore: 76

Team Ninja is famously known for developing games in which they shower the players with loot. Popular titles like Nioh and Wu Long: Fallen Dynasty have a boundless amount of loot that can be acquired through missions or defeating enemies. The same can be said about Rise of the Ronin; however, there has been a slight decrease in loot dropped.

Items in the game have fixed locations from which the players can acquire them, after which these items will drop more often throughout the game. The game also includes a massive inventory space, which allows for storing a huge amount of loot. The endgame also unlocks a new gear rarity making grinding for better gear a necessity in order to create better builds.

11 Borderlands 3

Metascore: 81

The Borderlands series has always been Gearbox Software’s magnum opus. While all installments can keep players invested in the Western sci-fi planet of Pandora for well over a hundred hours with the amount of loot to hunt for, Borderlands 3 represents the most refined iteration of it. The gun variety is absolutely staggering, with a billion different variations of procedurally generated weapons, all with their unique caveats.

Players will come across weapons that can project out boomerang bullets, shout sarcastic expressions at the enemy, or even explode upon every reload. The countless variations of equipment are only helped by the five different tiers of loot rarity, Mayhem Mode (for more difficult challenges and rewards), and a plethora of post-game additions.

10 The Division 2

Metaascore: 82

Set in near-future Washington D.C., The Division 2 puts players in the shoes of elite operatives navigating the aftermath of a deadly virus. The intricacy of different playstyles, customization, and loot is what sets The Division 2 apart from other loot-grinding games.

There is no shortage of dynamic events in the vast open world as loot resets and special seasonal additions continue to offer players an incentive to take on tough challenges for the best gear sets, mods, weapons, and talents. Moreover, a wealth of endgame activities await the operatives, including tough strongholds, raids, and specializations for a deeper skill tree system.

9 Minecraft

Metascore: 82

Minecraft is a game that needs no introduction. Even now, the game is nothing short of an internet phenomenon thanks to the regular Twitch streams and an active player base of 140 million! The limitless creative options the game offers mean the only limitation is the player’s imagination. To make the most progress within the wonderful pixilated world of Minecraft, players must gather procedurally generated loot such as ores, gems, and wood among others.

These resources let players construct infrastructure and imbue their equipment with enchantments. Exploration in this vast, seemingly endless, open world is greatly rewarded as hidden dungeons and mineshafts reveal rare chests. Players can also trade loot with both the NPC villagers and real players, creating a whole economy of tradable loot which further provides a level of unparalleled depth to the loot system.

8 World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

Metascore: 83

World of Warcraft (WOW) has been hugely successful for Blizzard, especially their 2020 expansion, Shadowlands, which became the fastest-selling WoW game with over 3.7 million copies sold on launch day. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands boasts a great deal of thrilling activities and systems to grind loot, including mythic dungeons for high-level keystone upgrades, raid encounters for high-level set items, and the ever-evolving Tower of the Damned, Torghast for legendary items.

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The loot-grinding experience does not stop here, as pledging allegiance to different Covenants yields unique signature abilities. Lastly, weekly vault and great vault additions continue to push more challenges week in and week out for players to target more valuable loot.

7 Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Metascore: 83

The Assassin's Creed franchise has gone through many changes, from its tone of storytelling to its core gameplay mechanics. Recent releases in the franchise gravitate more towards a traditional RPG-type, and as with all RPGs, leveling up gear is key to progress.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey realizes the potential of deep progression mechanics by tying them to the Mercenary and Cultist systems. Both present opportunities to defeat formidable foes riddled around the sprawling open world of Ancient Greece, populated with ancient tombs and ruins, to acquire gear of legendary status and special bonuses called engravings. Even beyond its main campaign, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey invites players to increase their level cap with New Game Plus and Mastery Levels.

6 Destiny 2

Metascore: 85

The developers over at Bungie, time and time, have proven to be masters of implementing solid progress and loot systems in their games. It is no wonder why the company is bringing back Marathon, another excellent looter shooter, focused more on PvP extraction. Both Destiny 2 and its predecessor, excel in terms of diversity of loot pool with exotic weapons and gear up for players’ pursuit.

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The satisfaction of loot grinding in Destiny 2 comes from the fact that the system is woven to flesh out the lore and world-building in the sci-fi landscape of Destiny 2. Ongoing social events, seasonal updates, and content-rich expansion packs continue to bring challenging end-game activities including raids, dungeons, and Nightfall strikes for players to rank up their Power Level. Finally, Random Rolls and God Rolls offer even more perk combinations, ensuring players will always find a new playstyle to appreciate. Guardians, let the loot grinding begin!

5 Diablo 4

Metascore: 86

The Diablo series has traditionally been an action-RPG dungeon crawler, but with the latest installment, Diablo 4, the environments have been structured to be more expansive and open-world. The dynamic events and procedurally generated dungeons offer challenging bosses and, with them, legendary item sets to create powerful builds.

While players don’t need to grind in real life for the loot (which can painstakingly still be the case for the pricey skins), most of the powerful gear in Diablo 4 is resorted for endgame content like Nightmare Dungeons, World Events, and the “Whispers” bounties which can take up to 150 hours till completion. After reaching level 50 in the main campaign, the real grind starts as players aim for level 100 by participating in high-world-tier activities.

4 Dragon's Dogma 2

Metascore: 86

It has been quite some time since Capcom released a new open-world game. Dragon's Dogma 2 follows the story of the Arisen and their journey with their Pawns to reclaim the Throne. The areas in the game stretch out as far as the eye can see, and as the game does not have a mount to make traversing shorter, players have to walk all the way, exploring and taking in the sights.

Dragon's Dogma 2 includes classes, and each class can wear armor dedicated to their respective class. Better armor and weapons for each class can be acquired throughout the world, in caves, or as loot drops from enemies. The game also has a true ending where players can acquire the best armor in the game from merchants but will have to grind the currency needed to buy them.

3 Fallout 4

Metascore: 87

Fallout 4 populates its post-nuclear wasteland with a variety of hidden underground vaults and raider camps for randomized loot. The in-depth weapon and armor modification system allows players to fine-tune their stats to their playstyle by investing in the most fitting perks and specializations.

The loot grinding also plays into the settlement building mechanic where players must scavenge resources and salvage materials by embarking on unique quests that may involve legendary enemy encounters.

2 Skyrim

Metascore: 96

Skyrim’s iconic Fus Ro Dah shout will never get old, and if players aim to unlock more devastatingly powerful shouts, they must roam the dense environments to engage in epic dragon battles. Due to the randomized nature of the loot and scaling, leveling up gear always feels fresh.

More unique artifacts can be acquired via the engaging Daedric quests and later be brought to smithing stations to be enchanted. It goes without saying that, like any other Bethesda game, the modding community of Skyrim is still very active and continues to introduce more variations of powerful and enticing loot.

1 Elden Ring

Metascore: 96

Anyone familiar with the FromSoftware games will know how the non-linear exploration of their games is immensely satisfying in terms of the loot up for grabs. Often strategically placed, the loot in Elden Ring is guarded by menacing foes that may take casual players the better half of a week to put down. Every inch of The Lands Between is teeming with life (and death, lots of death), with the occasional dark cave or a portal to a hellish landscape (looking at Caelid).

Progression in Elden Ring is tied to two systems primarily: rune farming to level up character stats like vitality and stamina and item farming like smithing stones (all the way up to rarity 8) to level up weapons and gear. Then there is more grinding involved for players targeting specific mage and faith builds who would need to extract Dragon Hearts, which is no easy feat when there are dozens of optional side bosses. Thee maidenless one, the answer lies in grinding loot!

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