6 Amazing, Open World Sandbox Games That Aren’t Grand Theft Auto

Far Cry 3

I recently wrote about this game in my “games as Wonderland metaphors” piece, and I bring it up as much as possible because I really believe it is the most fun I ever had with an open world game. And I also think that Far Cry 3 is one of the most misunderstood games of all time. Hey, when I said that about a movie recently, the director wrote me a personal letter thanking me and saying I was spot on, so maybe that will be revealed here, too.

People take it at face value, about a white man who comes in and saves an island of natives and frees up their people by becoming a murdering madman, but this is all a “frat guy” version of Alice in Wonderland, and this is his Wonderland. They allude to Alice in Wonderland often enough in the game (and even have a mushroom tripping sequence) that it is quite clear, this is a satire of itself, and of gaming, as well as action movies. But, much like Shoot ‘Em Up, it remains awesome in the process.

Far Cry 3 is an open world FPS about a man named Jason Brody who sky dives onto an island while on vacation with his friends, and ends up being held captive by an insane pirate named Vaas (best bad guy in gaming in a long time). Brody has to become a sort of super-soldier so he can save his friends and return to civilization. And yes, over the course of this game, you pretty much become an unstoppable machine, but that is half the fun. And regarding the open world, not only is it huge, but there is SO much you can do that the game does become a virtual sandbox.

Do you want to hunt animals and sell their skins or craft them into better wallets to carry more money? You can do that.

Do you want to treat it like an Uncharted game, and just go around killing pirates and taking cool stuff? You can do that.

Do you want to get the biggest, loudest guns, and just run and gun, killing everyone you want? Yup, that too.

There are skill trees, various things to learn, and hundreds of things to discover. And on top of it, the controls are perfect, and the gameplay is incredibly fun. By the time Far Cry 3 ended, I was at least 30 hours in and was actually UPSET the game was over.

Thankfully, they fixed this by releasing the best DLC ever, Blood Dragon, which takes that WHOLE OPEN WORLD and then makes it look like a shitty, 1980’s Sci-Fi film. And by the end, you ride a dinosaur. No, really, you do.

So that wins. Everything. Ever.