Open-world News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Terminator: Survivors, a new open-world survival game set in the Terminator franchise, will launch in early access on Steam this fall, publisher Nacon announced Thursday at its Nacon Connect 2024 event.

From the dawn of Pong to the present day, thousands of video game titles have captured our hearts and our imaginations – and occupied countless hours of our leisure time – but which is truly the best ever?

If you’re getting ready to start your Final Fantasy VII Rebirth adventure, let me offer you fair warning: it is a long game. If you’re planning to do every sidequest, minigame, and Chadley combat battle, you’ll be wandering around Gaia for 100 hours. That’s not an exaggeration; I hit credits in 73 hours and I still had a massive checklist of side content to complete.

Some topics in the Diablo community will always spark controversy — Stash space, drop rates, itemization, and the in-game Shop have all been hot topics burning their way through circles of Wanderers since Diablo 4 launched. We've got our own opinions: read on to find out more about our take on the Herb system in Diablo 4! The entire Herb collection system for making Elixirs and upgrading potions was created for a different game era. It’s time for a serious revisit to the herb, Elixir and Incense system. Back before Season 1, everyone was doing a lot of running around above ground, doing side quests, going after Altars, and finishing the campaign. Since Herbs are only obtained by direct farming or doing side quests that give an and assorted herbs, getting enough herbs wasn’t much of an issue, because you spent so much time above ground where you could grab them as you went along. In today's world of spamming Nightmare Dungeons and Vaults to level (because open-world experience gives so little… well, experience), getting enough herbs even to upgrade your healing potion can pose serious problems. There are four key areas where herbs and Elixirs could use some serious improvement.

Ubisoft has launched Skull and Bones’ first seasonal update, Raging Tides.

Tchia will leave the PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra game catalog on March 19. And you really need to play this charming open-world adventure that I called “a new coming-of-age classic” in a four-star review before it’s gone.

Japanese developer METASLA has announced pixel art open-world action RPG Sea Fantasy for console and PC (Steam). Specific consoles are to be announced. It will launch in February 2025 with English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese language support.

After many years of development and countless delays, Skull and Bones has finally arrived. Ubisoft’s new open-world pirate game is very much a live service exercise, which means the game features a somewhat baffling array of different currencies – no less than six of them. Some of these currencies are earnable for free in-game, some you’ll need to spend real money to get. Allow us to demystify Skull and Bones rather confusing economy…

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's new demo is beating the life out of players.

Elden Ring is considered by many to be the definitive FromSoftware experience, with its dark medieval setting of deep lore penned in part by fantasy author George R.R. Martin. The brutal open-world RPG quickly became a favorite for fans of the developer’s Dark Souls franchise due to its massive boss fights and unforgiving combat. Elden Ring only became more popular with the launch of the Steam Deck, thanks to its excellent performance. And the wins keep coming, with the first expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, due to launch this summer and set to add new story beats, bosses, and build-crafting options.

I had over two weeks to play Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and I spent most of the last seven days asking myself: Do I say that I loved this game, or that I hated it? It’s time to put pen to paper and the truth is, I still haven’t decided. I did love this game; I did hate this game. My waking hours not spent on my day job — over 90 such hours, by the time I saw credits — were nothing but this game. “A Lot” is a reductive but justified way of describing it, in every sense of that phrase.

Reviews for the long-awaited second instalment in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, have just dropped before the game's launch next week and they're just as positive as you'd expect.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth MSRP $70.00 Score Details DT Editors' Choice Pros

The 2018 action-RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance is launching on Switch on March 24, 2024, Nintendo and Warhorse Studios have announced, and I'm a little worried about how it'll run on the nearly seven-year-old portable hardware.

We finally got our first full look at Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, the expansion for FromSoftware’s critically acclaimed 2022 open-world game. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait too much longer for it, as publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment confirmed a June 21 release date.

For those who already tried the demo for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, there’s now more in store. Today, the demo has expanded with an open-world section of Junon for players to roam about and explore.

Bethesda has released a new patch for Starfield, improving game stability while adding two more upscaling technologies. 

It’s time to return to the Lands Between. Elden Ring developer FromSoftware announced Tuesday that it will release the first trailer for the open-world role-playing game’s expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, on Wednesday, Feb. 21.

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The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo update is launching tomorrow, and Square Enix confirmed exactly when the update will go live.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a launch title for the Nintendo Switch, but it’s still one of the most impressive titles for the console. If you own the Nintendo Switch, this open-world adventure should be in your video game library, and if it’s not there yet, you shouldn’t miss this chance to get it with a 50% discount from Best Buy. It’s on sale for $40 instead of $60 for $20 in savings, and you’ll get an additional $10 off if you’re a My Best Buy Plus or Total subscriber to further lower its price to $30. The Nintendo Switch exclusive isn’t always on sale, and rarely for half-price when it is, so hurry up with your purchase if you don’t want to miss this offer.

Criterion Games surprised fans by announcing another year of support for Need for Speed Unbound, 2022's installment in the racing game series. It's partly due to Need for Speed celebrating its 30th anniversary, they said.

Publisher Nacon is finally ready to show more of its open-world Terminator survival game during a showcase set for later in February.

I feel like it has been a while since we had an open-world pirate game, but we got one for 2024. Ubisoft and one of Ubisoft’s Original Games Skull and Bones which was first announced back in 2017 by Ubisoft Singapore at an E3 event. I remember because I was there when it first got announced and I was excited because I love video games that incorporate wooden ships and pirates. This game when I first heard about it, I remember when I was a kid I used to play a lot of Sid Meier’s Pirates which still to this day is one of my favorite pirate games ever. Even though Skull and Bones is nowhere on the same level as Sid Meier’s Pirates, it has some good elements, and that is something we will talk about right now.

Prepare for a gaming revolution as a PlayStation developer spills the beans on GTA 6 incorporating several beloved features from the iconic Red Dead Redemption 2 game. Renowned as one of the best open-world games ever, Red Dead Redemption 2 set a benchmark with its unparalleled attention to detail, making it a tough act to follow. However, the eagerly awaited GTA 6 seems poised to surpass even this gaming masterpiece, with tantalizing leaks and rumors stirring up anticipation.

Stellar Blade will feature three different display modes when it launches this April on PlayStation 5, members of the development team confirmed.

A crafty TheLegend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom player has put together a surprisingly speedy pickup truck for Link to drive across the realm of Hyrule. One of the main draws of the latest Zelda game is Tears of the Kingdom’s deep crafting mechanic, which allows players to build virtually anything they can think of using both the natural resources surrounding Link and the ancient technology left behind by the Zonai. This has led to Tears of the Kingdom becoming a virtual sandbox for players to flex their creative muscles in a variety of interesting ways.

The Nintendo Switch remains wildly popular, so discounts involving the hybrid console, as well as its games and accessories, always attract a lot of attention. We expect more of the same with this year’s Nintendo Switch Presidents’ Day deals, as retailers are giving gamers a chance at huge discounts. If you see something that you like from our favorite picks below, it’s highly recommended that you complete the purchase as soon as possible, as that’s the only way to make sure that you’ll be able to pocket the savings.

One incredibly unfortunate Sea of Thieves player has shared their tragic encounter with the open-world adventure game's rarest item.

Sony has announced the latest lineup of games coming to their PS Plus Extra and Premium tiers this February. Subscribers can look forward to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Need for Speed Unbound, four different entries in Bandai Namco’s Tales series, including the most recent Tales of Arise, and more. Premium subscribers have some things to look forward to as well, including newly-enhanced releases of Resistance: Retribution and Jet Moto 2.

Islands of Insight Score Details Pros

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden drops you into an eerie world of specters and curses. It’s a gentle start, and the game is good about teaching you mechanics as it introduces them, but there are still things we wish we knew when we started.

Another Steam Next Fest is over, meaning another collection of indie game demos have vanished into the ether. As ever, with so many options at your fingertips, it can be hard to know what to play, but now that the dust has settled, we've collated our Steam Next Fest coverage to point you towards the games we loved that deserve a spot on your wishlist.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden MSRP $59.99 Score Details DT Recommended Product Pros

The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth playable demo comes with some evident visual issues, especially in Performance Mode, but it seems like low resolution is not what is causing everything to look so blurry.

Star Citizen, the in-development space simulator from Cloud Imperium Games, has launched its first free-to-play “Free Fly” event of 2024, giving players the chance to try the game out without spending a penny. 

GTA 6 is scheduled to release sometime in 2025, and the sequel's publisher said during a financial results call that it's looking for perfection before the long-anticipated open-world game finally launches.

Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot has defended the $70 price tag for Skull and Bones, calling it a “quadruple-A game”.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is getting a lot of bad rep because of a number of promos gone completely wrong, but the game may still prove to be a fun experience for fans of the DC universe and its most infamous band of misfits, the Suicide Squad.

Call of Duty Black Ops: Gulf War, this year's entry in the series, will feature an open-world campaign that will bring Modern Warfare 3's Open World Missions to a whole different level.

Assassin’s Creed Codename RED, the Feudal Japan-set entry in the Assassin’s Creed series, will launch by March 31, 2025, Ubisoft announced in its third quarter 2023 to 2024 earnings report.

Wowhead’s Poison Shred Druid Endgame Build Guide is now live! This highly active and engaging build features massive AoE damage, strong mobility, a horde of animal companions, and all the tankiness you would expect from Sanctuary’s resident toxic werewolf. Whether you’re looking to rip and tear your way through open-world content or knock out a Tier 90+ Nightmare Dungeon for your Season 3 Journey, this build has you covered. Poison Shred Druid Endgame Build Guide Season of the Construct Season Journey Guide

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's co-director, Motomu Toriyama, has revealed that the game was almost put on three disks due to how "rich" the content in the game is.

A new preview for Dragon's Dogma 2 reveals that it will only let players make one save at a time, just like the original. Not only will this lock you into one playthrough at once, but the save file will also be overwritten by autosaves, so you won't be able to make multiple backups in case you want to change your strategy.

Fromsoftwarian world-building sometimes has centuries explained away in item descriptions for random rusty spoons, which makes hunting down all the lore nuggets just as satisfying as surviving bosses. One YouTuber has done the heavy lifting on Elden Ring for us, thankfully, but it's also taken them over 35 hours to do so.

The developer of upcoming Genshin Impact-like Wuthering Waves says it's rewritten 90% of its story ahead of the RPG's second closed beta.

Skull and Bones will have an open beta, Ubisoft has announced. It kicks off across all platforms (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Windows PC via the Epic Games Store and the Ubisoft Store) on February 8 and runs until February 11.

For realsies this time, Skull & Bones launches on February 16. If the pirate game has managed to keep you curious all this time, look out for the open access running from February 8 until 11.

Ubisoft will hold an open beta for Skull and Bones ahead of the game’s release next month.

In a stroke of exciting news for seafarers and pirates, Ubisoft has announced that multiplayer open-world pirate sim Skull and Boneswill get an open beta ahead of its imminent February 16 launch. 

Open-world survival crafting adventure game Omega Crafter will launch in Early Access for PC via Steam on March 28, developer Preferred Netwroks announced. A limited-time public demo will be available from today until February 13.

Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition, the definitive edition of the open-world game by Guerrilla, is launching in around two months on PC, complete with a wide array of PC-exclusive features.

Islands of Insight will launch for PC via Steam on February 13 for $29.99, publisher Behaviour Interactive and developer Lunarch Studios announced. A new demo will be available during Steam Next Fest: February 2024 from February 5 to 12, but users can register on the official website from February 2 to 4 to receive an early access code.

Islands of Insight, an open-world puzzle game by Behvaiour Interactive and Lunarch Studios, will launch on February 13. It’s coming exclusively to PC and will retail for $30. A public demo for it will be available from February 5 to February 12 on Steam.

Enshrouded, the other notable survival game to be launching into early access this week, puts a soulslike spin on its combat. But while that might imply Fromsoft-style difficulty, players are already saying that it's too easy to live up to that comparison.

The Pokémon Company knows about Palworld and is very much aware that the game is drawing a lot of comparisons with its intellectual property, based on a statement it has published. While the company didn't explicitly name Palworld, it said it's going to investigate a game «released in January 2024» and will «take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.» It also clearly stated that it has «not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game.»

Total sales for the Steam version of open-world survival crafting game Palworld have surpassed eight million units in less than six days after its Early Access launch, developer Pocket Pair announced.

Palworld may have just come out recently, but its popularity is growing daily as the open-world survival game's US daily players briefly surpassed Fortnite on Xbox.

Being able to level up your Pal is an essential part of the Palworld experience. What about evolution, though? Can you evolve Pals in Palworld? Or if not, how do you improve them to be the best in battle and beyond? Let's discuss just that.

The “Pokemon with guns” open-world survival game Palworld has been on one a hell of a run since launching last week, smashing records and generating plenty of controversy, but once all the fevered excitement dies down just a little, what comes next? Palworld is still in early access, so there are plenty more updates to come, and today developer PocketPair provided a bit of a roadmap.

Dragon’s Dogma 2’s director Hideaki Itsuno is not a fan of fast travel in open-world games. In an interview over at IGN, Itsuno affirmed his commitment to making traveling the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 something players look forward to.

Pocketpair has revealed the early access content roadmap for Palworld,confirming what players can expect in future updates.

There is so much more to do in Palworld beyond catching and battling your Pals. This is also an open-world survival game, filled with crafting and base-building elements. A lot of materials, like Paldium Fragments, are natural resources you can get in the world, while others you need to grow yourself, such as wheat. Wheat, as you would expect, is necessary for making flour to cook things like cake. And cake is required for breeding Pals, so having your own supply of wheat on hand is the best way to make sure you can breed the most powerful Pals in the game. Wheat isn’t so easy to come by, so we’ll equip you with all the knowledge required to get your farm going.

If you’ve been on the Internet the last few days, you know that Palworld, the “Pokémon with guns” style open-world survival game, has been a smashing success selling over 6 million copies and knocking down record after record on Steam, but it’s also been controversial. Some would say the game isn’t just inspired by Pokémon, it ventures into rip-off territory, something only exacerbated by things like the recently-teased Pokémon mod, leading some to wonder how much Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are willing to put up with.

Palworld is now available in Early Access on Steam and in Game Preview mode on Xbox. The “Pokémon-with-guns” game is also playable on Valve’s Steam Deck, where I’ve been playing since Palworld launched.

Palworld director Takuro Mizobe did his homework on the open world survival crafting genre that spawned his Early Access hit.

The producer of Palworld and CEO of developer Pocketpair, Takuro Mizobe, has reiterated that the Palworld developers “have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies.” 

After a relatively short delay, you'll soon be able to enter the uniquely strange world of Death Stranding on Apple devices. Hideo Kojima's walking simulator will be available on iPhone 15 Pro models and iPads and Macs with M-series chips on January 30. This version of the gloomy open-world adventure will run you $40. However, if you pre-order, you'll save up to 50 percent.

Developer Pocket Pair has released another post-launch patch for Palworld, this time addressing several game-breaking bugs.

Obsidian Entertainment’s next role-playing game, Avowed, is set to release some time this fall, and its director has just given a bit more of an idea of how large its world is going to be. 

The director of Pocketpair’s open-world survival-crafting game Palworld has defended the game’s artists, and has asked people to stop sending them abuse and death threats. 

Palworld, the violent yet charming third-person open-world Pokémon-alike from developer Pocketpair, has been going from strength to strength lately, garnering impressive numbers of players and sales.

Palworld players have recently encountered a few problems with the open-world survival creature collector. 

The brand-new open-world crafting and survival game Palworld from developer Pocketpair is off to a great start, with sales surpassing one million copies in eight hours.

Eye-catching 'Pokémon with guns' survival game Palworld has already sold a staggering 1m copies according to its developer Pocketpair, just hours into its early access launch on Steam and Xbox Series X/S. That's as the studio addresses the lack of 32-player dedicated servers on Xbox and PC Game Pass, saying the situation is «not up to us».

Steam’s latest viral hit is Pocketpair’s Palworld, a game that the internet has deemed Pokémon with guns.

Palworld, the new creature-collecting survival game that fans have dubbed “Pokémon with guns,” has become a viral hit on launch day. With Pokémon being a Nintendo console-exclusive franchise (and one of the most successful video game franchises of all time), it’s no surprise that gamers who stick to other platforms are eager for the chance to capture and battle with oddball creatures in an open-world setting.

Pocketpair’s open-world creature collecting and survival game Palworld, unofficially dubbed by the internet as ‘Pokémonwith guns,’ released in early access on Steam and Xbox Series X|S today (January 19), and it’s already proven to be exceptionally popular.

It turns out open-world survival game Nightingale has some truly horrible monsters to throw at you.