10 Open-World Games With The Most Engaging Community Building

Highlights

• Open-world games offer endless variety and player choice, creating unique experiences for every player.
• Multiplayer open-world games like EVE Online and GTA Online foster strong communities and player collaboration.
• Embrace the vast virtual worlds of games like No Man’s Sky and Minecraft to forge friendships and explore together.

Open-world video games present a unique opportunity for players to write their own stories and forge their own paths in a vast world full of secrets and discoveries. Few other genres offer as much variety in player choice and individuality.

Open-world games with a multiplayer component are especially prized. Some games let fans create a guild or even an entire city together, bringing them ever closer to the digital community hubs seen in beloved novels and films like Ready Player One. Here are ten of the best open-world games where you can form a community and explore the wilderness with your friends and compatriots.

10 EVE Online

Finding Your Place In The Galaxy

The infamous EVE Online is a mechanically complex space-based MMORPG set in a vast and persistent universe. The game is known for its intricate and detailed economy, as well as the massive player factions that dominate its sprawling map. The infamous Battle of B-R5RB, for instance, was a collision of four major factions consisting of thousands of ships. It’s been recognized as one of the largest and most expensive virtual battles ever.

The scale and mechanical complexity of EVE Online is certainly not for everyone. It takes a considerable effort to learn the ropes and establish a place in the game’s complicated world. But for fans who want to feel like part of something truly grand in a vast universe, EVE Online is an excellent choice.

9 GTA Online

Building A Criminal Empire

Grand Theft Auto V was an absolute sensation for Rockstar and the gaming industry as a whole. Despite releasing over a decade ago, GTA is still going strong, thanks in large part to the large community of fans playing its online component, GTA Online. This special mode lets players freely roam San Andreas, using a custom character to complete missions, manage a criminal enterprise, and accumulate powerful weapons and luxurious vehicles.

Of course, GTA Online is perhaps best known for its extensive community. One of the most infamous expressions of this social element is GTA V RP, a massive community that uses mods to build their own immersive storylines in the game. These can change how NPCs react to the player’s character and allow for more in-depth interactions between players. Mods or no mods, though, GTA Online is an excellent way to form a band of criminals on the mean streets of one of the most successful games of all time.

8 Fallout 76

Life After The Bomb

The tumultuous history of Fallout 76 is the stuff of legend. Its notoriously buggy state at launch earned it a lot of derision from the gaming community and resulted in a stain on the game’s reputation that still isn’t fully cleared off. But to its credit, Bethesda has been improving and expanding the game ever since, resulting in an experience that’s worth playing for community-minded survivors.

One of the biggest selling points of Fallout 76 is its community. The game’s player base prides itself on its unusually welcoming atmosphere. With Fallout 76‘s intricate base-building mechanics, making new friends and showing off elaborate and impressive builds to each other is a major pastime. And with the recent news that playable ghouls are being added, it’s a good time to get into Fallout 76 in spite of its turbulent past.

7 Conan Exiles

Big And Bold

Conan Exiles is an engaging take on the world of the iconic barbarian, arguably one of the most influential works of fantasy fiction of all time. The game is known primarily for its survival gameplay and for its in-depth character customization options. Once the player has established themselves in this unforgiving world, though, they can start making friends.

Conan Exiles boasts robust mechanics for city-building and forming alliances. With a persistent open world, a dedicated group of players can build a metropolis and fortify it against the desert’s many dangers. This system even allows for invasions from other players, and drawn-out skirmishes to heighten the immersion and reward players who stick together.

6 Sea of Thieves

Sailing The High Seas

Rare’s online pirate game Sea of Thieves is one of the jolliest online experiences out there. Groups of friends can team up to crew a ship together and explore the titular Sea of Thieves, a mystical realm of treasure and dark magic. The game’s immersive asymmetrical gameplay means that every crew member will have a different task while sailing the high seas.

In addition to crew-based co-op and PvP gameplay, Sea of Thieves also features a faction system, allowing players to pledge their loyalty to one of the two warring factions in the region. By succeeding in PvP against enemy ships, players can boost their faction loyalty and reap the rewards of their loyalty.

5 No Man’s Sky

Bringing The Universe Together

The long and storied history of No Man’s Sky brought this expansive intergalactic sandbox from a notorious letdown to a beloved multiplayer gem. The massive list of new features that have been added since launch is staggering, from exosuits to land vehicles to dungeon runs. But one of the most significant ways No Man’s Sky has improved is through its multiplayer offerings.

No Man’s Sky now boasts a full multiplayer hub that players can summon, no matter where they are. From there, players can sign up for missions together, party up to explore the galaxy, or simply hang out and make friends. There are also various guilds that players can interact with, which come with their own perks. The game’s robust community features have even led to some players forming their own in-game factions to build and share impressive player builds. Compared to its desolate state at launch, No Man’s Sky is now a delightfully social experience.

4 Project Zomboid

Surviving Together

Project Zomboid is a recent breakout hit that sees teams of players working together to survive the zombie apocalypse. This grim sandbox offers numerous points of interest to explore and endless hordes of undead monsters to struggle against. The game’s persistent servers mean survivors can build and maintain impressive and substantial bases as they work together to hold back the tide.

While Project Zomboid is still in early access, it already hosts a lot of features for bringing a community of survivors together. The game paints death as an inevitability, and falling to the horde comes with severe consequences. Luckily, the game’s extensive sandbox controls and in-depth modding support means that players always have something new to try for future attempts at survival with their friends.

3 World of Warcraft

Respect the Classics

World of Warcraft is a game that needs no introduction. It’s one of the most iconic MMORPGs on the market, if not one of the most well-known video games of all time, and its content updates and expansions bring a steady tide of new gameplay for fans to experience together. Like all MMOs, World of Warcraft has a robust community element. Players can join guilds and party up to take on the many threats Azeroth has to offer.

For as long as World of Warcraft has been around, players have been sinking countless hours into their in-game communities. Iconic in-game moments like Leeroy Jenkins’ fateful battle cry and the Corrupted Blood plague prove how seriously players take the game. If players truly want to live in a fantasy world with their friends, World of Warcraft is one of their best options.

2 Minecraft

The Building Blocks of Life

Minecraft is, by many metrics, the best-selling video game in history. This world-renowned survival crafting game is essentially the blueprint for its entire genre, and as the years go by, it’s only gotten bigger. At this point, Minecraft is essentially a way of life.

Millions of friendships have been built inside Minecraft‘s expansive virtual worlds. The game’s robust catalog of online servers means that there are countless chances to build and survive with players all around the world. The game’s signature creative spirit is on full display in these servers, which range from standard survival experiences to zombie apocalypse adventures to homages to games like Grand Theft Auto.

1 Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

Picking Up The Pieces

The story of Final Fantasy XIV is a truly fascinating one. The original version of this now-iconic Final Fantasy MMORPG was a massive failure when it launched, prompting Square Enix to literally destroy the entire world of the game and start fresh. The reboot, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, is now a massive success, and the most profitable Final Fantasy game to date.

This game is a boon for Final Fantasy fans with a social bent. Like any good MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV has a host of guilds for players to join and numerous social hubs for players looking to make friends or join groups. The game even has a marriage mechanic for players who want to take their roleplay to the next level. The traditionally party-based dynamic of Final Fantasy translates well to Final Fantasy XIV, as players must form groups to take on some of the major challenges in the game’s sprawling world. Clever teamwork and balanced party compositions are essential to success, making Final Fantasy XIV a very social game indeed.