The biggest upcoming open-world adventure games

The open-world genre continues to thrive, constantly offering fresh settings, unique destinations, and the promise of an epic adventure where players play a central role in the story. The most anticipated games as of today are open-world titles, although some games are still a long way from launch. However, in a huge world full of freedom, adventure fans can always choose new games and immerse themselves in hundreds of hours.

Throughout 2026, there are several big open-world titles coming out almost every month, and long-awaited big releases from many well-known developers, which promise to shake things up a bit in the genre. Let's take a look at the biggest upcoming open-world games that focus on adventure, letting players decide where and when to go — but always putting them at the center of the most exciting stories and events.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Genesis

Kick off the year with a colorful explosion

Unlike many other entries here, The Seven Deadly Sins: Genesis Coming soon, standing out as one of the first big open-world action adventures of the year — and what's even better, it's a completely free title. Like Where the wind meets Before this, which was already a huge success with over 10 million players, The Seven Deadly Sins: Genesis Can be played as a solo title with a traditional story, or in four-player co-op to prioritize the game's other features like robust action and sandbox exploration. Regardless of one's choice, The Seven Deadly Sins Faithfully brought to life to capture the pillars of the original manga universe and Netflix animation, Britannia offers a vibrant open world to explore.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Genesis Immediately captivated with its beautiful scenery and colorful landscape. Playing as Prince Tristan of the Kingdom of Lions, players are taken on a sprawling adventure through space and time to restore order to the kingdom. While epic battles are definitely on the menu, there's a lot more to it than combat, as players can hunt for lost treasure, fish, cook and craft, meet other characters and help them on their quests, tame, collect and pilot various mounts, and even captain their own customizable ship.

Crimson Desert

A potential new benchmark

Of course, Crimson Desert One of the most hyped releases of the first quarter of 2026. After years in the making, the team at Pearl Abyss is gearing up to release their massive open-world action-adventure title, which promises to deliver a scope players haven't seen in quite some time. It seems to draw inspiration from every beloved open-world title of the past decade, from The Witcher 3 who Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Legend of Zelda, Crimson Desert Full of gameplay mechanics and wild possibilities, it seems completely irresistible.

in Crimson DesertPlayers can freely explore the vast and dangerous continent of Pywel, full of mystery and discovery, playing as Cliff of Greymane on his epic adventure to avenge his fallen comrades. While appearing important in the central story Crimson DesertA sprawling, cinematic story, multiple characters, and cutscenes, it's the world and the combat that are the most distinct yet. In their quest, players can do whatever they want, pursuing side quests, hunting, gathering, crafting, exploring, participating in large-scale battles and one-on-one duels, and much more. The cherry on top: players can discover mysterious gates throughout Pyvel to unlock its secrets to access the mysterious realm known as the Abyss.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Relive the story of a brick-and-mortar Gotham

The LEGO games have long established their own niche, growing in scope, ambition and quality with each new installment. That's what actually makes it LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Very exciting, as the game could become the quintessential Batman action-packed adventure story that DC fans haven't seen in quite some time. With its open-world Gotham City to experience, including iconic landmarks like Arkham Asylum, Ace Chemicals, and Wayne Tower, Lego Batman It aims to capture everything that makes Batman so special and beloved, with the signature brick charm.

Legacy of the Dark Knight The entire story of Bruce Wayne on his journey to become the city's protector is presented, as he forms bonds with trusted allies while facing the most iconic super-villains from comic books and movies. League of Shadows begins with training to freely glide and grapple around a layered city, along with other gadgets, before players set up their Batman lair and gain access to the full range of Batmobiles and Batcycles. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Blending strong action combat with fluid combos, stealth techniques, and detective skills allows them to go into combat and research as they wish. Batman: Arkham Titles.

Subnautica 2

Dangerous depths ahead

After some turmoil last year, including a large-scale process between Crafton's leadership and Undisclosed World Entertainment Developers, Subnautica 2 It's finally set for an Early Access launch this year, so hopefully, there's nothing but calm seas ahead for its fans. Following the groundbreaking original that all but became a fan-favorite sea survival and exploration game for millions, Subnautica 2 Offering immersive underwater adventures that players can play alone or with friends – exploring new biomes and mysterious ruins, discovering fascinating creatures, crafting, building and surviving.

Set in an all new mysterious alien ocean world, Subnautica 2 Lets players feel like real pioneers of the unknown depths, discovering new life forms and gathering samples for study, each potentially unlocking new ways to adapt the character's own genetics to survive underwater. With a new world, there is a new story to experience, as each new discovery pushes players deeper into this strange ocean to understand its complexities. On top of that, the devs promise a completely overhauled building system with more options for unique bases and equipment at players' disposal.

fable

May mark a new era

After a delay from its original 2025 date, fable 2026 may be the end of the biggest open-world RPG releases, but fans have seen surprisingly little of the ambitious game that could usher in a whole new era for arcade games. Over the years, the devs have been rather secretive about the project, sharing little glimpses of its world and gameplay. But anyway, fable Definitely high on every open-world RPG fan's list, thanks to both the legacy of the original games and the undeniably spectacular footage from the upcoming title.

fable British humor has become synonymous with adventure, with unexpected resolutions, and, at times, darkening the colors, borrowing the most iconic plots from fairy tales and reshaping them. So far, it looks new fable No Different, focusing on silly characters and everyday situations, bringing comedians to the character roster, and questioning the very essence of being a hero, while also skillfully delivering a serious tone and high-stakes options when needed. Hopefully, the devs will reveal more of the game soon, and the Xbox Developer Live in January 2026 seems like a good place to finally give fans an accurate release date to mark on their calendars.

Light no fire

Planet-sized ambitions

Many upcoming open-world games aim to provide a scale not previously attempted in the genre, and Light no fire is one of the most notable. Coming from Hello Games, with years of expertise in harnessing procedural generation for a seamless universe. Man has no skyThis time, the team sets out to create a convincing fantasy world the size of a planet. What's most interesting is how the team aims to merge procedural and handcrafted elements to create a convincing world where players can set their own goals, but also offer unique, deep lore, a sense of adventure, unrestricted exploration, and flexible teamwork.

in Light no firePlayers can team up with their friends or strangers to complete quests, explore, craft, build, or literally anything else they can think of. While in detailing the main plot and overarching goals Light no fire Remains rare, it appears later Man has no skyThe team wants to blend the best features of sandbox- and story-driven adventures, so that players are left with more than just visual awe from the world's mysteries, characters, and locations. As ambitious as it is intriguing, this fresh take on the open-world formula has cemented it as one of the most anticipated upcoming games for thousands of players.

The Witcher 4

A genre-defining return

The Witcher 4 Almost certainly no Coming in 2026, but it's a prime example of a gaming release that will likely define the open-world action-RPG genre for years to come — just like its acclaimed predecessor did. For almost a decade, CD Projekt RED has been representing the most beloved open-world creators who constantly push the boundaries, and it looks like the studio is finally ready for its biggest and most ambitious game yet.

It should be noted that we haven't seen the actual game yet, as everything shown so far has been taken from the Unreal Engine 5 tech demo to capture the look and feel. The Witcher 4's the world Of course, it can already be assumed that story-driven adventure is at the heart of the game, following in its footsteps. The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. Fans should expect lots of exciting crafting quests, diverse and surprising locations to visit, many bustling cities to rival Novigrad, new monsters to track down and fight, and many new characters to meet, possibly including faces not mentioned in the original books. from any angle, The Witcher 4 Seems like a no-brainer for any open-world adventure fan, so it's just a question of patience to see more of the game.