The Best Free Roam Games

Images on this page are used for review purposes and are provided by game media departments for the purpose of review and critique.

Leading the way in the free roam genre has always been the Grand Theft Auto series and the most recent game (GTA 5) completely blows every other game in this space out of the water. With Grand Theft Auto 5 offering a complete world within a game that lets you buy houses, trade stocks, play golf, drive around (or even fly) and so much more GTA is the definition of free roam.

The series started all the back in 1997 and while originally only had limited free roam and sandbox features the game series has continued to expand and innovate. It might have started solely as a game that you could drive around and unleash whatever havoc you had in mind but now it's a completely inclusive opportunity.

The games really aren't connected in any shape or form so the game you start with is completely up to you. In a game series like this I generally always recommend the most recent game in the series and this is especially the case in GTA as it's the best offering of the franchise yet.

I've been following the Fallout series since the original got me hooked back in 1997. I'm going to focus more on the recent games (Fallout 3 and New Vegas) as these are the ones that will attract most gamers.

If you want a free roam experience that focuses more on sci-fi and post apocalyptic setting as opposed to taking place in current times (like GTA) you'll love Fallout. The ability to walk around the world the way you want and how you want is what makes Fallout great, during this you'll discover small communities, quests and more.

I only hesitated to include this option on the top of the list because this exploration is quite combat focused, unlike Grand Theft Auto (listed number one) where you can walk around without engaging in combat and has more non-combat side activities as well.

With hundreds of hours in all the Fallout games it's free roam game that promises no shortage of combat.

Assassin's Creed is another game in the free roam genre that I've enjoyed watch evolve over time. I always thought playing an assassin would be a fun (and dangerous) line of work but thankfully the series lets me live out this dream at home in the comfort of my house.

One part I really like about the game is the ability to explore some impressive historical locations and you get to freely roam around these as you blend into your surroundings. As someone who also has a side hobby love for everything historic the game has obvious appeal to people like me. Gamers that aren't interested in this element though it can be easily ignored if need be.

Just like Fallout though the game is very objective focused during it's exploration, with little potential to simply take in the surroundings as you follow a somewhat linear adventure (although that depends on the game). The most recent game (Black Flag) definitely has the most impressive free roam elements thus far in the series.