Amongst the various genres of PC games, Open World is probably the one with the biggest amount of content per game. However, the inherent attribute of the open world genre is its size... you might need a decent PC to run the newest games.
However, there is still plenty of fun to be had if your PC is a little bit on the weak side. Here are the 5 best open-world shooters for low-end PC in 2023.
1. Borderland
Growing up on games like Quake and Diablo really helped me to appreciate the greatness of Borderlands. There’s been a lot of games that have tried to pull off genre hybrids, but they either fail to deliver or just fail to program a game correctly. Borderlands is one of the few games that manages to feel like an RPG and a FPS at the same time.
Coming from a shooter side, the game is a very fun classic-style shooter, meaning that the realism has been replaced with you getting to unload a clip into someone before dropping them. Sniper headshots can generally take a foe down with one shot, but most all other guns are going to require you to get dirty. It feels an awful lot like a classic Quake shooter too. It’s just action based. Your ‘cover’ system is generally using your strafe and jump at the right time. By all means, this is great for some older gamers since most of today’s games are just striving to hit a certain realistic feel.
The only problem with the RPG element is the characters all feel about the same. My Hunter manages to be a jack-of-all-trades character instead of just a hunter. While I might technically do more damage with a sniper rifle, my dark-orange rare machine gun that does 4x fire damage is going to take down the enemies faster. While these two things are a bit critical, the rest of the action role-playing feels genuine. Looting is fun; leveling up is fun; and having a huge inventory is very nice.
2. Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 is one of the most immersive games I've played. It's a game I've always considered vastly underrated. I would go as far as to say Far Cry 2 is one of my favorite sandbox games, period.
Unlike most games, Far Cry 2 tries to remain topical and relevant to current-day events. The game takes place in an unnamed African country. The government has fallen and guns are worth more than human life. You play as one of several would-be assassins sent to kill the Jackal, a notorious arms dealer.
What Far Cry 2 does probably the best out of most sandbox games is it makes you feel like you live in Africa. The game's hud is minimalistic, your health pickups are syrettes of morphine. You're infected with malaria and regularly come down with a fever requiring constant supplies of medicine to avoid dying. Your guns visually decay and eventually break apart in your hands.
The world is beautiful but is always extremely hostile to the player. With long stretches of open land requiring almost constant access to vehicles and guard checkpoints at every corner forcing the player to massacre their way through. I never feel like I'm ever safe or that I'm ever comfortable when playing this game, and it's something that always fascinates me when I play it. I always feel like I'm perpetually on the brink of death in every firefight and I need to just keep pressing on, keep moving forward, and keep my finger on the trigger. There are hundreds of games that look like you're in a warzone, but Far Cry 2 makes you feel like you're in one.
3. Just Cause 3
Just Cause 3 is the most silly, mindless, unrealistic ride of destroying things since "Red Faction: Guerilla". It is to the FarCry-Series like "Saints Row" is to "GTA": a weird but fun parody. The story isn't the reason why people buy Just Cause 3. The plot is a bit lame and even the developers said that it is more of a sandbox-based game and that the story only helps the player get ideas of the things they can do.
The Graphics are outstanding for a game of its time, the vibrant colors and hues of the area really remind the player of a region in the south of Europe. The amazing terrain is backed by the ambient soundtrack that adapts itself to the situation that you are in.
Gameplay-wise, Just Cause 3 really feels complete with the vast array of side missions and encounters, gear mods and collectibles, and all of the vehicles that you can discover and use at your own discretion with the clever idea of the rebel drop. The map is littered with great terrain and features that the player can experiment with, and the controls feel both realistic and snappy.
4. Saints Row: The Third
Saints Row: The Third takes place three years after the previous game. You are the gangleader of the Third Street Saints. The Saints are no longer just a brutal and effective criminal operation but now a fully-fledged media empire with their time split equally between doing dirt and setting up legitimate businesses and a popular line of merchandising.
Missions place you in increasingly unpredictable situations. It starts out fairly low-key with a raid on a military base to steal weapons for the gang, but it finishes with an explosive finale involving tanks, jets and city-levelling explosions. In between, there is a zombie outbreak, a trip inside a Tron-like computer world and much more, it gets wilder and more varied.
There is also an element of choice in the decisions you make. Certain missions see you choosing between two options that will affect the story, sometimes in quite dramatic ways. The game has a lot of replay value, after finishing the main story you are able to do a lot of side missions, e.g. car-stealing missions and assassinations.
5. Fallout: New Vegas
In Fallout: New Vegas, you are a courier, hired by the Mojave Express, to deliver a package to the New Vegas Strip. What seemed like a simple delivery job has taken a turn... for the worse.
Fallout: New Vegas' combat is fun, but also clunky. Shooting, stabbing, bludgeoning, disintegrating, and exploding your adversaries is what you'll spend most of your time doing when not exploring the wastes or having a pleasant chat, and this level of variety is where the strength of the combat lies. Just because it's clunky, doesn't mean there isn't visceral joy to be had. The V.A.T.S. system has also returned, but I don't personally use it. In essence, the combat is just good enough to impress, but modding, which I'll mention later, can improve in considerably.
Story-wise, in FNV there is a plethora of dialogue, choices, consequences, and other roleplaying mechanics to be found. These systems all work together in perfect harmony, which puts real weight behind your actions. Almost every side-quest in New Vegas is spectacular. They were crafted with the utmost attention to detail, as they all have several ways to progress through them; and sincerely thoughtful writing applied to them. Each storyline has a distinct and often original motif, which makes them all a pleasure to play and experience.
>>> Read more: Top 5 Best Open World RPGs For Low End PC (2023)