The Best Open-World Games Where You Start Powerful

As video games have expanded to fill almost every niche, open-world games have similarly broadened to encompass a huge swathe of sub-genres. There are games like Grand Theft Auto 4, which offer tighter, more focused and narrative-driven open-world experiences, while its sequel has become synonymous with crime-based destruction in a glitzy sandbox that holds many different terrains and means of traversal.

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Gliding across a large open-world map in games like Batman: Arkham Knight or Just Cause 3 often leads to satisfying visuals and gameplay elements.

Players nowadays need to ask themselves a question when they’re searching for a game: realism or power fantasy? Maybe some games start off as gritty and realistic, but slowly erode this realism as more resources become available (looking at you, ARK). There are some open-world titles, however, that don’t ask players to start from nothing, dredging alongside mere mortals, before becoming something more. These games let players start off with considerable powers already at their fingertips, allowing for cathartic destruction or exploration that only grows more intense as the game continues.

8

inFAMOUS: Second Son

Powers Put Delsin Rowe In A Precarious Position

Systems

Released

March 21, 2014

ESRB

T For Teen due to Blood, Drug Reference, Language, Sexual Themes, Violence

While the series has been dormant for a while now, many PlayStation fans have fond memories of the InFAMOUS series, putting together the simple concept of powers that shift with morality and turning it into a sprawling, gritty open world title with plenty of room for customization. Second Son represented a big success early in the PS4’s lifetime, and the series was just as explosive as its predecessors.

Delsin Rowe begins the game with smoke manipulation, an ability that can dramatically shift as the game continues and is great for many different purposes. This power immediately puts him ahead of the more mundane enemies he faces, and that gap only grows larger as the game continues.

7

Prototype

Destructive Catharsis Right From The Start

Released

June 9, 2009

ESRB

m

A quintessential open-world power fantasy title, Prototype arrived on the scene during the boom of vaguely brown-ish urban sandbox titles, but the grittiness of its story and the sheer destruction that could be waged with the Blacklight Virus helped this game not only stand out at the time, but ledt a lasting legacy among gamers from the Xbox 360/PS3 era.

Before any other Blacklight abilities were unlocked, Alex Mercer started off with the ability to grow huge, scythe-like blades and wreak complete havoc on the city. This was a game where the “hero’s” power level increases pretty dramatically as the story goes on—but players already start with the ability to interact with the world in destructive and otherwise impossible ways.

Even Basic Weapons And Magic Hit Hard

Released

November 11, 2011

ESRB

M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes

Players can feel powerful in Skyrim from an incredibly early point in the game, a testament to the dynamism of combat in this title, and the return of scaled leveling from Oblivion. Older Elder Scrolls titles would be the antithesis of things on this list; players start out as some random with nothing more than a criminal past and a rusty iron dagger keeping them from the clutches of the fearsome mudcrab.

In Oblivion and, to a greater extent, Skyrim, scaled leveling means that the bandits and wild animals fresh out of Helgen will be of a relative power to the player, and it doesn’t take much skill investment at these levels to essentially cleave through all but the most dire of fights.

5

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

The Stakes Are High From The Beginning In DBZ

Released

January 16, 2020

ESRB

T for Teen: Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence

The first arc of Dragon Ball Z already had key characters dying and pushing their physical limits to well beyond the peak of characters in other franchises—and it only continued to balloon into increasing levels of power from there.

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Within the first few legs of the story in Kakarot, Goku is already making mincemeat out of fodder enemies and unleashing devastating Ki attacks upon stronger foes—letting players feel the sheer martial mastery that makes up the core of this character.

4

Batman Arkham City

Batman Doesn’t Need Fancy Tech To Clear Out The City

Released

October 18, 2011

ESRB

T for Teen: Alcohol Reference, Blood, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Tobacco, Violence

Maybe in a game where players begin as a young, traumatized Bruce Wayne and grow into Batman, they would start off as weak, but in any title that has players beginning as the Batman, it’s pretty obvious that there won’t be anything the average grunt can do to stop them.

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From the very first moment players finish up the tutorial and don the batsuit in Batman Arkham City, they can take down entire rooms filled with regular grunts with ease. Cloak stuns, counters, drop attacks, they all come together to make sure that players are utilizing Batman’s years of training and experience from the very start.

3

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Great Power Straight Away

Open-World

Action-Adventure

Superhero

Systems

Released

October 20, 2023

ESRB

T For Teen Due To Blood, Drug Reference, Mild Language, Violence

Unlike many other superheroes, who’ve either had disastrous or nonexistent forays into the world of gaming, Spider-Man has fairly consistently made an appearance on consoles, even before the Sam Raimi movie tie-ins truly launched him into the gaming mainstream for good.

Few games can top the catharsis of swinging through New York that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 by Insomniac Games offers. Similar to Arkham City, players start off in this title with petty grunts offering trivial challenges at most, and they are able to acrobatically maneuver around not just street thugs, but also corporate militiamen and even a supervillain or two with grace and style.

2

Saints Row 4

Mass Destruction Right Out Of The Tutorial

Third-Person Shooter

Open-World

Released

August 20, 2013

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs

A comedic game with a surprising amount of substance to match its style, Saints Row 4 very quickly has players using dance guns or weaponized instruments to… well, do anything they want, really. Even in the early game, however, players are imbued with immense power.

The first few abilities in this game make navigation and combat a breeze, with super speed and shockwave attacks bringing the sheer excessive destruction of this title to the foreground. Players will very quickly find that the challenges Saints Row 4 offers are really just opportunities to use oversized weapons with comical effects.

1

Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War

Talion Remains A Powerful Threat To Sauron

Released

October 10, 2017

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence

It’s one thing to start an open world title and be able to take down bandits or petty thugs right away, and it’s another to be given access to destructive powers from the start of a game, but only in Middle-earth: Shadow of War can players hold their own against droves of orcish warriors through both might and magic right at the start.

Through frigid mountains and perilous chasms and valleys, players can build their army of light using magic and skills they learned from the start. Building on powers from the first game, Talion has everything he needs to become the Bright Lord from the very start of Shadow of War.

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