Best Open-World Games That Let You Customize Everything

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Open-world games give players a level of freedom you don’t often find in other types of games. For instance, Grand Theft Auto 5 features a massive world, including a huge city and surrounding countryside. While GTA 5 is incredibly popular, it doesn’t allow for quite as much personalization and flexibility as some other open-world titles.

These games offer players a lot of freedom to explore and play however they want. You can build things, customize your character, and enjoy a truly personal open-world adventure. If you’re looking to make your gaming experience your own, these are great options to consider.

Minecraft

Build Up Everything

No game offers quite the same level of freedom as Minecraft – it’s like having an unlimited LEGO set. While you don’t start with tons of character customization options, downloadable content lets you transform your appearance, with recent additions including characters from Dragon Ball, like Goku.

In the game, you gather resources and use them to build anything you can imagine – weapons, buildings, furniture, and more. You can enjoy a simple life by decorating a charming house, or take on bigger projects like building famous landmarks.

The Outer Worlds 2

Low Intelligence Is A Perk

While not as massive as some open-world games, The Outer Worlds 2 offers a lot of ways to personalize your character. You can customize everything from their appearance – even adding purely cosmetic cybernetic limbs – to their skills and backstory. What’s really unique is the ability to define character flaws based on the choices you make during gameplay.

Unlike most RPGs, The Outer Worlds 2 offers a unique way to customize your character. Players can intentionally give themselves weaknesses – like noisy joints – in exchange for small benefits, such as improved stealth. This goes beyond standard character options, offering a fresh approach to gameplay.

Cyberpunk 2077

From Junk To Story

Like many games set in a cyberpunk future, including Cyberpunk 2077, characters can get cybernetic enhancements. However, Cyberpunk 2077‘s prosthetics offer more options than those in The Outer Worlds 2. Players can visit a ‘ripperdoc’ to upgrade their bodies with features like environmental scanners, hacking tools, and even blades that extend from their arms.

When creating a character, players can alter physical features, though these options aren’t revisited later in the game. Interestingly, early versions of the game had a funny glitch where male characters’ extra arms would sometimes clip through their clothing. Beyond character appearance, players can heavily customize their weapons, purchase homes and vehicles, and acquire new outfits – standard features for a role-playing game. Night City offers players the chance to experience a cyberpunk world, choosing to focus on helping its citizens or embracing the life of a ruthless corporate operative.

Fallout 4

Home Living In The Apocalypse

Fallout 4 begins with a positive experience, letting players create the appearances of both their character and their spouse. However, you can only play as one of them. You also get to name your character, and it’s a neat detail that the robot butler, Codsworth, will recognize hundreds of names – from Aaron to Tristan – though this recognition is brief.

When players explore the wasteland, they’ll find plenty of junk they can use to build and customize their homes or create new weapons. These weapons are designed to look rugged and handmade, no matter if you prefer close-combat or long-range fighting – giving each one a unique feel. As you play, you’ll unlock even more options for customization, including power armor and expanding your settlements.

Palworld

A Better Pokemon

Palworld blends the best elements of Minecraft and Pokemon, and it’s already impressive despite being an early-access game. Players create their own character and then explore a vast world with minimal direction. A key part of the experience is building a base – starting with a home and workbench for crafting weapons, and then creating devices to capture Pals.

Once you capture Pals, they’re useful for more than just fighting! You can team up with them in battle, and some can even be weapons, like flamethrowers, or be ridden like mounts. All Pals can also help out at your base, keeping it safe and organized. You can assign them tasks like farming, which frees you up to explore and focus on bigger challenges as you progress in the game.

Monster Hunter Wilds

And Your Kitty Too

In Monster Hunter Wilds, like other games in the Monster Hunter series, you can customize both your hunter and your feline companion, the Palico. A neat feature in this installment is the ability to change your hunter’s appearance at any time back at base. Plus, after completing the main game, you’ll unlock options to change the look of your weapons and armor.

Throughout the game, players can personalize how they look with different weapons and armor. The core gameplay involves hunting large monsters and using the rewards to create even better equipment—a formula that’s kept players engaged for years. You can also set up and decorate camps in specific locations around the game world.

Saints Row 4

Your America, Your Rules

In Saints Row 4, you begin the game as the President of the United States. Before the action starts, you get to create your character’s appearance and choose their voice. There are even some funny voice options, including the ability to make your character sound like Nolan North, the voice actor famous for roles like Nathan Drake in Uncharted and Deadpool, who often directly addresses the player as part of the game’s story.

Similar to Cyberpunk 2077, players can extensively customize their character’s appearance, including body proportions. The game also lets you gain superpowers after an alien invasion, and these powers can be tailored to fit different playstyles, like flying or shooting ice.

Dragon Quest Builders 2

A More Adventurous Minecraft

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is similar to Minecraft, but with more detailed graphics. In the game, you create a character and work through a story where you rebuild different communities in each chapter.

This game lets players transform towns, building by building. The most exciting part for many is the multiplayer island, where up to four friends can build and manage a community together. It’s separate from the main game, but offers a relaxed and enjoyable way to play with friends.

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2025-11-12 20:05