You Won’t Believe These Open-World Games That Morph Into Completely Different Genres Midway!

Summary

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom innovates with new sandbox building mechanics, allowing players to construct unique contraptions.
Black Skylands seamlessly transitions from shooter to base-building RTS, offering crafting options and strategic gameplay.
Deadly Premonition combines detective simulation with survival horror for a unique and absurd gaming experience.

Many open-world games maintain a consistent style, such as evolving into a more difficult action RPG or a complex survival simulator. However, certain titles deviate from this pattern, changing direction halfway through and transforming into something completely different, or integrating an entirely new genre. These unconventional open-world games surprise players with unexpected twists and turns.

Some outstanding open-world games feature a unique blend of genres, introducing surprising gameplay elements or narrative structures that give the impression of playing an entirely different game within the main game.

8. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Unexpected Sandbox Building Adventure

In “The Legend of Zelinka: Tears of the Kingdom,” you’d typically find a blend of open-world adventure, role-playing, combat, and puzzle-solving. However, what sets this game apart from its predecessors is an innovative feature that leans heavily into crafting and programming. This means players have the option to bypass the storyline entirely and devote countless hours constructing machines akin to those seen in “Besiege.

In the interludes of combat and exploration, Link employs his Zonai Arm abilities – Ultrahand, Fuse, and Autobuild – to store materials and blueprints, and craft devices on the spot. These instances transform into unique puzzles designed by players themselves, deviating from the standard dungeon-delving escapades, such as finding a solution to build a flying machine or maneuvering a laser-equipped tank.

7. Black Skylands

Shooter Becomes Base-Building RTS

Black Skylands serves as an illustration of how genres can evolve over time, seamlessly blending elements. This game offers an expansive open world viewed from above, initially set in the realm of Aspya, where you follow Eva’s journey as she fights off raiders and The Swarm in a thrilling action-adventure shooter scenario.

As the game progresses with exploration and battles, Black Skylands offers players the freedom to tailor their airship, construct bases, and enlarge their domain – creating a unique blend between Hotline Miami’s fast-paced action and Stardew Valley’s base-building strategy. Additionally, this game features an array of crafting possibilities and base development tactics that gradually reveal themselves over an extended timeframe.

6. Deadly Premonition

Detective Sim Collides with Survival Horror

Deadly Premonition is one of those unique games that has earned cult status due to its eccentricities. The game initially appears as a detective-themed adventure where players drive, walk around, and engage with non-player characters to gather clues. A significant part of the game operates within a simulation-like framework, where the world follows a daily routine, and pastimes such as darts and fishing are included to fill spare time.

Subsequently, drawing inspiration from games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill, the game transitions into a challenging mechanical and thematic realm of survival horror. Around halfway through the game, players will find themselves venturing into Other World scenarios, where they must gather proof while enduring horrifying supernatural adversaries.

5. Brutal Legend

Hack-and-Slash Guitar Hero

In essence, “Brutal Legend” primarily functions as an action-adventure game set in an expansive open world. Instead of traditional spells, it incorporates mini-games reminiscent of “Guitar Hero”. You assume the role of Eddie Riggs, a roadie who unexpectedly ends up in a realm that echoes heavy metal music and fantasy.

As the plot unfolds, the game gradually incorporates real-time strategy challenges within partially open environments. Additionally, you’ll encounter various sub-missions that immerse you in diverse gaming experiences, such as racing custom cars against supernatural foes or engaging in combat using an assortment of mechanisms.

4. Spore

Evolution Sim Turns Space Strategy

In 2008, the game known as Spore didn’t initially follow an open-world structure, but rather progresses through various mechanical stages that eventually transform into an open-world real-time strategy experience. With Spore, players get to guide the evolution of diverse fantastical species, starting from their microscopic origins and advancing to intelligent beings capable of space travel. Just as the Spore species evolve, so does the gameplay mechanics in this dynamic title.

In the Cell Stage, you play a gathering game from above, then move on to the Creature Stage which offers an open world for your grown character to interact with, forming friendships and facing challenges. The Tribal Stage switches to a real-time strategy game where the species evolves and invents musical instruments and weapons. As the game progresses, the scale of the real-time strategy environment expands in subsequent stages.

3. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Stealth Meets Strategic Sandbox

In a nod to its previous installments, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain starts off as an action-adventure stealth game. Nine years after the occurrences of Ground Zeroes, the story unfolds. As you delve deeper into the open world and explore, you’ll discover resources that can be transported back to base for development purposes, enabling you to upgrade and innovate technology further.

Much like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, The Phantom Pain offers an enhanced base-construction system, enabling Snake to oversee and construct everything in real-time as he walks around. Due to its open-world and non-linear nature, the game’s genre fluidly adapts according to your playstyle.

2. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Action-Adventure RPG With Absurd Surprises

Like a Dragon: Pirates’ Yakuza in Hawaii is a spinoff or remake from the extensive Yakuza series, offering an expansive open-world setting where players assume the role of a former antagonist-turned-protagonist who wakes up on an island with lost memories. As the leader of his new pirate crew, players embark on various adventures. This game provides a relaxed action-adventure experience in Hawaii, incorporating beat-em-up combat sequences.

Similar to many other Yakuza games, this one blends genres by incorporating familiar minigames such as Karaoke, Dragon Kart, and Crazy Delivery. Additionally, it offers an extra layer of gameplay, allowing players to create a pirate crew and enhance their ship for open-sea battles in ship combat.

1. NieR: Automata

Pure Genre-Bending Action

The game Nier: Automata is surprisingly deep, and it’s not easy to accept it at its surface level. It offers an expansive open-world for players to explore, where they control the character 2B and engage in intense, real-time battles with hack-and-slash mechanics and bullet hell elements. Special aspects include counterattacks and support from a flying robot that fires long-range attacks.

In Nier: Automata, the gameplay fluidly transitions between various genres, such as incorporating hacking sequences as 9S or transforming into a side-scrolling platformer. Moreover, it cleverly breaks the fourth wall and catches players off guard with unexpected twists in both its mechanics and plot. This innovative blend of storytelling techniques and intricate gameplay design results in an emotionally resonant game that’s also highly enjoyable to play.

2025-04-29 17:40