Game of the Year: Best PS5 Open World Game of 2024

Alongside our Game of the Year top 10 list and personal picks from the Push Square editorial team, we are recognising the best PS5 games of 2024 in select categories. Today is the turn of the best PS5 open world game of 2024.

Bronze Trophy: Rise of the Ronin

Rise of the Ronin subscribes to the dated Ubisoft open world formula to the individual letter, but what does give it some amount of appeal is the setting. Feudal Japan is still an underutilized period of time, and Team Ninja replicates it to the best of its abilities as it documents the clash between Eastern and Western cultures across its many cities. The actual game and most of its side quests and activities disappoint, but there is some fun and intrigue to be found in just riding your horse into the wilderness to have a good rummage through the countryside.

Read our Rise of the Ronin PS5 review through the link.

Silver Trophy: Star Wars Outlaws

Despite false claims it's the first open world Star Wars game ever made, one of the few properly good things about Star Wars Outlaws is the freedom it gives you. The map uses a fog of war to cover up its landmarks and secrets, meaning you have to actually explore and earn your side quests and item discoveries. It's all seamlessly delivered too, with no load screens breaking up the transition from planet surface to space — with even the latter explorable to a degree. It's a great basis that the actual campaign doesn't really take advantage of, but that does bring its own advantage: Star Wars Outlaws is one of the best games to switch your brain off while playing and listen to a podcast.

Read our Star Wars Outlaws PS5 review through the link.

Gold Trophy: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

We might be cheating a tiny bit here because it is not completely seamless, but the massive, explorable zones of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth deserve recognition for their sheer variety and breadth of content. Even without the side stories that litter its multiple maps, the sort of activities you can get up to in Honolulu, Kamurohco, and Ijincho are pure fun. If you need a distraction from the main plot, the open world will happily play host for double-digit hours. The franchise has always been this way, but Infinite Wealth is its magnum opus (so far). If you want enjoyment just as much as a joke, you need not look any further than the open world antics of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Plus, you can ride a cool segway.

Read our Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth PS5 review through the link.

Platinum Trophy: Dragon's Dogma 2

Dragon's Dogma 2 is one of the few open world games released in 2024 that manages to make your adventures feel like a proper adventure. While you may have an idea of where you want to reach as you place your marker on the map, it's the space in between it and your current position that represents the true Dragon's Dogma 2 experience. The game from Capcom is all about discovery and being as dynamic as possible, with random events making the trips along otherwise menial roads the height of the experience. From goblin ambushes to trolls fighting each other, you shall regularly catch glimpses of gripping sights and locations practically begging you to investigate more. From the flesh of monsters to the bricks of castles, Dragon's Dogma 2 represents the best of what open world design can offer.

Read our Dragon's Dogma 2 PS5 review through the link.

Do you agree with our picks for the best PS5 open world game of 2024? Put your thoughts in the comments below and check out more of our Game of the Year coverage through the link.