Hey folks! Back in the PS2 days I had Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and besides the quests and stuff I also loved just driving around and going on little road trips and stealing planes.
And then in the PS3 era I had Just Cause 2, and the voice acting was terrible, and the quests were kinda dumb, but wow was it fun to just drive around and go on little road trips and steal planes. And your dumb little hookshot was nearly immersion breaking it was so unrealistic, but instead it was a ton of fun zipping through the air from 150 paces to kick a dude off his motorbike…
Anyway, I’m wondering what people’s opinions are on these kinds of games these days! I know Cyberpunk has some driving, but I don’t know if people enjoy cruising in it. I really liked Breath of the Wild, which is not really the same but had some screwing around times. I know there’s a GTA 5 which I never played but it’s probably good, I think there’s a Just Cause 3 but I haven’t looked into it. Some people love Red Dead 2, which I mostly bounced off of but maybe I was wrong.
Do you folks have any favourites in this “genre”? Things I should check out? Stories of worthless hijinks? Thoughts?
Untitled goose game. You can play it or dink around. HONK
My four year old son cannot game get, but he’ll ask to put that on and he just honks at people. He also likes to be the hat in that Mario game with the hat, can’t remember the name. I Mario, he hats.
Funny anecdote, one of Reddit server was named after that game : Untitled Goose Server. That was a pool on the gold only sub, I was the one proposing that name.
Thats great!
The saints row series is pretty good. It was kind of a GTA knockoff but was much sillier and let you actually keep and upgrade/paint cars. It really lets you make the game yours. In… Number 3 or 4 the player gets movement abilities that make using a car actually slower so that really killed the vibe, but the ridiculousness was higher than ever so it kind of balanced. I’d recommend playing them in order or at least watching YouTube videos because the story is sort of linear.
Someone else said morrowind which really is the ultimate “do whatever you want” game. You’re basically never locked out of anything by not doing the main quest, and nearly every npc is killable, even essential ones (though the game will tell you if you do this so you can reload a save). There’s no vehicles really so I don’t know if that’s the vibe you’re going for, but it really is a blast if you can accept the painfully outdated graphics and mediocre combat system.
Valheim is a survival crafter exploration game that can be surprisingly cozy, and sailing around is fun. Also not the vibe I think you’re looking for but I love it so I shill it when I can.
Cyberpunk is actually a damn decent game now, and the world has SO MUCH crammed into it you can just wander and do whatever activity you run into for ages without getting bored. Even the smallest side story has lore that illustrates a tiny piece of night city and I find that really cool.
I think saints row probably best matches what you’re looking for without being a sequel to a game you already mentioned. Cyberpunk too, probably.
A few people mentioned Saint’s Row, and it basically wasn’t even on my radar as a series I knew about. I’ll check it out!
I just recently got Spider-Man on sale and I’ve not once used fast travel except in the tutorial because it’s too much fun swinging around the city. And there’s like 50 types of collectibles/ side missions to do while you’re fucking around.
Also you should definitely try Grand theft Auto v if you had that much fun in San Andreas
Yeah, I said in another reply I didn’t even think of Spiderman, but I actually have been playing the remaster of the first modern one, and I agree fully. It totally matches this vibe and it’s pretty great!
This was my answer. The Saints Row games are great, but it’s a fantastic time just swinging around NYC playing SpiderCop.
Also… There’s a fast travel?!
Anything Elder Scrolls kept me busy much longer than the main story, most notably Morrowind. Also, I replayed GTA IV (+ stories) last week, was heaps of fun, especially compared to GTA V which I played a few months back. Read Dead Redemption 2 is a good one for this list as well, I enjoyed that one immensely, but I mainly focused on the main quest during that run-through, so this is a good reminder to myself to pick this up again soon (sadly I fell back into the pull of Satisfactory so it might be some weeks/months/… before I get to it)
Saints Row 2-3-4 are great for this. 2 is the GOAT, but 3 and 4 are arguably better at providing the “screwing around” experience.
Sleeping Dogs is underrated and regularly goes on sale for like $5. There is not as much sandbox-ey stuff to do compared to GTA/Just Cause/Saints Row, but I loved jacking a nice car and cruising the freeway at night, or going on a murder spree and playing survival against waves of cops.
Elder Scrolls isn’t necessarily as wacky of an experience out of the box, but between mods and the sheer amount of freedom you have in the game, there is plenty of dumb random stuff you can get up to.
If you have Elden Ring on PS4/5 and know your way around the game, invasions have a ton of potential for shenanigans. Probably not what you’re after, and I imagine multiplayer activity is down since Nightreign came out, but it’s worth mentioning as such a unique experience.
Honourable indie mention: Mars First Logistics is a game where you build vehicles and use them to transport objects from point A to point B. The challenges are largely physics-based, with the objects often having unusual shapes or odd properties, and your vehicle needs to be able to self-load them in addition to bearing them across varying distances and terrains. It’s not really what you’re asking for, but I feel like it scratched the same sort of itch for me in terms of open-ended low-stakes gameplay.
goat simulators 1 and 3 are like, specially made for this.
we don’t talk about 2
Red Dead 2 is a masterpiece of this genre
I wish I could get into it as so many says that it is.
The animations they’ve chosen feels like input lag for me and I just can’t get passed it. I expect my character to move forward when I press forward, not half a second afterwards. That together with the horrible keybinds and optimisations when using kbm made me leave ship shortly after reaching the second chapter.
If I could handle playing shooters with a controller it might’ve worked for me even with the slow ass character animations but with both those two negatives I couldn’t get into it at all.
Games I’ve enjoyed in terms of shenanigans: GTA 3-5, Just Cause 3 (4 too, but it’s not as good), Untitled Goose Game, Read Dead Redemption 2, Saint’s Row 2-4, Cyberpunk 2077 (driving is kinda meh, motorcycles are a little more fun), and of course, Watchdogs, the Elder Scrolls games.
Also, I haven’t played it, but I heard the new Indiana Jones game is fun with high shenanigan potential.
I quite liked Watchdogs. Dicking about a city causing traffic problems and steaming cash from people’s accounts.
honestly Tears of the Kingdom is good for this. especially if you get into building vehicles.
I’ve had so many moments where I’ve laughed loud and hard cause I’ve had the equivalent of Jackass moments from making some monstrosity and seeing if it will fly, or making death machines.
or even just flying around and discovering stuff for fun. its a fantastic “fuck around” game.
Older games, sure, but I like to mess around with games that had tons of customization. Examples include Guitar Hero World Tour (using the Definitive Edition overhaul mod), Need for Speed games (I like MW '05 and Carbon), and many others I can’t name off the top of my head. I know, older games for me, but I certainly know how that goes for the most part (I tend to play older games).
Red Dead Redemption 2 is too slow paced imho for what you’re looking for.
Both GTA5 and Just Cause 3 (or 4) are genuinely good picks for what you’re after.
Agreed! Okay, if Just Cause 3 is alright, I might give that a shot. And it’s good to know the newer GTAs are still recommended. Thanks!
Definitely Cyberpunk is a great choice as its built in systems try to pull you into stuff all the time. Don’t sleep on Just Cause 3&4 too.
All good info, thanks! Time to put some stuff on a wishlist…
I dunno how well crafting/building games fit what you’re looking for, but I can jump into Valheim and just screw around for hours collecting and making stuff. The world isn’t populated like a grand theft auto, but it’s fun to just explore and mess around/build stuff in!
I’ve played a bunch of Valheim with friends, but I can’t do it by myself. The openness is cool, but I can’t grind, so any kind of survival or crafting game becomes tedious so fast.
It seems like fun when other people do it, but it just doesn’t happen for me. Oh well!
To answer part of your question: Cyberpunk is a pretty good game for just wandering around aimlessly, but because of the balance, from my recollection, you can’t really just steal planes and blow everything up. You can make some fun builds to tear through enemies, and the world is gorgeous to drive around in, but there are some limits on your ability to cause total mass destruction.
