Best Xbox open world games: Epic worlds to explore

• Release date: March 15, 2022
• Developer: Rockstar North
• On Game Pass: Yes

GTA V might be an obvious pick, but that is for a good reason. It is, ultimately, a perfection of the GTA formula — a big open world stuffed with satirical comedy and satisfying action. The single-player has aged really well as a piece of narrative that, in some ways, satirically skewers its own growth into the endless, live-service, money-churning experience of modern GTA Online. You follow three tales through the tapestry of modern America in a fictional version of LA, called Los Santos, where you will set up heists in order to finally make all three characters rich. It’s a really well written, but often a searing indictment of the corporate, social, and political structure of America that allows money to rule all.

It never really lets you see that in the moment, though. You'll be too busy dangling off of boats driving over a motorway, or plotting how you are going to get your money out of the bank in the coolest way possible or driving an old Dewbachee Aston Martin DB5 look-alike away from a film set while being chased. It’s wild, but also funny, but also quite sentimental, but also feels fun to play still… it’s just really good! You know what, maybe we are going soft, but there is even fun to be had in that money-grubbing, expletive-laden, hellscape of an online mode, as well.