Open-world shooters have become increasingly popular since the early days of gaming, to the point that they now make up a whole sub-genre in and of themselves. Developers have experimented with the formula in various ways, and results range from the intensely tactical to the wildly ridiculous. Nonetheless, the genre has given us some of the best titles in gaming throughout the years.

The following games all take their own unique approaches to character builds. Whether it’s using more traditional perk systems and skill trees or advanced weapon and party customization, each offers a wide variety of ways in which players can choose to approach them. So if you’re looking to explore and destroy vast open worlds, and do it again and again, look no further than these stand-out titles.

10

Palworld

Unbridled Animalistic Chaos

Palworld took over the gaming industry back in 2024 through its simple and ingenious combination of shooter mechanics and Pokémon-style creature breeding. While the player-character themselves might not have a huge variety of skills to choose from, your Pals certainly do, and there are almost unlimited combinations of different species you can breed.

What makes it even better is the fact that you can amass your mutant Pals to fight alongside you in order to capture and tame increasingly powerful species. Couple that with an extensive list of weapons from hand axes to rocket launchers, and you have a recipe for some absolute chaos.

9

Borderlands

The Birth of a Franchise

The original Borderlands was certainly unique when it first arrived on the scene. In addition to its hand-drawn aesthetic style, the game was also marketed for its seemingly unlimited weapon variety – a promise which turned out to be more than true upon release. Combined with the different classes on offer, players are free to create all manner of builds, from SMG tanks to shotgun snipers.

The different weapons certainly keep the game fresh throughout, and the various boss fights always reward you with accordingly powerful weapons. It’s no wonder that the subsequent entries in the series haven’t deviated too much from this original formula, which was originally a strength but is now proving repetitive for long-time players.

8

Far Cry 3

Trailblazing On Many Levels

Far Cry 3 was the first game in the series to introduce skill trees and is also arguably one of the most effective for doing so. On top of the huge array of weapons ranging from flamethrowers to sniper rifles, Far Cry 3 also lets you choose, in its own psychedelic and hallucinatory way, from three different animal spirit skill trees: The Heron, The Shark, and The Spider.

While you will progress up these skill trees as you advance through the main story, there is a huge number of sub-skills to choose from within each category. Everything from better lung capacity underwater to fire resistance, increased bullet damage, and more is available here, allowing for a huge number of potential skill and weapon combinations.

7

Metro Exodus

Leaving For The Surface

Few games manage to present the atmosphere of their post-apocalyptic setting so well as those in the Metro series, and Metro Exodus, the third mainline entry, is not different in this regard. While not strictly a single open-world, the game is split into several large maps you explore and travel between via steam engine. The game features the most complex character builds in the series, thanks to the increased weapon customization.

What makes this system so good is the way you can turn seemingly ordinary and low-level weapons into entirely different guns altogether, thanks to the progressive upgrade system. The game also introduces more survival mechanics and crafting compared to earlier entries, and the game’s two DLC stories are well worth checking out if you’re a fan of the main story at all.

6

Dying Light

The Best Zombie-Survival Game To Date

I’ll happily die on the hill that the original Dying Light is the greatest zombie game made to date. Not many titles have been able to create the atmosphere that this game manages to, and the parkour-driven exploration of the desolate city is extremely fun and rewarding. On top of that, the game also lets players form a wide range of character builds thanks to its myriad weapons and skill points.

From high-powered silent crossbows and samurai katanas to double-handed axes and long-range rifles, the game lets you slaughter the undead in just about any way you see fit. While melee weapons are understandably more common in the city, there are plenty of interesting ranged builds to choose from, as well as awesome skills like the double-footed drop-kick to add to your repertoire.

5

Crysis

An Early Pioneer of the Genre

Crysis wasn’t just a graphical benchmark people used to fry their old computers; it was actually quite a revolutionary shooter gameplay-wise as well. This was personified by the Nanosuit, a powerful military-grade exoskeleton that gave its users superhuman speed, strength, armor, or invisibility at any given time.

What made the Nanosuit so much fun to use was the ability to change your specialization on-the-fly. One moment, you might be grabbing some poor, helpless Filipino soldier by the neck and throwing him ten feet into the air, the next you’re stealthily sneaking around the other side of the encampment to ambush the investigating guardsmen. To top it all off, the Crysis series does indeed have fantastic graphics that still hold up today.

4

Ghost Recon: Wildlands

Tactical Squad-Based Combat

Ghost Recon: Wildlands is definitely up there with the best open-world shooters around. Set over a vast map replicating a cartel-occupied Bolivia, you and your team can traverse the game world using a variety of vehicles, helicopters, and boats, but that’s only the start of the freedom the game affords. On top of that, there are extensive loadout customizations for you and every member of your squad, enabling you to experiment with lots of different weapons, gadgets, and upgrades.

The game also features a skill point system, so as you progress through the various objectives and take down the cartel leaders, you can also pick a skill that will suit your chosen playstyle. Similarly, some skills apply to squadmates, technology upgrades, and even additional assistance, such as rebel support and mortar strikes.

3

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Enter The Zone

STALKER 2 might not be everyone’s favorite in the series, but for my money, the open-world rendition of Chornobyl’s exclusion zone is one of the best we have seen in gaming to date. On top of the dynamic world with its mutants, anomalies, and emissions, there is also a surprising amount of variability when it comes to combat and the various builds you can create.

While there might not be any set skills or powers to choose from, the limited loadout and gear requirements mean that players can actually customize their builds quite a lot. From a range of weapons, including assault rifles, shotguns, SMGs, and sniper rifles, you can also choose from a range of armor sets, artifact detectors, consumable items, and attachments.

2

Cyberpunk 2077

A Modern Masterpiece

Cyberpunk 2077 has some of the deepest character builds in any modern open-world game. While you may be stuck in the relatively rigid personality of ‘V’, there is plenty of room for customization when it comes to your particular playstyle. Whether it’s a netrunning hacker with elite katana skills or a machine-gun heavy tank build that charges into danger head-on, Cyberpunk 2077 really allows for just about any conceivable combat build you can think of.

The addition of innumerable mods can also help in terms of immersing yourself as a living citizen of Night City, and as one of the most lore-rich game worlds in recent memory, there is plenty to explore and find. The Phantom Liberty DLC also helps create deeper character builds with the introduction of the new Relic Point system.

1

Fallout 3

Bethesda At Their Best

When it comes to creating deep character builds in an open-world shooter, it’s pretty hard to top one of my favorite games of all time, Fallout 3. Starting out literally from childbirth inside Vault 101, your character progression begins as a toddler selecting S.P.E.C.I.A.L skills, which will later in life help you to explode the heads of Super Mutants with a sniper rifle in VATS.

The G.O.A.T. exam is another nice touch, which fleshes out some of your character traits in adolescence. The skills and perks in Fallout 3 just seem to have more impact on your overall playstyle than the later games, and the fact that the game manages to build up these skills over time in such an immersive and seamless manner is what makes it my top pick overall.