Greatest Open-World Side Activities

Gwent Card Game

What started as a tavern minigame in The Witcher 3 became so beloved CD Projekt Red spun it into its own standalone game. Geralt would ignore paying contracts for hours to out-bluff innkeepers and barons alike, and the deck-building depth rivaled full card games of the era.

Source Game: The Witcher 3Year: 2015Quality: 9/10Hours to Master: 15 hrs

added by IJR

Hunting & Legendary Animals

Red Dead Redemption 2 turned hunting into a punishing art form—track a legendary buck for twenty minutes only to lose the pristine pelt to a bad shot or scavenging wolves. The system's obsessive realism made every perfect three-star kill feel like a genuine achievement.

Source Game: Red Dead Redemption 2Year: 2018Quality: 8.5/10Hours to Master: 20 hrs

added by IJR

Korok Seed Hunting

Nintendo hid 900 tiny wooden spirits across Hyrule, rewarding players with nothing but inventory space and, eventually, a golden poop emoji from Hestu. It became the internet's favorite running joke and a genuine test of exploratory patience.

Source Game: Zelda: Breath of the WildYear: 2017Quality: 8/10Hours to Master: 30 hrs

added by IJR

Shrine Puzzles

120 miniature dungeons scattered across Hyrule, each a self-contained physics or combat puzzle using Link's core runes. Shrine-hunting redefined what an exploration reward could mean in open-world design, turning the horizon itself into a puzzle box.

Source Game: Zelda: Breath of the WildYear: 2017Quality: 9/10Hours to Master: 40 hrs

added by IJR

Stunt Jumps

Rockstar scattered dozens of ramps across San Andreas daring players to launch cars off cliffs in slow-motion glory. It's the purest distillation of GTA's chaotic joy—no reward needed beyond the freeze-frame and the crash.

Source Game: Grand Theft Auto VYear: 2013Quality: 7/10Hours to Master: 5 hrs

added by IJR

Bounty Hunting

Arthur Morgan moonlighting as a lawman-for-hire let players choose mercy or violence on wanted men, tying directly into the game's honor system. It's Western fantasy at its most literal, one wanted poster at a time.

Source Game: Red Dead Redemption 2Year: 2018Quality: 8/10Hours to Master: 10 hrs

added by IJR

Witcher Contracts

Each contract was a self-contained horror mystery—investigate clues, deduce the monster's weakness, then fight it. CD Projekt Red proved side content could carry writing as strong as the main campaign, and contracts remain the game's most quoted moments.

Source Game: The Witcher 3Year: 2015Quality: 9/10Hours to Master: 15 hrs

added by IJR

Fishing

A meditative counterweight to the game's violence, RDR2's fishing rewarded patience with legendary fish worth mounting on cabin walls. It became an unlikely favorite for players who just wanted to sit by a lake and breathe.

Source Game: Red Dead Redemption 2Year: 2018Quality: 7.5/10Hours to Master: 10 hrs

added by IJR

Treasure Hunts (Dowsing)

Ubisoft handed players cryptic riddles and rough sketches instead of quest markers, forcing actual map-reading in ancient Greece. It was a rare modern open-world moment that trusted players' eyes over their minimap.

Source Game: Assassin's Creed OdysseyYear: 2018Quality: 6.5/10Hours to Master: 15 hrs

added by IJR

Poker & Blackjack

Saloon card tables let Arthur hustle strangers, start bar fights over accusations of cheating, and lose his boots on a bad hand. The minigame's chatty NPCs made every table feel like a tiny story of its own.

Source Game: Red Dead Redemption 2Year: 2018Quality: 7/10Hours to Master: 8 hrs

added by IJR

Wingsuit & BASE Jumping

Rico Rodriguez's grapple-and-parachute combo turned traversal itself into the best side activity, letting players tether to jets mid-flight or leap off Panau's tallest towers. It inspired a whole generation of movement-first open-world design.

Source Game: Just Cause 2Year: 2010Quality: 8/10Hours to Master: 10 hrs

added by IJR

Vehicle Customization & Drag Races

Playground Games built an entire festival economy around chasing pink slips and tuning dream cars, turning Mexico's open roads into a perpetual highlight reel. Barn finds and drift zones kept players circling long after the campaign ended.

Source Game: Forza Horizon 5Year: 2021Quality: 8.5/10Hours to Master: 25 hrs

added by IJR

Taxi Missions

Rockstar's cabbie gig let players ferry NPCs across Los Santos for cash bonuses, becoming a cult-favorite grind that predates modern open-world side-hustle design. Nail every fare and the reward was infinite nitrous—a perfect meme-worthy payoff.

Source Game: GTA: San AndreasYear: 2004Quality: 7/10Hours to Master: 5 hrs

added by IJR

Cooking & Recipe Discovery

Experimenting with random ingredients to discover buffs turned survival cooking into its own puzzle game, complete with the running gag of dumping monster parts into pots. It's the rare crafting system players actually loved rather than tolerated.

Source Game: Zelda: Breath of the WildYear: 2017Quality: 7/10Hours to Master: 10 hrs

added by IJR

Outpost Liberation

Climbing radio towers to unlock the map, then stealthily clearing enemy camps below, became the genre's most copied loop. Far Cry 3 made 'liberate the outpost' a phrase every open-world fan instantly recognizes, for better and worse.

Source Game: Far Cry 3Year: 2012Quality: 7.5/10Hours to Master: 15 hrs

added by IJR

Photo Mode Challenges

Sucker Punch built haiku-writing and hot-spring meditation into full side activities, but its photo mode turned every windswept field into a shareable postcard. It proved contemplative side content could sit comfortably next to samurai duels.

Source Game: Ghost of TsushimaYear: 2020Quality: 7/10Hours to Master: 8 hrs

added by IJR

Chocobo Racing

Racing giant birds around Duscae's tracks gave Noctis and friends a lighthearted break from apocalyptic prophecy, complete with customizable chocobo gear and leaderboard bragging rights. It's Final Fantasy's silliest, most beloved detour.

Source Game: Final Fantasy XVYear: 2016Quality: 6.5/10Hours to Master: 10 hrs

added by IJRChocobo Racing

Word Wall & Dragon Shout Hunting

Scouring ancient ruins for Words of Power let players slowly build the Dragonborn's arsenal of shouts, from Fus Ro Dah's meme status to Unrelenting Force's genuine combat utility. Word wall hunting turned Skyrim's mountains into a scavenger hunt with world-ending stakes.

Source Game: The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimYear: 2011Quality: 8/10Hours to Master: 20 hrs

added by IJR