The main draw of any open-world game is that it offers adventure and exploration, allowing players to go anywhere they want.

There are many reasons for the player to conquer the map–either to take back control from an oppressor, to reclaim an area lost to time, or for any other story-related reason. Taking these zones gives players a sense of meaningful progression.

While the reward of taking over these areas varies, capturing zones inevitably increases the player’s territory as they become more powerful, all the while giving the player some much-needed R&R after some adventuring.

Here are some games that let you explore a massive world while you wrest control of areas from your enemies.

We won’t be including strategy games like Civilization, as the whole point of those games is to conquer areas.

10 Just Cause 4

Expand The Frontlines

As a story centered around a Rebellion fighting against an oppressive regime, the Just Cause series features liberation missions where players can take over key areas to weaken the enemy’s control over a region.

Unlike the typical Just Cause ​​​​​​liberation mechanic, Just Cause 4’s “Region Strike” missions allow you to expand or extend the frontlines of the rebellion, giving you a more linear progression of control.

Many fans who were used to the franchise’s previous iterations aren’t too pleased about this change, as liberating an area eliminates any enemy forces spawning in the region, allowing players to deploy troops onto the frontline.

9 Fallout 4

Another Settlement Needs Your Help

Aside from fighting the myriad of irradiated monsters and raiders of the Commonwealth, Fallout 4 features a robust settlement mechanic that allows you to liberate sections of the map and repopulate them with NPCs.

The Sole Survivor can build and manage many types of shelters, shops, and even decorations to spruce up their settlements. You can also recruit NPCs to help manage their resources, all the while setting up defenses from would-be attackers.

Settlements provide much-needed repeatable content after beating the main stories (including DLCs). A comprehensive building system allows players to showcase their creativity by building elaborate designs, from forts to townships.

Even in the apocalyptic wasteland of Fallout 4, you can find some reprieve in the cozy settlements you’ve worked so hard to create.

8 Dying Light 2 Stay Human

Hardcore Parkour!

Dying Light 2 features Bandit Camps and Windmills as points of interest that serve as major areas for the player to take over and establish safe zones for fellow survivors.

While the four Bandit Camps serve as stealth missions, Windmills are parkour challenges for the player to tackle. Liberating these areas not only unlocks them as checkpoints but can also open shops.

With many climbable ledges and scalable walls, these camps, like the rest of Villedor, are playgrounds for the player to show off their parkour skills.

7 The Division 2

Venture Into The Dark Zone

Much like its predecessor, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 features a quarantined section of a major city in a dystopian America–this time Washington D.C.–split into different zones that players must explore and conquer from different factions.

With a wide, diverse selection of classes and abilities, players can liberate Control Zones and find Settlements to find some semblance of peace in the broken city of D.C.

There are also Dark Zones–areas that are too dangerous for players to conquer, as they hold hidden dangers like powerful enemies and Rogue Agents–players who thrive in the chaos of PvP. But if you’re looking for high-tier loot, the Dark Zone is the only place to go.

6 Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

This Is… Sparta!

Set during the Peloponnesian War, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey thrusts you into the role of either Alexios or Kassandra, a Greek mercenary who can choose to fight for either Athens or Sparta or perhaps play both sides.

The open-world portion of Odyssey involves the typical outpost-clearing missions where you take out enemy troops and the commander, but you can also weaken the region by assassinating the leader and sabotaging the area.

Once an area is weakened enough, you can join a conquest battle to fight on the attacking or defending side. While you get rewards either way for conquering an area, joining the attacking side is more challenging but gives you better loot in return.

5 Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor

A Crusade Against Sauron

In his crusade against Sauron and his dark minions, lone ranger Talion must set out to avenge his family, traveling through the blighted lands of Middle Earth and inching his way closer to his goal, one dead Uruk at a time.

Besides having an innovative nemesis mechanic and intense combat, Shadow of Mordor is an open-world game that populates Mordor’s bleak land with many orc camps and patrols.

Most importantly, Talion can infiltrate these camps and locate Forge Towers. When unlocked, these towers can serve as respawn and fast travel points, allowing Talion to quickly get back in the fight should a lucky orc fell him.

4 Death Stranding

Reconnecting America

While it’s often teased as a “walking simulator,” Death Stranding is so much more than that. The story’s theme centers on Sam Porter Bridges as he reluctantly reconnects a fragmented America whose citizens all but hide inside underground bunkers.

The gameplay reflects this theme as you travel across the country to not just deliver packages but also collect resources to build roads, bridges, and other structures that make life much easier for unseen fellow Porters.

Despite its boring concept, Death Stranding ​​​​​​rewards you by giving you a sense of community in contrast with its lonely world.

Yes, Death Stranding looks like a single-player game, but it has multiplayer elements that allow you to connect to a server with other players.

You don’t get to see or interact with them traditionally, but you see the marks they leave behind in your game world via the structures they’ve built or the words of encouragement while you trek through America.

You don’t conquer America, but you reconnect its people by establishing life and infrastructure in a dead world.

3 Ghost Of Tsushima

Drive The Mongols Back

Ghost of Tsushima deserves all the accolades it gets. From beautiful views to exciting combat, this Game of the Year winner also has an incredibly vast map that feels satisfying to explore and liberate.

In Jin Sakai’s crusade against Khotun Khan’s invading Mongol army, he may encounter villages and towns that have been overrun by his enemies and opportunistic bandits.

Not only will liberating these zones provide fast travel points on the map, but some settlements will provide shops and resources for you to further your war against the Mongols.

Once these zones are liberated, you’ll get to bask in your little victories as displaced villagers thank Lord Sakai for his efforts while they repopulate, making the settlements look much livelier than before.

2 The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

Ultimate Open World

Choosing between Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild was tough, but ToTK takes the cake as it feels like a direct upgrade to BoTW.

As Link fights to thwart Ganondorf’s evil machinations for the umpteenth time, he might encounter shrines, Skyview towers, and many other fast travel zones that will make traversal trivial in this game.

Not only that, there are also areas in the depths where you can light up portions of the map to reveal the vast undiscovered caverns underneath Hyrule.

1 Far Cry 6

For Libertad!

As is tradition in every Far Cry game since its third installation, Far Cry 6 features military outposts you must take over to expand your territory.

Dani must take these outposts to expand their insurgency against Anton Castillo’s regime, either by blowing stuff up with brute force or silently sabotaging the enemy base with stealth and cunning.

Liberating FND outposts unlock fast travel points, but the Libertad guerrillas who populate the area can also mark points of interest on your map as you continue to explore the island of Yara.