Oh man, you gotta go with the open world pros, Rockstar!
The latest ones are:
Grand Theft Auto V
- You're a gangster/dad with anger issues/literal psychopath! Alright!
- You can, in fact, steal cars. And boats, planes, motorcyles, helicopters, jetskis, the public bus...
- The police AI is laughable, but it makes for really fun experiences of getting away with whatever you want.
- I can't speak for the story as I've had more fun in the open world
- Amazing music and hilarious talk radio stations
Red Dead Redemption 2
- You're a cowboy! Yeehaw!
- Absolutely gorgeous world. They really nail weather effects, from snowfall in the mountains, to a rainy day in town, to fog rolling in while you're in the swamps, to the sunlight filtering through windows.
- Pretty fucking good story, I don't wanna spoil anything.
- Amazing soundtrack
- Really fun world building moments - exploring really leads to interesting experiences, from hilarious to terrifying.
I will say that missions can get pretty annoying sometimes, like when they give you a specific objective and anything outside of the very specific path they want you to results in failure. But that's been like, 4 or 5 out of dozens and dozens of missions. The best missions comfortably make up for the bad ones.
Alternatively, I think the older GTAs and RDR might be on the Steam Winter Sale, but I'm not 100% sure. They're also worth checking out regardless, if you don't mind older graphics - still very good open world games.