Breath of the Wild and Wicher 3 are basically tied to me.

BotW has the most unique physics and openness for player creativity. And being Spider Man doesn't hurt either - being able to explore 100% of the map without even a pair of trousers is unsurpassed in open worlds.

Witcher 3 has the best side quests and loot. It's side quests are quests... on the side. Not busy work like in basically every other open world. And the loot often has useful items and it's just plain fun to happen on some huge drake guarding some sweet loot.

Red Dead Redemption is a close second. It has my favorite setting in a open world yet and probably the most varied and genuinely fun mini games. It's world truly makes you feel you are in early 20th century America. Easily my favorite game of the 7th gen.

Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl

WoW is not open world because of raids are instances. I would say Everquest prior to The Lost Dungeons of Norrath when everything became instance. It was beautiful to play in Sullon Zek and destroy a raid with a train of monsters. Greatest days of gaming.

IMO its still GTA San Andreas.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild for me personally, and also one of my favorite games in general. It’s the only open world game I completed from beginning to end without getting sidetracked into other games, I was just so absolutely engrossed in it. It really felt like the game was my playground, with the wild creative physics, being able to accomplish the same tasks in a variety of ways, or even the completely open narrative. No gaming session was ever the same, and I had no idea what I would do next.

I remember even now, just how ecstatic I was leaving the cave and finding out I could climb even random walls to get anywhere around me. It truly was something special.

I picked ‘other’ with my nod going to Far Cry 5. I can’t recall having this much fun in an open world game. And that’s coming from a mostly online multiplayer fan.

The poll is missing Xenoblade and Skyrim. For me it is Xenoblade.

Too wide of a category really to put it all in one bag or to claim the best.

Most influential? Probably Ultima, Elite, Zelda 1, TES: Daggerfall, Gothic 1 and GTA III - pretty much all open-world games in last two generations can be tracked down to one of these (though some of them have very similar forerunners).

Breath of the Wild, hands down, no contest.

World of Warcraft