Open-world games offer players the freedom to explore vast landscapes, engage in epic adventures, and build their own stories within richly detailed environments. When you host your own open-world game server, you can customize these experiences, create unique worlds, and share them with friends or a broader community. In this article, we’ll explore some of the best open-world games for hosting, each offering expansive environments and the opportunity to create unforgettable multiplayer experiences.
Read about also: Best Competitive Games for Hosting Tournaments and Events.
1. Minecraft
Minecraft stands out as one of the most popular open-world games, with its blocky, procedurally generated worlds that allow players to build, explore, and survive in endless environments. Hosting your own Minecraft server gives you the freedom to create a world tailored to your vision, whether you’re focused on survival, creative building, or epic adventures.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Minecraft’s versatility makes it perfect for hosting. You can customize every aspect of the game, from the world generation to the game rules, and even add mods that introduce new gameplay mechanics, biomes, and creatures. Minecraft’s strong community support and extensive modding scene mean that your server can evolve with the game, offering fresh experiences over time.
- Ideal For: Players who enjoy creativity, building, exploration, and multiplayer adventures.
2. ARK: Survival Evolved
ARK: Survival Evolved is an open-world survival game that drops players into a prehistoric world teeming with dinosaurs and other ancient creatures. The game combines exploration, base-building, and taming wild creatures, offering a unique survival experience. Hosting your own ARK server allows you to control the environment, set custom rules, and create a world where you and your friends can survive together.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: ARK’s extensive customization options make it an excellent choice for hosting. You can adjust the difficulty, resource gathering rates, and even introduce mods that add new creatures, biomes, and gameplay mechanics. Hosting a server also allows you to manage large groups of players, create community events, and build a thriving in-game ecosystem.
- Ideal For: Players who love survival games, dinosaurs, and building expansive bases in a richly detailed world.
3. Conan Exiles
Set in the brutal and unforgiving world of Conan the Barbarian, Conan Exiles is an open-world survival game that emphasizes combat, exploration, and building. Players must navigate harsh environments, battle enemies, and construct massive fortresses to protect themselves. Hosting a Conan Exiles server gives you control over a vast world where players can band together or compete for dominance.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Conan Exiles offers extensive customization options, allowing you to tailor the game’s difficulty, resource availability, and PvP rules. You can also add mods that introduce new weapons, building materials, and even entire new lands to explore. Hosting your own server allows you to create a unique, challenging environment that tests players’ survival skills and creativity.
- Ideal For: Fans of dark fantasy, intense combat, and survival games with a strong focus on building and exploration.
4. Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) – FiveM
Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most successful open-world games of all time, offering players a sprawling urban environment filled with activities, missions, and chaos. While GTA V’s official multiplayer mode, GTA Online, is hugely popular, the FiveM modding platform allows players to host their own custom servers, offering unique gameplay experiences that go beyond what’s possible in the standard game.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: FiveM gives you complete control over your GTA V server, allowing you to create custom game modes, introduce new vehicles and weapons, and even build entirely new cities. Whether you want to create a role-playing server, host races, or set up elaborate heist missions, FiveM provides the tools to make it happen. Hosting a GTA V server with FiveM allows you to bring your vision of Los Santos to life.
- Ideal For: Players who enjoy open-world chaos, urban exploration, and the freedom to create custom game modes.
5. Rust
Rust is a hardcore survival game set in an open world where players must gather resources, build shelters, and defend themselves from both the environment and other players. The game’s harsh world encourages intense PvP combat, alliances, and betrayals, making it a thrilling and unpredictable experience. Hosting your own Rust server gives you the power to shape this world, from setting the rules of engagement to designing custom maps.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Rust’s open-world sandbox provides endless possibilities for customization. You can adjust resource gathering rates, tweak player health and damage, and even introduce mods that add new features or gameplay mechanics. Hosting a Rust server allows you to create a unique and challenging environment that tests players’ survival instincts and strategic thinking.
- Ideal For: Players who enjoy survival games with a strong emphasis on PvP combat and resource management.
6. The Forest
The Forest is a survival horror game that places players in a vast, open world filled with dense forests, underground caves, and mysterious creatures. After surviving a plane crash, players must explore the island, gather resources, and build shelters to survive against the native cannibalistic mutants. Hosting a server for The Forest allows you to share this terrifying experience with friends, working together to survive and uncover the island’s secrets.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: The Forest’s blend of open-world exploration and survival horror makes it a unique hosting experience. You can customize the difficulty settings, enemy behavior, and even the world itself to create a truly terrifying experience. Hosting your own server lets you and your friends cooperate to survive the island’s dangers and solve its mysteries together.
- Ideal For: Players who enjoy survival games with a horror twist and a focus on exploration and cooperation.
7. Valheim
Valheim is a Viking-inspired survival game that has taken the gaming world by storm with its procedurally generated worlds, cooperative gameplay, and epic boss battles. Players are tasked with surviving in a world full of mythical creatures, crafting weapons and armor, building bases, and defeating powerful enemies. Hosting a Valheim server allows you to explore and conquer these vast worlds with friends.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Valheim’s cooperative gameplay and procedurally generated worlds make it ideal for hosting. You can create a server where friends can work together to explore, build, and defeat the game’s challenging bosses. The game’s emphasis on teamwork and exploration makes it perfect for long-term server play, where the world evolves as players progress.
- Ideal For: Groups of friends who enjoy cooperative survival games with a focus on exploration, crafting, and epic battles.
8. Red Dead Redemption 2 – RedM
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a critically acclaimed open-world game that immerses players in the life of an outlaw in the American Wild West. The game’s online mode, Red Dead Online, offers a multiplayer experience, but with the RedM modding platform, you can host your own server with custom content, game modes, and role-playing scenarios.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: RedM allows you to create a custom version of the Wild West, complete with unique missions, roles, and even new towns or settlements. Hosting a server lets you and your players dive into deep role-playing experiences, stage epic shootouts, or simply explore the breathtaking world of Red Dead Redemption 2 together.
- Ideal For: Players who love the Wild West setting, role-playing, and creating custom multiplayer experiences.
9. Terraria
Terraria is a 2D sandbox game that combines elements of survival, exploration, and building. Players can explore vast underground worlds, gather resources, build structures, and battle enemies. Hosting a Terraria server allows you to create a persistent world where friends can join at any time to explore, build, and fight together.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Terraria’s rich content, including bosses, biomes, and crafting systems, offers endless possibilities for customization and challenges. Hosting your own server lets you and your friends collaborate in a dynamic world that evolves over time, offering new adventures with every session.
- Ideal For: Players who enjoy 2D sandbox games with a mix of survival, crafting, and combat.
10. Garry’s Mod
While not a traditional open-world game, Garry’s Mod is a sandbox game that allows players to create their own worlds and gameplay experiences using assets from other games. With Garry’s Mod, you can host custom servers where the only limit is your imagination. Whether you’re building cities, creating game modes, or just experimenting with physics, Garry’s Mod provides a platform for endless creativity.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Garry’s Mod’s flexibility makes it perfect for hosting unique, player-driven experiences. You can create custom maps, introduce new game modes, and even script your own gameplay mechanics. Hosting a Garry’s Mod server allows you to build a community around your creations and share them with others.
- Ideal For: Players who love creativity, modding, and experimenting with different game modes and environments.
Conclusion
Open-world games offer unparalleled freedom and creativity, and hosting your own server for these games allows you to share that experience with others. Whether you’re building a vast empire in Minecraft, surviving the wilderness in ARK, or exploring the Wild West in Red Dead Redemption 2, these games provide endless possibilities for adventure and collaboration. By hosting a server, you can create a unique world tailored to your vision, bringing together friends or a broader community to explore and conquer vast, immersive landscapes.
