I’m on vacation this week, doing a whole lot of relaxing at home and not working. I timed my vacation with the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and you best believe I am enjoying my time in this big, open Hyrule of a world. I love open world video games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Last year we got Sonic Frontiers, this year we had Hogwarts Legacy and will be getting another Spider-Man game, with the big, open Manhattan. More franchises should have games like these.

All my favorite games are big open world games. World of Warcraft, the Grand Theft Auto series, the really good Spider-Man games, Red Dead Redemption and its sequel, Witcher 3, the Assassin’s Creed games; the list goes on and on. I love a big, open map with a bunch of stuff to do, both big and small. I love being able to dress up my character in clothing and armor I’ve scoured the map to find. I love having the freedom to do side activities, like hunting in RDR2.

So with all that being sad, and to make this list as easy as possible on my chill vacation, what are some franchise I’d like to see given the big, open world video game treatment. If they can remake the entirety of Hogwarts castle in a video game, they can surely make these dreams of mine come true.

6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

We’ve had a ton of Ninja Turtles games over the years, but they’re usually brawlers or side-scrollers. Makes sense. The Turtles fight. But how about if we mix things up a bit? They can still fight in an open world sandbox. Give them a big, stylized Manhattan, complete with skyscrapers and an elaborate sewer system. They can go anywhere, travel the sewers, go up to the surface, drive the Party Wagon through the city, visit the Statue of Liberty. Foot Soldier bases are everywhere. Mutants roam the streets. So many cameo opportunities! And then the Technodrome invades! Imagine a fully rendered Technodrome! Now that would be damn fun. And, of course, you can switch Turtles on the fly, each with their own skill trees.

5. The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is one of the greatest superhero video games of all time. And we’ve had jack all since. There were some movie tie-in games that tried to match that game’s quality, but they stank and disappeared quickly. The Hulk needs a proper modern game where he’s got a big playground to go hog wild in. Do you remember Ultimate Destruction? That game was hella fun. You could skateboard on a smashed bus! We need that in modern gaming.

Jeez, Ultimate Destruction came out in 2005…

4. The Simpsons

Simpsons: Hit and Run, the Grand Theft Auto clone, was wonderful. It was a lot of fun and really captured everything. Now it’s time to update and upgrade into a fully realized, fully recreated Springfield. No more individual levels. No more disconnection. Give me everything from the Power Plant to Kamp Krusty to the Squidport. Honestly, just make it another GTA clone. I don’t care. Somebody just get to work making a full, open world Springfield that we can walk around in to our hearts content.

3. Power Rangers

There’s no need for a Power Rangers video game to have an open world. What are they going to do with a full-sized Angel Grove and the surrounding countryside? I don’t know. I just want a game where I can transition from being on the ground to piloting a Zord in the same world at the drop of a hat. I don’t even know how the Megazord would be incorporated. Maybe I just need to find an open world mech game. Or maybe I’ve just been chasing that one open city giant mech game I played in my youth on some demo disk and never actually played the full game. I should look that up.

2. Superman

They’ve tried it before and failed miserably. So keep trying! This can work. We’ve all seen the test footage, the fun of having Superman flying around the skyscrapers of Metropolis. Surely someone can figure out how to turn that into a compelling and enjoyable video game. Maybe he gets blasted by Kryptonite at the beginning of the game, and that explains his low power level at the start. Kryptonite has been around forever! It makes sense to me. And then include some big, city-crunching brawls and other unique uses of his powers, and all will be well.

1. Transformers

I’m mostly just picturing a world where you can transform from robot to vehicle at will and that’s the game. Isn’t the fun of GTA the part where you only get to drive one vehicle at all times? Yeah, sheesh, I’m not doing well at this list after all. Why do the Transformers need an open world? Mostly just for driving around, and then transforming to get into gunfire. It’s GTA, but the gunman and the car are one singular character. It makes sense in my head.

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