If you've played open world games like Just Cause or Final Fantasy, you know they are time consuming. However, if you're in for some quick fun, here are some reasonably sized open world games.
YouTube/ Xbox
Dying Light
This game doesn't allow you to drive a car, so you're on your own walking and climbing around in a zombie park. The map is split into two zones, slums and old town, and neither is huge but both are vertical.
YouTube/PlayStation Malls are never going to be the same again after playing this game, because this entire game is based on one and you're killing zombies all the time. It straight up goes from crazy to weird in just a matter of hours.
Dead Rising 1
YouTube/PlayStation
Bully
In this one, you'll mostly be spending your time in a school. It feels big because you can only move around on a bicycle or on foot and since you're a schoolkid, you're mostly on a time limit.
YouTube/Rockstar Games
Shadow of Mordor
You are sneaking around in two areas of Mordor, but it's crazy fun. It's a relatively small map and since you move around so fast, it makes it easy to go from one end of the map to another. That means you encounter more Orcs ergo more action.
YouTube/PlayStation
Mafia 2
Aah… Empire Bay. 2K Games put so much attention to detail in making every single thing in this game look authentic, straight out of the 50s, down to the scotch glasses. And that makes this game's small map feel big.
YouTube/2K Games
The Outer Worlds
The easiest way to describe this game is ‘Fallout in space', but it's not made by just anyone... It's Obsidian themselves! The map is a bit smaller than Fallout, sure, but it feels bigger because the missions are so focused and elaborate.
YouTube/Xbox
Batman Arkham City
The map in this game feels huge even though it's not even a square mile! It's just so packed with stuff, but the whole three-dimensional climbing-walking-flying combination makes it really engaging.