Open-world games were on the rise during the fifth generation of consoles, with a few key titles released on the PS1 and N64. But it would take the raw power of next-gen hardware, specifically the PlayStation 2, for the genre to explode and become the mammoth force that it is today. Thanks to the improved hardware that the PS2 offered, open-world games on the console were able to make huge leaps from the previous generation, and the way they could tell stories was at the forefront.