The Infamous series had a brief, but vibrant existence. It lived from 2009 to 2014, so as of 2024 it hasn’t had any new entries for a decade, which is quite unfortunate, because its take on superhero-style open-world adventured was ahead of its time.
Each game was a great mix of spectacular, often devastating superpowers (such as the first two games’ lightning powers used by Cole MacGrath), fun to explore urban landscapes, and cool, often larger-than-life plots. The games even had a morality system, which influenced the powers you could use, adding a little bit of nuance to the overall experience.
But that’s, sadly, in the past, and more than that: the series has always been a PlayStation exclusive, so if you played on other platforms – tough luck. …or is it? Infamous was great, but by no means the only series about highly agile people with powers put in open worlds to do with as they please in-between story-heavy missions.
You don’t have to take us at our word, either. Just take a look at the list below and pick something that matches your current appetite. The selection includes shapeshifting, superpowers which feel like cheatcodes, displays of toxic might, and driving. The last part is more exciting than it sounds, we promise.
Games which might satisfy Infamous cravings
| Game | Release | Developer | Trailer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Prototype | 2009-06-10 | Radical Entertainment | |
 | Prototype 2 | 2012-07-26 | Radical Entertainment | |
 | Marvels Spider Man Remastered | 2022-08-12 | Insomniac Games | |
 | Watch Dogs 2 | 2016-11-29 | Ubisoft | |
 | Watch Dogs Legion Standard Edition | 2020-10-29 | Ubisoft | |
 | Control Ultimate Edition | 2019-08-27 | Remedy Entertainment | |
 | Sunset Overdrive | 2014-10-28 | Insomniac Games | |
 | Saints Row The Third Remastered | 2021-05-22 | Volition | |
 | Saints Row IV Re-Elected | 2020-03-27 | Volition | |
 | Batman Arkham Collection | 2018-11-28 | Rocksteady Studios | |
 | Batman Arkham City GOTY Edition | 2012-09-07 | Feral Interactive (Mac) | |
 | The Saboteur | Pandemic Studios |
Prototype (series)
| Release date: | 2009-06-10 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Radical Entertainment |
Prototype was something of a rival to Infamous. They launched roughly a month apart, and both had their own takes on superpowered open-world fun.
The power flavor of the day in Prototype is weird creepy bio-metallic shapeshifting, which ranges from displays of agility and strength, through turning your arms into blades, to causing wide-spread eruptions of deadly spikes.
As expected, certain powers are gated behind story progression, others behind general unlocks, but all of them are a lot of fun to use. Especially the shapeshifting skills, allowing the protagonist, Alex Mercer, consume almost any NPC, including pedestrians, and run around in their body. Yes, that means you can look like an elderly lady, throw a tank at a helicopter, and leap away like The Hulk.
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(Insomniac’s) Spider-Man
| Release date: | 2022-08-12 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Developer: | Insomniac Games |
The Spider-Man trilogy from Insomniac Games might be the most heroic titles on this list, and it also happens to some of the best open-world games in recent memory.
With a great mix of a well-written story filled with likable characters, exciting, scripted missions filled with amazing setpieces, and fun urban superpowered exploration filled with sidequests and secrets.
The games follow both Peter Parker and Miles Morales, and, appropriately for the license, the private lives of our heroes play an essential role in their stories. Web-slinging around Manhattan is a pure kinetic joy, powered by excellent animations and tight controls, while combat utilizes the agility and strength of both Spider-Men… plus electric powers of Miles.
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Watch Dogs 2
| Release date: | 2016-11-29 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Ubisoft |
Watch Dogs 2 is one of the breaks from high-powered movement and superpowers…but only a little bit.
The protagonist, Marcus Holloway, is quite acrobatic, for a human, and parkouring around San Francisco can be quite entertaining, and Marcus’ mighty and incredibly convenient hacking powers give him a nearly magical ability to interact and mess with the city around him.
WD2 takes place in the near future, in a version of San Francisco that’s been turned into a smart city with a system called ctOS 2.0, enabling invigilation to corruption. Hacking the system gives you a wide range of abilities, including putting an APB on your targets, controlling traffic lights, or hijack control over vehicles for a crucial moment. In a smart city, fast-hacking is a superpower.
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Control
| Release date: | 2019-08-27 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Developer: | Remedy Entertainment |
We’re empowered again. Control puts you in the shoes of one Jessie Faden, a freshly appointed Director of the Federal Bureau of Control, devoted to gathering, study, and containment of supernatural phenomena.
It would be a hard job even if the HQ wasn’t overrun with an extradimensional force known as the Hiss, causing mayhem and possessing FBC agents.
Jesse isn’t helpless against this mess. In addition to the shapeshifting Service Weapon, she also manifests powerful psychic telekinetic abilities, which allow her to fly, chuck objects at enemies (the environment is quite detailed), or turn the Hiss against each other. The game fully takes place indoors, but the FBC HQ is larger on the inside and presents a pretty large world to explore.
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Sunset Overdrive
| Release date: | 2014-10-28 |
| Genre: | Action & Shooter |
| Developer: | Insomniac Games |
A surprise second visit from Insomniac Games, this time not with a smashing hit, but a game unfairly overlooked.
Is it loud, bombastic, and filled with cheesy jokes? Yes, but running around the city is never unfun, with wall-grinding, and using car roofs like trampolines. Meanwhile, combat is powered by colorful weapons you can easily use while sliding and hopping around.
The map is large and mostly urban, with tons of events, side-quests and enemies to dispose of, so you never lack an excuse to go zipping around. The story is adequately silly and revolves around an energy drink which turned people into violent mutants. As the city Sunset City got quarantined, the survivors, including you, had to band together and figure a way out.
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Saints Row 4
| Release date: | 2020-03-27 |
| Genre: | Action & Shooter |
| Developer: | Deep Silver Volition |
We’re not done with being silly and over-the-top.
Saints Row 4 turns things up to eleven, which is quite an accomplishment, given the fact that a fully upgraded Boss in SR3 was already an immortal criminal with infinite exploding ammo. Here, thanks to the game taking place mostly in a computer simulation, you also get actual, literal superpowers to cause absolute chaos with.
You got some classics, like superspeed and mighty jumps, but in time you’ll unlock more stuff, including energy blasts, telekinesis and powerful stomps. Some abilities even come in several flavors, such as fire, cold or… turning targets into solid gold. The story is as silly as it gets, with an alien invasion, very fun cameos, great music, and lots of cheesy jokes typical for the franchise.
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Ghost of Tsushima
| Release date: | 2020-07-17 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Developer: | Sucker Punch Productions |
Mood whiplash time! We’re leaving cheesy and upbeat adventures for Ghost of Tsushima.
As a young samurai Jin Sakai, we’re on the shores of the Tsushima island on the day of the Mongol fleet’s invasion in the 13th century. A disastrous opening battle left Jin barely alive, and after recovering from wounds, he’s gripped by a determination to free his homeland by any means necessary.
In terms of gameplay, Ghost of Tsushima is an open-world, third-person action game which takes places among the landscapes of the Tsushima island, remote villages, and enemy camps you’ll be terrorizing and clearing out a lot. Jin’s exceptionally well trained in ranged and melee combat, and he is no stranger to sneaky, underhanded methods either. In fact, it’s a plotpoint!
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Batman: Arkham City
| Release date: | 2012-09-07 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Feral Interactive (Mac) |
While Batman: Arkham Asylum was a fantastic, tightly designed game, it wasn’t until Arkham City that we got to really embrace being the Caped Crusader patrolling the city.
Well, part of it, anyway. A large section of Gotham City was converted into a prison, fortified under the guidance of one Dr. Hugo Strange… and Batman is trapped within, with goons, mooks, and quite a few iconic villains.
With a large area to work with, Bats’ mobility can shine, and you’ll be cape-gliding between buildings, boosting your speed with the grappling hooks, and descending on roaming groups of gangsters and bandits. The FreeFlow combat system might not feature superpowers, but between Batman’s ability, martial art skills, and array of gadgets, you’ll feel like a superhero anyway.
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The Saboteur
| Release date: | 2009-12-04 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Pandemic Studios |
In a way, The Saboteur might be the most grounded entry on the list.
Most of its plot takes place during the Nazi Germany occupation of France, and puts you in the role of Sean Devlin, an Irish car driver with criminal past who ended up in the occupied Paris, in position to help the local resistance, even if partially it happens for personal reasons.
The game is an open-world action game released before the boom, and in addition to the usual entertaining open-world chaos its visual language is really satisfying. The areas controlled by the Nazis are presented in black-and-white, with rare splashes of color, but as your resistance actions take hold, colors flood back. It’s a great aesthetic reward for your Resistance-supporting actions.
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Gravity Rush 2
| Release date: | 2017-01-18 |
| Genre: | Action & Shooter |
| Developer: | Sony |
Do you remember 2012’s Gravity Rush? Or its 2017 sequel? If you don’t, you should, because they are very fun, creative, and slightly mind-bending action games.
You’re playing as a woman known as Kat, who founds herself amnesiac in a floating metropolis troubled by weird monsters. Thankfully, Kat has access to gravity-based powers which can help the people of Hekseville.
You can freely explore the city on foot, sure, but unless you want to talk to NPCs and pursue the narrative, it is much more fun to use your powers to just… fall in a chosen direction or walk on walls like they are pavement. There’s also some general telekinesis and a bunch of offensive abilities, making Kat quite a powerhouse as she confronts the monsters and helps the citizens.
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Powers sometimes aren’t enough
This ends our quick look at games which happens to be similar to Infamous in some aspect. Many of these games provide exciting traversal options, plenty of enemies to dispose of in over-the-top ways, and enough plot to keep you invested and entertained between chaos and mayhem.
Now it’s up to you to decide which game you’d like to try, science fiction, historical settings, a dash of weird fiction, there’s plenty to choose from.