Best Open-World Games For Feeling Like A Scavenger

Summary

Scavenging is crucial for survival in post-apocalyptic games like Atomfall, Elden Ring, and Horizon: Zero Dawn.
Scavenging is a key mechanic in open-world games that encourages exploration for resources and information.
Scavenging in games like Dead Rising and Mad Max allows players to gather materials to build or repair essential items.

Gathering or seeking out useful items from discarded or neglected places is known as scavenging. This activity can take various shapes, but its fundamental concept stays consistent. An adept scavenger can discover quite intriguing artifacts if they know the right spots to search. Interestingly, video games often provide players with chances to scavenge resources. A well-known scenario that most gamers would recognize is plundering the remains of defeated adversaries. However, some games take this concept a step further.

In the vast world of gaming, scavenging is an element that spans across every genre, from grabbing a discarded weapon in a first-person shooter to unearthing hidden treasures in puzzle games. Yet, it truly shines in open-world games. The allure lies in the hunt for resources – weapons, food, crafting materials, or even lore about the game’s setting. It’s a compelling reason for players like me to delve deeper into the game’s corners and uncover its secrets. This scavenging mechanic is particularly prevalent in post-apocalyptic games, where survival necessitates it, but it’s by no means exclusive to that genre.

1. Atomfall

A Post-Apocalyptic World Where Resources Are Scarce

In the game ‘Atomfall’, survival depends heavily on scavenging due to its post-apocalyptic setting, triggered by a severe twist of the Windscale Disaster. This catastrophe led to numerous unusual occurrences in the vicinity, including an impenetrable barrier that isolates the exclusion zone, making resources scarce and unpredictable. The game world relies on scavenging for essentials such as weapons and crafting materials, which are found by exploring abandoned structures, looting deceased survivors, or using a metal detector to discover hidden caches. Players must remain vigilant in their search for useful items.

In this game, you’ll find that storage space is somewhat restricted, making it necessary for you to think carefully about your scavenging choices. This means you might need to choose between keeping items or letting some go. On a positive note, numerous objects can be traded; it’s all about finding what you can afford to part with. The choice of what to trade depends on the current situation and what needs attention at the moment.

2. Days Gone

Motorcycles Need Fuel & Repairs, Even In A Zombie Apocalypse

This well-loved adventure game by Bend Studios heavily focuses on the world of motorcycles. The main character, along with many secondary characters, are bikers. However, it’s not merely about riding these motorcycles; it’s also about their upkeep. With a zombie apocalypse in progress, motorcycles become an essential tool for navigation due to the numerous blocked roads caused by abandoned vehicles from a failed evacuation. Larger vehicles would find it challenging under such conditions. Thus, Deacon St. John needs to ensure his bike is always in optimal condition. Mechanics are available in major settlements, but they’re not much help when Deacon’s bike breaks down or runs out of gas during long journeys on the open road. The answer? Scavenging! For repairs, he can gather parts from wrecked cars scattered throughout the landscape. For fuel, Deacon may sometimes need to search for old gas cans, which might be hard to spot but are valuable when found.

Absolutely, though motorcycles are key, Deacon has multiple things to gather. Zombies aren’t his only worry; there are also potentially dangerous human adversaries. To survive, he needs to be armed, and scavenging is an effective method for this. If he can’t find weapons, he can make money from merchants by scavenging. In simple terms, this could mean locating makeshift weapons like hammers or discovering firearms left behind by others. As time goes on, Deacon learns to create his own weapons using appropriate materials, which also necessitates more scavenging.

3. Dead Rising

Extreme Scavenging Of Wacky Weapons

In my enthusiasm, let me share my perspective on Capcom’s legendary survival horror series that immerses us in an urban jungle overrun by zombies. The scene of the chaos shifts and expands with each new chapter, from a haunting shopping mall in the first game to a sprawling city district in 4. Yet, the core concept remains constant: battling waves of undead, utilizing whatever tools are at hand.

One advantage of this zombie apocalypse in an urban setting is the abundance of deserted stores stocked with loot that can be transformed into weapons, without a single penny spent. On the more practical side, characters like Chuck, Frank, and Nick can improvise weapons from everyday items such as frying pans, baseball bats, and golf clubs to take down the undead. For those who prefer a more extreme approach, there are tools like chainsaws. And for the truly adventurous, there’s an array of quirky options, ranging from battleaxes and swords to guitars, mannequin parts, and barbells.

The genuine excitement in scavenging within Dead Rising lies in the eccentric mixtures born from improvised weapons. For instance, you can fashion terrifying polearms by attaching chainsaws to both ends of a kayak paddle or mounting a drill motor on the end of a spear. There’s even an option that resembles creating a lightsaber for Chuck!

4. Dredge

What Secrets Will Be Scavenged From The Deep?

Essentially, the title that seems to focus on fishing, titled “Dredge“, has a deeper meaning. While it’s true that fishing is a significant aspect of the game, retrieving items from beneath the water’s surface plays an equally crucial role and can sometimes be even more essential. Throughout the game, there are numerous items to “dredge” up, particularly since the area is littered with shipwrecks left by those who met their end in these dangerous waters. In the game, dredging is primarily used for pulling up materials like wood and metal that can be utilized to enhance the player’s fishing boat, but there will also be occasions when you unearth artifacts that can be sold to a local dealer for cash.

Additionally, this method is useful for discovering components suitable for exploring innovative fishing methods. Moreover, you might come across beauty products or flags to decorate your ship’s mast. Furthermore, various missions require you to retrieve significant items lost at sea, such as one essential quest that plays a crucial role in finishing the primary storyline.

5. Elden Ring

A World Of Decay Where Scavenging Reveals Its History

In the style of FromSoftware games, Elden Ring is set in a once-magnificent kingdom that has fallen into ruin due to past catastrophes. The remnants of this world are fraught with perils, including the Scarlet Rot contagion and an unrelenting corruption that transforms anything it touches into a grotesque likeness of a semi-deity’s visage. The few who still inhabit this place are mere shadows of their former selves.

Occasionally, gamers may stumble upon relics of ancient giants or dragons left over from previous conflicts, making it unremarkable that gathering resources plays a significant role in gameplay. In essence, this activity forms the core narrative. Typical of FromSoftware productions, Elden Ring places great emphasis on using the environment to tell its story. Much of the game’s background and history can be gleaned from environmental cues and items collected by the player, making resource gathering pivotal in understanding the current events.

6. Horizon Series

A World Full Of Strange Machines & Crumbling Ruins With Technology To Scavenge

Guerrilla Games’ Horizon series, featuring two main games and a VR spin-off, unfolds in a post-apocalyptic setting where machines act like animals and remnants of a prosperous human society remain. Given this context, it’s no wonder that scavenging plays a significant role in the world, even influencing its economic system. The primary currency is metal shards, which are collected from damaged machines. Thus, it’s understandable that the protagonist, Aloy, must be proficient at scavenging to succeed. Whether it involves fighting robot dinosaurs, exploring ancient human structures, or stripping valuable resources from fallen foes, there is no scarcity of locations for resource gathering.

In many instances, salvaged items are utilized in making useful items, a vital skill for survival. However, items that Aloy doesn’t need or can’t use right away are still valuable to others. For instance, old machinery parts and antique relics from the ancient world can be exchanged with merchants. Furthermore, some questlines revolve around searching for specific artifacts.

7. Mad Max

A World Where Parts Are Scavenged To Build Epic Cars

In the Mad Max films, scavenging plays a significant role. Characters drive makeshift vehicles across the barren wasteland, piecing them together from salvaged parts and wearing clothing cobbled together from available materials. They also forage for food. Since these vehicles run on gasoline, conflicts often arise over finding any that can be scavenged. This concept translates well into a video game adaptation. The 2015 Mad Max video game places players in the role of the main character, who journeys through the Outback wasteland to assemble a unique car called the Magnum Opus. However, survival is challenging since the wasteland is filled with dangerous car chases, explosions, and chaos.

Max frequently forages for components throughout the game, not only to maintain the functionality of his Magnum Opus, but also to enhance it with novel additions. Additionally, he must locate sustenance and water supplies. The challenge lies in that these resources are usually concealed in territories controlled by adversarial factions. Consequently, Max frequently finds himself balancing the tasks of scavenging materials from remnants of the old world or fallen survivors, and navigating potentially dangerous situations. In essence, he often takes significant risks with the expectation of substantial returns.

8. Subnautica

Lost & Alone On An Alien Planet, Scavenging Will Save Your Life

In both versions of Subnautica, players assume the role of a survivor navigating an alien ocean, with scavenging being a crucial aspect for getting started. Particularly in the first game, Ryley Robinson scours the wreckage left by the crash-landed Aurora to gather scrap metal for recycling into titanium, a key material for crafting essential starting gear. As he delves deeper into 4446B’s ecosystems and improves his abilities to tackle their challenges, scavenging also serves as a way to collect information. By examining broken equipment, players can scan them to gather data for the fabricator, sometimes uncovering details about the setting or the fates of other crew members. In later stages of the game, scavenging offers rewards from the ruins of past expeditions and remnants of an intelligent alien race that once inhabited the planet.

In the game “Below Zero,” Robin Ayou enters knowingly and equipped, but she must still engage in quite a bit of gathering during her mission. The narrative revolves around her investigating the vanishing of the previous research team, which involves examining their old facility, procuring materials and blueprints for gear construction. Creating vehicles necessitates finding and analyzing enough components to obtain a comprehensive image. Additionally, there’s an abandoned ship with useful resources hidden within.

2025-07-24 13:34