Open-World Games Where The Best Content Is Easy To Miss

Many open-world games are so engaging and packed with content that players feel compelled to complete everything. Recent titles like Donkey Kong Bananza and older games such as Marvel’s Spider-Man from Insomniac Games are great examples. While it’s relatively easy to uncover all the hidden items in a tightly designed open world, it becomes much more challenging as the game world expands in size.

These games offer so much content that completing everything – even the main story – can feel overwhelming. Even the most committed players often overlook things, which really highlights how difficult it can be to discover all the hidden secrets in some open-world games without using a guide.

Cyberpunk 2077

Your Build Matters

In Cyberpunk 2077, players will immediately be drawn into the world with diverse starting options – you can begin as an outsider arriving in Night City, someone struggling at the bottom of society, or a privileged employee of a powerful corporation. The game then lets you shape your own story, and nearly every mission features significant consequences based on the decisions you make.

Because the game lets you approach missions and conversations freely, you can create your own unique story. However, this also means you won’t experience every possible outcome or see how all the relationships develop.

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach

Making Friends In The Apocalypse

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach takes place across vast landscapes in Mexico and Australia. Players take on the role of a courier whose job is to link isolated human settlements to a central network. Completing deliveries to underground bunkers builds relationships with the people living there, which unlocks new quests and the ability to craft better equipment.

You’ll discover most bunkers by progressing through the game’s story, but the secret ones are harder to find. Balancing bunker hunting with keeping your dwellers content can be challenging, and uncovering the really unique stuff – like a kung fu pizza chef – requires time and effort.

Elden Ring

Look Out For Bosses

Elden Ring is easier to get into than other games made by FromSoftware because of its large, open world. If you’re stuck on a difficult part, you can simply explore somewhere else. However, the most rewarding discoveries are usually protected by challenging enemies.

Players can experience everything The Lands Between has to offer by creating a powerful character, mastering skills, or teaming up with friends. However, difficult bosses can block progress, preventing players from discovering secrets like chests, important characters, or paths to new locations.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

Randomly Generated Quests

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is a landmark open-world game, celebrated for its massive scale. The world map is packed with interesting places to explore – you’ll find caves, ruins, castles, and crumbling structures everywhere you look.

Although Skyrim is an amazing game, its vastness can be overwhelming. It’s hard to know where to go, because unless a quest sends you somewhere specific, you won’t know if exploring a location will be rewarding. This challenge of deciding where to explore has been a common experience for Skyrim players for over ten years.

Fallout 4

Exploring On Foot

Both Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim share a similar problem, as they were both made by Bethesda Game Studios. However, this is more noticeable in Fallout 4 because the ruined city of Boston offers many buildings to search, and they can feel like complicated labyrinths.

Traveling in Fallout 4 relies entirely on walking, which can be slow even with the fast travel system. While this is perfect for players who enjoy taking their time, others might miss out on a lot of the game’s content.

Ghost Of Yotei

Easter Eggs Galore

Ghost of Yotei offers a large and explorable area of Japan filled with collectibles. Players can discover fox dens, scale mountains, complete bounties, paint, gamble, and participate in a variety of other side activities. While games with lots of checklists can sometimes become repetitive, in Ghost of Yotei, these activities are essential for Atsu, the main character, to learn new abilities, improve her health, and find better equipment.

While preventing burnout is important, Ghost of Yotei is also packed with Easter eggs referencing Sucker Punch Productions’ previous games. Discovering all of these hidden references is a significant undertaking, even more so than in their other titles.

The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

Three Overworlds Is Two Too Many

The world of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was already massive, filled with things to discover like small dungeons, hidden Koroks, and lots of side quests. Now, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom expands on that even further by adding floating islands in the sky and a whole underground world to explore.

Unlike the broken-up sky islands, the underground area is nearly the same size as the entire surface world. This effectively doubles the amount of land to explore, making it incredibly vast – players won’t be able to discover absolutely everything.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Hiding In Plain Sight

Red Dead Redemption 2 creates a believable and immersive Old West setting, filled with deserts, small towns, and typical Western landscapes. Even seemingly small details, like a simple campsite or even a pile of bones, can immediately grab a player’s attention and draw them in.

Unlike many other open-world games, Red Dead Redemption 2 has a vast and detailed world that’s easy to miss things in. Players really need to pay attention to their surroundings to find everything. In fact, just recently, players discovered a hidden detail involving spiderwebs, even though the game has been out since 2018!

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Branching Narratives

In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, you mostly play as Geralt, but you also get to control Ciri, a character like a daughter to him. Similar to CD Projekt Red’s other game, Cyberpunk 2077, your choices have a significant impact on the story. For instance, the quest involving the Bloody Baron has multiple possible outcomes depending on the decisions you make.

Beyond the occasional missed story opportunity, the game features a large and dangerous world. Players might find themselves blocked from certain areas if they’re not powerful enough or willing to spend extra time leveling up. Although there’s always something to do, many hidden areas and secrets are easy to miss.

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Getting To Skells

All of the Xenoblade Chronicles games are huge, and getting around often involves a lot of walking, which can take a long time. Of the four games released so far, Xenoblade Chronicles X is generally seen as the most challenging. This is mainly because it’s filled with very powerful enemies that can block your progress to certain areas.

Players can progress in the game by getting stronger, finding better equipment, and coming back to challenges later. Another option is to unlock a Skell – a powerful, versatile mech that lets you explore new areas both on the ground and in the air. Getting a Skell takes a lot of effort, and some players might get tired of the usual gameplay before they reach that point. While Skells are awesome, it’s uncertain how many players will actually experience them and the new areas they unlock.

2026-01-11 11:35