Open-World Games With the Best Exploration, Ranked

What makes a great open-world game is the freedom to explore. These games are all about giving players the ability to roam vast environments and do almost anything they want. You can travel as far as you like, and the best games reward you for venturing off the main path to discover hidden secrets and experiences.

Great open-world games don’t just point you to objectives; they create vast maps that encourage you to explore and discover things on your own. With so many open-world games available, there are countless unique places to find and enjoy, making the experience truly rewarding.

9. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Best Open-World Game, Naturally, Has Great Exploration

Over a decade after its release, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt remains a benchmark for open-world games for many players. CD Projekt Red’s acclaimed game is celebrated for its exceptional storytelling, extending to its quests, characters, and the richly detailed world. What truly sets it apart is that exploring the game feels rewarding because of the depth of its content, not just the amount. Side quests aren’t just filler; they expand on the world and offer compelling, standalone stories that reveal more about Geralt and the world around him.

Every corner of the world in the game holds mysteries just waiting to be discovered, and finding them is usually worth the effort, encouraging further exploration. While completing every single one can become tiring, it’s not required to enjoy the game. You can simply relax and follow the main story, and still have a fantastic experience.

8. Ghost Of Tsushima

The Wind Carries More Than Just Leaves

Rather than cluttering the screen with markers, Ghost of Tsushima guides players using the wind. This clever design choice uses gusts of wind to show you where to go, creating a sense of immersion as you explore Tsushima Island. The island itself is beautiful, with golden fields, snowy mountains, and villages scarred by war, but what truly makes exploration special is that every location feels meaningful. You might stumble upon a story of revenge or find a path to redemption simply by wandering off the beaten path.

The game world is filled with important locations, and people begin to react to Jin’s increasing fame. Mongol soldiers become more dangerous, villagers start recognizing his samurai gear, and the island itself changes based on his choices. Plus, Kurosawa Mode lets you play the game like a classic samurai movie, adding a dramatic and stylish touch to your adventures – perfect for players who want a more cinematic experience.

Ghost of Yotei delivers an almost identical exploration experience to its predecessor.

7. Subnautica

Every Depth Could Mean Doom or Salvation

Subnautica drops you into an alien ocean equipped with just a diving suit and the will to live, and that simplicity is what makes the game so captivating. The planet, 4546B, brilliantly tells its story through the environment, subtly encouraging you to explore further into increasingly perilous areas as you progress. Forget vast landscapes – this world surrounds you with vibrant coral reefs, deep volcanic trenches, and glowing underwater caves.

What makes this game special isn’t just staying alive—it’s how it subtly guides you with clues. Things that seem like simple background details, like a broken spaceship or alien object, actually unlock a larger narrative. Because the game doesn’t have a typical map, finding something new always feels rewarding. Plus, improving your vehicles and suit keeps you motivated to explore further and see what’s hidden around the next corner.

6. Outer Wilds

Dying Is Half the Discovery

Though it doesn’t seem like a typical open-world game, Outer Wilds features an incredibly detailed solar system. Each planet presents a mystery to solve, but you won’t need items or upgrades – just knowledge. Every new discovery fundamentally changes how you experience and interact with the game world.

Exploring in this game isn’t about collecting items or completing tasks. It’s about unraveling a central mystery as you journey through dangerous caves, strange moons, and unusual space phenomena, all based on realistic scientific principles. What makes it truly special is that the game trusts you to figure things out on your own. There are no lists of things to do or markers on a map – only a ship’s log that records what you discover. It’s a unique open world where your understanding grows, not just the map. When everything finally comes together, the feeling of wonder is unlike anything most games offer.

5. No Man’s Sky

A Universe That Was Broken and Then Reborn

When No Man’s Sky first came out, it was criticized for lacking promised features and feeling empty, with planets that didn’t feel very interesting. However, in a surprising turn of events, the developers at Hello Games spent years completely overhauling the game, turning it into one of the most remarkable exploration games available. Players now discover planets with diverse weather, unusual environments, and hidden technology. The game’s technology for creating worlds now works beautifully, generating strange and wonderful lifeforms and landscapes – everything from fields of floating jellyfish to forests filled with intelligent storms.

The key to successful exploration in this game is its massive size and the freedom it offers. Players can delve into every cave on a fiery planet or travel to distant galaxies in search of valuable resources. With options like vehicles, freighters, and building bases, there are always new ways to experience the universe. While storylines add direction, even simply launching from one planet and landing on another is incredibly rewarding.

4. Red Dead Redemption 2

A Landscape That Remembers Every Footstep

The world of Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t just huge, it feels incredibly real. The scenery changes with the time of day, details like snow collect on your character, and wildlife behaves realistically. What truly makes exploring special, though, is how everything connects to the story of the Van der Linde gang and their struggle against a changing world.

You’re encouraged to take your time and explore at your own pace. This game world is designed for leisurely enjoyment – you can fish, investigate curious sounds, or simply ride through the landscape and watch the weather. Plus, there’s Guarma, a unique and surprising island with its own distinct environment and culture. It’s a bold example of how the developers aren’t afraid to break from the main path and offer something truly different.

3. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

The Northern Wilds Are Calling, and They Have Dragons

After the initial escape from Helgen in Skyrim, the game truly opens up, expecting players to explore. What makes exploration so enduring is how self-contained everything feels – a mountain dungeon might have its own story, complete with ghosts, traps, and a special weapon. Even a simple bandit camp could lead to a major side quest involving political intrigue. Plus, with randomly generated quests and realistic AI, every player’s experience feels unique.

Skyrim’s world design is surprisingly well-thought-out. The game divides the land into unique regions, each with its own people, government, and environment, creating a seamless journey from snowy landscapes to fiery volcanoes and colorful forests. Beyond the official game, the thriving modding community allows players to explore countless fan-created worlds, extending the adventure far beyond the original map.

2. Elden Ring

A Kingdom of Secrets, Buried in Ruins

Elden Ring combined the famously challenging gameplay of FromSoftware with a massive, open world, resulting in a truly captivating experience. The starting area, Limgrave, is packed with things to discover, like crumbling ruins and tough enemies, but that’s only a small part of the game. Beneath the surface, you’ll find Nokron, a city hidden from the sun and filled with ghostly warriors. To the north, Caelid is a horrifying landscape, a stark contrast to the beautiful plains where you begin. And you might stumble into a random cave that instantly transports you to a distant crystal cave, full of decay and terrifying creatures.

One of the most captivating things about exploring in Elden Ring is how much the game leaves up to you. It doesn’t hold your hand with quest markers or a detailed to-do list. Every time you wander off the beaten path, it feels like you might discover something amazing, dangerous, or both. The game also encourages you to keep trying – a locked door might need a key hidden far away, but finding it is always rewarding, whether you uncover a powerful new weapon or a crucial piece of the game’s story.

1. The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

Yes, Link Can Climb That

Instead of relying on typical open-world shortcuts like locked areas or invisible barriers, Breath of the Wild encourages players to find their own solutions. It’s all about the journey, not just the destination. Want to reach a faraway mountain? You’ll need stamina or a helpful meal. Discovering a hidden shrine might require some creative thinking – like rolling a boulder a long distance to trigger a mechanism. The game focuses on letting players figure things out for themselves.

The key to the game’s enduring appeal is how consistently its systems work together. Just like fire always burns grass or metal always conducts electricity, the game reliably responds to player actions. For example, Link needs warm clothes to stay strong in the cold. Exploring feels like constantly finding clever solutions to problems, and the game’s varied terrain encourages creative movement. Even the story is presented in a non-linear way, fitting the spirit of discovery – players can find lost memories or encounter random events like a dragon in a storm at any time. Remarkably, players are still finding new things to do and discover years after the game’s release. While Tears of the Kingdom built upon this foundation, it was Breath of the Wild that truly redefined what an open-world game could be.

Honorable Mentions

There are a lot of great open-world games that let you explore amazing environments. In fact, exploration is often what makes the genre so good – it’s really the heart of what these games are about. Since we can’t talk about them all, here are a few other titles worth mentioning.

Ark: Survival Evolved
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Atomfall
Days Gone
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
Gothic 2
Horizon Forbidden West
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Once Human
Outward
Sable
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Where Winds Meet

2025-12-17 00:11