[Top 15] Open World Exploration Games

Updated:

16 Sep 2021

Since the past decade, we’ve been privileged to play so many fantastic open world exploration games. Not only can we say that they now dominate the industry, but we could even go ahead and consider the fact that linear games are of the past. However, since many open world titles are now gracing all video game platforms, we still have to assess the lengths that these games go to provide us with the best exploration experiences. So we took it into our hands to gather a little list of the best open world exploration games out there.

15) Far Cry Primal

Far Cry Primal is an action-adventure game that sets you back to 10,000 BC Europe.

You play as Takkar, a Wenja who happens upon a safe haven for his growing tribe, but has to use everything at his disposal - including wild beasts - to protect his home from the UII cannibals and the Izila, a fire tribe who have a habit of sacrificing the Wenja as tributes to their fire-god.

Your main quests in Far Cry Primal are to grow your tribe, hone your skills to become the leader that you have been prophesied to become, and most importantly.

The land of Oros is arguably the most majestic open world setting ever to explore in a Far Cry game. The land is divided into many regions, each one special in its own way, and has its own features such as the dangers and the occupying wildlife. You’ll also be able to find and uncover many secrets inside deep caves and ancient homes that’ll teach you a thing or two about how our predecessors lived before they became the rulers of this world.

In your path to becoming the apex predator in Far Cry Primal, you will have to forage, scavenge craft, build, and upgrade your village in order to survive. A special thing that you can also do in Far Cry Primal is taming wild beasts from badgers and wolves to the larger sabretooth, bears, and mammoths which you can ride into battle and intimidate your enemies.

Far Cry Primal is definitely the most underappreciated entry both in its franchise and the genre that it belongs to. Things are always interesting in the land of Oros where the action never halts. You won’t be able to spend more than a couple of minutes of peace as you travel through this open world. And when you can, it allows you to feast your eyes upon the majestic prehistoric wild and its animals. Far Cry Primal has definitely earned its spot on this list.

You can play Far Cry Primal on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

14) The Long Dark

The Long Dark is a first-person survival game that takes place in the open world environment of the Canadian wilderness.

The story focuses on the relationship between Dr. Astrid Greenwood, and Will Mackenzie, a pilot that she hires to fly her to a remote location in the Canadian wilderness. A mysterious geomagnetic disaster causes the plane to crash, separating the two.

You’ll have to explore the wilderness around you to uncover secrets and scavenge for tools, weapons, clothing, and more. And you’ll have to monitor your health, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and cold while you do so.

The open world setting of The Long Dark is as dynamic as it gets. Everything is equally deadly from the cold weather to the predators throughout the wilderness.

You’ll have to be careful what you do and where you go in The Long Dark. The game challenges you to think and plan for yourself in order to survive.

The Long Dark is an exceptional survival exploration game where every task is equally challenging and crucial to your survival, and everything you do is your own choice to make.

You can play The Long Dark on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

13) Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5 is an open world FPS game that takes place in Hope County, a fictional region in Montana, United States.

Hope County is plagued by the radical cult, Eden’s Gate, led by Joseph Seed and his siblings. You play as a deputy who - along with other deputies - accompanies Sheriff Earl Whitehorse to arrest Joseph Seed. Things go sideways when one of his followers takes down your helicopter on your way back.

Your main goal in Far Cry 5 is to liberate Hope County from Joseph Seed and his cult. In the process, you’ll find many other activities in Hope County. It’s a vast region that has many areas to explore, outposts to liberate, animals to hunt, etc.

You’ll also have to loot your fallen enemies, scavenge items, and hunt down animals. Speaking of animals, you’ll also get to have your own companions in the game, among them being some animals with their own special skillsets. The point is that you’re always busy in Far Cry 5.

Far Cry 5 stays faithful to the Far Cry formula that had made the franchise so successful over the years. This is while it learns from the mistakes of its predecessors. It’s a must-play if you’re a fan of the open world FPS genre.

You can play Far Cry 5 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

12) Ghost of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima is an open world action-adventure game that takes you back to the late 13th century on the island of Tsushima during the first Mongol invasion of Japan.

You play as Jin Sakai, a samurai who seeks to protect the island from the invading Mongols.

Ghost of Tsushima is inspired by true events that occurred in Feudal Japan. So, brace yourself, as you’ll be educated on many aspects of that era. You’ll also witness the most immersive samurai combat mechanics that ever graced a video game.

Another thing that kicks the immersion a notch or two is that the environment is what guides you as you navigate through the island. You’ll have to pay attention to natural elements like the wind and smoke to figure out where you’re headed, and how to explore the island of Tsushima.

You’ll come across many instances where you’ll have to make the most difficult of choices that’ll have real outcomes of the story shapes up. Fret not though, because you’ll have more than a few allies throughout the game to guide you.

Ghost of Tsushima is one of those open world exploration games that’ll leave you in awe of what transpires throughout its events. The combat mechanics are impressively rivaled only by a few in the genre, and it takes focus and determination to master the different elements of the game.

You can play Ghost of Tsushima on PS4, and PS5.

11) Fallout New Vegas

Fallout New Vegas is an open world action RPG game that takes place in the post-apocalyptic wastelands of the Mojave desert.

You take the role of a courier who gets ambushed on his way to deliver a package on the outskirts of New Vegas. One of your attackers, Benny shoots you in the head and leaves you in a ditch. Later on, you wake up in the town of Goodsprings, and you set out to find your ambushers and seek answers for what they’ve done to you.

The Mohave desert is a spacious setting that you’ll get to roam however you like. You’ll find many animals to hunt, monsters to kill, and many mysterious areas to explore.

Fallout New Vegas takes its RPG element very seriously in the way that it allows you to customize your character however you see fit and upgrade your abilities and skills to suit your style of gameplay.

You can also interact with most characters in the game in various ways. You can talk to them, rob them, kill them, and much more in-between. You can even make allies or foes of various factions in the game, chiefs among them are the New California Republic and Caesar’s Legion.

Fallout New Vegas is an iconic open world RPG that set the standards for many games that followed within the genre. It takes a good while to finish the game, and even then, you’ll still have so much content to explore and quotes to embark on from the DLCs.

10) The Forest

The Forest is a survival horror game set in an open world mutant-infested peninsula.

You play as the survivor of a plane crash whose son is kidnapped by a mysterious man right after the crash.

In The Forest, you’ll have to hunt, scavenge, craft tools and weapons, and build yourself a base and reinforce it in order to survive. And don’t forget to regularly eat, drink, and sleep in order to keep your vitals up.

You’ll also have to explore the peninsula and its caves in order to find clues that help you find out what happened to the other passengers of the plane, including your son.

The inhabitants of the peninsula are crazed cannibals that will be frequently staking you and trying to hunt you down. There are also some mysterious mutant monsters all over the peninsula. Their origins? You’ll have to play the game to find out.

The Forest is a game that took the survival horror genre to a whole other level. It elevated the status of its developers, Endnight Games in the industry, and has amassed a great audience throughout the years. The mysteries and the horrors that you’ll come across in The Forest will leave you thinking of how you didn’t know that you needed something like this.

You can play The Forest on PS4 and PC.

9) No Man's Sky

No Man’s Sky is a survival game set in a procedurally generated universe with over 18.4 quintillion planets.

You have infinite galaxies to discover and explore, and unprecedented freedom to roam this world where each and every star can be individually visited and have its own unique secrets to uncover.

The multiplayer elements of No Man’s Sky provide you with endless opportunities to utilize your interactions with other players. You can build colonies together, race, explore, fight, and even dogfight in No man’s Sky.

No Man’s Sky is an open world experience with the most impressive of scales. The potential of these infinite galaxies to explore alone is something that attracts you to this game. You could even go ahead and say that No Man’s Sky may become an addiction.

You can play No Man’s Sky on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

8) Avorion

Avorion is a procedurally generated sci-fi sandbox game set several hundred years after a cataclysmic event nearly ripped the galaxy apart.

You’ll start out at the edge of the galaxy and work your way to its core.

You’ll build and customize your own ship, focusing equally on its aesthetics and its performance to help you best maneuver throughout the galaxy.

You’ll fly your ship through spectacular nebulas, and treacherous asteroid fields; you’ll explore all of it in search of treasures to claim and secrets to uncover, and you’ll get to meet many dynamic factions and interact with them however fits your circumstances and their attitudes toward you.

One thing that’s for sure about Avorion is that no matter where you go, and how many places you discover in the galaxy, there’ll always be more areas to explore.

You’ll even get to establish your own trading system, and attract NPCs to make profitable deals with you.

The Co-op multiplayer system is very cozy in Avorion. Not only can you team up with your friends to deal with enemy factions, and embark on lucrative expeditions together; but you can also have your friend by your co-pilot, and work together on building and flying your ship in the best possible way.

Avorion is without a doubt at the peak of space simulation games. Its sci-fi elements and multiplayer prospects are certainly the perfect combination in its genre.

You can play Avorion on PC.

7) Stranded Deep

Stranded Deep is an open world survival game that takes place in the Pacific Ocean.

You play as the survivor of a plane crash who gets stranded on a small island in the ocean. Your main goal here is to survive and find your way out of the ocean.

You’ll have to scavenge, fish, and hunt for food, drink, and resources in order to survive, while at the same time keeping yourself safe from other hazards of the environment such as poison and sunstroke.

The game also allows you to craft weapons and tools; and build bases and your own customizable rafts, which you’ll use to sail across the vast ocean, and explore other islands.

Stranded Deep is one of the most exceptional open world survival games out there. This game truly makes you work for your survival. Almost every creature that you’re trying to kill is equally after you, the ocean seems endless what with the map inaccessible mid-gameplay, and it makes it crucial for you to take care of the uncharted tasks in other games such as staying under shade, and having to harvest your own resources that are crucial for nutrition and traveling.
You can play Stranded Deep on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

6) Subnautica

Subnautica is an open world survival action-adventure game set in another star system in the 24th century.

The Aurora, a deep-space vessel crashes on planet 4546B. You are Riley Robinson, one of the few survivors of the crash.

Your main mission is to find the other survivors of the Aurora crash, and figure out what to do next as you progress further.

In the process of searching for the other survivors, you’ll uncover many secrets of planet 4546B. Many of which are related to the original mission of the Aurora.

In Subnautica, you will explore planet 4546B, its vast ocean, its creatures, and many other aspects of it.

You’ll have to scavenge, forage, craft your own tools and weapons, and hunt in order to survive.

You’ll also have to build your own sea base and vehicles, which you’ll be able to customize and upgrade however you please.

The main attraction of Subnautica however, is its mysteries. Throughout the game, and as you explore this world, you’ll discover many fascinating and dangerous creatures, and areas that are captivating and will only make you more curious as to what’s next to visit.

Subnautica is one of the most impressive games of its genre. It really puts other open world exploration-based games to shame. Every area that you visit is spectacular, the sea is seemingly endless and full of mysteries, and its survival mechanics are only rivaled by a few very special games in the genre.

You can play Subnautica on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

5) The Elder Scrolls Online

The Elder Scrolls Online is a multiplayer online RPG game set on the fantasy continent of Tamriel during the Age of Heroes, 1,000 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Almost all of Tamriel is ahead of you and open to be explored. Every time you level up, you’ll get to explore more places of this world such as Cyrodill, and the Black Marsh.

You can choose to join one of three factions in the game. The Aldmeri Dominion, the Daggerfall Covenant, and the Ebonheart Pact.

You’re also allowed to choose to belong to one of six classes. The Dragonknights, the Sorcerers, the Necromancers, the Templars, the Nightblades, and the Wardens. Each class has its own three unique skill lines.

You’ll engage in massive PvP battles where hundreds of players can take part, after which you’ll be assigned your own fair amount of loot.

The Elder Scrolls Online used to be considered something to spend free time one before The Elder Scrolls 6 comes out, but now it’s just bigger than anyone has expected, amassing its own audience, and growing its dominion over the MMO world.

4) GTA V

GTA V is an open world action-adventure game that takes place in the fictional state of San Andreas.

You play asynchronously as the three hell-raising protagonists, Michael De Santa, a retired bank robber; Franklin Clinton, a street gangster; and Trevor Philips, a drug dealer, and an arms smuggler.

You commit various heists, cause chaos throughout San Andreas, and grow your businesses to fuel your pockets for the rest of the endless activities that you can do in GTA V.

On the multiplayer side, you have GTA Online. This is where your friends can join you in doing all of the above and more using your own custom characters.

GTA V is one of the most time-proof open world games that ever graced the industry. The three protagonists that you play as are as iconic as they get, the plot and sub-plots have had a lot of work put in them, and the amount of freedom that you’re allowed is incredible.

You can play GTA V on PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

3) Valheim

Valheim is a procedurally generated survival game where you explore a fantasy world inspired by Norse Mythology.

You’ll get to play on your own, or along with your friends on player-hosted servers.

You’ll explore a magnificently imagined world full of snow-peaked mountains, exuberant valleys, and dark magical forests.

You’ll forge your own weapons and armors, and you craft your own food and mead.

You’ll also build your Viking halls, houses, and castles. Your own Knarrs, longships, and more, all with highly customizable building mechanics.

You’ll conquer and slay many mythical beasts of the tenth world, and face the various environmental challenges of the many terrains throughout it.

Valheim took the survival world by storm when it came out earlier this year. And from what we can already see, it’s bound to get even more impressive as it gets further updates.

You can play Valheim on PC.

2) The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an open world action RPG game set in an open world monster-infested continent.

You play as Geralt of Rivia. A monster slayer for hire with many abilities and influence over this world. Geralt finds out that his adoptive daughter and apprentice, Ciri is alive after years of having been kidnapped by the inter-dimensional beings, the Wild Hunt. He sets out in search of her.

In your journey, you’ll experience a world like no other. You’ll meet many allies, fight many foes, and hunt many monsters. There are five regions in the main map, but you’ll be able to venture into two other regions using the DLC expansions Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone. Everywhere in-between, you’ll find castles, villages, caverns, forests, and mountains to explore, uncover the secrets that they hold, and hunt the monsters that haunt them (for the right price).

In the process, you’ll have to deal with merchants, blacksmiths, swordsmiths, and more. You’ll have to loot and scavenge, craft, and cook food, potions, equipment, and weapons, all crucial to your journey and the quests that it holds.

We have been graced with many open wold RPGs since The Witcher 3 stood as king of the genre. All are special and have their own qualities. But The Witcher 3 will always be - in a sense - the game that convinced many players to take this genre seriously for the first time. The fantasy elements of the game that came from Andrzej Sapkowski, and were adapted by CD Project Red are taken for standards that are equal to those of The Lord of The Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire.

You can play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

1) Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is an open world action-adventure game set in a fictionalized version of the wild west in 1899.

You play as Arthur Morgan, a member of the Van der Linde gang. You travel throughout the United States, on the run from the law and a civilization that defies your way of life.

Seeing as Red Dead Redemption 2 focuses on the life of Arthur Morgan. You get an exceptional amount of freedom to decide how he lives it from the point of the gang’s escape from Blackwater to the ending that you’ll get (that’s right, there’s more than one ending here, and it’s based on your actions). And everything that you do in-between those two points of the story such as theft, murder, hunting, scavenging, and even how you treat other people in this world will factor into how it reacts to you and enriches your experience.

The world of Red Dead Redemption 2 is as vast and realistic as they come in the respective genres of the game and its story. It’s full of towns, villages, train stations, forests, swamps, mountains, and everything in-between from the long roads to the sunny deserts. Every area in this world has its own features and secrets to explore and uncover.

There’s also no scarcity of wildlife in this world. It’ll definitely take you a long while into your playthrough of the game to discover even half of the animals here. Deer, bears, wolves, crocodiles, and even turkeys roam the world of Red Dead Redemption 2. And they can all help you in your journey be it with trinkets, hides to sell, or meat to harvest for your meals. Horses however are definitely the main focus here. There are countless breeds in the game, and if you don’t care for using your precious money to purchase your mount, you can always set to the wild and tame yourself not one horse, not two, not even three, but four horses, which you’ll have as your own. Though, trust me, no matter how much I tell you about the special status that horses hold in this game, you’ll only get it if you play this masterpiece.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is an absolute masterpiece of an open world experience. Rockstar spectacularly reimagined the 1899 United States, and in doing so, they created a game that will reign supreme over its genre for years to come. Arthur Morgan is also one of the most iconic protagonists to ever exist in the industry.

You can play Red Dead Redemption 2 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.