10 Open-World Games That Genuinely Reward Exploration

Published Aug 4, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT Steven is a seasoned writer specializing in the video game and technological fields, with years of experience creating reviews, features, and industry analysis. Passionate about the gaming world and its evolving culture, Steven always wanted to combine his enjoyment of writing and love for gaming in a way that can provide insightful coverage for players and enthusiasts alike, striving to provide this since he joined Screenrant in 2024. While there is no shortage of massive open-world games like Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 that advertise large open expanses and sprawling cityscapes to explore, few games are actually able to succeed in filling their environments with meaningful content. From sprawling expanses of emptiness to areas that you have no reason to visit, most open-worlds feel like they serve as backdrops for the story, rather than a core part of the experience. Thankfully, there are still plenty of excellent open-world games out there that not only directly address this issue, but go above and beyond by genuinely rewarding player exploration in a meaningful way. From shorter open-world games that offer exploration as a meaningful way to add replayability to massive experiences with hundreds of hours of content to discover, these games are the best of the best for rewarding your curiosity. 10 Fallout 3's World Is So Unique You Can't Help But Explore While Bethesda games are already well known for having vast open worlds with plenty of side content and unique landmarks to discover, it's the unique post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting offered by Fallout 3 that indulges in the concept the most. Relying heavily on environmental storytelling, Fallout 3 and its successors shine the most through piecing together the pre-war and post-war lives of its inhabitants, with countless unique locations to discover. Even putting aside the environments themselves, there is an endless stream of unique encounters and worthwhile side quests that you'll entirely miss out on by simply rushing through its story, making each venture through the various biomes of Fallout 3's wasteland one of the series' shining worlds to explore, even when compared to the improvements of its successors. 9 Death Stranding's Gameplay Loop Heavily Encourages Creative Workarounds Although Death Stranding is in a bit of a weird spot since the entire gameplay loop is based around exploring the supernatural post-apocalyptic ruins of America, that's exactly where the optional exploration aspect comes into play. Although you can certainly attempt to head straight from one location to the next, the unique landscapes of Death Stranding are filled to the brim with hazards and obstacles that heavily reward players for finding their own routes. Even if you've already carved out a path between key locations, the drive to find a more efficient route or use your new equipment to establish a safer passageway makes revisiting previous areas and exploring new ones far more engaging than most open-world games, even without as much actual content to see in the environments themselves. 8 Hollow Knight: Silksong Elevates The Genre To New Heights While the original Hollow Knight was a legendary entry in the metroidvania genre for the same reason, Team Cherry's award-winning sequel Hollow Knight: Silksong took the concept of encouraging player exploration to even further heights through its expanded world and traversal mechanics. Using its metroidvania mechanics to its full advantage, Hollow Knight: Silksong has countless areas to revisit and explore from entirely new perspectives, often without any direct incentive to go visit them. From numerous side passages, hidden enemies, rewards, and areas you can entirely miss on your first playthrough, each discovery in Silksong feels genuinely meaningful and well worth the effort to search for. 7 Red Dead Redemption 2's Environments Are Unparalleled In Their Realism While the vast wildernesses and gorgeous landscapes of Red Dead Redemption might not be filled with the same point of interest density as other classic RPGs, the dynamic encounters and several side quests scattered throughout the world make natural player exploration all the more meaningful. From diegetic collectibles, stranger missions, randomized encounters, and hidden mysteries to solve, there's plenty to discover throughout Red Dead Redemption 2's Wild West setting. Even putting aside the more guided side quests, simply hunting and searching for other secrets can have you stumble across encounters and other content that you can uncover while doing something completely unrelated makes the world feel even more alive and rewarding. 6 No Man's Sky Took Open World Exploration To A Whole New Level While the procedurally generated planets in No Man's Sky's infinitely vast galaxy are already the epitome of player-driven exploration, there are a multitude of rare ships to be found, tools to acquire, wildlife, and other biomes that add incentives far beyond progressing from one point to the next. Having come incredibly far since release thanks to numerous post-launch updates, No Man's Sky continually adds new reasons to go out and explore the drastically different environments of each planet. Whether you're interested in scanning all the life on a planet, searching for valuable resources, or simply want to see what ancient artifacts there are to find, No Man's Sky continually finds ways to reward curious players willing to see everything the galaxy has in store for them. While you could put pretty much any of Bethesda's fantasy RPGs on this list, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has easily done the best job so far at making a living world that feels absolutely incredible to explore. With countless points of interest from caves, dungeons, forts, or towns scattered across its massive map, a simple journey between two locations can easily expand into a multi-hour adventure of your own making. Rather than simply fast-travelling to each important location once you've discovered it, Skyrim has numerous incentives to engage with its plethora of side content, either through the form of finding powerful new weapons, gear, storylines, or even just XP. From random events, immersive environments, and plenty of hints that point you in the right direction without telling you exactly where to go, there are countless adventures to be had scattered across Skyrim's large open world that is absolutely begging to be explored. 4 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Best Content Comes From Exploring Its World Although you can certainly stick to the main paths and story markers to complete The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's storyline, the game lives and breathes through the massive amount of side quests that rival the main narrative in terms of quality. Despite being entirely optional content that not every player will see, many of The Witcher 3's monster contracts and character quests are dripping with the same level of quality as its main offerings. While you'll still stumble across a few generic bunches of enemies or straightforward quests, you can barely walk far in any direction in The Witcher 3's massive open-world without stumbling across treasure, enemies, questlines, and even landmarks that hold some incredibly powerful gear for those willing to look, with insignificant-looking locations having the chance of offering some of The Witcher 3's most memorable experiences. 3 The Outer Wilds Builds Its Entire Premise Around Exploring The Stars While the exploration of The Outer Wilds is similar to Death Stranding and No Man's Sky in that it's another core part of the gameplay and story experience, it still stands at the top of the list when it comes to games that don't hold your hand whatsoever in experiencing its story and available content, offering unparalleled freedom where the journey is as much of a reward as the destination itself. With the time loop mechanic making your only form of progression what you learn in between each run, each of the planets scattered across the solar system in The Outer Wilds is just waiting to be explored, with countless secrets and puzzles that can be put together to solve the game's bigger mystery. Even with it being tied to beating the game rather than a side venture, very few games match the satisfying feeling of discovery and frequent curiosity-driven rewards offered by The Outer Wilds. 2 Elden Ring's Massive Open World Encourages Searching Every Inch Of The Map Despite being FromSoftware's first attempt at an open-world game within the award-winning Dark Souls formula, Elden Ring's massive world absolutely blew expectations away, with countless hidden dungeons, unique bosses, powerful gear, and questlines that can only be discovered through your own exploration. Even some of Elden Ring's most iconic bosses can't even be found in its main story, but by scouring its large environments and completing optional character quests. While there are times when Elden Ring's open world can start to feel a bit formulaic after a while, FromSoftware always finds new ways to keep players engaged through its massive roster of enemies, dynamic encounters, and plethora of powerful items to discover throughout its absolutely gigantic map. Even without the DLC that increased the scale while providing more incentives to explore to empower your character, few games beat the sense of achievement from discovering a new secret location or hidden reward in Elden Ring. 1 Breath of the Wild's Sense Of Discovery & Meaningful Exploration Never Gets Old Although The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel are practically interchangeable for this spot, the original game not only created an excellent foundation for future TLoZ games, but also made its open-world exploration even more seamless than ever, a feat that few to no other games have been able to come close to beating. Without the same hints offered by the environmental puzzles and traversal mechanics of its successor, nearly every unique landmark, hill, forest, and practically anything else you can find in the massive open-world of Hyrule is filled to the brim with secrets to discover. Offering one of the most iconic and memorable open-worlds to explore in gaming, each area of Breath of the Wild feels more rewarding to explore than even the main story can provide. Released March 3, 2017 ESRB E for Everyone: Fantasy Violence, Use of Alcohol, Mild Suggestive Themes Developer(s) Nintendo EPD Publisher(s) Nintendo Engine Havok Cross-Platform Play no Cross Save no Franchise The Legend of Zelda Steam Deck Compatibility yes