Exploration is on of my favorite gaming categories, as it gives you the ability to break away from everyday life and immerse youself into a world of fantasy and endless options.
In this list, you will find the best exploration games to play on PC, PlayStation and XBox, covering a huge array of themes and environments.
Explorations game allow us to play a scuba-diver, exploring the deepest depths of our oceans or as an astronautics, exploring the endless space and distant planets.
Exploration games help us to travel back in time to play or learn more about ancient Egypt, Greece or even the Viking lands of Norway.
Some exploration games are made to recreate our world in a virtual form, allowing us to either drive or fly in a real world time as we venture across games, recreated at a 1:1 scale, while other exploration games are made to be pure fantasy, as we play in post-apocalyptic world, or venture forth to fight dragons, demons and more.
With that said, let’s take a look at some of the Best Exploration Games
Table of Contents
Best Exploration Games 2020
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Released: 8 August 2020 | Developer: Asobo Studio
The skies are calling, are you ready for the mother of all exploration games!?
The next generation of Microsoft Flight Simulator is leaps and bounds ahead of its last installment, Flight Simulator X in 2006, taking next gen hardware to the new heights in delivering some of the most amazing and detailed landscape and airplanes seen in a game to date.
As Microsoft owns the Google Maps competitor known as Bing Maps, they have full access to the earth’s real world geographical data, which they used to basically recreate at a 1:1 scale within this new game.
Microsoft has said that they plan to continue development of this new title for the foreseeable future, continuing to add to it, instead of releasing a new standalone version every year.
Microsoft Flight Simulator will thus allow you to travel the world and experience over 2 million cities and over 37 thousand airports, covering expansive environments from mountains down to roads, trees, rivers, animals, traffic, in a way never seen before.
Get to pilot everything from light planes to wide-bodied, commercial jets, as you test your piloting skills and experience the challenges of flying at due, against, real-time atmospheric simulation and live weather in a dynamic and living world.
Flight Simulator has been used for decades to help train real world pilots, with this new edition being no different except that it will do it vastly better. It allows you to play the game as either a casual player just out to see the sites or an up and coming commercial pilot, with an experience that scales to your level, featuring interactive and highlighted instrument guidance and checklists.
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Best Exploration Games 2019
Journey
Released: 11 June 2019 | Developer: ThatGameCompany
Journey is an older game on this list because of the fact that it was originally released in 2012 as a PlayStation exclusive, although it is now available on PC, albeit an unfortunate Epic Store exclusive. These guys really like being exclusive don’t they?!
Either way, this is an emotional and majestic game, with stunning cell shaded art that takes our hero on a journey to explore the ancient, mysterious world, as you soar above ruins and glide across sands to discover its secrets. Play alone or in the company of a fellow traveler and explore its vast world together. Featuring stunning visuals and a Grammy-nominated musical score, Journey delivers a breathtaking experience like no other.
Journey ignores many of the conventional gaming traditions like score, lives, and stats, as its nameless hero with a long scarf, walks towards the shining mountain in the distance.
A good price for this little masterpiece, so definitely one to add to your exploration games collection.
PROS
- Visually Stunning
- Good Price
- Immersive Story
CONS
- Epic Store Exclusive
- Not for the thrill seeker
- Fairly Short (but worth it)
DEALS
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SpaceEngine
Release Date: 11 June 2019 | Developer: Vladimir Romanyuk
SpaceEngine is the realistic No Man’s Sky, but bigger!
While you don’t control a astronaut or interact with fantasy alien species in SpaceEngine, you can explore space, including stars, galaxies, planets, moons and even asteroids to your heat’s content, while being in total control of time, as you watch celestial phenomena happen before you.
It is a true master piece in terms of scientific accuracy and coding mathematics, that also uses procedural generation to create the planets and solar systems.
You can choose to either explore scientific accurate real life planets and systems in space, or even generate you own. Its like visiting the planetarium on your PC, but with ultimate control. The devs have released a lot of free content and have also recently added VR to the game.
Currently still in early access, the game has also be around for many years though. The price is good for this little gem and does a long way to supporting the very small dev team behind it, to further create and release more great content.
There is also a PRO version of SpaceEngine, targeted at those who want to use this more for research and visualization purposes. This gives you extra features such as a Camera path editor, saving of videos and screenshots with alpha channels, HDR skybox cubemaps, planet exporting, and fisheye/dome and equirectangular projection modes.
This space game simulator, should be number one on any space exploration fan’s list.
PROS
- Amazing Visuals
- Continued Development
- A True Masterpiece
CONS
- Simulator won't appeal to everyone
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Subnautica : Below Zero
Release Date: 30 January 2019 | Developer: Unknown Worlds Entertainment
The second edition in Unknown Worlds Entertainment’s survival series, Subnautica: Below Zero follows in the footsteps of the original Subnautica, set one year later in the story line of the original game.
This time round, you are a scientist posted on a research station, where you are tasked with studying alien artifacts, as you are taken on an adventure on both the landscape and underwater mysteries of an alien planet, ‘Planet 4546B’.
This survival/exploration game is still in early access, so there will be many bugs and missing features to work out. The devs are trying something different compared to the first, which has some people happy and others not so much.
One major point of complaint is that, they are forcing a story and character with a personality on you, which really takes away from the experience. The first game didn’t have any voice over, so you quickly became immersed in the belief that this is you trying to survive, where as now you feel that you are just playing this female character, and helping her to survive.
The devs of this series, do however put a lot of love into their games, so its definitely a must have for you exploration games library, even if its at a later date.
PROS
- Visually Stunning
- Good Price
- Plenty of Crafting Options
CONS
- Early access (bugs & missing features)
- Forced Character & Voice acting
DEALS
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Best Exploration Games 2018 & Older
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Release Date: 5 October 2018 | Developer: Ubisoft
Following right on the heels of The Assassin’s Creed Origins, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was released in 2018, although it takes place several hundred years before Origins and focuses on the Hellenic world and the Peloponnesian War and let’s the player to choose which side they wish to fight on.
In Odyssey, you must also choose between two protagonists (Kassandra or Alexios), both of whom are mercenaries and descendants of King Leonidas.
The same game engine was used as with Assassin’s Creed Origins, so you can expect a lot more RPG elements, a wide selection of weapons, and a massive open world to explore, with so many side quests that you forget that you have a main quest to complete.
Graphics and the world are again superbly done and there is never a dull moment in terms of the beautiful landscapes you will see during you exploration journey. In fact, many real life historians have complimented the game on how accurate it is to the history books and what we know, happened back in that time. Amazing right!
PROS
- Visually Stunning
- Great Combat
- Massive World
CONS
- Pricey
- High PC requirement
DEALS
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- True 12 phases digital VRM
Far Cry 5
Release Date: 27 March 2018 | Developer: Ubisoft
The original Far Cry was released all the way back in 2004, so even if you’ve never played any of the games in the series, you’ve definitely heard about them some time or another.
Far Cry 5 is the latest 2018 installment, followed by Far Cry New Dawn in 2019, which many players have associated as more as an unofficial expansion to Far Cry 5, due to its smaller length and content.
While I am using Far Cry 5 here, the older Far Cry 1-4 installments certainly also apply as great exploration games, as each person has their favorite in the series, based on personal opinion.
Whether you like Far Cry 5 or the previous versions, its undeniable that they games offer a massive open world to explore, filled with great graphics, tons of animals, characters, vehicles, guns and endless action.
The story (especially the ending) could have been better and there are some reported bugs and optimized areas, but all in all the game offers hours upon hours of exploration goodness.
PROS
- Massive World
- Action Packed
- Graphics
CONS
- Bugs & Memory leaks
- Story
DEALS
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Subnautica
Release Date: 28 January 2018 | Developer: Unknown Worlds Entertainment
The original Subnautica officially launched in 2018, but has been in early access since 2015, which puts you on a wreckage pod in the middle of an alien tropical ocean after you plane crash-landed, where your only hope of survival is to go down.
Here you have to descend into the depths of an alien underwater world filled with wonder and peril. Craft equipment, pilot submarines and out-smart wildlife to explore lush sun drenched shallow, coral reefs, all the way to deep sea volcanoes, cave systems, and more – all while trying to manage your oxygen and weapons.
After some exploring, supply collection and crafting you grow your small pod, into an underwater habitat.
I personally haven’t tested out the VR, but those that have, have said its not the best unfortunately.
Either way, there is so much more to this game, far too much to cover here, so make sure to check it out. One of the best exploration games ever made.
PROS
- Visually Stunning
- Good Price
- Plenty of Crafting Options
CONS
- VR not the best
DEALS
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Assassin’s Creed: Origins
Release Date: 27 October 2017 | Developer: Ubisoft
The Assassin’s Creed game series is a very large one, going back all the way to 2007. So much so, that there are already a handful of remasters of the older games released.
While there were some amazing Assassin’s Creed games during this time period, Assassin’s Creed Origins’ set a new president when it came to open world scale and exploration, as well as breathing some much needed life into the franchise that was starting to stagnate.
Set in Ptolemaic Egypt, Assassin’s Creed Origin greatly refreshed the stale Assassin’s Creed formula with a new combat system and RPG elements, including a major introduction of hit boxes, instead of the previous paired animation system, allowing combat to be more fluid.
Most importunately though, Assassin’s Creed Origin also featured a exponentially larger open world, filled with beautifully created characters, animals and landscapes, taking the player seamlessly between the cities and the wilderness of ancient Egypt.
As must play for any exploration game fan.
PROS
- Visually Stunning
- Great Combat
- Massive World
CONS
- Pricey
- High PC requirement
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Astroneer
Release Date: 16 December 2016 | Developer: System Era Softworks
A very similar graphical style to No Man’s Sky, Astroneer puts you in the shoes of an astronaut, who needs to explore alien planets in the hope of surviving. A mix of No Man’s Sky, Minecraft and Subnautica, if you will.
Astroneer is space sandbox adventure, players can work together to build custom bases above or below ground, create vehicles to explore a vast solar system, and use terrain to create anything they can imagine. A player’s creativity and ingenuity are the key to thriving on exciting planetary adventures!
In Astroneer you can use your deform tool to dig, collect, shape and build anything they wish. Use this ability to dig to the center of the planet, build a ramp into the sky, or make megaliths just by using terrain!
You will also need to survive the 7 planets of the game’s solar system, while you craft and build your bases alone or with up to 4 online friends.
The game does however come with some bugs and isn’t as long as other games such as Minecraft or Terraria, so is suited more for the casual gamer. The price is a bit steep considering the bugs and multiplayer issues in the game, but is worth picking up on sale.
PROS
- Large World
- Fun Gameplay
- Visually Good
CONS
- Price
- Bugs
- Relatively Short
DEALS
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No Man’s Sky
Release Date: 12 August 2016 | Developer: Hello Games
No Man’s Sky was an ambitious project to say the least.
Back in 2016, Hello Games, promised us exploration gamers the world (excuse the pun), selling us on a dream of a truly boundless game.
A procedural solar system was at the heart of this, allowing you to explore anything and everything, whenever and however you wanted. Each planet was true to life scale ecosystem, meaning you could choose to spend all your time on a single planet or get in your spaceship and fly to any planet, as far as your eyes could see.
Unfortunately this fell well short of their and our dreams. I believe the devs just shot a bit too high, and that it wasn’t a marketing ply or a lie, but rather just an honest oversight.
They have proven that they are still very dedicated and haven’t given up 3 years later as they are still releasing major free content to this game, such as the most recent ‘BEYOND’ update that brings both multiplayer VR and many other extras to the game.
This is commendable as they could easily have chosen to go the DLC route like many other devs. Making you pay for their lack of delivery, but they have not, so I choose to support and follow this game very closely, while enjoying it very much.
PROS
- Visually Stunning + VR
- Continued Development
- Plenty to do and see
CONS
- Pricey
- Let's hope it delivers
DEALS
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$20.11
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ABZU
Release Date: 2 August 2016 | Developer: Giant Squid
Speaking of Journey, its art director also helped make ABZÛ, which is a majestic and visually stunning underwater adventure that evokes the dream of fluid acrobatics as a graceful scuba diving.
“ABZÛ” is from the oldest mythologies; AB, meaning water, and ZÛ, meaning to know. ABZÛ is the ocean of wisdom.
This gorgeous game allows you to explore to your hearths content, while immersing you into a vibrant hidden world bursting with color and life. Discover hundreds of unique aquatic species, based on real creatures and form a powerful connection with the abundant sea life, as you interact with schools of thousands of fish that procedurally respond to you, each other, and predators, as you descend into the heart of the ocean.
Not all is relaxing however, as you need to beware of the dangers that lurk in the depths, as you descend deeper into the untold ocean.
PROS
- Visually Stunning
- Good Price
- Relaxing & Immersive
CONS
- Not for the thrill seeker
- Fairly Short (but worth it)
DEALS
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Don’t Starve
Release Date: 21 April 2013 | Developer: Klei Entertainment
Don’t Starve and its Online Co-op sibling, Don’t Starve Together, have been around for a very long time now, but are still very well reviewed by the public and the devs over at Klei Entertainment are still very much releasing new content regularly.
Don’t Starve is an uncompromising wilderness survival game full of science and magic. Enter a strange and unexplored world full of strange creatures, dangers, and surprises. Gather resources to craft items and structures that match your survival style.
You play as Wilson, an intrepid Gentleman Scientist who has been trapped by a demon and transported to a mysterious wilderness world. Wilson must learn to exploit his environment and its inhabitants if he ever hopes to escape and find his way back home.
This game isn’t for the casual gamer though and is very challenging, as the world is full of dangers, which if you are not prepared for will kill you quickly.
This is a souls-like game, where if you die you have to restart from scratch, with no hand holding or tutorials either. You learn and grow by practice and mistakes. For example, there is a day/night cycle in the game. Day time allows you to explore and prepare for night time, which once it comes and you don’t have fire, you will be eaten by the monsters in the dark.
Very challenging but very rewarding at the same time.
PROS
- Great 2D graphics
- Continued Development
- Endless crafting and exploration
CONS
- Can be tricky to get into
- High difficulty level
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American Truck Simulator
Release Date: 2 February 2016 | Developer: SCS Software
A little bit different to the rest of the games on this list, the American and Euro Truck Simulators, are however games that offer vast amounts of exploration.
As the driver of one of many, large scale delivery trucks, you take to the road and journey through the bustling cities and vast open landscape country sides. These games have been designed to replicate the real world environments as closely as possible, at a 1:1 scale, so it will take you the same time to drive from one city to another, as it would in real life.
These games may not be for everyone, due to the slow paced nature of the games, but they have certainly proven to be very popular, from those who do enjoy the genre. They offer a very relaxed type of game play, as you venture through the beautiful rendered environments, which is why I think most people enjoy them.
So definitely a well suited series for our best exploration games.
The price is also very good for the base game, to get your feet wet, followed by tons of DLC, if you want to further grow your traveling options.
PROS
- Stunning Real World Environments
- Simulation
- Price
CONS
- A bit slow for some
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Just Cause 3
Release Date: 1 December 2015 | Developer: Avalanche Studios
Just Cause 3 is a bit of an older title on this list of exploration games, released in 2015. There is also the newer Just Cause 4 available, which was released in 2018, but it didn’t live up tot the series, which many people pointing out how rushed and unfinished the game is.
So I will stick to Just Cause 3 for my list here, until/if, Just Cause 5 comes along and boots it to second place.
Unlike Assassin’s Creed realistic style of game play and fighting, Just Cause takes on a more, “imaginative” format, with a grappling hook that rivals Spider Man’s web slinging, a squirrel suit to travel around as well as other in game action moves, such as hanging from a helicopter upside down while firing a rocket launcher.
There are just some of the easy feats for our hero, Rico Rodriguez is able to do.
The world in Just Cause is also very big, due to the ability of our hero being able to travel with a squirrel suit, which covers great distances.
As this game is also older its also very cheap, so make sure to add this one to your library if you haven’t already.
PROS
- Fun Gameplay
- Cheap
- Large World
CONS
- Dated Graphics (but still good)
DEALS
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Released: 18 May 2015 | Developer: CD Projekt RED
Not much to really say about the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, other than its probably the best game ever made, with over 213,000 Overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam. No other game that I know of has achieved such a success.
The game made by CD PROJEKT RED (who own GOG), which is based off the Witcher books (No products found.), written by Andrzej Sapkowski, and is now also soon to be, a series on Netflix.
For those that don’t know, The Witcher: Wild Hunt is a story-driven open world RPG set in a visually stunning fantasy universe full of meaningful choices and impactful consequences. You play as professional, silver haired, monster hunter, by the name of Geralt of Rivia, who is tasked with finding a child of prophecy in a vast open world rich with merchant cities, pirate islands, dangerous mountain passes, and forgotten caverns to explore.
I’m not really going to go into any more than this as I could go on for days on how fantastic this game is, but in terms of exploration, this is top notch and you will spend weeks exploring the gorgeously rendered environments as you slay monsters.
There are two version, the regular and the Game of the Year addition. I would highly suggest paying the extra $10 for it, as you get a ton of extra game-play for very little money.
PROS
- Massive World
- Fantastic Gameplay
- Riviting Story
CONS
- Nothing!
DEALS
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Final Fantasy VII
Release Date: 4 July 2013 (1997) | Developer: Square Enix
Last but no least is the game that, in my opinion was the game the created the open world/ exploration genres to begin with, yes my friends, none other than the legendary Final Fantasy VII, which puts you int he role of Cloud, a former member of Shinra’s elite combat force, SOLDIER, was involved with the bombing of the Mako Reactor, who joins the side of the rebellion known as AVALANCHE to save the world.
This game was first released on the PlayStation 1, all the way back in 1997. As a young teenager at that stage I vividly remember reading about this game in the gaming manginess I subscribed to at the time, as there was very limited internet at the time.
A few days after launch day, I hopped on my mountain bike, to rush to the computer store to buy myself this game with the pocket money I had saved up from mowing the lawn, for the past few weeks. I was so excited to get back home, I don’t think I rode my bike faster than that day ever before!
Once home, I pulled the wrapping off like a crazed animal to reveal a 5 CD disk game that came in a massive CD holder. I spent my entire school holiday playing it and don’t regret a single moment of not doing anything outside that summer. LOL!
Definitely my fondest gaming memory ever and based on it legendary status, many others will agree with me. FFVII was then launched on Steam in 2013, with some updated (less pixelated graphics) and to this day is highly rated in reviews, so much so that the remake should be here in 2020, and I for one cannot wait.
FYI: There is also a mod for the game called REMAKO, which adds even more definition to the Steam game, bringing it inline with today’s standards.
The characters and story of the game, matched with the open world exploration, is what makes this game so popular, over two decades after its initial release.
I also want to make an honorable mention to the newest Final Fantasy XV, as this is also a massive game with plenty of exploration and great graphics. It is however still plagued by memory leaks, although I haven’t personally had too many issues with it and really enjoy playing it as well.
PROS
- Story & Charcters
- Gameplay Hours
- A Legend
CONS
- Graphics are dated
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Best Exploration Games Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed my list of the Best Exploration Games. I will continue to update this article as more games become available.
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Happy Gaming
Ozarc (¬‿¬)