15 Best Exploration Games of All Time

Exploration is one of the main facets of video games, especially modern ones, that take games well beyond the territory of Pong and Super Mario Bros. and invite them to immerse themselves within worlds fantastic. 

Well beyond completing mission objectives and furthering the storyline, games that offer exploration as a choice allow players to fully immerse themselves within these virtual environments, discovering facets of the game that otherwise elude players who'd choose instead to breeze through the story for the sake of finishing the game. 

To incentivize exploration, developers hide quests, bits of collectibles, as well as easter eggs for adventurers to find and discover, providing them with countless memories to call their own. 

In this list, we cover 15 of the medium's best exploration games of all time. If you think we left anything out, feel free to chime in the comments below, and be sure to tell us what you're looking forward to playing--what game you're interested in exploring. 

Red Dead Redemption

Players can explore the western countryside in one of Rockstar's most intrepid games, Red Dead Redemption--ranging from the game's Texas analogue to the Mexican desert across the border. All along the way, there's "Strangers" to encounter, all of whom have their own strange tales to share with the player. 

Grand Theft Auto 5

Much like Red Dead Redemption, there is plenty to explore and discover in the city of Los Santos and its surrounding environs. The city itself is filled to the brim with strange people, whose lives and stories are intertwined with that of the city. 

Knytt series

The Knytt series of games largely revolves around the exploration of beautiful 2-dimensional spaces. They're quite unlike any other side-scrolling platformers out there.  

Etrian Odyssey series

There's nothing more enjoyable (well, if you consider yourself the explorer type, then yeah) than having to chart out your own terrain as you delve deep into a procedurally generated dungeon. Etrian Odyssey offers players the ability to chart their own maps, which is just like how the Gold Box RPGs of yore required players to do the same thing with graph paper. 

Dragon Age: Inquisition

The latest entry in the long-standing series of role-playing games from BioWare offers wide open environments, unlike the two previous games. Players have the ability to explore the map, uncovering new quests and discovering hidden treasures with the newly added 'ping' button that lets you investigate your surroundings. 

Final Fantasy XII

Like many other titles in the series, Final Fantasy XII emphasized exploration greatly. Players could explore the wide open environments of Ivalice on foot to hunt for rare beasts that they could kill to complete bounties. There was much to discover in the game's open world, including a fair number of secrets. 

Gothic series

This series of role-playing games from German developer Piranha Bytes offers players who are inclined towards exploration the ability to do just that. The wide open environments offered by the game give players plenty of opportunity to explore as they make their way through the world. 

Far Cry 3 / Far Cry 4

Whether you're making your way through the tropical landscape of Far Cry 3 or the mountainous Himalayan regions of Far Cry 4, both games have much to offer explorers. They're fantastic first person shooters that manage to provide plenty of opportunities for exploration for anyone willing to go out of the beaten path to find treasures--numerous of which are scattered throughout the lands. 

Stalker series

Fancy a trip through Chernobyl without the risk of radiation sickness? Then the Stalker series is definitely for you, provided you're willing to deal with militants, other stalkers, and mutated hellbeasts. 

Starbound

Players can visit strange worlds--alien planets filled with a myriad of bizarre creatures and lifeforms--generated through the game's procedural generation system. There's towns to visit, bunkers to attack, and underground ruins to explore in this 2D sidescrolling game. 

Guild Wars 2

If there's one thing Guild Wars 2 manages to do really well it's rewarding explorers with special achievements--acquired through the discovery of Landmarks. This wide open environment gives players the opportunity to do more than just grind on regular monsters for experience points by encouraging them to go out of their way to investigate their surroundings.  

Minecraft

Despite being procedurally generated, Minecraft is definitely one of the top games on this list. The game manages to reward explorers with rewards like diamonds, monster spawners, and a host of other treasures--provided they're willing to travel outside their zone of comfort in the game. 

World of Warcraft

While the vanilla version of World of Warcraft offered plenty of opportunities for players to explore, no MMO to date does it as well as the game's Warlords of Draenor expansion pack, which sees players exploring the new land of Draenor, filled with treasures, rare monsters for players to hunt, and quests that lie off the beaten path. 

Fallout 3 / Fallout: New Vegas

Explore the desiccated ruins of Washington DC or the Nevada desert in either Fallout 3, or Fallout: New Vegas, respectively. Set in a post-apocalyptic world of the future, which itself is set in a world where the 1950s never ended, the Fallout series has always been big on rewarding explorers. There's many hidden Vaults to discover, ruins to explore, and a host of random encounters out in the world just waiting to be stumbled upon by intrepid players. 

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

While not necessarily the best game on this list (your mileage may vary), Skyrim is definitely one of the best games for explorers to experience. There's so many hidden ruins, hidden quests, and a mountain of gear, relics and artifacts for players to discover in the cold environments offered by Skyrim.