50 Best Exploration games

As Lara Croft races to save the world from a Maya apocalypse, she must become the Tomb Raider she is destined to be.

No Man's Sky is a game about exploration and survival in an infinite procedurally generated universe.

The gods of old are forgotten, lost in the events that shattered the world, leaving only fragments of islands in the sky. This mystic world of endless skies, colorful islands and ancient ruins is in danger of falling into darkness. As one of the last few shapeshifters, you are sent on a pilgrimage to the Land of Gods. Uncover the secrets that will help save reality itself.

NIGHT IN THE WOODS is an adventure game focused on exploration, story, and character, featuring dozens of characters to meet and lots to do across a lush, vibrant world.

Thrilled to prove your worth as a knight, you track strange rumors that a mine vital to the Kingdom has been shut down. But what you discover in the mining town is worse than you imagined: The townspeople have disappeared, kidnapped by supernatural creatures emerging from the depths. Honor-bound to solve the mystery and restore peace to the Kingdom, you embark upon an epic adventure, with deadly battles against cunning monsters, exploration of ancient catacombs and castles, and powerful new equipment hidden at every turn.

A land of discovery stretches out before you. Explore the beautiful, rugged world of RiME. Armed with your wits and a will to overcome—and the guidance of a helpful fox—you must explore the enigmatic island, reach the tower's peak, and unlock its closely guarded secrets.

InnerSpace is an exploration flying game set in the Inverse, a world of inside-out planets with no horizons. Soar through ancient skies and abandoned oceans to discover the lost history of this fading realm, where gods still wander. Your greatest journey is within.

Explore and uncover the mystery of a surreal alien world by blasting aliens and glitching your environment in this intense retro side-scrolling action/adventure.

Unto The End is a hand-crafted cinematic platformer about a desperate journey home. Master combat through improvisation and observation in intense sword fights. Spot opportunities to use artifacts and trade supplies. An adventure told through your actions, how will you make it home?

A third-person exploration game placed inside of an eye-catching stylized forest. Players control a stunning wolf who was born without a pack and is trying to find a place where he fits in. Along the way, players encounter other animals and secrets which will lead you to uncover your true self.

Paradise Island, a world outside reality. There’s been a murder that only "investigation freak" Lady Love Dies can solve. Gather evidence and interrogate suspects in this open world adventure. You can accuse anyone, but you’ll have to prove your case in trial to convict. It’s up to you to decide who’s guilty.

Sizeable is a puzzle/exploration game about shrinking and growing the environment in order to find all the hidden objects that every little diorama hides!

Ether One is a first person adventure that deals with the fragility of the human mind. There are two paths in the world you can choose from. At its core is a story exploration path free from puzzles where you can unfold the story at your own pace. There is also a deeper, more adventurous path in which you can complete complex puzzles to restore life changing events of the patients history in order to help the validation of their life. The choice is left to you. Welcome to Pinwheel. The aim of the parallel paths was to make Ether One accessible to a range of skilled players. The hope was that people would be able to enjoy playing the game and solving puzzles with parents or friends, as well as immersed in the game on your own with the lights off. From a young age we enjoyed the first person puzzle games that required you to write cryptic notes on spare pieces of paper to unravel mysteries. Ether One aims to bring back pen and paper puzzle solving, whilst still being accessible and optional for people not wanting to get stuck and frustrated on the harder puzzles.

What starts as a simple exploratory mission to gather supplies to support their shop rapidly turns into a journey revealing Myrahs unknown past and her relationship to a rare, coveted, and nearly extinct material called Morphite. In order to unlock and understand the mysteries of her past, Myrah must travel to undiscovered planets, roam uncharted sectors of space, and confront exotic creatures and locales in search of this Morphite.

Gone Home is a conceptual simulation game somewhat themed after classic adventure titles where how you interact with space around your characters determines how far you progress in the game. This title is all about exploring a modern, residential locale, and discovering the story of what happened there by investigating a deeply interactive gameworld. The development team aims to push for true simulation,both in the sense of the physics system but also in allowing the player to open any door or drawer they'd logically be able to and examine what's inside, down to small details.

Lead a major space agency as you guide humanity to Mars in this strategy simulation game. Construct a base, design and build rockets, conduct missions throughout the Solar System, and write your own history of Space exploration. Created with support from the European Space Agency.

Windlands is first person grappling hook VR exploration game. Soar through the ruins of a fallen civilisation and discover the secrets of the ancient world. It appeals to those who want to explore the breath-taking vistas at a relaxing pace, while the challenging routes attract gamers who like to master the skill of soaring through the towering environments at top speed.

Supraland is a First-Person Metroidvania Puzzle game. The main sources of inspiration are Zelda, Metroid and Portal. Supraland assumes that you are intelligent and lets you play independently. The story is minimal, gives you an overarching goal to pursue, and then sets you free. – Metroidvania – You explore a large interconnected world in which most ways are at first unpassable until you find new abilities to overcome those obstacles. A cornerstone of Supraland’s design was to create abilities that are so versatile, they will keep on surprising you by how many different usages they have. If you combine your abilities, the possibilities become even bigger. – Exploration – Most of the game is about exploring the sandbox world to track down secrets. Often you will think you are about to get out of bounds and beat the level designer, but right there is a chest waiting for you with a very rewarding upgrade. Supraland respects your lifetime and doesn’t bloat the playtime with unlimited no-brainer collectibles. – Puzzle Design – The deeper you get into the game the more you will be facing creative puzzles you’ve never seen anywhere before, encouraging you to stop and think about what abilities you have and how you can use them in yet another way. Puzzle types that I already knew from other games were immediately rejected in the design process. And it’s important to me that once you understand the idea behind a puzzle, you can pretty much immediately solve it instead of having to go through a cumbersome, frustrating execution. – Fighting – The fighting mechanics are inspired by old-school, fast-paced shooter games like Unreal, Doom and Quake, encouraging high-speed strafing and jumping while throwing shot after shot at hordes of charging enemies without ever having to worry about weapons reloading.

A new sci-fi adventure from Cyan, the creators of Myst. Abducted far across the universe, you find yourself on a broken alien landscape with odd pieces of Earth. Explore, uncover, solve, and find a way to make it home.

The Frozen Wilds contains additional content for Horizon Zero Dawn, including new storylines, characters and experiences in a beautiful but unforgiving new area.