One of the best features of any open-world game isthe act of exploration, with any open-world worth its salt offering up stretches of land to journey, brimming with interesting locations and things to do within them. Many of these titles also allow players to purchase and/or build their own home within their worlds, and this is particularly true of open-world RPGs.
While building or purchasing a home can be extremely rewarding and comes with the added benefit of a place to rest and store items, there’s a certain charm to living out a nomadic life within these worlds. Games such asKenshiallow base-building, but players will spend much of their time as a nomad, while titles likeThe Long Darkallow players to rest anywhere, but encourage them to keep on the move in order to survive.
Stalker: Shadow of Chernobylis an iconic (albeit rough-around-the-edges) first-personopen-world survival game. The game takes place in the infamously dangerous Zone and is rich with interplay between distinctive factions, nasty creatures, and atmospheric environments. Players have no home inStalker, instead roaming its supernatural land as a nomad, completing missions and resting at campfires with fellow Stalkers.
The immersive atmosphere thatStalker: Shadow of Chernobyloffers is perhaps its greatest strength, with each excursion into the Zone often being a long and perilous journey through unpredictable territory. Each friendly camp that the player comes across, often accompanied by the sweet sound of an acoustic guitar played by an NPC, provides a warm embrace, offering a sense of safety and relief.
Free of combat,Caravan SandWitchis able to provide a wonderfully relaxing and low-stakes experience that focuses on thoughtful exploration in a visually-stunning open-world.Caravan SandWitchfocuses its gameplay on exploring both on-foot and with the titular caravan, the latter of which adds an element of play to exploration that somewhat fills the gap left by a lack of combat. However, it goes without saying thatCaravan SandWitchwon’t be for everyone due to its general lack of combat mechanics.
The nomadic lifestyle of exploring in the titular caravan, collecting items and meeting new people along the way, is part of what makesCaravan SandWitchunique. However, the laid-back atmosphere and, most notably, the ensemble cast of quirky, colorful characters is what makesCaravan SandWitchso memorable. This is furthered by the fact thatCaravan SandWitchfeatures no player death, ensuring that the stakes are always low and experimentation is never punished.
Thisopen-world zombie survival gameis a single-player adventure that takes place in the Pacific Northwest. The expansive environments on offer are frequently fun to explore, and this is thanks to the main mode of transport that the player is provided with — a motorcycle. In the game, players explore the world, fighting off hordes of zombies and violent gangs. Exploration is a huge part of the gameplay, with players having to manage their bike’s fuel and occasionally stop off at camps to get their bearings.
Days Goneisn’t the most complex of games, featuring fairly standard open-world action and a relatively generic zombie theme. However, the unique nomadic gameplay encouraged via theinclusion of a motorcycleand an unpredictable world makes it a worthwhile experience.
Mutants, cybernetics, quirky NPCs, evocative writing, and a delicate balance of procedural and hand-crafted content makeCaves Of Quda truly unique open-world game. Exploration is a massive part ofCaves Of Qud, and it’s easy to get completely and utterly lost in its labyrinthine cave systems and diverse world. The world itself is richly detailed, dense with lore, and full of interesting items and curious characters, combiningscience-fiction and fantasyto great effect.
Being a roguelike centered around exploration,Caves Of Quddoesn’t feature base-building or housing, despite having many RPG mechanics and systems. As a result, players are thrown into the game world and left to explore, wandering the lands of Qud and making camp wherever they see fit. AlthoughCaves Of Qudplays like a traditional roguelike, it features a forgiving “roleplay” mode that makes the game more accessible and allows players to enjoy the game as a regular RPG.
Kenshiis an incredibly ambitious open-world sandbox RPG that takes place in a remarkably unique and utterly strange setting. The harsh wasteland environments ofKenshiare packed with interesting locations to explore and NPCs to interact with, but there are more dangers than there are friendly faces. As a result, exploring can be extremely dangerous, but players will often find themselves roaming the world to search for new squad members and hunt down bounties.
Base-building is possibleinKenshi, but players will always begin the game as a nomad, roaming from town to town. It’s also highly likely that players maintain their status as a nomad for hours on end, as building (and defending) a base is no small feat.
Taking place in the aftermath of a natural disaster,The Long Darksees players desperately trying tosurvive in a harsh, cold, and unforgiving world. Temperature, hunger, thirst, and dangerous wildlife are all major concerns for players inThe Long Dark, and this makes shelter incredibly important. However, players will need to move around frequently, as resources will eventually dry up in the surrounding area.
Because resources will eventually begin to dwindle, players are forced to be nomadic out of necessity, hopping around from one place to the next. It’s these journeys between shelters that offer the most risk, exposing the player to the elements, but it’s a risk that must be taken frequently in order to survive.
