Good explorefag games

[JarlFrank]

Storyfags have been served a lot of games for two decades now, and in recent times combatfags have also gotten quite a lot of stuff to play with.
But what about us explorefags? The guys who just wanna explore a cool world, discover cool secrets, and fill in empty spots on their map?

I'm all about that exploration, so let's make a thread on explorefag RPGs. Please list any I've forgotten.

The Might & Magics: great stuff, there's always a lot to discover, dungeons to crawl through, skill trainers you have to find, permanent stat boosts, lots of stuff. My favorites are World of Xeen, 6, and 7.

Morrowind: my absolute favorite explorefag game, especially with Tamiel Rebuilt; there's just so much to discover here, cool lore you can learn from books or interacting with factions, unique items hidden in dungeons, spells like levitation that let you explore vertically, a big open world with tons of dungeons and villages and other places; the equipment system with so many different armor pieces and being able to wear clothes and armor together makes exploration even more rewarding because there's so many different equipment pieces that can be combined together

Piranha Bytes games: everything from Gothic to Elex, their games are a joy to explore, lots of cool side quests, factions to choose between, and a genuinely dangerous world filled with content

Deus Ex: more immersive sim than RPG, Deus Ex features huge levels you can approach in any way you want, and there's always little secrets hidden away in them, excellent explorefag game

Thief: not an RPG, but same imsim design principles of Deus Ex; especially Thief fan missions tend to offer huge levels to explore, often with optional objectives and a ton of loot to pocket

FromSoftware games: be it Dark Souls or Elden Ring, their games thrive on exploration; interconnected worlds with secret areas and even entirely optional regions you can miss, worthwhile rewards when you discover secret areas, no handholding

This thread is probably more about first and third person RPGs than isometric ones, although I quite enjoyed the overworld exploration in Arcanum and the towns usually had interesting stuff to discover. Most isometric RPGs have maps with constrained dimensions though, so you know exactly where the edge of the map is and "exploring" just consists of lifting all the fog of war. That's anti-explorefag because there's no surprises. Arcanum is better in that regard because it has a seamless world where sometimes you can find cool things by walking outside the city limits (and there's at least one secret you can find that way). Baldur's Gate, Pathfinder, etc don't qualify because of that.

Any new stuff that caters to the exploration gamer?

 

[Old Hans]

kings field 4 is a really good exploring game, but its for the playstation 2

 

[Eisen]

Wait for Monomyth

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

If you're interested in exploration, it is worth looking into metroidvanias instead. Exploration in them is much stronger than what you'll find in RPGs.

Other than that, I think JarlFrank already named all the most important explorefag RPGs. I totally agree with M&M and Gothic series. Perhaps, Ultima 6 and 7 can be added to the list as well.

 

[TwoEdge]

If Arcanum is a good example, I'd say Underrail is too. It follows most of the same principles and is probably more densely packed. Some cues from metroidvanias too, you can backtrack and find new stuff in old areas when you raise some skills or earn some other means of exploration (jetskis, explosives).

 

[Deadyawn]

Kenshi fits the bill. Exploring the far corners of the world and living to tell about it is some of the most fun you can have in that game. I actually struggle to think of a game that better conveys the feeling of being on a "journey".

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Horizon's Gate, Breath of the Wild, Dragon's Dogma 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, esp. XCX.

There's also 7 Days to Die. Though it's proc gen, the cities it generates are quite fun to explore, along with all the minecraft mechanics.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Underrail.

 

[Rincewind]

Fellow Gothic and ELEX enjoyer spotted

Most isometric RPGs have maps with constrained dimensions though, so you know exactly where the edge of the map is and "exploring" just consists of lifting all the fog of war. That's anti-explorefag because there's no surprises.

I mostly agree with that sentiment, although exploring is still a lot of fun in these types of games. Age of Decadence comes to mind.

I am coming to the same conclusions; I enjoy exploration, puzzles, and story the most in games, regardless of genre. I thought I liked combat too, but my current Geneforge playthrough has become a slog because of the constant trash mobs... It's not fun, it's not challenging, the game is just wastes my time by adding boring combat as padding. Gold Box games can be a bit too much too; how many times can you play through mostly the same combat scenario and still enjoy it?

Interested about further recommendations, but yeah, Gothic and ELEX are king in this regard. I will try Morrowind again later with lowered expectations (good lore, but bad to mediocre gameplay... I was expecting Gothic-level gameplay, that was my error).

Oh, and I'm aware you know and love Nehrim too, just like me. Great explorerfag game, those dungeons have such a *thick* ambience! Yet to play Enderal.

 

[Contagium]

Caves of Lore. You have to revisit multiple places as you gain more knowledge to open new areas. It's really well done.

 

[just]

If you're interested in exploration, it is worth looking into metroidvanias instead. Exploration in them is much stronger than what you'll find in RPGs.

which ones

 

[Ryan muller]

Nobody mentioned Exile 3, which is ridiculous for a thread like this.

Most games that do exploration well, do dungeon exploration well, however very little have anything interesting in the overworld, being limited by a world full of nothing that often makes it more of a hiking simulator than an actual place to explore

Exile 3 however have interesting ways of guiding the player throught its overworld, most of the encounters across maps are interesting, bandit camps and a bunch of thug fights are elaborated and you often can find quests and lore info in unexpected places, what also makes it engaging is that this is one of the few games that actually take the concept of time seriously, so travelling feel meaningful since you actually see the passage of time, cities change and its visible how much the enemies will damage inner walls and cities slowly as you travel, with scenarios changing, shoopkeepers dying and much more that make the game exploration come to life. Itemization is also quite good, which adds to it.

If you like Jrpgs, SaGa series is often a great example of exploration done right either, in particular RS3, Ministrel song and SaGa frontier.

 

[Rincewind]

Exile 3 however have interesting ways of guiding the player throught its overworld,

That's all good and well, but does this exploration also involve countless trash fights per each map just like in Geneforge?

 

[Ryan muller]

Exile 3 however have interesting ways of guiding the player throught its overworld,

That's all good and well, but does this exploration also involve countless trash fights per each map just like in Geneforge?

Less than geneforge, but they are in there such as in every other jeff game, difference being that they are often more elaborated and much harder, the combat system is also much better than any other game he made afterwards, which makes it less of a chore

 

[Alienman]

JarlFrank This might be something up your alley (when it comes out):

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Kenshi (2018) and Outward (2019) are the best exploration-focused RPGs in recent years.

 

[AdolfSatan]

Another vote for Exile 3, it's hard to compete against Vogel's magnum opus when it comes to exploration.

Outside of RPGs, get Supraland, it's a first person metroidvania with amazing level design.

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

All great codex classics such as kotor, dragon age origins and alpha protocol.

All shit games btw

 

[lukaszek]

besides mentioned outward, gedonia is great too. There are even secrets to explore outside of the map.

Did you try playing kcd with lunatic trait? Its awesome exploration experience - you wake up in the middle of the woods, no marker on the map. As such you spend some time exploring around, trying to find any land mark. KCD drawn map is REALLY good

 

[NecroLord]

If you're interested in exploration, it is worth looking into metroidvanias instead. Exploration in them is much stronger than what you'll find in RPGs.

Other than that, I think JarlFrank already named all the most important explorefag RPGs. I totally agree with M&M and Gothic series. Perhaps, Ultima 6 and 7 can be added to the list as well.

I remember Symphony of the Night had TONS of secret areas...
Great game.
And that awesome Michiru Yamane soundtrack to go with all the exploration and combat.

In Deus Ex you even get bonus experience points for finding and accessing certain areas.

 

[Rincewind]

Did you try playing kcd with lunatic trait? Its awesome exploration experience - you wake up in the middle of the woods, no marker on the map. As such you spend some time exploring around, trying to find any land mark.

I like this idea!

 

[Kabas]

Horizon's gate was already mentioned but pretty much all of the Rad Codex games fit the explorefag criteria.
Mysterious Castle is also pretty great, despite relying on procedural generation.

Not RPGs but The Northern Journey and Ashes series, Ashes: Afterglow especially.
Come to think of it plenty of fanmade Doom/Quake maps would also fit the explorefag criteria.

The Might & Magics: great stuff, there's always a lot to discover, dungeons to crawl through, skill trainers you have to find, permanent stat boosts, lots of stuff. My favorites are World of Xeen, 6, and 7.

Speaking of Might & Magic, in case someone didn't heard a cool mod was released for M&M7 recently.

 

[Hag]

Dread Delusion is a pure explorefag dream. If you take joy on exploring a large foreign land and filling your map without much other challenge then you're in for a treat. It is one of these games where you go in some general direction for a quest, since there is of course no quest marker, but find so many places to explore on the way you sometimes forget the quest alltogether and find yourself on the other side of the land.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I'd suggest Crystal Project if you can get over the graphics. The world is massive, detailed, and rewarding. Basically no story to speak of, just all freeform exploration, looting and crafting your party into some sort of cheesy monstrosity. I gushed about it on the forums in a couple other places. Recommend playing on hard difficulty with default settings otherwise.

 

[Eirinjas]

Skyrim SE:

For all its flaws, exploration is really fun. Unexpected shit happens in that game. I was level 50-something and feeling like my character was hot shit. I had just fast-traveled to Solstheim when an Ancient Dragon immediately made itself known and attacked the town. I hurried toward it but it went over the wall and began attacking someone up the hill. I quickly made my way over the wall and watched from a distance as something quickly diced the dragon to death. WTF did that, I wondered. I didn't have to wonder long. Two werebears descended on me and eviscerated me within seconds. Up until that moment, I had no idea werebears were even in the game.

The Dark Mod:

170 missions and counting. Sure, you can get your nostalgic Thief vibe on with it, but there are some great missions that introduce novel mechanics, characters, and storylines that transcend the legacy gameplay and lore of Thief (ex. Written in Stone). And some missions are so large and detailed, you could spend 5+ hours on it.