Open-World Games That Are Almost Exclusively Optional Content

In recent years, games have ballooned in size. Whereas once upon a time it was common for AAA games to only take a weekend to complete, these days they're more likely to take a few dozen hours. This trend has gone hand in hand with the rise in popularity of open-world games. Game maps are getting bigger and developers are stuffing them full of optional content to complete.

It's reached the point where the main story now often takes a backseat to the various side activities on offer, with some games barely having any kind of story to speak of. Whether or not this optional content is always fun, or even worth doing, is up for debate.

Updated July 20, 2024 by Robbie Mitchell: With open-world games more popular than ever before, it's time to add some more entries to this list. Palworld has given Pokemon a run for its money, Horizon: Forbidden West recently got its big PC release, Once Human has proven free-to-play games can be just as good, and Elden Rings's big DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, has set the gaming world alight.

These titles have helped prove that it's not always a bad thing when big open-world games focus on optional content over their main stories. For anyone looking for more games that let them do their own thing, each one of these is a great pick.

1 Palworld

Make Your Own Story

Survival games tend to be famously light on story elements, but even for this genre, Palworld is incredibly light on actual story. It doesn't feature any kind of main story quest, and outside of a tutorial and missions encouraging the player to take on world bosses and reach new areas, it lets the player do whatever they like.

This is a wise choice because Palworld's core gameplay loop is a ton of fun. There are tons of Pals to "recruit" and either use either to battle other Pals or work on one's base. The quests that do exist are entirely optional but offer meaningful rewards and tend to lead to the player discovering new areas. While some players might miss Pokemon's slightly more structured approach to catching monsters and exploring the world, Palworld offers significant levels of player freedom.

2 Once Human

New Story Every Six Weeks

Once Human has a surprisingly good story for an open-world, live service free-to-play survival game. Based around a particularly bizarre alien invasion, the game's story is mostly an excuse to push the player into new areas and discover new gear and blueprints.

The game's real focus, though, is on undertaking sidequests, weekly/seasonal challenges called commissions, and building up the player's gear and base. In an interesting twist, the game's servers are set to reset every six weeks (a bit like Tarkov), wiping certain parts of the player's progression. These resets will also add new features, including continuing the game's story. This will likely lead to a cycle where every six weeks players will complete the next bit of story as quickly as possible and spend the rest of their time doing optional content while they wait for the next reset/story drop.

3 Horizon: Forbidden West

Living The Sweet Hunter-Gatherer Life

Unlike some games here, Horizon: Forbidden West does have a decent story to tell. As a direct follow-up from the first game, it follows Aloy not long after she defeats the rogue AI, Hades, and has her searching for a way to save the world. That main story is pretty beefy and will take most players just under 28 hours to complete.

Most of the player's time spent playing Horizon: Forbidden West, however, will be spent tackling its side content. The game has various side quests and tasks to complete, many of them meaningful, some feeling like filler. Crafting is also a big part of the game, and it's easy to sink countless hours into hunting down specific beasts to upgrade Aloy's gear. Finally, the game has a lot of map icons for players to visit, and ticking off every location on the map will take a fair few hours just on its own. It's a great open-world game that might be too long thanks to its emphasis on side content.

4 Elden Ring

No Hand Holding

Credits: FromSoftware Inc.

With Elden Ring, FromSoftware took their classic Dark Souls formula and applied it to a truly massive open world. It proved to be a recipe for success and since its release in 2022, the game has done phenomenally well. Just like the Dark Souls games, Elden Ring has a story and lots of in-depth lore, but most players have no idea what's going on.

Elden Ring has a massive map stuffed to the gills with hidden locations to find, tombs to explore, and world bosses to hunt down. It's a gigantic game that encourages players to go where they want and do what they want. The vast majority of locations can be undertaken in whatever order the player wants (depending on how good they are) and pretty much everything is optional. Rather than being told where to go, most players will complete the main story organically while hopping from one piece of content to the next. It's a setup that the game's DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, also follows, adding many, many hours of optional content to the game.

5 Fallout 76

It's All Optional

Ever since Fallout 3, the Fallout games have been known for their immersive world-building and great side quests. Many fans would argue that Fallout's best stories and content are usually found off the beaten track - it's kind of Bethesda's whole thing.

With Fallout 76, Bethesda doubled down on this approach. The game doesn't feature a traditional main storyline and what story it does have is mainly used to drip-feed players new camp plans and equipment. Instead, Fallout 76 encourages players to explore and tackle whatever content they feel like. Fans can focus on completing more traditional quests if they wish, or the multiple events, raids, expeditions, and other MMO aspects of the title.

6 Saints Row 4

A Lot Of Optional Craziness

The Saints Row series may have started as "we have GTA at home" but quickly evolved into its own thing. While Grand Theft Auto has always had a focus on storytelling, Saints Row's main goal has always been to fill its map with as much mayhem as possible.

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Saint's Row 4 dishes out this mayhem in the form of an eye-watering number of optional activities. These range from committing insurance fraud (a Saint's Row staple) to flying around in a UFO and taking down enemies as an overpowered pseudo-superhero. The game's storyline doesn't take very long to beat, but getting a Gold medal in all these activities can easily become a time-consuming addiction.

7 No Man's Sky

The Sky Isn't The Limit

When No Man's Sky was first released, players were given one objective: reach the center of the universe. Unfortunately, it soon turned out that was pretty much all there was to do. Thankfully, over the years Hello Games kept adding to the game and now fans are spoiled for choice when it comes to things to do.

No Man's Sky doesn't really have a traditional story. Instead, players are free to do whatever they want in a procedurally generated universe where everything is optional. Want to become a space rancher? Go for it. Travel space as a bounty hunter tracking criminal scum? The game has fans covered. In No Man's Sky players make their own stories.

8 Assassin's Creed Valhalla

No Time For Assassinations

Some gamers can remember a time when the Assassin's Creed games were actually about assassinating people. Over time, however, the Ubisoft open-world tropes set in, and the games became more about exploring the map to hunt down collectibles and a multitude of optional activities.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla epitomizes this evolution - the main character, Evior, isn't even an assassin. Players can go hunting, lead raids, play drinking games, and even attend Viking-style rap battles (plus much, much more). There's so much to do and see, most players will spend most of their time in Viking England tackling optional content rather than playing the story missions.

9 Xenoblade Chronicles

Over 400 Optional Quests To Complete

It's a shame that outside of Japan the original Xenoblade Chronicles has never really gotten the love it deserves. The size of this RPG is staggering, featuring a massive open world and more quests than fans can shake a stick at.

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There are over a dozen regions to explore, each packed to the gills with optional side quests. In total, the game has 480 quests to complete, with only 31 of them being compulsory. Anyone looking to complete them all can expect around 200 hours of game time.

10 Starfield

Not Just Open-World, Optional Worlds

Starfield doesn't just have one open world with a lot of optional content. It has entire star systems and planets that are optional.

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If they want, players can spend hundreds of hours just exploring Starfield without ever opening their quest log or taking on the main quest line. Of course, this being a Bethesda game, Starfield also has dozens of hours worth of optional side quests - some of which are really weird.