Some open-world games are so dense and fun that players can’t help but try to finish them completely. Donkey Kong Bananza is a good recent example, while Insomniac Games’s first Spider-Man title, Marvel’s Spider-Man, is an older but still solid example. It’s easy to find all the secrets within dense open-world games, but it becomes much harder the bigger the worlds get.
10 Games That Feel Like Open-World RPGs Without Actually Being RPGs
There's something about these open-world games that tricks you into feeling like you're playing a full-blown RPG.
With so much to do and see, it can be daunting to 100% these games, including the story. Even dedicated players are going to miss a thing or two, and these examples solidify the idea that, in some open-world games, it's just harder to find all the cool hidden stuff without guides.
Cyberpunk 2077
Your Build Matters
Cyberpunk 2077
- Released
- December 10, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- CD Projekt Red
Cyberpunk 2077 will make players miss content from the start, as they can choose to be a desert dweller from outside of Night City, a lowly speck on society's ladder, or a corporate lapdog. From there, players can then choose how they want their story to play out, and almost every mission in the game has some big outcomes depending on their choices.
Since missions are open-ended between approaches and dialogue choices, players can shape their story their way, but in turn, that also means they won’t be able to see everything that this cyberpunk RPG has to offer, including seeing where relationships go.
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
Making Friends In The Apocalypse
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Released
- June 26, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Violence, Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Kojima Productions
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is set in large swaths of Mexico and Australia, featuring a courier trying to reconnect distant human shelters to a network. By making deliveries to underground bunkers, players can increase their friendship with their inhabitants, thus unlocking new missions and blueprints they can use to build gear.
Most bunkers will be found by playing through the story, but the hidden side bunkers are trickier to find. Between locating bunkers and keeping the dwellers happy, it can be a lot, and getting to the good stuff demands patience and persistence, as it can take a while to see wild things like a kung fu pizza chef.
Elden Ring
Look Out For Bosses
Elden Ring
- Released
- February 25, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- From Software
Elden Ring is one of the more accessible FromSoftware games because of its open world. If one path is too tough, players can try to find a new area to explore in a different direction. That’s the thing about the best content, though; it’s typically guarded by something fierce.
With a strong character build, impressive skills, or a good co-op party, players may be able to see everything in The Lands Between. However, if a particular boss just seems impenetrable, then players may not see what’s hidden behind them, whether it’s just a chest, NPC, or a gateway to a new area.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Randomly Generated Quests
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Released
- November 11, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is one of the open-world games that helped shape the genre, and players love it because of how huge it is. The map is littered with caves, ruins, castles, and torn-down buildings seemingly around every corner.
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While great, Skyrim is also a little daunting because the idea of exploring the entire map seems impossible. Unless a quest is tied to a particular area, players won’t know if the ruin will be worth it or not. Picking and choosing which areas to explore is something that has haunted Skyrim players for over a decade.
Fallout 4
Exploring On Foot
Fallout 4
- Released
- November 10, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
The struggle with Fallout 4 is the same struggle with The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, as they are both developed by Bethesda Game Studios. It’s even worse in Fallout 4 because the post-apocalyptic setting of Boston has even more torn-down buildings to explore, and each one can seem like a maze.
Exploration in Fallout 4 is only done on foot, so getting around quickly is an issue even with fast travel as an option. These are great problems to have for players who have unlimited time to explore seemingly endless games, but for others, a lot of this content will go unseen.
Ghost Of Yotei
Easter Eggs Galore
Ghost of Yotei
- Released
- October 2, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Language, Partial Nudity, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Sucker Punch
- Genre(s)
- Action, Adventure, Open-World
Ghost of Yotei provides a big area of Japan to explore, and there are many collectibles to find. Players can hunt for fox dens, climb mountains, look for bounties, paint, gamble, and so much more. Any game with a checklist system can start to feel like a grind after a while, but many of these side activities are how Atsu, the protagonist, learns new skills, increases her health, or finds new armor.
Burnout can be an issue, but beyond the side activities, Ghost of Yotei also has a lot of Easter Eggs that call back to past games from Sucker Punch Productions, and finding them all is quite a task in itself, more so than other games.
The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
Three Overworlds Is Two Too Many
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Released
- May 12, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Rated E for Everyone 10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Action, Open-World
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild already had a gigantic world to explore with hundreds of mini-dungeons, Koroks, and side quests to tackle. Its sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, is even bigger because it opens up sky islands above Hyrule as well as the underground below.
While the sky islands are more scattered instead of being one solid landmass, the underground is almost a 1:1 size recreation of the surface world. This means there are about two and a half overworlds to explore, and that is a bit absurd, guaranteeing players are not going to see everything.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Hiding In Plain Sight
Red Dead Redemption 2
- Released
- October 26, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
Red Dead Redemption 2 has a seemingly ordinary world. It is set in the Old West, with plenty of desert, small towns, and cacti everywhere. When something pops up, it will attract players to it quickly, whether it’s just a campsite or a pile of bones.
8 Good Open-World Games With Tedious Exploration
Though these open-world games are good, the lack of traversal options makes them somewhat hard to navigate.
The thing is, more so than other open-world games, in Red Dead Redemption 2 things are more spaced out, and if players aren’t observing their surroundings from all angles, then it is possible to gallop past something interesting. In fact, there is a discovery involving spider-webs that players just recently uncovered, and this game came out in 2018.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Branching Narratives
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Released
- May 19, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content
- Developer(s)
- CD Projekt Red
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt lets players take control of Geralt for the most part, but Ciri, his daughter of sorts, is also playable. Like Cyberpunk 2077, which is also a CD Projekt Red game, players will be able to make big narrative decisions that can affect the outcome of the game. An early example includes deciding what to do with the Bloody Baron, as there are many ways this mainline quest can play out.
Missing out on story choices aside, the world is also vast and full of danger that can keep players locked out of certain areas if they aren’t strong enough and willing to grind a bit beyond the recommended levels. While they'll rarely run out of stuff to do, there's still plenty of content hidden off the beaten path that can be overlooked.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Getting To Skells
Xenoblade Chronicles X
- Released
- December 4, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Animated Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Monolith Soft, Nintendo SPD
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Open-World
Every Xenoblade Chronicles game is absolutely massive, and most require on-foot exploration, which can be time-consuming. Of the four series entries to date, Xenoblade Chronicles X is considered the hardest because of the overwhelming number of high-powered monsters out there, which gate players out of areas.
Leveling up, finding the best gear, and returning later is one solution; going for a Skell license is another. A Skell is a mech that can fly, drive on land, and fight, opening up many new gateways and areas. To get it is a grind, and before that time, players may get burned out on the more standard gameplay loop. Skells are very cool, but how many players will actually get to see them and the lands they grant access to?
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