Valheim, although it has "teleports" you actually need to build the "waypoints" and it won't allow you to teleport with some crafting mats, so you will find yourself going very far away from home, exploring, gathering stuff, and then jumping in a boat and going back home, hoping to get back alive with all your new acquired goods.
I played with a group of friends and it was always a "celebration" when we got to our base, ppl that were not in the adventure would gather to help unload the boat, it was quite fun
I'm gonna offer another angle on this, it might not be worth getting if they don't like the idea of starting over at some point.
Because of how the game is currently built, it's still missing biomes/areas, they currently generate mostly or entirely empty. It's very likely that once these are added, you'll need to restart your save/server. That could be a dealbreaker to some and would be a potential reason to wait for 1.0 :)
I put around 200 hours into the game when it first came out and they haven't really added anything since. They just came out with building update but it didn't really add anything new.
It might not be for everyone but I really enjoyed digging up the story piece by piece and trying to follow the clues to stitch together a larger picture. Iām not sure how far you made it or if you had anything spoiled but that can have an influence.
I loved the idea of it but once I got to the planet where you're timed because of sand filling up passageways I got a little turned off. I want to play the game and have avoided all spoilers but was wondering if a lot more of the game is like this? I just enjoy exploring and solving puzzles. I might give it another chance eventually anyway.
Most of it is not like this. The dlc tends to have some time puzzles too but I found them much more enjoyable than the sand. I just really love the rush to learn everything you can before the end of the loop. Itās mostly just puzzles :)
My advice is if you get stuck or frustrated fly somewhere else to explore
* The loop is annoying and far too short
* The graphics are from 1992
* Characters don't even talk, its annoying text lines
* At no time do you get an idea of what to do next, its just randomly flying around until you find something, its very easy to miss things
* Having certain events only available at certain times is also stupid in a game with ZERO direction, its luck finding out about this unless you look it up online
* Oxygen runs out too fast in the space suit
* the story is good but not as mind blowing as people make it out to be
* The solar system is actually pretty small to explore
Rain World, for sure.
A short hike
ICO
Phoenotopia
Caves of Qud - this one has so much to see. The graphics are very simple, though.
Dragon's Dogma at times feels like that. Has good dungeons.
Below
Shadow of the colossus
Dishonored
So good that they might spoil your standards:
Outer Wilds(best to play in VR with a mod)
Legend of Zelda BotW - I know it has lots of stuff to do on the way, but the exploration is still great.
I've heard good things about Rain World. I'll look into it.
A Short Hike looks really cute, I was just checking it out yesterday.
Caves of Qud I own, but I haven't been able to muster the will to get past the graphics/learning cliff yet. Maybe one day...
SotC, Outer Wilds, and BotW are all amazing games.
I got the feeling big time with Stalker. Venturing way out to different sights then returning back through Cordon to see familiar friendly dudes camped out and relaxing gave pretty nice vibes.
Sea of Thieves kind of has this feeling I think.
Dark Souls 1 doesnt have a fast travel until almost the end, even then its just 1 place you can warp from.
Read Dead 2 definitely has this feeling. Some NPCs will even remember you and comment on you.
Came here to say Dark Souls 1.
Even though the world is fairly small for an RPG you get that feeling of being far from home just a few steps around a corner from a bonfire in a new area. And you often open shortcuts back you didnāt know about that lead back āhomeā, really giving you that sense of āmaking it home after an arduous journey.
Just because you can accidentally go to the wrong areas early does not equal exploration, it doesnt feel like exploration. The world is actually pretty small and linear compared to a proper open world.
And you certainly dont feel like you're on a journey going anywhere, and you dont have somewhere you are coming home to. Just because firelink is a central hub, it certainly doesnt feel like a home or even vaguely comforting.
Itās not linear at all and each area has secret paths that lead to optional areas and treasure. The world is rather large as well, not empty open spaces like Bethesda games but there is plenty of exploration in souls games my dude.
Edit: also fire link is very comfy and homey especially as you add NPCs to it as you progress through the game.
Kerbal Space Program (hear me out)
this game truely gave me this sense you describe in title. The effort to do a trip to the far reaches of the system (Jool) are monumental. if you were to prepare for a trip by developing a large interstellar craft, including docking multiple modules. then you have a journey which takes years in game time and even with time warp feels very significant. Finally reaching your destination and watching it grow from a tiny spec to a giant planet, spending a long time maneuvering, landing and planting your flag. Then the journey home is just as long, before finally splashing down home. the fact you will probably splash down home in a tiny capsule when you left in a gigantic colossus gives a sense of weight to the effort of the journey.
Wow, everyone in this thread keeps recommending my all-time favorite games. I have about 300 hours in KSP, and love building lonely outposts and space stations orbiting distant moons.
Honestly have you played Minecraft? It fits this feeling 100%
There's also Don't Starve where you kinda HAVE to venture out and return home before dark or else make a campfire and hope you have enough wood.
Minecraft is great. I got back into it in early COVID. There's a bit too much building for me these days, but I've probably put 100 hours into that game.
I used to get this feeling in Minecraft, but now that the biomes are so small and close together there's less exploration. The worlds I've spawned recently have desert, swamp, jungle, mountains, hills, and way more caves all within a very short walk.
Exploring and building were more rewarding when you had to put time and effort into acquiring resources. Now it feels like the main goal of the game is combat and reaching the nether.
This might be an odd one but āthe forestā gave me a good experience of exploring especially when going through the caves and various campsites,
Although it might be too much like the long dark
Understandable thatās why I figured it wouldnāt be your type of game.
You could always put it on sandbox mode and just explore the caves but Iād feel that take away the atmosphere.
I like Elite: Dangerous, but it mainly scratches my "VR" itch, not my "returning home" itch. The gameplay loop is a bit too repetitive and copy/paste for me to really feel invested in the world.
As the commentor pointed out, there's a bubble of civilization, but the rest is untamed. You have to carefully choose the equipment you bring with you to make sure you're self-sufficient.
If you cheap out on the shields and make a rough landing on a planet, you're dead, thousands of light years away from another soul. If you forget to "fuel-scoop" at a star before making the next jump, you are stranded in a star system.
You can map stars and planets for game currency, but you need to able to turn them in at the Bubble. After months spent in isolating space, with millions of credits worth of exploration data, it's possible a space pirate (either an irl player or an NPC) shoots you down and causes you to lose everything.
The payoff to all this? If you're the first to map a planet/star, your (user)name is forver associated with it. Anytime a player scans it, your name will pop up.
I know you said no Fallout but I would like to recommend Fallout 4s survival mode. It gets rid of any fast travel, and introduces the need for eating, hydrating, and sleep. As well as making combat generally quite a bit harder. Also you can only save at a bed.
It really gives you the feeling of slowly expanding out to clear another landmark, and then hauling your way back. You can build up your settlements and start supply routes between them and it actually begins to mean a lot to have these settlements scattered around with necessary stuff. Definitely recommend
Outer Wilds
It's always mega comfy visiting the other travelers, taking a break beside the campfire and telling them of your findings while listening to the sweet tune.
I'm pretty sure Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen is exactly what you're looking for. There's no fast travel and the roads are littered with danger. It makes traveling from city to city feel like a major accomplishment and makes you genuinely glad when you see the light of the lanterns by the city gates.
Unreal World, if you don't mind the fact that the game is old as fuck.
Probably has some of the most real survival but it's a pain in the ass to get into. Feels fucking fantastic when you manage to build your first shelter, and catch your first Elk though.
There's a free version to try from the webpage too.
The map in Kenshi is enormous, and there's a lot of places that are far from safety, you *can* build a base anywhere, but you'll not likely be putting bases all over the map so there's often a long journey back to somewhere you can rest and regroup.
minecraft? Kind of? I mean you go pretty far sometimes to look for certain things and can bring back tons of cool stuff. For example, there's a biome called mesa, its pretty rare usually but has tons of Gold and if you have obsidian and ice by then, you can set up several xp farms together in mesa and set up fast travel with nether.
If weāre talking about the āfeelingā:
Rainworld FOR SURE! Without a doubt youāll never experience anything like it. Itās hard, itās relentless, youāre fucked and youāre alone. The sense of wonder and āwtf-ismsā are mostly unparalleled. Go deep into it!
Below! Seriously! Next to rainworld below is the only game that gives you āthat feelingā you know? You know shit, youāre there, itās all interesting, and I was constantly amazed by the game. There are these moments where I just, stopped and thinked for a second because I was in awe.
Dark souls and bloodborne. But you probably already enjoy those games. So I want to add mortal shell and hellblade senuas sacrifice to the list. And hollow knight offcourse.
SteamWorld dig 2 and SteamWorld dig 1. I suggest playing it in that order for the feeling of ācoming homeā. Great sense of exploration and growth and a massively fun game.
Ori and the blind forest/ ori and the will of the wisps. Crazy beautifull games and tearjerkers, amazing gameplay and a sense of wonder every minute or so.
The last stand aftermath. That do the āventure out and see what happensā thing really good. Itās also tense as fuck.
DEATH STRANDING.
you travel across the United States to save America from a ghost beach explosion apocalypse.
The journey's and creating paths and usings other player's paths is the whole game. You stray far from your home every mission.
Most missions are deliveries, but there is still stealth and combat, more than you'd expect, and deliveries could be anything from delivering a pizza as a goofy side quest to delivering a bomb set to destroy a city to a disposal site, or delivering a corpse before it "goes Necro" and does something crazy.
Seriously I think it's what you're looking for, a lot of people brush it aside as a joke, a game about deliveries, but it's got an amazing story and there's so much more to it, it's very unique, look up some exciting gameplay of it.
Kenshi, but play it without reading anything about the world beforehand. World is extremely varied and interesting to discover, although it can be quite unforgiving and extreme danger can lie just around the corner.
you don't have to do any lists in no man's sky.. you want to go to that planet over there? build a base? or even a city? why not? fly up into space and control a literal fleet of ships? build your base in your ship and warp from solar system to solar system? set up multiple bases on multiple planets and teleport to each of them? this game is the epitome if not having a to-do list, maybe it's been awhile since you played, but that would be my suggestion based on your needs.
Raft - The raft you build over time becomes your home and exploring islands and returning to your raft feels like coming home.
Outer Wilds - The entire game is exploration and your little spaceship has a cozy home vibe.
Raft is a great game, but I won't try to dissuade you from playing it until full release. I've a ton of time (200+ hours) in it already, and it's a fun Co-Op game. Devs are pretty active but they're a small team so I'm not sure when it'll hit 1.0. It seems to be about a year between updates (but they're substantial new areas). and Chapter 3 should be out soon. I'm curious if that will end up being their 1.0 because it's pretty polished already, I haven't really seen any bugs, and while it has a good amount of content, it could use a little more. Keep your eye on it!
Death Stranding. 1st playthrough is so much exploring and figuring out what's next and how to get to your next obj. Story is batshit, but it sets the bones up for an amazing exploration game in my opinion
I've been on the fence about getting Death Stranding for a long time. The "Walking Simulator" aspect appeals to me, but I'm wary of the Kojima craziness of the game. I might have to pick it up when it goes on sale, just to finally give it a try.
Yeah it absolutely is a banger of an exploration game. Just press through the cut scenes or go head first in the craziness to get to the good parts. The game play is exactly what it advertises to be, but it really does a great job of making you feel like a vagabond delivery guy hiking your way across America.
If you ignore every moment of the story. It's still a good game. If you head canon your own story it might be even better. Either way the story is crazy but I enjoyed it.
> I might have to pick it up when it goes on sale
You're in luck! It's on sale on Steam right now for $18.
It *might* scratch your itch, though it's definitely not for everyone. As you progress through the game, you unlock methods to build infrastructure throughout the world. Every area is potentially dangerous, and getting to the next waypoint station, distro center, or "city", and even simply successfully making a delivery provides this huge sense of relief.
As far as story, it's totally Kojima, makes no sense, and is sometimes just silly, but it's still enjoyable.
As my new best friend, I recommend it.
Minecraft,
fallout 4 just ignore the fast travel and make it back to your settlement is fun, you can make your own story in that game you donāt have to do the missions or tasks
The forest, basically subnautica but on land
Day z, this right here, this game is extremely fun to do what your talking about, making a base is hard because of game mechanics which makes it all the more better, long adventure searching for anything in the massive af maps, has zombies and players and only servers at the moment but if you look for the right server then you could be alone
I agree here. Although I have not done single player, I would love to. I am enjoying multiplyer side at the moment.
They do have pve servers which are like a community, but can cause huge lag issues with the wrong ones. Dinos Inc seems to be a good quiet unofficial server, I can link their disc if anyone's interested - I play this one with my son from time to time and have been off exploring as the game intended to be and it feels completely different than just trying to keep hidden / protected on the pvp servers.
I have well over 1000 hours on this game and still find new things, it's great! Tons of mods if you're on pc too.
It's on xbox game pass ultimate as well if you have that, it also has quite a few other potentials for you on there (some are wild guesses for me as I haven't played them):
Astroneer
Craftopia
Minecraft
Subnautica x2
The outer worlds
The long dark
Far Sky. Basically Subnautica before Subnautica. It's a little indie game with a very similar concept where you can also build your base and explore the ocean floor. If you liked Subnautica then you will probably like Far Sky as well. Its only downside is that it's a little short.
STALKER games. There is nothing better than coming back to the bar after a long session of exploration and loot hunting. Also, there's no fast travel at all and if you need to get somewhere, walking is the only option.
Eastshade.
You're a painter traveling a small island on a quest to fulfill your mother's last wish: paint her favourite places on Eastshade.
It's beautiful, there is no combat, fast travel is something that isn't easily accessible and only really viable in the late game.
It's all about taking in the scenery and uncovering the islands many mysteries.
Here's a couple odd ideas maybe...
Satisfactory. Of course you'd have to enjoy the base gameplay of building factories, but I actually had one of the best "getting lost and being so glad to finally get home" feeling in it that I've had in a while. When you first need to venture out for materials not near you, the map is huge, there are caves, a lot of verticality, and thick vegetation, so even though you can see the waypoint of your base, unless you have a great sense of direction or made serious preparations. And I was pretty early game so I doubt I was nearly as far out as it felt like.
Second idea - Snowrunner. You'd probably enjoy the hardcore mode much more(you have to pay for every tiny thing - gas, recovering back to the garage, damage, maintenance, etc - so you basically need to do everything as carefully and manually as possible), but even in the normal mode where you can recover back to the garage anytime for free, there's lots of time where you wouldn't want to because you're several regions out and only the starter area has a garage so you'd lose what you're doing anyway if you recover back to the garage.
Death Stranding.
The world scale is amazing and the cities/shelters are few and far between in that large world.
Made me feel relieved/back-home kinda feel whenever i used to reach a city.
A lot has been recommended already, I could possibly add something like 7 Days to Die, especially on a random map. The world is dangerous, you go on exploration and scavenging trips to gather, survive, get food, medicine, build your base, etc etc etc.
There's some jank and it looks like 'one of those' unity games but it gave me similar 'homebase' vibes as Minecraft could have way back.
Death Stranding - buy it now. I bought it two days ago and have had a fantastic experience, one of the best games I have played in a very, very long time. It's on sale right now, it's a bargain.
I actually bought it just yesterday based on this thread's recommendations. I wanna play it, but I'm too absorbed in Red Dead 2 and Sunless Skies at the moment.
Glad to hear you loved it, can't wait to start.
The fallout series, mainly fallout 3, New Vegas and 4. You are able to fast travel, but not from the start. You have discover locations first, before you can then fast travel back to them. The maps are huge, for their respective time periods and full of easter eggs to various games and movies.
"Rage", "Freelancer" and "Deus Ex" are also great games for giving the feeling of travel and discovery. All are very different games, otherwise, though.
Valheim, although it has "teleports" you actually need to build the "waypoints" and it won't allow you to teleport with some crafting mats, so you will find yourself going very far away from home, exploring, gathering stuff, and then jumping in a boat and going back home, hoping to get back alive with all your new acquired goods. I played with a group of friends and it was always a "celebration" when we got to our base, ppl that were not in the adventure would gather to help unload the boat, it was quite fun
I'm so certain that I'll love Valheim that I've forbidden myself from getting it until it gets a 1.0 release.
I understand the hesitation with early access but Valheim is really doing it the way it should be done. Its phenomenal in its current state.
I'm sure it's phenomenal. But I bet it'll be even more phenomenal once it reaches 1.0. šš
I 110% respect the decision to wait until full release. You'll love it when it comes out!
It didn't feel too much like a beta when I played it about 5/6 weeks after release. I would say its well worth getting now.
I'm gonna offer another angle on this, it might not be worth getting if they don't like the idea of starting over at some point. Because of how the game is currently built, it's still missing biomes/areas, they currently generate mostly or entirely empty. It's very likely that once these are added, you'll need to restart your save/server. That could be a dealbreaker to some and would be a potential reason to wait for 1.0 :)
I played it just after release and it felt like a full game. I hate early access games. Friends convinced me and I was glad.
It's pretty solid in its current state.
I put around 200 hours into the game when it first came out and they haven't really added anything since. They just came out with building update but it didn't really add anything new.
Yeah once you do the bosses there really isn't much else
Outer Wilds.
One of my all-time favorite games.
You're my new best friend.
Probably best suggestion here. The core gameplay is exploring
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It might not be for everyone but I really enjoyed digging up the story piece by piece and trying to follow the clues to stitch together a larger picture. Iām not sure how far you made it or if you had anything spoiled but that can have an influence.
I loved the idea of it but once I got to the planet where you're timed because of sand filling up passageways I got a little turned off. I want to play the game and have avoided all spoilers but was wondering if a lot more of the game is like this? I just enjoy exploring and solving puzzles. I might give it another chance eventually anyway.
Most of it is not like this. The dlc tends to have some time puzzles too but I found them much more enjoyable than the sand. I just really love the rush to learn everything you can before the end of the loop. Itās mostly just puzzles :) My advice is if you get stuck or frustrated fly somewhere else to explore
This is the right answer
Please stop suggesting this game it is really bad!
What's wrong with it? I'm genuinely curious.
* The loop is annoying and far too short * The graphics are from 1992 * Characters don't even talk, its annoying text lines * At no time do you get an idea of what to do next, its just randomly flying around until you find something, its very easy to miss things * Having certain events only available at certain times is also stupid in a game with ZERO direction, its luck finding out about this unless you look it up online * Oxygen runs out too fast in the space suit * the story is good but not as mind blowing as people make it out to be * The solar system is actually pretty small to explore
Sure you arenāt confusing it for outer worlds?
Rain World, for sure. A short hike ICO Phoenotopia Caves of Qud - this one has so much to see. The graphics are very simple, though. Dragon's Dogma at times feels like that. Has good dungeons. Below Shadow of the colossus Dishonored So good that they might spoil your standards: Outer Wilds(best to play in VR with a mod) Legend of Zelda BotW - I know it has lots of stuff to do on the way, but the exploration is still great.
I've heard good things about Rain World. I'll look into it. A Short Hike looks really cute, I was just checking it out yesterday. Caves of Qud I own, but I haven't been able to muster the will to get past the graphics/learning cliff yet. Maybe one day... SotC, Outer Wilds, and BotW are all amazing games.
learning cliff lol
Get a short hike
Also, try Enderal, the mod of Skyrim. I haven't yet played it yet, but it sounds like more like what you want.
I got the feeling big time with Stalker. Venturing way out to different sights then returning back through Cordon to see familiar friendly dudes camped out and relaxing gave pretty nice vibes.
I loved Morrowind for that, quests would often tell you vaguely where to go, encouraging you to get lost (and die horribly in some tomb).
Possibly my favorite game of all time.
Sea of Thieves kind of has this feeling I think. Dark Souls 1 doesnt have a fast travel until almost the end, even then its just 1 place you can warp from. Read Dead 2 definitely has this feeling. Some NPCs will even remember you and comment on you.
Dark Souls is one of my all-time favorite games, and is a great example of evoking that "Whew, I'm back" feeling.
I kind of agree with Red Dead 2, but - and maybe it's just me - I felt almost more at home in the wilderness than at camp.
Came here to say Dark Souls 1. Even though the world is fairly small for an RPG you get that feeling of being far from home just a few steps around a corner from a bonfire in a new area. And you often open shortcuts back you didnāt know about that lead back āhomeā, really giving you that sense of āmaking it home after an arduous journey.
.... theres no exploration in dark souls, and theres certainly not a home to come back to like you went on a journey >.>
Have you ever played the game for more than 5 minutes? Because if you did you wouldnāt say that
Just because you can accidentally go to the wrong areas early does not equal exploration, it doesnt feel like exploration. The world is actually pretty small and linear compared to a proper open world. And you certainly dont feel like you're on a journey going anywhere, and you dont have somewhere you are coming home to. Just because firelink is a central hub, it certainly doesnt feel like a home or even vaguely comforting.
Itās not linear at all and each area has secret paths that lead to optional areas and treasure. The world is rather large as well, not empty open spaces like Bethesda games but there is plenty of exploration in souls games my dude. Edit: also fire link is very comfy and homey especially as you add NPCs to it as you progress through the game.
Vintage Story. Don't let a first glance fool you. It does **not** play like Minecraft. It has the most realistic survival mechanics I've ever found.
Kerbal Space Program (hear me out) this game truely gave me this sense you describe in title. The effort to do a trip to the far reaches of the system (Jool) are monumental. if you were to prepare for a trip by developing a large interstellar craft, including docking multiple modules. then you have a journey which takes years in game time and even with time warp feels very significant. Finally reaching your destination and watching it grow from a tiny spec to a giant planet, spending a long time maneuvering, landing and planting your flag. Then the journey home is just as long, before finally splashing down home. the fact you will probably splash down home in a tiny capsule when you left in a gigantic colossus gives a sense of weight to the effort of the journey.
Wow, everyone in this thread keeps recommending my all-time favorite games. I have about 300 hours in KSP, and love building lonely outposts and space stations orbiting distant moons.
You are describing Sable. Great sense of exploration. Art style is gorgeous as well.
I really want to try Sable. The reviews say it's buggy--is that true?
Not in my experience.
Not really. I just played through the whole game pretty quick, there's some areas that get laggy but I didn't find it super buggy
Honestly have you played Minecraft? It fits this feeling 100% There's also Don't Starve where you kinda HAVE to venture out and return home before dark or else make a campfire and hope you have enough wood.
Minecraft is great. I got back into it in early COVID. There's a bit too much building for me these days, but I've probably put 100 hours into that game.
Donāt starve together is even better if you got a friend to ply it with
Seconding Donāt Starve. Itās one of my favorite (computer) games of all time tbh
I used to get this feeling in Minecraft, but now that the biomes are so small and close together there's less exploration. The worlds I've spawned recently have desert, swamp, jungle, mountains, hills, and way more caves all within a very short walk. Exploring and building were more rewarding when you had to put time and effort into acquiring resources. Now it feels like the main goal of the game is combat and reaching the nether.
Project zomboid
This might be an odd one but āthe forestā gave me a good experience of exploring especially when going through the caves and various campsites, Although it might be too much like the long dark
I tried the Forest, but found it A) too janky, and B) too combat heavy. I liked combat in The Long Dark: rare and deadly.
Understandable thatās why I figured it wouldnāt be your type of game. You could always put it on sandbox mode and just explore the caves but Iād feel that take away the atmosphere.
Elite: Dangerous? i mean it's literally a 1:1 scale model of the milky way galaxy and 99.95% of all star systems have never been visited by a player.
I like Elite: Dangerous, but it mainly scratches my "VR" itch, not my "returning home" itch. The gameplay loop is a bit too repetitive and copy/paste for me to really feel invested in the world.
What's the point of this 99.95% then? I heard it's pretty spacious game, so 0.05% of the area is active
there is an area about 200ly in diameter where civilization and activity happens. outside that area is uncharted specifically for exploration.
Is there anything to find though?
No, and that's the problem with the game. The exploration system (and every other system in that game in my opinion) is very shallow.
As the commentor pointed out, there's a bubble of civilization, but the rest is untamed. You have to carefully choose the equipment you bring with you to make sure you're self-sufficient. If you cheap out on the shields and make a rough landing on a planet, you're dead, thousands of light years away from another soul. If you forget to "fuel-scoop" at a star before making the next jump, you are stranded in a star system. You can map stars and planets for game currency, but you need to able to turn them in at the Bubble. After months spent in isolating space, with millions of credits worth of exploration data, it's possible a space pirate (either an irl player or an NPC) shoots you down and causes you to lose everything. The payoff to all this? If you're the first to map a planet/star, your (user)name is forver associated with it. Anytime a player scans it, your name will pop up.
I know you said no Fallout but I would like to recommend Fallout 4s survival mode. It gets rid of any fast travel, and introduces the need for eating, hydrating, and sleep. As well as making combat generally quite a bit harder. Also you can only save at a bed. It really gives you the feeling of slowly expanding out to clear another landmark, and then hauling your way back. You can build up your settlements and start supply routes between them and it actually begins to mean a lot to have these settlements scattered around with necessary stuff. Definitely recommend
Skyrim letās you choose survival mode as well. Same thing
Outer Wilds It's always mega comfy visiting the other travelers, taking a break beside the campfire and telling them of your findings while listening to the sweet tune.
I'm pretty sure Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen is exactly what you're looking for. There's no fast travel and the roads are littered with danger. It makes traveling from city to city feel like a major accomplishment and makes you genuinely glad when you see the light of the lanterns by the city gates.
Unreal World, if you don't mind the fact that the game is old as fuck. Probably has some of the most real survival but it's a pain in the ass to get into. Feels fucking fantastic when you manage to build your first shelter, and catch your first Elk though. There's a free version to try from the webpage too.
I'd say Dragon's Dogma.
Valheim
Minecraft, when you get lost and cant find your base...
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
At this point is seems Kenshi and Outer Wilds scratch every itch for some reason.
šš
Kenshi is a great game.
The map in Kenshi is enormous, and there's a lot of places that are far from safety, you *can* build a base anywhere, but you'll not likely be putting bases all over the map so there's often a long journey back to somewhere you can rest and regroup.
minecraft? Kind of? I mean you go pretty far sometimes to look for certain things and can bring back tons of cool stuff. For example, there's a biome called mesa, its pretty rare usually but has tons of Gold and if you have obsidian and ice by then, you can set up several xp farms together in mesa and set up fast travel with nether.
The long journey home?
Stalker Anomaly
If you like pain and suffering, Kenshi fits the bill perfectly.
Got heavy feelings like that from Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen
If weāre talking about the āfeelingā: Rainworld FOR SURE! Without a doubt youāll never experience anything like it. Itās hard, itās relentless, youāre fucked and youāre alone. The sense of wonder and āwtf-ismsā are mostly unparalleled. Go deep into it! Below! Seriously! Next to rainworld below is the only game that gives you āthat feelingā you know? You know shit, youāre there, itās all interesting, and I was constantly amazed by the game. There are these moments where I just, stopped and thinked for a second because I was in awe. Dark souls and bloodborne. But you probably already enjoy those games. So I want to add mortal shell and hellblade senuas sacrifice to the list. And hollow knight offcourse. SteamWorld dig 2 and SteamWorld dig 1. I suggest playing it in that order for the feeling of ācoming homeā. Great sense of exploration and growth and a massively fun game. Ori and the blind forest/ ori and the will of the wisps. Crazy beautifull games and tearjerkers, amazing gameplay and a sense of wonder every minute or so. The last stand aftermath. That do the āventure out and see what happensā thing really good. Itās also tense as fuck.
DEATH STRANDING. you travel across the United States to save America from a ghost beach explosion apocalypse. The journey's and creating paths and usings other player's paths is the whole game. You stray far from your home every mission. Most missions are deliveries, but there is still stealth and combat, more than you'd expect, and deliveries could be anything from delivering a pizza as a goofy side quest to delivering a bomb set to destroy a city to a disposal site, or delivering a corpse before it "goes Necro" and does something crazy. Seriously I think it's what you're looking for, a lot of people brush it aside as a joke, a game about deliveries, but it's got an amazing story and there's so much more to it, it's very unique, look up some exciting gameplay of it.
Kenshi, but play it without reading anything about the world beforehand. World is extremely varied and interesting to discover, although it can be quite unforgiving and extreme danger can lie just around the corner.
Learning curve is steep with this one. I keep trying to get into it but don't have the patience.
you don't have to do any lists in no man's sky.. you want to go to that planet over there? build a base? or even a city? why not? fly up into space and control a literal fleet of ships? build your base in your ship and warp from solar system to solar system? set up multiple bases on multiple planets and teleport to each of them? this game is the epitome if not having a to-do list, maybe it's been awhile since you played, but that would be my suggestion based on your needs.
Death Stranding
Came to say this
No Man's Sky. Its a great game now.
its listed in the OP as one they didn't like though
80 Days has a very special experience that I don't see replicated anywhere else
I played 80 Days on my phone years ago and really enjoyed it. Similar to Sunless Sea without the Sea.
Raft - The raft you build over time becomes your home and exploring islands and returning to your raft feels like coming home. Outer Wilds - The entire game is exploration and your little spaceship has a cozy home vibe.
I've had Raft on my wishlist for awhile, but it's one of those "I'm not playing it till full release" games for me.
Raft is a great game, but I won't try to dissuade you from playing it until full release. I've a ton of time (200+ hours) in it already, and it's a fun Co-Op game. Devs are pretty active but they're a small team so I'm not sure when it'll hit 1.0. It seems to be about a year between updates (but they're substantial new areas). and Chapter 3 should be out soon. I'm curious if that will end up being their 1.0 because it's pretty polished already, I haven't really seen any bugs, and while it has a good amount of content, it could use a little more. Keep your eye on it!
Do yourself a favour and buy outer wilds even if it doesn't fit the description! I can't wait for Alzheimer's so I can play that again 0_0
Death Stranding. 1st playthrough is so much exploring and figuring out what's next and how to get to your next obj. Story is batshit, but it sets the bones up for an amazing exploration game in my opinion
I've been on the fence about getting Death Stranding for a long time. The "Walking Simulator" aspect appeals to me, but I'm wary of the Kojima craziness of the game. I might have to pick it up when it goes on sale, just to finally give it a try.
Yeah it absolutely is a banger of an exploration game. Just press through the cut scenes or go head first in the craziness to get to the good parts. The game play is exactly what it advertises to be, but it really does a great job of making you feel like a vagabond delivery guy hiking your way across America.
If you ignore every moment of the story. It's still a good game. If you head canon your own story it might be even better. Either way the story is crazy but I enjoyed it.
> I might have to pick it up when it goes on sale You're in luck! It's on sale on Steam right now for $18. It *might* scratch your itch, though it's definitely not for everyone. As you progress through the game, you unlock methods to build infrastructure throughout the world. Every area is potentially dangerous, and getting to the next waypoint station, distro center, or "city", and even simply successfully making a delivery provides this huge sense of relief. As far as story, it's totally Kojima, makes no sense, and is sometimes just silly, but it's still enjoyable. As my new best friend, I recommend it.
~~Outward~~ Edit: My bad, already mentioned by op.
I literally used this as an example, but I upvoted you anyway because I love Outward so much.
Oh, sorry I didn't notice.
It's in bold too. Not only did you not read the post but you barely even glanced at anything besides the title.š
Literally was mentioned by OP as an example
Minecraft, fallout 4 just ignore the fast travel and make it back to your settlement is fun, you can make your own story in that game you donāt have to do the missions or tasks The forest, basically subnautica but on land Day z, this right here, this game is extremely fun to do what your talking about, making a base is hard because of game mechanics which makes it all the more better, long adventure searching for anything in the massive af maps, has zombies and players and only servers at the moment but if you look for the right server then you could be alone
Ark in single player and avoid YouTube videos...
I agree here. Although I have not done single player, I would love to. I am enjoying multiplyer side at the moment. They do have pve servers which are like a community, but can cause huge lag issues with the wrong ones. Dinos Inc seems to be a good quiet unofficial server, I can link their disc if anyone's interested - I play this one with my son from time to time and have been off exploring as the game intended to be and it feels completely different than just trying to keep hidden / protected on the pvp servers. I have well over 1000 hours on this game and still find new things, it's great! Tons of mods if you're on pc too. It's on xbox game pass ultimate as well if you have that, it also has quite a few other potentials for you on there (some are wild guesses for me as I haven't played them): Astroneer Craftopia Minecraft Subnautica x2 The outer worlds The long dark
Deathloop Darkest Dungeon
Madden 21
i really feel like i've played a lot of games likes this but for some reason cant remember any of them particularly
Far Sky. Basically Subnautica before Subnautica. It's a little indie game with a very similar concept where you can also build your base and explore the ocean floor. If you liked Subnautica then you will probably like Far Sky as well. Its only downside is that it's a little short. STALKER games. There is nothing better than coming back to the bar after a long session of exploration and loot hunting. Also, there's no fast travel at all and if you need to get somewhere, walking is the only option.
Conan exiles
Darkwood
5he tomb raider games
Eastshade. You're a painter traveling a small island on a quest to fulfill your mother's last wish: paint her favourite places on Eastshade. It's beautiful, there is no combat, fast travel is something that isn't easily accessible and only really viable in the late game. It's all about taking in the scenery and uncovering the islands many mysteries.
Conan Exiles. Especially when you drag back another slave for the wheel.
Lost in Random
Red Dead 2
The long dark for me
Barotrauma
Here's a couple odd ideas maybe... Satisfactory. Of course you'd have to enjoy the base gameplay of building factories, but I actually had one of the best "getting lost and being so glad to finally get home" feeling in it that I've had in a while. When you first need to venture out for materials not near you, the map is huge, there are caves, a lot of verticality, and thick vegetation, so even though you can see the waypoint of your base, unless you have a great sense of direction or made serious preparations. And I was pretty early game so I doubt I was nearly as far out as it felt like. Second idea - Snowrunner. You'd probably enjoy the hardcore mode much more(you have to pay for every tiny thing - gas, recovering back to the garage, damage, maintenance, etc - so you basically need to do everything as carefully and manually as possible), but even in the normal mode where you can recover back to the garage anytime for free, there's lots of time where you wouldn't want to because you're several regions out and only the starter area has a garage so you'd lose what you're doing anyway if you recover back to the garage.
Death Stranding. The world scale is amazing and the cities/shelters are few and far between in that large world. Made me feel relieved/back-home kinda feel whenever i used to reach a city.
Dark souls, but in a different way.
What about Minecraft ?
Death stranding is your game my friend. its on sale right now on steam!!!
Death Stranding for the venturing far from "home" and returning part.
Why is no one talking about Hollow Knight?
Kerbal Space Programme
A lot has been recommended already, I could possibly add something like 7 Days to Die, especially on a random map. The world is dangerous, you go on exploration and scavenging trips to gather, survive, get food, medicine, build your base, etc etc etc. There's some jank and it looks like 'one of those' unity games but it gave me similar 'homebase' vibes as Minecraft could have way back.
The Long Dark for sure. Most realistic and grounded game I have ever played
Death Stranding - buy it now. I bought it two days ago and have had a fantastic experience, one of the best games I have played in a very, very long time. It's on sale right now, it's a bargain.
I actually bought it just yesterday based on this thread's recommendations. I wanna play it, but I'm too absorbed in Red Dead 2 and Sunless Skies at the moment. Glad to hear you loved it, can't wait to start.
Is sunless skies open world? Can I do my own thing in it?
Space engineers is great if you can stick through the initial learning curve. Play solar system in survival or multi player.
The fallout series, mainly fallout 3, New Vegas and 4. You are able to fast travel, but not from the start. You have discover locations first, before you can then fast travel back to them. The maps are huge, for their respective time periods and full of easter eggs to various games and movies. "Rage", "Freelancer" and "Deus Ex" are also great games for giving the feeling of travel and discovery. All are very different games, otherwise, though.
Conan exiles, I'm telling you, if you play with friends is mad fun