Subnautica 2 has been in the works for quite some time now, and fans across the globe are all eagerly waiting to see just how good the follow-up truly is. The original is widely regarded as a masterpiece of exploration-driven gameplay and a testament to how an engaging world with a compelling story can easily captivate players for years to come. While it is still unclear when the sequel is going to drop, there are still plenty of great exploration games out there that capture the essence of the alien adventure through a slightly different lens, setting, and style of gameplay.
Free Open-World Games With The Best Exploration
These free open-world games offer vast and beautiful open worlds, great exploration, loads of content; there's almost no catch.
A lot of these games take a similar underwater route, letting players explore the dark depths below in search of knowledge and answers, while others keep the action above the sea level, but still have an interesting enough environment for players to truly feel lost in. At the end of the day, players can only sit and wait patiently for the game to release, so they might as well spend that time going on some equally, if not more, enjoyable experiences that just might become their next favorite.
Fit the 9 games into the grid.
Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss
Solving A Mystery Under The Sea
Details:
- Atmospheric exploration without the survival grind
- Narrative unfolds through environmental clues.
Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss is a first-person underwater adventure centered on investigating the wreck of the eponymous ship and piecing together what led to its demise. Players inhabit the role of Cam, a diver returning to a ruined ship on the seafloor to uncover the fate of their missing crew and reconcile with the personal losses that went with it, with a lot of the storytelling occurring within the environment and the player's movements through it.
Far from a survival game, it focuses more on immersion and narrative discovery over combat and base-building, but that doesn't mean the world isn't extremely eerie and mysterious right from the start. The game’s exploration mirrors the spirit of the original Subnautica by placing patience and curiosity as the main sources of progression, and the emphasis on a human-centered mystery is perfectly intertwined with the player's movements through the wreckage, as they slowly piece together the answers they have been longing to find.
The Invincible
A Philosophical Sci-Fi Adventure
Details:
- Planetary exploration
- Tools reveal clues and environmental context
The Invincible stands out as a richly narrative exploration game set on the alien world Regis III, where players assume the role of astrobiologist Yasna in search of a missing team and the underlying mystery of what happened on the planet. The world is full of alien landscapes that players are free to explore at whatever pace suits them, and they have access to a range of tools like scanners and trackers that allow them to locate points of interest and unravel the setting’s complex backstory.
Upcoming Games All About Exploration
Prepare for an exciting journey filled with discovery in these upcoming games.
Though not an ocean game, its emphasis on uncovering an environment’s secrets and understanding the larger world structurally mirrors Subnautica’s core gameplay loop. Players engage with the world not through crafting or building, but through methodical probing of the environment and by revealing the narrative threads through careful investigation of the surface, making it a stellar example of how the desire to learn more about a story can be all they need to keep pressing on.
The Solus Project
Surviving More Than Just A Crash
Details:
- Harsh environments that demand serious attention
- Diverse biomes and locations
The Solus Project places players alone on a mysterious alien planet after a crash, tasking them with surviving and exploring an unforgiving sci-fi environment. With dynamic weather, day-night cycles, and environmental hazards like storms and temperature changes, the world itself is a test for players to overcome and adapt to, and only those willing to learn and evolve will be able to traverse the deadly biomes and subterranean ruins below.
The design philosophy runs alongside Subnautica’s, by blending survival with discovery in a way that forces players to venture into the more dangerous areas in order to actually progress their story. On top of this, its focus on environmental storytelling means that players don't have to deal with combat or scripted events, and instead, they can just enjoy the thrill of exploring a truly alien world with many more questions than answers to solve them.
Narcosis
Claustrophobia Of A Whole Different Kind
Details:
- Immersive horror experience
- Psychological dread is elevated by limited safety nets
Narcosis is a first-person survival horror experience set on the Pacific seafloor, where players are trapped in the oppressive darkness with limited oxygen and only basic tools to stave off fear and find a way to reach the surface. Exploration here becomes a psychological journey through isolated, low-visibility environments coated with unnerving objects and strange structures that look far more alien than human.
8 Open-World Games Where Exploration Is Exhausting, Ranked
These open-world games are a blast to play, but trying to explore the map in full can leave players weary.
Unlike Subnautica’s expansive open-world exploration and widespread creature encounters, the game tightens its focus on the tension that comes from being in a closed, oppressive underwater environment. It replicates the sensation of deep-sea dread and atmospheric exploration while removing the more hands-on crafting and base mechanics, resulting in an experience driven by the player's need to survive despite the overwhelming odds and the unbearable pressure around them.
Under The Waves
Emotional And Deeply Relaxing
Details:
- Story-driven dive into the mind
- Much lighter exploration loop
Under The Waves is a narrative-driven underwater adventure that uses exploration and the player's engagement with the world to reflect on personal loss and isolation amid the depths of the North Sea. Players control a professional diver navigating open waters, piloting a small submersible, and exploring everything from wrecks to caves to the sea floor, all while collecting materials and undertaking tasks that reveal more about the protagonist’s past and motivations.
The exploration here is gentler than Subnautica’s survival loops but shares a foundational invitation to lose oneself in an aquatic world. The game uses exploration not as a means of survival, but as a narrative tool that allows each dive into the depths to offer both environmental beauty and thematic importance, inviting players to reflect while moving through the breathtaking underwater spaces.
10 Open-World Games Where Exploration Is More Rewarding Than Combat
In the captivating worlds of these open-world games, exploration takes center stage and surpasses the visceral thrill of combat.