Open-world games have many barriers to entry and requirements to ensure that players can fully enjoy the huge amount of content they have to offer. One of the most important aspects is quest design; more specifically, how players are guided from point A to B with quest markers, waypoints, or outlined targets. However, in some games, these things are either very minimal or not present at all.
Best Open-World Games On Xbox Game Pass
Looking for an open-world adventure to crack into on Xbox Game Pass? These are the best open-world games currently available on Microsoft's service.
Games like this create a far more organic gameplay experience that emphasizes player curiosity in a big way. The most interesting and unexpected questlines and areas are often the most hidden. Rather than showing them exactly where to go at all times, players instead have to do the exploring themselves, which can turn even a simple walk in the world into a deeply rewarding experience.
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
Learning The World Instead Of Following It
- Directions are given through dialogue and in-game texts, not icons.
- Landmarks are crucial to exploration.
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind forces players to engage with its world on a deeper level, rather than simply relying on constant direction. Quests are delivered primarily through dialogue, often referencing vague directions, landmarks, and local knowledge rather than precise locations. On top of that, NPCs can be wrong or deliberately misleading, which turns even simple errands into investigative exercises.
It is hard to progress without fully understanding the deeper context behind certain cultures or factions, and in many cases, it can be easier to pause and listen than to rush to the next objective. The lack of hand-holding means every discovery feels earned and makes the game a lot more immersive than even some modern open-world RPGs.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Closer To Reality Than Anything Else
- Realistic maps without constant guidance.
- NPC routines and schedules dictate quests.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance exchanges glowing markers for NPC-driven questlines, many of which rely heavily on the player's personal understanding of individual characters. Many NPCs will give directions based on their own understanding of the world, and they may not always be correct, forcing players to do some investigation of their own to figure things out.
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Open-world games put great emphasis on environments. These games in particular are excellent for exploring the great outdoors.
Players must read maps, identify landmarks, and track down witnesses across the Bohemian landscape, a process that turns a lot of basic quests into logic puzzles. All of this plays heavily into the game's focus on realism. Not only is the world deeply authentic, but the quest gameplay is as well.
Outer Wilds
Curiosity Is The Only Way Forward
- No quest markers at all.
- Knowledge becomes the main driving force.
Outer Wilds is about as close as it gets to a completely unguided open-world game. Players aren't given traditional quests to follow, but they still need to figure out and solve the mystery of the exploding sun, exploring individual planets and piecing together tiny clues to build a bigger picture of the story around them.
Progression is entirely dictated by what the player learns, making knowledge the most important factor driving the narrative. Even when they revisit their ship's log and previous planets, they are never told where to go next, ensuring that every step forward is deeply satisfying in a way that virtually no other open-world game manages to achieve.
Elden Ring
Guided By The Desire To See More
- Subtle strands of light for basic guidance.
- Quests are scattered across the whole map and often stretch through the entire campaign.
Elden Ring sends players to the beautiful yet daunting Lands Between, giving them nothing but a set of armor and a couple of weapons to help them begin their journey. The only markers players have that indicate where to go next come from occasional side quests, as well as a guiding strand of light that points generally towards the next location on the main path.
Outside of these vague clues, there is nothing telling players what to do or where to go, which is made all the more daunting by the sheer scale of the world. Without looking things up, it is more common that players will find themselves stumbling upon the next step in a questline rather than knowing exactly where to go next. It can feel frustrating, but it also means they can focus on their own journey far more than having to take constant detours that they would rather avoid.
Pathologic 2
Surviving Through Trial And Error
- Investigation is at the core of the experience.
- Permanent consequences ripple out even from small actions.
Pathologic 2 strips away any comfort that comes from following normal questlines, making investigation a central aspect of the player's survival. The game never indicates the “right” choice, often because there isn't one. Instead, it offers fragmented and contradictory information from desperate NPCs, leading to mistakes and countless failures across several playthroughs.
There are no clear quest markers guiding players to success. They are forced to focus on specific tasks dictated by harsh time limits and resource scarcity, and in many situations, sacrifices have to be made in the hopes of finding some clarity in the sea of uncertainties.
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Following Signs And Landmarks From Start To Finish
- Visual cues are the main source of guidance.
- Environmental puzzles are found through exploration.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild completely changed how people see open-world games by showing that landmarks and points of interest on the map are all it takes to give players direction. Players are encouraged to ask questions about what might be hiding around the corner or over that nearby mountain, often finding their own mini quests to follow outside the main story.
All Open-World Games On Xbox Game Pass
Discover the full list of open-world games available across all Xbox Game Pass tiers, including Core, Standard, Ultimate, Console, and PC.
A lot of trust is placed on the player and their ability to lean into their curiosity, but it never feels as though they are running around aimlessly from place to place. Because of how interesting the world is on its own, the lack of constant guidance is rarely an issue, as there are more than enough natural reasons to keep exploring without the need for a pre-determined reason.
Outward
Preparation Trumps All
- No minimap or fast travel safety net.
- Exploration is intentionally dangerous.
Outward removes many navigational comforts that players have grown accustomed to, treating the world as something that needs to be learned and mastered over time. Maps must be read manually, and routes need to be planned carefully in advance, as getting lost is a genuine threat that can be just as deadly as any enemy.
Quests often provide minimal direction, pushing players to experiment and adapt to their current circumstances, and they are given plenty of chances to learn from their mistakes, given how many of them they will make along the way. Knowledge is no longer a helpful tool but a critical component for survival, making Outward the perfect game for players who really love engaging with their environment on more than just a surface level.
Kenshi
A World That Explains Virtually Nothing
- Organic style of exploration that
- Lore discovered over time
Kenshi offers no traditional quests or guidance. The world exists independently of the player, and understanding it requires far more observation than many will be used to, often leading to countless failures before things become clear and manageable.
The whole experience is very hands-off, and players will need to investigate how and why certain events happen and who controls what without ever being told explicitly how to do so. The absence of direction turns every choice into an experiment, making the world feel brutally authentic and deeply reactive in ways that even experienced players are still being surprised by.
Shadow Of The Colossus
Minimalist But Deeply Alluring
- A lot of content is left open to interpretation.
- More intriguing locations exist on the outskirts of the map.
Shadow of the Colossus strips exploration down to its barest elements. Players are given a vague goal and a vast, quiet world with almost no explanation. Finding each of the 16 colossi relies on observing the light and following the large stretches of terrain in between.
The small amount of dialogue and instruction forces players to interpret meaning through their actions and the discoveries they make during their adventure. It is the purest form of unguided exploration, taking players on a self-reflective journey that never pulls them too hard in one single direction.
Subnautica
Unraveling A Mystery Beneath The Waves
- A slow, gradually unfolding narrative.
- The environment is the primary source of information.
Subnautica is an environmental storytelling masterclass that effectively blends investigative gameplay with underwater survival. Progress comes from scanning new lifeforms and discovering wrecks, with each detail coming together to create an image of the world around them.
The ocean itself becomes a source of information, with certain inaccessible areas becoming the main focal points for players to strive towards. Because of how deeply interwoven the mechanics and narrative are, it can actually be pretty hard to feel lost with nothing to do, as there is always another place to see and a mystery to uncover.
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