Summary
- Open-world games vary in complexity, but some, like Westerado, Dredge, or Terraria, excel in simplicity and immersive experiences.
- Despite simple designs, these titles offer unique ideas, immersive worlds, easy controls, and engaging action for players.
- From revenge quests to fishing trawlers and underground exploration, these games provide fun through accessibility and captivating atmospheres.
Open-world games can offer players expansive and dense experiences packed with gameplay systems and mechanics. Others are more straightforward, instead focusing on exploration. In any case, simplicity isn't always exercised, and sometimes complex gameplay loops or systems can get in the way.
There are a variety of open-world experiences, however, that excel in their simplicity. Despite having a simple core design, however, these titles remain fun via unique ideas, immersive worlds, and/or engaging action that makes use of their inherent accessibility.
Open-World Games That Focus On Combat Over Exploration
These open-world games might feature a mix of exploration and combat, but they focus more heavily on combat and challenging encounters over discovery.
8 Westerado: Double Barreled
Exploring A Pixel-Art Wild West
Westerado: Double Barreled
- Released
- April 16, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- t
- Genre(s)
- Indie Games, Action-Adventure
- Platform(s)
- Microsoft Windows, macOS, Xbox One
Westerado: Double Barreled wears its heart on its sleeve, offering a charming and nostalgic pixel-art aesthetic that matches its simple gameplay. In the game, players explore the Wild West, taking part in arcade shootouts as they search for the outlaw that murdered their family.
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The game's simple set-up and controls ensure it is an intuitive and easy-to-grasp experience. But Westerado remains engaging thanks to its fast-paced action and unique gameplay loop, which itself provides surprising replay value.
7 Flotsam
Surviving In An Open Water World
- Platform(s): PC
- Released: 2019
- Developer(s): Pajama Llama Games
- Genre: Colony-Sim
Flotsam is a colony-sim that stands out with its unique setting, taking place in a watery post-apocalypse with a decidedly relaxed ambiance. As a colony-sim with an emphasis on management mechanics, Flotsam is remarkably simple, offering a more accessible experience that's still fun thanks to added exploration and its relaxed atmosphere.
In Flotsam, players build and manage a colony of drifters, attempting to survive on floating debris fixed together from odds and ends. It can get repetitive, but players that enjoy its simple gameplay and unique world will find a tranquil experience that's worth playing.
6 For The King
A Free-Form Strategy RPG
For The King
- Released
- April 19, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Ironoak Games
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
For The King is a unique combination of strategy RPGs, roguelikes, and tabletop game mechanics. What results is a surprisingly elegant design that allows for immediate fun, offering accessibility with its simple combat and engagement via its RPG systems.
For The King's combat boils down to the use of abilities and items, but RNG plays a heavy role. This keeps combat from being too predictable and also makes for simpler decision-making. However, the ability to control this RNG with a unique resource does allow for added strategic thinking.
5 Dredge
Minimalist Fishing In An Open World
Dredge
- Released
- March 31, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- Black Salt Games
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
Dredge wastes no time getting players into the meat of the experience, and this is possible thanks to its intuitive controls and simple design. In the game, players sail a small fishing boat around an archipelago haunted by eldritch horrors. It can get repetitive, but Dredge is elevated by its immersive atmosphere and addictive loop.
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Dredge tasks players with gathering fish via a variety of intuitive mini-games, and although there's no real difficulty present, the simplicity of these activities allows players to better enjoy the ambiance. The day/night cycle also helps to direct players, with the day offering a relaxed environment and the night providing frequent spooks.
4 LEGO The Lord Of The Rings
A Simple & Intuitive Adventure
LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game
- Released
- October 30, 2012
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ // Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief
- Developer(s)
- Traveller's Tales, TT Fusion
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
- Platform(s)
- Android, iOS, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, PC, PS3, PlayStation Vita, Wii, Xbox 360
As with many if not all LEGO games, LEGO The Lord Of The Rings maintains a simple blend of collecting, puzzle-solving, and low-stakes combat. This allows for instant accessibility that's still fun thanks to the variety of collectibles and simple but intuitive puzzles.
Perhaps the greatest strength of this simplicity is the accessibility it brings, making LEGO The Lord Of The Rings perfect for cooperative play. Furthermore, the open-world environments of LEGO The Lord Of The Rings are relatively optional, but for those that enjoy searching for collectibles, it offers a veritable treasure trove of content.
3 Outer Wilds
Minimalist But Awe-Inspiring Exploration
Outer Wilds
- Released
- May 28, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
Although Outer Wilds features little in the way of gameplay systems, its focus on exploration serves it well. This is thanks to a well-crafted world that's steeped in atmosphere, offering a memorable spacefaring adventure that certain players are sure to treasure.
Taking place across multiple planets, Outer Wilds tasks players with venturing across a minimalist solar system in search of answers. The unique nature of each planet's environments and the game's immersive spaceflight controls are clear strengths. However, it's the aforementioned atmosphere and excellent soundtrack that elevate Outer Wilds above and beyond its simple design.
2 The Long Dark
Simple But Hardcore Survival
The Long Dark
- Released
- August 1, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen due to Blood, Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Hinterland Studio
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
While it does feature a complex set of survival mechanics that are relatively hardcore, the actual gameplay loop of The Long Dark is rather simple. Players will spend most of their time walking across isolated environments and scavenging what they can from a variety of abandoned interiors, trying not to die somewhere along the way.
Managing to survive is where things get more complicated, as there are myriad threats - both alive and not - that can bring a run of The Long Dark to a swift and brutal end. However, it doesn't take long to get to grips with the basics, and players will quickly improve with simple trial and error.
1 Terraria
An Intuitive Survival-Craft Experience
Terraria
- Released
- May 16, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Cartoon Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Re-Logic
- Platform(s)
- PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Vita, iOS, Android, macOS, Linux, 3DS, Stadia, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
Terraria is an intuitive survival-craft experience that excels with its procedural open-world environments, particularly in its variety of underground areas. Supporting the exploration aspects of the game is a diverse set of systems and mechanics. These cover everything from crafting and base-building to town management and tense combat, offering a truly dynamic experience.
Despite the sheer variety of Terraria's content, however, it is a relatively straightforward experience. This is thanks primarily to its intuitive user-interface and simple controls that allow the base-building and combat to be a frustration-free experience.
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