I like exploring maps in games and discovering cool new locations, so games like Uncharted are perfect for me, but I think that Uncharted games are not for PC’s. I haven’t played them in a long time, but Lara Croft games are also the kind of thing I’m looking for. There are also games like Wildlands or an older game called Boiling point (and it’s successor Xenus white gold), those games have beautiful and large open worlds, however there’s not a lot of things to do if you are interested in mainly exploring (as opposed to just shooting and stuff, which is not that interesting to me).
So, having that in mind, what are some more or less realistic looking games with explorable nature worlds?
Far cry 5 could’ve counted, but everywhere you go, there’s enemies, you can barely move without one jumping out from somewhere.
Far Cry Primal might be preferable for you if it’s exploring the natural world you are after. It features a very large, beautifully-rendered landscape, unspoilt by virtue of being set in prehistoric times. It is a bit crowded with wildlife though, and I found it a bit too gunless for my taste.
If you want:
-A PC game
-With large beautiful natural worlds
-With some storyline stuff but not rushing you through it
-Without a ton of shooting,
Then boy howdy do I have the game for you.
Subnautica crash-lands you on an alien planet that is mostly covered in water. You start with almost no tools, and must explore the water outside your escape pod to find resources. During the game, you’ll very rarely win a fight against a monster; the best option is usually outswimming monsters or hiding from them. And it’s absolutely, breathtakingly gorgeous; and you pretty regularly find new biomes with unique aesthetics, right down to the mood music.
There is more than a bit of the Minecraft construction thing going on, so if you don’t like that, it won’t work for you; but the exploration of the game is simply tremendous. It’s the most fun I’ve had with a game in years.
Someone’s going to mention the Bethesda open world flagships of Elder Scrolls (Skyrim) and Fallout (4, New Vegas) so it might as well be me. Besides the games themselves, there’s a bajillion mods including some which create entirely newplaces (Fallout Miami is to be released but still an impressive example)
I’ll preemptively state that I know the OP said “natural worlds” and Fallout doesn’t really apply in that sense but, given the amount of things to poke around and explore, still figured it was worth mentioning with Skyrim (which has more expanses of wilderness). It’s my general impression that “things to do” usually come down to finding sentient life or the remains of past sentient life since you can only find so much video game excitement in looking at trees and cliffs.
Yeah, I think a lot of survival games would satisfy the OP’s requirements. Which ones exactly depends on the OP’s tolerance for violence. Many of them feature zombies or cannibals, for some reason.
One that’s just survival in the wilderness without supernatural wildlife, The Long Dark is a good one. It has different difficulty levels if you’re not looking for a brutally realistic survival simulation (or, if you are).
Fallout: New Vegas - really just a great fun game that while sci-fi, has a lot of great elements you might enjoy. Very funny, too.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag - set in the past. You get a ship and can explore the oceans, even hunt whales. I’m not a huge fan of it, but it is right up your alley, I bet.
Skyrim - Again a fantasy world, but really fun and with tons of exploring. Honestly, there is a reason it is one of the top games of all time. Worth every penny.
Anyway, those are probably my recommendations. None are modern-times realistic, but they are realistic within their own set of rules/mythology.
Conan Exiles just came out of early access and seems like it would scratch a lot of the OP’s itch - I haven’t played it myself however.
As for games I have played, I can vouch for both Assassin’s Creed : Origins (the latest one, set in ancient Egypt) and The Witcher :* Wild Hunt*. Both feature large, open world with tons of shit to do and find, tons of little details everywhere if you take the time to look around you. And story-wise, The Witcher might be one of the if not THE best RPG I’ve ever played, so there’s that (I’m still torn on whether or not it’s on par or better than Planescape:Torment)
Mount and Blade is neat but not as immersive as some of these. M&B 2 might but I’ve not been following its development.
For a pure exploration game Subnautica is excellent. Particularly when you’re swimming down an incline and hear a the scream of a leviathan behind you in the dark.
