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How to tell whether early exploration will pay off
An open map does not promise that every early route is safe or equally rewarding. To judge whether wandering suits you, look at five things:
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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Open World: Video Games and Contemporary Art | $53.94 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Ghost of Tsushima - PlayStation 4 | $22.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Mad Max - PlayStation Hits (PS4) | $18.74 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Just Cause 4 - PlayStation 4 | $11.80 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Elden Ring - PlayStation 4 | $33.32 | Buy on Amazon |
- Access: How soon can you choose a destination beyond the main route?
- Retreat: If you meet a wall, can you go elsewhere and come back later?
- Reward: Do discoveries offer equipment, crafting materials, story, environmental clues or simply a memorable place?
- Risk signals: Does the game make danger apparent, or can curiosity lead into trouble?
- What improves: Does exploration help you learn the world and your abilities, or mainly make your character stronger?
These are useful ways to compare design, not a measured ranking of every early route or player’s experience. The available evidence describes developer intent and selected design features; it does not establish a universal winner or prove how difficult each early encounter is.
Breath of the Wild: early freedom and rewards beyond gear
A 2018 Game Developer design analysis describes Breath of the Wild as opening up after its tutorial, which the analysis estimates at roughly an hour. It says the game makes its final quest available while leaving players free to set their own exploration goals. That is the analysis’s account of the design, not a universal estimate of how long every player’s tutorial takes.
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The payoff for wandering is not limited to finding stronger equipment. The analysis points to weapons and consumables, but also to story and environmental discoveries; it argues that exploring can build player skill as well as inventory. That makes the game a strong fit if you want early detours to offer things to notice and learn, without expecting every side trip to produce a major upgrade.
Nintendo’s developer interview about Tears of the Kingdom offers a related example of how discoveries can teach players to read a landscape: its developers discuss caves, sky islands and routes between the surface and sky, including the way finding one cave can make players wonder whether nearby cliffs conceal others. This is evidence about the sequel’s design, not a guide to Breath of the Wild routes.
Rank #2
- Available Now - Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, a new cooperative multiplayer experience inspired by Japanese folk tales and mythology.
- Beyond war, ancient beauty endures: Uncover the hidden wonders of Tsushima in this open-world action adventure.
- The rise of the Ghost: Forge a new path and wage an unconventional war for the freedom of Tsushima.
Elden Ring: roam freely, but treat resistance as information
Elden Ring combines broad exploration with an explicit warning about danger. In a 2019 Xbox Wire interview, director Hidetaka Miyazaki described the game as having greater depth and freedom of exploration than the studio’s previous games, while saying, “It is a world full of danger and threats, as well as many areas ripe for exploration.” Freedom here does not mean that every tempting path is a safe early excursion.
Miyazaki later told PlayStation.Blog that the team balanced exploration, boss fights, progression order and the pace of travel through the world. He said players facing an impasse can return later and approach it differently, and that he did not want newcomers to feel forced into a particular route. His stated aim was: “I don’t want to enforce any playstyle or particular route because I’d like them to experience that sense of freedom.”
Rank #3
- Be Mad Max - Become the iconic post-apocalyptic warrior, crafting and upgrading Max's equipment and weapons to survive by combining melee combat, gunplay and tactical techniques. Gamers must form alliances as they work towards the goal of building their "Magnum opus."
- Immersive savage Wasteland - Explore the gritty, dynamic world while braving the treacherous landscapes, hostile weather patterns and deadly marauders.
- survive the open-world landscape - Staying alive isn't easy. Players clash with deadly factions and gangs through scores of dangerous side-missions and quests in the dynamic open-world full of exploration.
- intense vehicular combat - Engage in dynamic inter-vehicular combat, taking down enemy vehicles with a range of powerful weapons. Car combat is entirely physics-based, so no two battles are ever the Same.
- build the ultimate survival machine - Players design, customize and upgrade their ultimate vehicle-the Magnum Opus-choosing from different car chassis and a slew of upgrades including mounted weapons, armour and engines to survive another day
Practically, a difficult fight can be a reason to explore somewhere else and return, rather than proof that the whole world is closed to you. That flexibility is part of the intended progression, but the interview does not establish the difficulty of every early area.
Skyrim and Fallout 4: follow the landmark, check the entrance
Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard has described a design principle of making worlds that pique curiosity and reward exploration. In a Game Developer report, his examples include noticing something over the horizon or spotting a small entrance that leads into a larger dungeon in Skyrim or Fallout 4. Those cues give a detour a clear starting point: see something that catches your eye, then investigate. Howard also noted that open systems can produce unexpected chaos, so a landmark is an invitation, not a promise that the encounter beyond it matches your current strength.
Rank #4
- Day One Edition includes Neon Racer Pack with these DLC items Neon Racer Supercar, Neon Racer Wingsuit, Neon Racer Parachute; see description for full details
- Bring The Thunder Soar through the skies with your wingsuit Skydive, Base Jump and Free Dive, as you fight your enemies harnessing extreme weather to your advantage
- Rico’s Ultimate Mission Spearhead the rebellion and defeat a hi tech private military organization; Face off against the most capable adversary yet; Uncover the mystery behind Rico’s Father’s past
- Huge South American World 100 square kilometers to explore from rainforest to desert, and across snowy mountain peaks as you explore the world of Solis from bustling cities to rural grasslands
- Creative destruction at its best Customize your new grapple hook with evolved and new capabilities; Experiment with military jets, helicopters, turbo fueled sports cars, and construction vehicles
Fallout 4: materials make small finds useful
Fallout 4 adds a practical reason to search the wasteland: its optional settlement and crafting systems use components gathered along the way. On Bethesda’s Fallout 4 page, Howard sums up the appeal this way: “You rip apart the world, and then you can build what you want.” A minor-looking find can matter because it contributes to what you can craft or build, rather than because it is a powerful weapon or a new quest.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which game fits the way you like to explore?
| Game | What early exploration can offer | What to keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Breath of the Wild | According to a 2018 Game Developer analysis, player-set goals, items, story and environmental discoveries, with exploration also encouraging skill growth. | The tutorial estimate of roughly an hour comes from that analysis; individual playtime varies, and the analysis does not claim every detour gives a major upgrade. |
| Elden Ring | Freedom to explore, with the option described by its director to leave an impasse and return later (PlayStation.Blog). | Its director explicitly pairs exploration opportunities with danger (Xbox Wire); the sources do not rate every early area’s difficulty. |
| Skyrim | Distant landmarks and small entrances that may lead to larger dungeons, as described by Todd Howard in Game Developer. | The cited account describes design cues, not a guarantee that encounters are tuned to your current level. |
| Fallout 4 | Landmarks and dungeon entrances can draw you into exploration; components gathered in the wasteland have uses in optional crafting and settlement systems (Game Developer; Bethesda). | Curiosity can lead to unpredictable situations, and the cited sources do not establish that every encounter is scaled to your character. |
What the evidence can—and cannot—tell you
These examples support comparing access, retreat options, reward types, danger and the role of player skill. They do not establish a comprehensive guide to early routes, the objective survival rate of detours, or a shared difficulty scale across games. Treat the comparisons as design guidance, not a promise about what every player will encounter.
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Best Value
- ELDEN RING is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set within a world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki—creator of the influential DARK SOULS video game series; and George R.R. Martin—author of The New York Times best-selling fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire
- Danger and discovery lurk around every corner in FromSoftware’s largest game to-date
- HIDETAKA MIYAZAKI: President and Game Director of FromSoftware Inc. Known for directing critically-acclaimed games in beloved franchises including Armored Core and Dark Souls
- GEORGE R. R. MARTIN: the #1 The New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire—A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows, and A Dance with Dragons
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