Best Exploration Games on Steam
Unlike generic lists, our strategy game recommendations use a rigorous analysis of Steam user reviews to identify and feature only the best, community-validated exploration games.
Filters & Lists
Layers of Fear 2 (2019)
Layers of Fear 2 is a first-person psychological horror game with an emphasis on exploration and story. Players control a Hollywood actor who heeds the call of an enigmatic director to take on the lead role in a film shot aboard an ocean liner. Beware, for all may not truly be what it seems.
Vambrace: Cold Soul
Vambrace: Cold Soul is a story-driven roguelite set amidst a frozen landscape. Plan expeditions, then journey to the cursed city surface with your party. Wield unique powers, avoid traps, brave strange encounters, and survive deadly combat in this gothic fantasy adventure!
Project Winter
Project Winter 2.0: Cabin Fever is an 8-player survival and social deception game where teamwork is vital, but betrayal is inevitable. Face the wilderness, uncover traitors, and survive paranoia in this streamlined yet chaotic multiplayer experience.
Atelier Lulua ~The Scion of Arland~
The long awaited 4th installment of the popular "Arland" series that had begun with the "Atelier Rorona"! In this new story, players will revisit the nostalgic world of Arland and embark on exciting journey of alchemy together with Rorona's daughter, Lulua.
Eden Rising
Brace yourself for a brand new action-packed Open World. Explore a huge world to gather materials for gear and defenses. Use everything at your disposal to defend your bases and defeat hordes of hostile monsters. Play solo or up to 8-player online!
Hedon Bloodrite
Zan and her orc sisters must fight to save their homeland from a demonic invasion! Immerse yourself in a sprawling underground world where the rich lore, exploration and puzzles of classic adventure games blend with the visceral combat of a 90s' shooter.
Undead Horde
Become a necromancer and raise the dead - Undead Horde is a necromantic action game with elements from RPG, strategy and hack'n'slash. Maraud through the lands of the living, raze their villages and steal their treasures. Ultimately you'll take over the whole kingdom of the living!
RAGE 2
RAGE 2 brings together two studio powerhouses – Avalanche Studios, masters of open world insanity, and id Software, creators of the first-person shooter – to deliver a carnival of carnage where you can go anywhere, shoot anything, and explode everything.
Never Again
Never Again - Horror/first-person Quest. The main essence of the game is research locations and puzzles, plunging in the dramatic story of a little girl suffering from asthma.
Tales of the Neon Sea
Welcome to a world of intrigue and suspicion. Where humans and robots contend with escalating tensions and mutual distrust. And where gangster felines scheme their way to the top of the food chain. Welcome to the Tales of the Neon Sea!
Yuppie Psycho: Executive Edition
Join Brian Pasternack on his first working day at Sintracorp. Uncertain, unprepared, and massively unqualified, will Pasternack have what it takes to shine in Sintracorp’s hierarchy? It all depends on how he performs on his first assignment… and whether he survives it.
stein.world
Stein.world is a real-time MMORPG in a beautiful fantasy world with many common game features from the MMO genre: A big and persistent fantasy world with a lot of variety filled with hundreds of quests and items, dungeons, professions and much more to come.
Whispers of a Machine
Whispers of a Machine is a Sci-Fi Nordic Noir that tells the story of Vera, a cybernetically augmented detective in a post-AI world, who investigates a string of murders and unravels a dark conflict over forbidden technology.
Adventure Climb VR
Adventure Climb VR is a room-scale climbing experience suitable for anyone of any age - particularly great for newcomers to VR. Achieve triumph through a combination of physically demanding climbing techniques and puzzle challenges that are designed by actual rock climbers.
Anno 1800
Anno 1800™ – Lead the Industrial Revolution! Welcome to the dawn of the Industrial Age. The path you choose will define your world. Are you an innovator or an exploiter? A conqueror or a liberator? How the world remembers your name is up to you.
Heaven's Vault
An archaeologist uncovers a lost history in an ancient space Nebula. Award-winning narrative adventure game with hieroglyphic language puzzles, from the creators of 80 DAYS.
Feather
Feather is a multiplayer game about exploration, relaxation and immersion. Transform yourself into a bird, take flight, and enjoy a zen-like, picturesque landscape on your own terms. Swoop, glide, and backflip your way around mysterious locations to uncover hidden paths that only birds can follow!
Curious Cases
For Desktop or VR! In this 3 chapter story, you play as a modern day legend, Detective Thomas Moore. He has solved more cases than one can count, where others hit dead-ends, he gets to work.
Onigiri
Onigiri is an MMO Action RPG with a fast weapon changing battle system. Join a party of other players or travel with 8 NPC companions on your journey. With simple controls, you can dive into the thrilling world of Onigiri. Switch between weapons to battle through the Youkai.
Generation Zero®
Generation Zero is a stealth-action shooter where you wage guerilla warfare against lethal mechanical enemies. Explore a vast open world map inspired by the Swedish Cold War era, take part in the resistance alone or with up to three friends in seamless co-op.
Astrox Imperium
Astrox Imperium is a relaxing space game where you fly around a generated universe. Mining, Fighting, Building, Exploring, and Surviving. What makes this game unique? You have complete control of how it plays. A robust sandbox and lots of MOD tools. Make it your game, and play it your own way.
Truberbrook / Trüberbrook
Enjoy an adventurous vacation to a 1960's parallel universe! A Sci-Fi-Mystery Adventure Game with handmade scenery.
NationWar:Chronicles | 国战:列国志传
This is a sandbox game that is deeply rooted in the rich historical information of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The story of the game unfolds slowly in the eighth century BC on the vast and mysterious land of China.
Quest Hunter
Quest Hunter is an isometric action-RPG where your choice drives the story. Find tons of treasures and secrets, solve puzzles, equip your character, level up your skills and finish off enemy bosses. Play on the couch, alone or with friends, or make it an online party for up to four players!
Road to Eden
Road to Eden is a third-person multiplayer survival coop game, set within the post-apocalyptic ruins of a world destroyed by an alien invasion. You wake up at the side of the road with no memory and must team up with other survivors to make the long and dangerous journey to Eden.
The Cursed Forest
Immerse yourself in the obscure and mysterious autumnal forest, where every wrong step could be your last. As you travel uncover the dark story behind this place, where beauty and danger have become as one.
Touhou Luna Nights
Touhou Luna Nights is a Metroidvania title with a heavy emphasis on exploration and action. Developed by Team Ladybug, creators of multiple fantastic action games thus far.
Pacify
There is reportedly an evil inside that house. Something about an old funeral parlor offering a last chance to talk to their dead loved ones. Plus something about lights, laughter, a girl, missing people, etc... You know the same stuff everyone claims. Take a team, and check the place out.