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.
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Super Motherload
Set on Mars in an alternate Cold-War era, Super Motherload is a 1 to 4-player couch co-op digging adventure with storyline by Image Comics' Kurtis Wiebe, a fully voiced cast of Soviet and American characters, and a procedurally-generated world that changes each time you play.
Goat Simulator
Goat Simulator is the latest in high-tech Goat Simulation technology.
Quest of Dungeons
Quest of Dungeons is a turn based dungeon crawler game featuring a good old 16-bit retro artistic look. By playing as either a Warrior, Wizard, Assassin or Shaman you have to traverse dungeons, defeat enemies and loot everything you can in order to survive.
Ether One
Ether One is a first person adventure that deals with the fragility of the human mind. There are two paths in the world you can choose from. At its core is a story exploration path free from puzzles where you can unfold the story at your own pace.
Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok
A retro styled adventure/RPG hybrid with atmosphere like the classics. Play as warrior, sorceress, or rogue as you travel through the rich world of Norse mythology to keep it from eternal winter. Each class has different puzzle solutions, making for good replay value. Fully free, no hidden costs.
Influent Language Learning Game
Influent is a Language Learning Game focused on rapid vocabulary acquisition in a 3D world featuring over 400 nouns, adjectives, and verbs all with native pronunciations in 23 languages! Players have complete freedom to choose which words they want to learn without any need for pencils or books!
Windforge
WindForge is a side-scrolling block-building game where you explore hostile skies in an ever-changing Steampunk world. Everything you see can be created or destroyed, creating an RPG without barriers that rewards creative problem solving and improvisation.
Return to Mysterious Island
Join intrepid sailor and recent island castaway Mina as she explores the hidden secrets within the Jules Verne classic inspired Mysterious Island. Gather key articles left from the island’s previous inhabitants and combine them in unique and interesting ways to stay alive and stay hopeful for rescue.
FINAL FANTASY XIV Online
Join over 30 million adventurers worldwide and take part in an epic and ever-changing FINAL FANTASY. Experience an unforgettable story, exhilarating battles, and a myriad of captivating environments to explore.
NaissanceE
NaissanceE is an obscure and magical first person exploration game, a philosophical trip and an artistic experience. The adventure takes place in a primitive mysterious structure and the game mainly consists to explore and feel the deep and strong ambiance of this atemporal world.
Reaper - Tale of a Pale Swordsman
Enter the world ripe with magic and monsters. Become the Black Swordsman and slay thousands of enemies in an epic action RPG!
Jazzpunk: Director's Cut
Jazzpunk is a comedy adventure set in an alternate reality Cold War World, plagued with corporate espionage, CyberCrime, and sentient martinis. Gameplay is inspired by spoof comedy films and cartoons of yesteryear, with a focus on weird gadgets, exotic locales, and open-world style exploration.
realMyst: Masterpiece Edition
Released in 2014, experience one of the first 3D adaptations of the renowned puzzle-adventure game Myst! Each discovery you make, every puzzle you solve, will bring you closer to reversing a wrong that has gone unchecked for ages.
Serena
How long has it been? A man sits in a distant getaway cabin waiting for his wife Serena. Where is she? Things in the cabin evoke memories, and the husband comes to a disturbing realization... This short point-and-click adventure is the result of a massive collaborative effort between dozens of fans and designers of adventure games.
Might & Magic X - Legacy
After a decade, a Might & Magic® RPG is back with both the unique core formula and a new set of improved and fine-tuned features. The best RPG of its class!In the wake of the spectacular events in Might & Magic® Heroes® VI, you will play in a party of four adventurers entangled in intrigue and political machinations unfolding in...
Paper Sorcerer
Paper Sorcerer is a stylish single player turn based RPG focused on strategy, party-building, and environmental puzzles. Fight with the skills and spells you've learned in a battle system that emphasizes strategy over grinding. Assemble a party of monsters and dark creatures to fight alongside you.
Just Cause 2: Multiplayer Mod
JC2-MP is a project to bring multiplayer to Just Cause 2 in all of its magnificent glory. Imagine the chaos of normal Just Cause 2, then extending it out to dozens, hundreds, and even thousands of players.
Teslagrad
A journey begins... A treacherous tower... Unravel its mysteries!Discover the secrets kept in the long abandoned Tesla Tower!Magnetism and other electromagnetic powers will help you explore a non-linear world of beautiful hand-drawn environments, in a steampunk-inspired vision of old Europe.
The Novelist
The Novelist asks one central question: can you achieve your dreams without pushing away the people you love? The game focuses on Dan Kaplan, a novelist struggling to write the most important book of his career while trying to be the best husband and father he can be.
SteamWorld Dig
SteamWorld Dig is an action-adventure puzzler with strong Metroidvanian influences set in the SteamWorld Universe. You’ll need to dig deep into the earth, gather resources to upgrade your tools and abilities, take on enemies, solve challenging puzzles and uncover the secrets to save a dying town.
Broken Sword 5 - the Serpent's Curse
From multi-award winning Revolution Software comes the latest explosive episode in this classic series. Playing as intrepid American George Stobbart and sassy French journalist Nico Collard, you find yourself on the trail of a stolen painting – and a murderous conspiracy...
The Cat Lady
The Cat Lady follows Susan Ashworth, a lonely 40-year old on the verge of suicide. She has no family, no friends and no hope for a better future. One day she discovers that five strangers will come along and change everything...
9.03m
The media is quick to put figures to death tolls in such disasters, and 9.03m tries to remind people of the individuals behind those figures. 9.03m is set on Baker Beach in San Francisco, where debris from the tsunami has washed ashore in the years following the tsunami. To play, you must find the butterflies.
Deadfall Adventures
Deadfall Adventures is an action-driven first-person shooter, spiced up with elements from action-adventure games. Become an adventurer, hunt for treasures, explore unknown regions of the world and rescue the damsel in distress from the clutches of enemies, both earthly and not-so-earthly.
Valdis Story: Abyssal City
Assume the role of Wyatt in this Action/Exploration Platformer as you explore the ruins of a holy city that was lost many years ago. Battle various types of demons, angels, and a new threat known only as the “Ferals”, using swordsmanship, martial arts, and sorcery.
Master Reboot
Imagine a world where death is no longer final, where precious memories are saved to enjoy forever, where your soul is immortal. Master Reboot is a haunting first-person sci-fi adventure.
Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut
Play as special agent Francis York Morgan in this open-world action-adventure as you solve the case of the Red Seed Murders and survive in a small, quirky American mountain town where supernatural creatures and a mysterious raincoat-clad, axe-wielding killer seek to end his investigation for good.
Slender: The Arrival
Slender Man returns more terrifying than ever. You're on your own. No one to help you. No one to hear you scream. Relive the horror all over again with cutting edge visuals for the 10th Anniversary Update and experience survival horror at its finest.
Knytt Underground
The legendary Knytt series continues with Nifflas’ latest creation; Knytt Underground. In this Knytteration; humans have long since abandoned the planet after practically destroying it in a war, five hundred years ago.
The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parable is a first person exploration game. You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will follow a story, you will not follow a story. You will have a choice, you will have no choice. The game will end, the game will never end.
Doorways: Prelude
Doorways is an immersive horror adventure, featuring a complex story and deep atmosphere.
Wizardry 8
A New Wizardry for a New GenerationThe universe is in the throes of violent upheaval and change. Vast and mysterious forces are preparing for the final confrontation. A small group of heroes from distant lands must plunge into the heart of the maelstrom, to uncover long-forgotten secrets, and bring about a new era.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
From the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Dear Esther comes a new first-person horrorgame that will drag you to the depths of greed, power and madness. It will bury its snout into your ribs and it will eat your heart.
Shelter
Experience the wild as a badger sheltering your cubs from harm. On your journey, you will be stalked by birds of prey, encounter perils of the night, cross fierce rivers, escape forest fires and face the looming threat of starvation. Food is to be found, but is there enough for everyone?