8 Greatest First-Person Exploration Games Of All Time, Ranked

The first-person perspective in video games is often used to make a game more immersive. After all, it’s mimicking the view that you would have if you were in the shoes of your avatar, rather than moving them around with a controller. While it’s most commonly used for first-person shooters, this perspective has a lot more to offer.

Take these next games. They’re undoubtedly first-person games, but they don’t feature any combat to worry about. Instead, they’re all about exploration. What they do with that exploration varies, but it’s typically used to tell a deeper, more affecting story than would be possible if guns kept getting in the way. These games stand as some of the best first-person exploration games of all time, largely because they tell a story so gripping that you’re compelled to keep exploring to uncover more details.

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)


Start

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)Start

8

Gone Home

Uncovering Secrets In Your Childhood Home

Set in the 1980s, Gone Home follows a young woman who returns home from overseas to find that her family is absent, with only a letter left behind to go on. Are they missing? Not necessarily. There’s no supernatural danger or nefarious mystery to uncover here. However, she still needs to figure out where her family went, even though the letter implores her not to investigate their absence.

In that vein, you piece together the events leading up to her family’s departure by exploring the house she grew up in. You can tackle that exploration in any order you see fit, as the entire game is meant to be a non-linear experience. You’re really just here for the story, and what a story it is, filled with impressive character depth about a group of people you’ll never actually meet.

7

The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter

Use Supernatural Abilities To Solve The Carter Family’s Murders

If supernatural stuff is more your speed, then The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is the way to go. This game is similarly designed to allow for non-linear progression, but in this case, you’ll be investigating a series of murders in small-town Wisconsin. Contacted by a 12-year-old boy named Ethan Carter, Paul Prospero travels to Red Creek Valley to investigate a series of paranormal events. After he arrives, Paul discovers that Ethan has gone missing and the rest of the Carters have been killed.

To solve the various murders throughout the area, you’ll use a blend of investigative puzzle-solving and stealth, switching between them depending on what the situation calls for. Much like Gone Home, the story — and the mystery at its core — are the main drivers here. However, there is more gameplay involved as you piece together the events that led to each death.

6

What Remains Of Edith Finch

Discover The Truth Behind A Family Curse

What Remains of Edith Finch is a more linear experience, instead guiding you through narration and narrative vignettes from one story beat to the next. While there are still investigative elements to engage with, you’re unlikely to miss anything as you progress, which will be a selling point for some and a knock against it for others.

The reason it ranks higher here than the previous games is that, while all three have narratives that stand on par with each other, What Remains of Edith Finch reaches a much more expansive level. It deals with the Finch family, as Edith records in her journal, which has consistently succumbed to what she believes is a family curse. As you progress while playing as Edith, you’ll learn about each family member’s demise, dating back nearly a century and progressing to the present day. It’s a deeply tragic and affecting story, with plenty of uncertainty to sink your teeth into even after the credits roll.

5

P.T.

Break Out Of A Terrifying Loop

P.T.

Systems

Released

August 12, 2014

ESRB

m

It’s hard to overstate what a loss Silent Hills was for the gaming industry, but the fact that P.T. is ranked here as one of the greatest first-person exploration games of all time, and it’s just the playable trailer for what the full game would have been, speaks volumes. Hideo Kojima’s take on Konami’s flagship horror franchise feels like it would have been one for the ages, but we’ll never know.

Unfortunately, if you didn’t download P.T. back when it was initially available, there’s no way for you to play it today. However, those who do have access to it have no doubts about its greatness. The looping hallways of a small suburban house grow gradually more horrific, while the ghostly Lisa stalks you more boldly with each passing moment. P.T. is a testament to what video games can accomplish with just a simple concept that’s executed to perfection.

4

Firewatch

A Trying First Day As A Fire Lookout

Firewatch is all about its two lead characters. Sure, there’s a mystery to unravel involving some missing kids, a break-in at Henry’s lookout tower, and a strange figure watching you from a distance, but the plot only works because its two leads — Henry and his fire lookout neighbor, Delilah — have such fantastic chemistry together that it makes for a deeply immersive story experience.

That’s especially impressive because you never actually meet Delilah in person. Instead, she and Henry communicate exclusively over a walkie-talkie. Yet even with that distance between them, it’s impossible not to be drawn in by the growing bond between them. Their insecurities, personal tragedies, and eventually, their fears and doubts come to the surface as they piece together what’s going on in the surrounding forest. By the end, you’ll wish the game would continue so you could hear them chat some more.

3

SOMA

What Does It Mean To Be “Yourself”?

SOMA

8/10

Released

September 15, 2015

Technically speaking, SOMA is a survival horror game, but there’s no combat to speak of, and only a handful of instances where you’ll be faced with enemies of any kind. You’ll spend the rest of the game exploring a derelict underwater research station that features the occasional broken-down robot speaking in a way that seems all too human. It’s a horror walking simulator, essentially, but don’t let that dissuade you.

SOMA poses a very philosophical question: What makes you, you? It answers that question in as psychologically terrifying a way as possible. Beyond some light puzzle-solving, your exploration will mostly present you with unavoidable instances where you are made to doubt your own consciousness and your own physical being. It’s an intensely affecting game that’s hard to forget, even with its lack of combat.

2

Blue Prince

Claim Your Inheritance

Roguelites are typically about crafting a combat build that can carry you from the start of a run to the end in a single life, but Blue Prince approaches things a little differently. Instead of creating a character build, you’re creating the layout of a massive mansion (the blueprint, if you will) with the goal of reaching the elusive 46th room at its end. The thing is, the mansion is absolutely stuffed with puzzles, and oftentimes the clue you need for one puzzle is found in an entirely different room.

As such, you’ll need to constantly explore, plan your routes, and even take physical notes to progress. While that may sound frustrating (especially with a roguelite’s RNG operating at all times), Blue Prince never punishes you for failing. It’s a game that wants you to succeed, but still challenges you on your path to getting there. As things start to fall into place, you’ll be rewarded with one of the most satisfying feelings of success to be found in the gaming medium.

1

Outer Wilds

Use A Time Loop To Stop The End Of The Universe

Very few games make exploration as rewarding as Outer Wilds. There is literally nothing else to do here; you explore, uncover new information, and use that information to explore “better” somewhere else. The game’s brilliance lies it its completely non-linear approach, and the way it encourages your curiosity above all else.

Sure, to start, you’re given brief directions about where to go to get your ship. After that, it’s up to you which of the solar system’s five planets, two moons, or one comet you want to explore first. There are also space stations to check out, black holes to fall into, and more. If this sounds aimless, it’s not. You’ll spend the game trapped in a 22-minute time loop that ends with the sun exploding, which pushes you to make the most of your time. Best of all, the payoff is outstanding, one of the best and most fulfilling endings in video game history. A large part of that is because getting to that ending is earned. You have to figure out every step in the process, and the only way to do that is to pick a destination and see what you can learn.