8 Open-World Games That Secretly Punish You for Exploring Too Often

Open world games are known for their exploration and the ability to go off the main path and discover secrets. There's nothing better than the freedom that this genre offers, and it's truly an experience that can't be offered anywhere else. However, there are some open world games that punish you for your curiosity and there are consequences when you explore too much.

While there are certainly amazing rewards to be found when exploring open world games, sometimes it can lead to running into bosses that are too challenging, becoming overleveled to the point that it ruins the main quest, or discovering areas that are too much to handle. The most thorough explorers are bound to get punished in one way or another sooner or later.

Not every open world game is like this, but quite a few will punish you if you spend too much time off the beaten path and decide to search every corner of the map. In the following sections, we explore eight open world games that secretly punish you for exploring too often.

8 Elden Ring

Powerful Foes Lurk in the Shadows

There’s no doubt that exploring the world of Elden Ring is rewarding. Being able to stumble upon rare items, new spells, weapons, and other secrets is genuinely exciting and part of the core experience. However, the game can be extremely punishing to those who explore a ton, and the main reason is that it’s possible to stumble upon a boss that is much stronger than you and way too difficult for your character’s current level. Considering this is a Souls game, there are difficulty spikes throughout each area on the map.

Exploring far and wide through the Lands Between will result in you encountering invasions of NPCs that may be too much to handle, basic enemies that can one-shot you, or catacombs and caves that are meant to be explored in the endgame. While exploring thoroughly is great and highly recommended to gain levels and become stronger, it’s likely that you will encounter areas that will knock you on your ass if you decide to search every nook and cranny of the map. In short, just be prepared to die a lot.

7 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Scavenge Hyrule for a Surprise

In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, resources are key to your survival. However, a lack of resources on a long journey across Hyrule isn’t the real reason this game can be punishing for exploring too often. Instead, the real punishment lies in the reward you can get for being so thorough in your exploration efforts and collecting all the Korok Seeds. The reward for collecting all Korok Seeds is Hestu’s Gift, otherwise known as a big pile of golden poop.

Seriously, Nintendo was crazy for this one. To reward your most loyal players, who spent hundreds of hours scouring each corner of the map to find all 900 Korok Seeds, with a large pile of poop is the biggest smack in the face I have ever seen. Even if it is hilarious, it’s arguably the biggest punishment any game has ever given to a player for exploring too much.

6 Borderlands 4

The Illusion of an Open World

Borderlands 4 is a looter shooter at heart, meaning the goal is to find the best loot possible to become as strong as you can be. In order to find the best loot, players will have to search many different locations and biomes on the map, taking down bosses and completing enemy outposts. However, due to the level system in Borderlands 4, exploring too much can result in you entering an area that is almost impossible to beat due to the recommended level being way higher than yours.

Even though exploration is encouraged in Borderlands 4 due to the open-world nature of the game and the opportunity to find hidden weapons, it’s clear that the game wants you to follow more of a linear progression route. Going off the beaten path and exploring too often will likely result in you ending up dead or encountering enemies that are way too challenging. Luckily, the game offers a fast travel system, allowing you to travel somewhere else to farm XP.

5 Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

The Realization of Mediocre Side Content

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla can punish its players for exploring too much, not because of difficulty, but due to repetitive content and objectives that don’t provide great rewards. AC: Valhalla players who explore too often will find a game that grows stale pretty quickly, a bloated map with underwhelming secrets, and side characters that are not very interesting to listen to or interact with. In other words, its side content is mediocre and boring at best.

While the game may not be trying to punish the player, like stumbling upon bosses in Elden Ring, too much exploration in AC: Valhalla makes it easy to reach the point of exhaustion. Personally, I never got the chance to finish the main story of AC: Valhalla because I spent most of my time exploring, which just resulted in me growing tired and putting the controller down. I recommend not exploring too much in this Assassin’s Creed if you want to keep enjoying yourself.

4 Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Easy to Become Overpowered

Unlike the previous entry, Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s side content is fantastic and really engaging, making it tough to not want to go off and explore as much as possible. However, due to the leveling system in the game, exploring too much can make the main quests trivial and turn the game into a cakewalk. Nonstop exploration punishes you by making you become way too overleveled and ruining the overall experience. No one likes a game that has no challenge.

Becoming overleveled due to too much exploration in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will make all enemies and bosses pose no threat in the main quest. This is quite an unfortunate situation to be in, and in order to fix it, you need to completely remove yourself from side content altogether and wait until the enemy’s levels catch up to yours. Still, depending on how much time you invested in exploration, it can take hours upon hours for the enemies' levels to eventually match yours.

3 Dying Light: The Beast

Nighttime is Terrifying

Exploration in Dying Light: The Beast can be super rewarding. It can lead to finding materials to help with survival, weapons for combat, hidden quests with valuable rewards, and much more. What players don’t always realize, though, is just how punishing exploration can be if you spend too much time doing it. If you lose track of time in the open world, the game will punish you by turning to nighttime, which is absolutely brutal and can often lead to the game-over screen.

Not only is it insanely difficult to see at night in Dying Light: The Beast, making parkour more challenging, but it is also filled with Night Walkers. Night Walkers are enemies that are extremely fast and agile, and are incredibly difficult to escape. If this enemy spots you at night, it’s pretty much game over, as they can catch up to you in a heartbeat and kill you almost instantly. Simply put, you want to hold off on exploration and try to find a safe spot before nighttime comes around.

2 Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

Bad Decisions Will Be Your Downfall

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is one of the most immersive open world games to date, as every choice you make has an impact on your playthrough. It's also extremely immersive when it comes to its survival mechanics, where players must eat food to curb hunger, sleep to gain rest, and constantly watch the health bar to stay alive. All of this makes Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 very engaging to play, but it also makes exploration punishing if you do too much of it. It can be so punishing to the point where you may have to load an earlier save.

Exploring too much will often lead to you making poor decisions when interacting with NPCs you meet along the way. For example, you could accidentally commit a crime, having to pay a large bounty. Or you may enter a house that's off limits, have characters yell at you for trespassing, begin attacking you, and force you to engage in combat. In addition to making bad choices, exploring too often could leave you low on crucial supplies such as food or healing items, ultimately resulting in your demise. A careful player may be fine exploring a ton, but if you're not careful, you will eventually find your punishment.

1 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl

Survival is Tough in this Wasteland

Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobly is known for its survival horror elements in an open world space. It's a very challenging game that rewards players for playing strategically and managing their inventory in a proper manner. It also can reward exploration, but only to a certain degree. Considering the game is all about survival, exploring too much can be punishing as it usually leads to you running low on crucial supplies, breaking your weapons to the point where they are pretty much useless, and leaving you defenseless in a wasteland that is brutally dangerous.

Exploring in Stalker 2 is always risky, and the longer you do it, the higher chance you will die. There may even be times when you explored so much and are in such a bad spot resource-wise, that you genuinely feel stuck and unsure of what to do next. This is especially true for beginners to the series. It's a game that is not for the faint of heart, and one that requires methodical exploration, instead of freely exploring with no care in the world. However, after playing for a while and increasing your skill level, exploring becomes much more manageable.