Discussion What makes exploration in video games rewarding?

[NabiscoFelt]

This year has featured quite a few long-running franchises turning to the open world/zone format in order to breathe new life into what may have been perceived as a formula rapidly becoming stale. I've been tempted to make a thread dissecting at least two of these attempts, Elden Ring and Pokemon Legends Arceus, for a while, but in the interest of not getting ragged on for the hot take of the year, I've instead opted to take this broader look at what makes exploration in video games so enticing

But for the record, yes, Legends Arceus has more satisfying exploration than Elden Ring. At least for me.

Disclaimer: What follows (and the hot take above) is very obviously my own opinion and take on the matter. I am in no way qualified to talk about this, I'm just a guy who likes playing and thinking about video games. But figured I'd shoot my shot anyways since it's a topic I enjoy thinking and writing about

To start off

A Small Note on Intrinsic Motivation:​

For many people, a lot of the joy of exploration in games comes from the intrinsic joy of exploration itself. This is arguably the main method used by Breath of the Wild, the game would personally call the epitome of exploration in a video game.

However, it's kinda hard to talk about it. Like, yeah, there's an intrinsic joy to exploration. What else can I really say about that? There are probably those far more eloquent and knowledgeable than me who can put this into words better, but yeah, not going to spend too much time addressing it by itself unless it pops up in other places (which spoiler, it will)

I will put up this video by GMTK about intrinsic motivation though because it's great

Spoiler: The Video

Setpieces and Vistas​

I'm putting these in one category because I feel like it, and also because they kinda fit together in my eyes.

You know the drill, you're walking through a field, ruin, mountain, or somewhere else and boom!! Dragon. It's usually a dragon. But it can also be a gorgeous view, a particularly cool story event or cutscene, or like, two dragons (I don't know of any game that has that particular innovation but I'm sure one exists). Setpieces and Vistas are defined by their "wow" factor. They might not purely be spectacle (someone has to fight that dragon, probably) but they sure do have that spectacle.

Personally, I think these are some of the most generally admired exploration rewards. Can't go wrong with a good setpiece, can you? Though I do think there's a risk of overuse, and depending on how the setpiece plays out, it might end up feeling shallow. Plus, it's not easy to build a good setpiece or vista, and using them as exploration rewards, which may not be on the critical path, may be deemed a waste of resources. But in general, they're a great exploration reward and one that tends to receive great reception

​

Are They the Baddies?​

They are (well, unless you're playing an evil route in an RPG or just bullying some local fauna) and to many enemy variety is a crucial part of exploration. Going to a new zone and finding...the same guys you fought in the first zone can be pretty jarring

Enemy variety is, ideally, more than just visuals, but also about bringing new challenges and encouraging different approaches. At the high end, these are out-of-the-way bosses or unique enemies (or Unique Monsters, as the case may be). They can even be some of the toughest encounters in a video game, and require clever strategies and remarkable precision to take down in heart pounding encounters. Never underestimate the value a good enemy can add to exploration. But balance is a concern, as always - if the enemies are too frustrating or too much of a pushover, they might not provide the value the game wants.

Unique Challenges​

Are these just setpieces? ...Maybe.

But when I say unique challenges, I'm thinking minigames, quests, dungeons. puzzles. Something that drastically shakes up the core gameplay and provides some juicy variety. These can be great ways to reward exploration, but they're kinda hard to talk about because of how versatile they are. I generally think they're an awesome exploration reward, but can of course run the risk of getting repetitive and formulaic if a certain challenge is repeated too often. You can only have so many Major Tests of Strengths, or identical seeming ruins or catacombs, before players start getting tired

How do I get there?​

Sometimes the joy in exploration is knowing you have to get somewhere and not knowing how. Navigational and exploration puzzles are some of my favorite ways to "reward" exploration. Reward may be a misleading term - after all, you're typically doing these puzzles for some other reward. But there's something really satisfying about figuring out how to traverse an environment to get something (or somewhere).

CrossCode (you knew it was coming) does this exceptionally, with each zone being its own well-crafted exploration puzzle that tantalizingly unfolds as you poke through every nook and cranny of the area. Crystal Project, an indie RPG from this year, utilizes platforming in its open world to very similar effect (and also pulls off some excellent Metroidvania-like elements in the bargain as new mounts expand your traversal).

NabiscoFelt's contractually obligated indie RPG shilling aside, one of my favorite moments from Ys 9 was an environment with very similar design to a CrossCode area - a swamp environment where you could eventually find a ramp to an upper layer, and then utilize that game's excellent traversal elements to continue to explore. The light exploration puzzle was made even more satisfying when you got to escape a swamp as the reward

One of my favorite gaming moments was when I climbed the Dueling Peaks at the beginning of the BoTW, with maybe one stamina upgrade to my name. Figuring out a way up the peaks and figuring out the twin Shrines at the top was just amazing. Hoping Tears of the Kingdom can bring similar moments, especially with its seeming emphasis on verticality.

Satisfying Terrain​

Look sometimes the terrain is nice. I don't know how to describe this, but sometimes it's more fun to traverse one environment than another due simply to how the terrain is laid out. I think it might be a verticality/line of sight thing? I don't really know, but I had to include this

Edit: That Sweet Sweet Lore​

Yeah probably should've remembered this one, but in my defense it's not typically a high priority for me while exploring. But it definitely is so for a lot of people!

Sometimes, the joy of exploring comes from discovering more about the world you're exploring and the characters who live in it. Dropping lore hints or full character moments in new locations can be a great reward all on its own

Loot, Progression, and Collectibles​

I've left this one for last because I have a lot to say about it.

While these all seem like fairly distinct things, I'm grouping them all together as "tangible rewards", since they all kinda serve the same purpose, and I think are best discussed together. I imagine these is often what first comes to mind when someone thinks of exploration rewards - the sort of tangible things that affect character growth or change up gameplay in some way. And they can range from major changes (new equipment, weapons, health upgrades) to pretty minor (a seed that you collect dozens of to expand your inventory by 1 slot). What makes these rewards meaningful? I have a couple thoughts

1. Usefulness of the reward​

How much does the reward "do"? Some rewards are major in how they can affect your character, party, or gameplay. A new weapon or party member in an RPG or action game can do a whole lot towards improving your experience, and thus feel pretty rewarding to earn. Smaller rewards may feel less rewarding - a basic potion is neat and all and may be useful in the early game, but rapidly drops off in excitement and value as time goes on. Even "smaller" than this gets into the realm of collectibles - rewards that are practically meaningless at first glance, with effects that may just be geared towards completionism or require multiple of the reward to get (Korok Seeds are the prime example in my eyes).

That being said, these rewards may not have fixed values for everyone and in every situation. A weapon might seem like a great reward, unless it's worse than what you have equipped or unsuitable for your build (yes, this is a direct jab at Elden Ring). A healing item may seem like a useless reward - unless you somehow find yourself low on them while in a dungeon. The first Korok seed towards a new inventory slot may feel useless, but the last can be pretty damn satisfying. And in my mind, usefulness is not the sole metric by which rewards feel meaningful

2. Level of Abstraction​

The software dev in me wants to call this abstraction, but I'm not strictly sure that's the right term. What I'm talking about though is how far the reward is from affecting gameplay (which can also mean filling out a collectible book). Equipment has no level of abstraction - it can affect gameplay immediately. Money needs to be used to buy things that can affect gameplay, so that's one level of abstraction. Sellable items need to be sold to make money, which can then be used to buy gameplay affecting things. That's two levels

Generally speaking, I find the more levels of abstraction between the reward and the thing that affects gameplay makes the reward feel less valuable. Though this too is variable - sometimes a reward with two levels of abstraction can still feel worthwhile, while other times even one level can be devastating. Which ties into the next point

3. Uniqueness ​

How unique is the thing? If a reward can only be found in one place or via a single category of activity, that's pretty unique, which increases how valuable it feels. If the reward is everywhere, then it feels less valuable. For example, while money can be a very valuable reward with the right game economy, but oftentimes it's very plentiful or easily grindable, making it feel like a cheap reward.

4. What does it take to get it?​

One crucial aspect that can make or break a reward is how much effort you need to put in to get it. An easy to get reward can get away with being trifling, a reward that takes multiple steps, grueling fights, or tricky platforming to reach needs to be a lot more valuable for that effort. This can be mitigated at least somewhat by having the challenge be intrinsically fun, which can even make the effort feel rewarding in itself

To bring up Elden Ring again, my problem with its reward system already having a bunch of meaningless rewards thanks to its RPG design is exacerbated when getting those meaningless rewards involves trudging through a (sometimes repetitive) mini-dungeon. And I typically like Souls dungeons, but there's no denying that at least for my somewhat inept self, they can be a bit of a challenge to get through. Going through that to get a Greatsword kinda sucks when you're a Dex build.

Another Note on Intrinsic Motivation​

Watch the video above. But basically, large rewards can often have a dampening effect on intrinsic motivation, as you start exploring for specifically rewards instead of just for the fun of it. Small rewards that aren't expected can avoid this issue, which is why Korok seeds are brilliant, actually

How does this come together? ​

I'd like to highlight a couple different games that I feel make use of these factors to craft interesting rewards for exploration

Ubisoft's surprisingly good Immortals: Fenyx Rising is a game that through what I can only describe as game design parkour, manages to make a satisfying reward system out of more currencies than a mobile gatcha, in my opinion because it makes every currency tied to a different activity and obtainable through different means. Rewards still feel meaningful even with the massive amounts of currency the game throws at you because of this uniqueness factor. Having only one level of abstraction helps, and these rewards are pretty meaningful - increasing health, stamina, or the damage of your weapons

I'd also like to highlight CrossCode (again) for its interesting use of uniqueness to make even a one-level abstraction with a grindable currency an interesting reward. In CrossCode, you can buy gear with different materials dropped by enemies and destructible objects - typically a town will sell items linked to enemies and objects from its zone. You can get these items by grinding, or you can bypass that by exploring and finding chests with peculiarly exactly the items you need to buy the gear.

Breath of the Wild tends to not have drastic challenges to get its rewards - even the trickiest of shrine puzzles is a relatively short affair. Thus, it can get away with the "many small rewards" approach pretty easily, while keeping the intrinsic desire to explore strong. It also partially circumvents the "useless weapons" situation with its durability system (though that gets less effective as time goes on). Its stricter economy also goes some way towards alleviating the two levels of abstraction you get from its plentiful "shiny rock" treasure chests, but imo money's still mostly useless and still plentiful enough that it doesn't go nearly far enough

Pokemon cheats, plain and simple. Pokemon are, by themselves, enemy variety, a potential party member, and a collectible wrapped into one. It's borderline unfair, and part of why I enjoy the recent Pokemon open world/zones so much is that for me, all the games really need to do is have a decent Pokemon distribution, which they tend to manage. The Pokemon themselves are enough engagement to handle the rest. Plus, catching said Pokemon does tend to be pretty breezy, which makes it enjoyable even when the Pokemon you're catching is just there to fill out the Dex (I'm sorry, Bidoof fans, but you know it's true)

Also they have good terrain. No, I will not elaborate, they just do.

Conclusion​

Idk, I don't know if anyone's still reading now anyways. Umm...

Exploration is great, and one of the main reasons I enjoy video games. But it's hard to get right, unless you're Pokemon, which is cheating.

Thanks for reading my TED Thread

 

[Rexskel]

Unique and interesting landmarks are pretty important for me to not feel that the world is pretty bland and empty. It really makes me wanna explore more.

 

[xghost777]

Exploration is one of my favorite things in games. It is inherently satisfying to poke around and learn how an environment is all connected together.

I think what you need to keep it interesting is having unique, vertical terrain that mixes it up. It doesn’t have to be wild, a really good hill can get it done for example. The main thing is having a lot of interesting, varied terrain where you want to poke around it all. On top of that you have to a good mix of challenges, new enemies and bosses, and treasure to find. If you have good gameplay loops that feed into exploration, even better.

Xenoblade 3 was my favorite game for exploration this year. I also really dug Pokemon Legends Arceus and I’m looking forward to playing Violet whenever my copy arrives in the mail. It got lost

 

[SammyJ9]

For me, it’s a combination of a lot of those things. Or, more precisely, I really need to have multiple of those together to hold my interest and keep me engaged for very long. It’s how I feel about a lot of games: The more the game’s various systems and pieces all interact and mesh together, the more fulfilling the game is, and that applies to exploration as well.

#1 most important to me is mechanical character progression/loot, since I tend to be very motivated by that. #2 is story/character development (which I guess would be “other” in the poll), #3 is unique challenges, #4 is the gorgeous nature of the world and #5 is intrinsic value.

Examples:

- BOTW nails loot with equipment due to things breaking so easily, so for a while that’s a good reward. So are shrines (challenges) and the world is beautiful and interesting visually. But the silver bullet for BOTW for me was the story and characters: I NEEDED to find all the memories to piece together what the hell happened 100 years ago, and I wanted every scrap of character development that Link and Zelda had that I could get my hands on. That was a huge factor for me in that game.

- Legends Arceus, on the other hand, started off really interesting due to the Pokémon being all-in-one like you said. Sidequests also helped with this (I like sidequests, even with iffy rewards!). But I found that a combination of later areas being visually more boring and simple, little reward other than Pokémon (which I got a little bored of once I had a full good team), lack of much combat, and me not really caring about story or character made me lose interest in the game before too long (I also don’t think the vistas or anything motivated me much either as I didn't find the world super interesting or well-designed).

- Elden Ring has it all: Loot (diminishing returns here though once you have a “final-ish” build kitted out, granted), one of the most beautiful worlds in a game, lore to uncover, and especially challenges. Hidden areas with rare loot, tough bosses to overcome, mysterious feel... I could go on and on about this game. Maybe loses a few points once you get to the very last parts of the game due to repetition and some parts losing value (mostly loot).

- Xenoblade 2 might be my favorite game ever for exploration, and XC1 is right up there behind it. (3 is still good, but is lacking some of the ingredients those both have): XC2 has loot in tons of ways (money, equipment, weapon chips, core crystals for rolling new blades, etc.), side quests galore that often have character/story development and mechanical rewards (Blade quests), exploring is important to unlocking nodes on Blade skill trees (which I'm addicted to doing), unique challenges with UMs and hidden bosses, and a beautiful and interesting world with tons of hidden locations. There are also heart-to-hearts, which give character development and fun scenes. And it all interacts and meshes together beautifully, leaving you constantly bouncing around exploring and running tallies in your head about where to go next, what to strive for, what you need to be doing for node unlocks, finding secret areas, unlocking warp points, I could go on and on.

Overall, I think my personal TLDR is I find mechanical rewards to be most important, and in writing this up I also realized just how important variety and how all the games' systems and pieces interact with and are integrated into the exploration is to me.

 

[PixelKnight]

I always found BotW’s development of its exploration fascinating, considering this would have been being done in the mid 2010s. The way it’s set up so players wanting combat can usually see something, and players wanting shelter at night have the settlements designed to be more visable, and that there’s enough little resting points while climbing to make everywhere viable for even a player right at the start of the game. It’s interesting stuff.

A rare look at how Nintendo built Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Hyrule

Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece of game design. Exploring the huge, seamless world of Hyrule, your curiosity…

www.eurogamer.net

Holism: Breath of the Wild’s Golden Triangles

Wolfman digs into a tenet of Breath of the Wild’s design that drove its incredible sense of exploration, mystery, and adventure.

sourcegaming.info

Personally I don’t much care for set pieces, I like the illusion of stumbling into stuff and then feeling I’ve made a big discovery after working out exactly what I’ve walked into. For example, finding the Master Sword in BOTW, if you aren’t using a guide, is something that isn’t particularly signposted- perseverance gets you there and it’s significance is only revealed once you do. If it had a big flaming sword in the sky appear over its location when you got to nearby high points, it would have removed a lot of the sense of discovery for me, a set piece treating the player like an idiot rather than the mythic, hidden relic rewarding the curious adventurer.

However, I did like stuff like seeing the dragons in the sky and wondering ‘what is that? How do I interact with that?’. In that sense it’s less of a set piece and more something so weird and out-of-context that it draws you in, rather than a set piece shouting ‘plot event and milestone achieved!

It reminds me of Skyrim a lot, in that you can complete both games having only touched a fraction of interesting structures, dungeons, secrets and terrain the designers built. And they are absolutely fine with that rather than making it sure you experience every major thing in a single playthrough by making it difficult to avoid major milestones.

 

[NabiscoFelt]

- Elden Ring has it all: Loot (diminishing returns here though once you have a “final-ish” build kitted out, granted), one of the most beautiful worlds in a game, lore to uncover, and especially challenges. Hidden areas with rare loot, tough bosses to overcome, mysterious feel... I could go on and on about this game. Maybe loses a few points once you get to the very last parts of the game due to repetition and some parts losing value (mostly loot).

People need to stop making me want to go for round 3 of Elden Ring, I know it probably won't work out again but I keep getting tempted

Ok maybe round 3 at some point, I feel like I got close to enjoying it but something or another kept making me drop it

Edit: To justify myself and add some value to this comment: for me the higher difficulty and involvement in doing things made the lackluster rewards a lot more annoying than they would've been otherwise, and I didn't find the game intrinsically fun enough to really offset this. I also wasn't a huge fan of the geography and how the world was laid out, and getting around felt fairly uninteresting as well

 

[meatbag]

In general I'm an intrinsically motivated gamer-- I do things that I find interesting, whether there's a reward or not. Now what constitutes as "interesting" varies a lot from game to game. Looking back to the few open world games I did like for their open worlds (as opposed to something like The Witcher 3, whose stories I felt were bogged down by the open world):

• Red Dead Redemption: The level of detail put into the world itself is nothing short of incredible, and that's what makes experiencing that world so engrossing. You could save a man from a wild coyote. You could be wading in the river then be suddenly jumped on by some hooligans. You could be sneaking into ranches to steal some sheep. You could even stalk some dude and see how he goes about his day. Hell, it's straight up more fun to play the open world as a freewheeling cowboy than the ridiculously limited (gameplay-wise) mainline story missions.
• Spiderman: Somewhat related to RDR, the open world lets you feel like an actual superhero. Sure there's a lot of dumb missions (freaking pigeons) but it's so fun chasing down robbers making a getaway, or infiltrating criminal strongholds. There's not much to see in the city per se, but traversal is fluid and fast.
• Dying Light: Always thought this was a great example of how to do a standard open world: there's relatively few points of interest, but the open space between those points is a parkour playground. The point isn't to take in the sights, but rather to map the most efficient route, because zombies will mob you once you hit ground level. And you'll want to get to your destination quick, because once nighttime comes, the really dangerous, acrobatic zombies come out to play. Thus, traversing the open world is always a race against time, and the floor is lava.
• Breath of the Wild: The pinnacle of open world as far as I'm concerned. You only have to beat Ganon. Everything else is up to you. The chemistry engine means you're always adapting to the environment, and figuring out the best way to weather the cold or climb the mountains. You're also encouraged to really take in the world and navigate via landmarks. The open world is a constant gameplay element that you're actively engaging with, and that's what makes it so good.

But it's hard to get right, unless you're Pokemon, which is cheating

I don't think Scarlet/Violet has convinced me that open world Pokemon is the way to go, but yeah, the Pokemon are cheating. The standard grassy plains that would be meh in other games become 10x more interesting just because there are Skiddos and Rookidees walking around.

 

[Jencks]

Honestly for me it just boils down to the feeling of: "did the developers put something here, surely not?" "Oh! They did"

It's simply the acknowledgment that the player is going of the intended path that feels rewarding to me. If there's a cool item I get on top of that, cool.

 

[balgajo]

Items/abilities that changes gameplay in meaningful way and opens up new exploration loop is probably my favorite reason. One of the reasons I love Zelda and metroidvania.

Also discovering NPCs with nice stories and world lore is also great.

 

[Bowser Sr.]

I think literally everything in the poll counts as a nice attribute for a game's world to have, honestly. As long as the player is engaged by something fun, or beautiful, or funny, and they got to experience that moment due to the fact they went off the beaten path, it counts as a thing that makes the exploration "Worth it"