Best Open World Games That Reward Completion

Best Open World Games That Reward Completion

The best open world games that reward completion are Elden Ring for exploration-driven discoveries, Red Dead Redemption 2 for a rich checklist and epilogue, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla for sheer map-clearing depth. The right pick depends on whether you want completion to mean finding hidden places, finishing a carefully tracked list, or spending dozens of hours clearing regions. The rankings below weigh those distinctions alongside reward quality and post-game play.

Ranked picks at a glance

Times are broad estimates, not guarantees. Difficulty, exploration habits, platform, and what you count as “complete” can shift them considerably. In particular, map icons cleared and a game’s formal 100% completion target are not always the same thing.

Which game suits your kind of completion?

1. Elden Ring: best for discovery over box-ticking

Elden Ring makes exploration itself the reward. Its regions hide optional bosses, caves, legacy dungeons, unusual weapons, and questlines that can change how parts of the story resolve. The world map records discovered sites and lets you add markers, but it does not turn every secret into a neat checklist. That keeps exploration exciting—and makes a truly exhaustive run harder to plan.

Completion pays off in new builds and equipment as much as in a percentage. Many optional encounters offer unique gear or spells, while finishing the story opens the option to begin New Game Plus. Choose it if you like comparing clues, revisiting suspicious corners, and accepting that some secrets may require a guide. Skip it if you want a clear list of every remaining task.

2. Red Dead Redemption 2: best for a defined 100% target

Red Dead Redemption 2 is the strongest pick for players who want the game to spell out what completion involves. Its progress menus cover categories such as story missions, challenges, collectibles, and discoveries. The world is also full of optional encounters and activities that make it rewarding to slow down rather than rush from marker to marker.

The trade-off is time and missability. Some content is tied to story chapters, and the formal 100% list does not require every activity the world offers. A sensible approach is to check the progress menu regularly and handle chapter-specific opportunities before moving on. The epilogue provides substantial additional story, but it does not turn every remaining collectible into a new narrative payoff.

3. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: best for clearing a huge checklist

Valhalla makes regional progress easy to read: explore an area, reveal its map icons, and work through its wealth, mysteries, and artifacts. These categories provide a steady route through side content, while gear and skill rewards give many activities a practical payoff. It is a good match for players who enjoy watching a region move toward completion.

Its scale can become a drawback. Optional objectives repeat familiar activity patterns, and a map full of icons can feel more like a workload than a mystery. The base game and expansions also add a substantial amount of content, so decide whether you want the main map cleared or are aiming for a much longer all-content project.

4. The Witcher 3: best for side quests that feel like stories

The Witcher 3 is less about clearing every icon than finding optional quests worth remembering. Contracts, treasure hunts, character stories, and the Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone expansions make completion feel like a collection of narrative detours. Many quests have choices and consequences, so exploring thoroughly can change what you see rather than simply add another item to a counter.

Tracking is less foolproof than in a dedicated checklist game. Keep an eye on the quest log and suggested levels, and avoid assuming every question mark is equally worthwhile. Its optional content can be missed or resolved differently depending on story choices, making it a better fit for players who value meaningful outcomes over a perfectly clean map.

5. Ghost of Tsushima: best for a satisfying, bounded clear

Ghost of Tsushima gives completionists a clear map without the overwhelming sprawl of Valhalla. Activities such as fox dens, hot springs, and shrines are easy to recognize, and the guiding wind offers a more atmospheric way to find selected objectives. Completing them can improve abilities, increase capacity, or unlock cosmetics and other rewards.

The Director’s Cut adds Iki Island and access to Legends, an online co-op mode. Those additions extend the experience, though Legends is separate from clearing the single-player map. If you want a polished completion loop with a more manageable time commitment, this is the safest all-round choice.

How to choose without turning play into a second job

Plan the time before you commit

Use the completion-time estimates as a budget, not a promise. For example, if you can play five hours a week and choose a 75-hour thorough run of Ghost of Tsushima, that works out to 75 ÷ 5 = 15 weeks. The same schedule applied to a 180-hour Red Dead Redemption 2 100% run takes 36 weeks. Extra exploration, missed objectives, and downloadable content can extend either estimate.

It also helps to separate “map clear” from “true completion.” Decide whether you mean all visible markers, the game’s own 100% target, every achievement, or every quest and collectible. Those goals differ, and achievement requirements can include challenges that are not necessary for the in-game completion percentage.

Final recommendation

Pick Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut for a focused, satisfying sweep; Red Dead Redemption 2 for the most substantial tracked completion challenge; or Elden Ring if the fun is discovering what the map never explicitly promises. Valhalla serves players who want sheer checklist scale, while The Witcher 3 is the better choice when optional stories matter more than a spotless map.