Best Open-World Games Where You Start with Nothing

One of gaming’s greatest joys is letting players live out experiences they likely never will, and one of the most satisfying experiences is starting from absolutely nothing and building up a character, world, or story worth being proud of.

Related

8 Most Complex Open World Games, Ranked

These are some of the most complicated open-world titles to play.

Whether it’s starting in an entirely fresh world with nothing but the clothes on the character’s back or having the world taken away from a character and forcing them to claw their way back to the surface, open-world games where the player starts with nothing and ends with everything is one of the most satisfying experiences gaming has to offer.

8

Valheim

Norse Rules

OpenCritic

Top Critic Rating:
85/100


Critics Recommend:
90%

Released

February 2, 2021

Developer(s)

Iron Gate AB

Releasing in 2021 at the very peak of the survival genre boom, Valheim was an underdog story in every way. An obscure indie company published it, had a strange art style, and came out absolutely swinging for the mechanical fences. Yet, Valheim built upon the foundations of a well-trodden genre and charmed its players with a vision of Norse mythology, a roster of brilliant bosses, and immensely satisfying survival gameplay.

It also offered the pure experience of starting with absolutely nothing and being forced to make do with whatever the player could get their hands on. By the time the game finished and players had built entire towns, it’s hard to think of many games that match that sense of satisfaction.

7

Sons Of The Forest

Cannibals and Mutants? Oh My!

Survival

Open-World

Survival Horror

Released

February 22, 2024

Developer(s)

Endnight Games

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

When the original The Forest game was released on PC back in 2014, it took on a bit of a reputation for being a uniquely horrifying game due to its atmospheric titular woods, dynamic monsters that lurked in the dark, and a night-time that was truly pitch-black. Sons of the Forest, released almost ten years later, doesn’t do much to evolve the franchise. Instead, it perfected the formula.

The player starts as a victim of a crash landing on a beautiful but hostile forest island with little else but the clothes on their back and horrific monsters roaming the woods just waiting to grab them. Not only is it satisfying to build a base worth defending and building up a treasure chest of powerful items, but actually fending off the threats successfully provides a sense of genuine and unique pride that few other games offer.

6

DayZ

The OG And Still On Top

Systems

Released

December 13, 2018

OpenCritic Rating

Weak

Throughout the 2010s, the open-world survival game had a massive boom in popularity, perhaps spearheaded by DayZ, originally an ARMA 2 mod, but now a standalone game that takes all the brutal difficulty of the original mod and transposes it directly into a singularly grueling world of its own. Players are dropped into the Russian wilderness on their own, and it’s up to them to gear up with good enough weapons and survive.

While DayZ offers the usual trappings of building up gear and becoming a fearsome threat, the player also gets a lot of satisfaction out of learning the geography of the map itself. There’s no minimap, no quest markers, only the environment, which means when the player finally masters the world, they’ve truly ascended from having nothing and becoming the threat.

5

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

A Peasant’s Lot

Released

February 13, 2018

Developer(s)

Warhorse Studios

OpenCritic Rating

Fair

Most open-world games that have the player begin with nothing are usually survival games, but that’s not always the case. In the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance, players begin as Henry of Skalitz, the son of a blacksmith with no money and few skills, which proves a major problem when the Cumans burn Skaltiz to the ground and leave Henry with no family and nothing to his name.

Related

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 – 10 Beginner Tips

Kick off your Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 journey with these beginner tips. Dodge early trouble and enjoy your medieval adventure!

So begins the long quest of Henry becoming a knight and soldier fearsome enough to seek vengeance in an unfair world where peasants are looked down upon at every turn. By the time the game finishes, players have become the fearsome threat they were victims of in the beginning, leading to one of the most satisfying finales in open-world gaming.

4

The Long Dark

Out In The Cold

Released

August 1, 2017

Developer(s)

Hinterland Studio

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

When it comes to the actual work of surviving in a hostile environment, most open-world survival games are pretty loose with the details and don’t mind too much giving away a little realism. Not so with The Long Dark, which places players in one of many dangerous locations with absolutely nothing and forces them to survive.

Not only do players need to worry about water, food, heat, and shelter, but also local wildlife, light, how food is cooked, and countless other considerations. While it can be stressful to begin with, by the end of the experience, if the player pays attention and works hard, they can become the master of one of the cruelest settings in all survival games.

3

Subnautica

Under The Sea

OpenCritic

Top Critic Rating:
84/100


Critics Recommend:
92%

Released

January 23, 2018

Thalassaphobes beware: the premise of Subnautica is, simply put, horrifying. At the beginning of the game, the player crash lands upon a planet entirely covered by the ocean with absolutely nothing save their life raft, and they’re faced with the daunting challenge of how to return home somehow.

Related

Subnautica: All Leviathans In The Franchise, Ranked By Size

Massive creatures lie within the depths, but which one is the largest of them all?

This means going where humans don’t belong: the deep sea. There are all sorts of horrifying creatures in the dark, and players need to use all their survival skills to create vehicles, structures, and maps to survive. Just remember, if a Reaper roars, it’s too late to run.

2

Fallout: New Vegas

Without A Big Iron On Your Hip

Released

October 19, 2010

In some open-world games, it’s bad enough that the player begins with no resources and has to fend for themselves. Fallout: New Vegas takes that premise one step further and asks: “What if the player character had no memories either?”. What results is one of the greatest RPGs ever made that gives the player total carte blanche over what kind of courier they want to be.

By the end of the game, the humble courier becomes one of the most prominent power players in the entire Mojave Wasteland, deciding the fates of thousands of people and the game’s powerful factions. That’s a big step up from starting with nothing, not even any memories, and it makes for one of the most satisfying stories in modern RPGs.

1

Minecraft

One Block At A Time

OpenCritic

Top Critic Rating:
90/100


Critics Recommend:
84%

Platform(s)

3DS, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360

Released

November 18, 2011

As if it could be anything else. It’s hard to overstate the immense impact Minecraft has had since its launch, revolutionizing indie gaming, survival gaming, and the kinds of games studios would make for over a decade. Due to its procedural generation, the player is always placed in an unknown world, and starting with nothing but simple hands willing to beat wooden blocks out of trees, they need to figure out how to survive.

While the game’s survival mechanics may not be the most complex, it is single-handedly the purest evocation of the satisfaction felt when starting from nothing and becoming the master of the world. By the time the player calls it quits, they will have explored and mastered a world entirely made just for them. It’s a feeling still unrivaled, making Minecraft undoubtedly one of the greatest games of all time.

4:19

More

The 5 Best Open World Games Set in the Future, Ranked

The best open-world games set in the future provide players with a thought-provoking window through which they can learn humanity’s fate.