Open World Games That Are Completely Empty

Open world games often promise vast landscapes filled with life and activity but some titles struggle to populate their environments. These digital worlds provide massive geographic areas that lack traditional side quests or meaningful environmental interactions. Players frequently find themselves traveling through thousands of virtual miles without encountering characters or interesting landmarks. This list explores several games where the open world serves more as a distance to travel than a space to explore.

‘Desert Bus’ (1995)

This simulation title asks players to drive a bus from Tucson to Las Vegas in real time. The journey takes eight hours of continuous driving across a flat and featureless road. There are no other vehicles and no scenery changes besides a single bug hitting the windshield. The game was designed as a parody of the realism found in early simulation software. It remains one of the most famous examples of an intentionally barren digital environment.

‘The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall’ (1996)

The map in this classic roleplaying game is roughly the size of Great Britain. While it features thousands of towns and dungeons most of the space between locations consists of empty hills and forests. Procedural generation created a massive scale that was impossible for developers to fill with hand crafted content at the time. Players generally rely on fast travel to skip the hours of monotonous walking required to reach distant objectives.

‘Shenmue’ (1999)

This title focuses on a young man seeking revenge in a detailed recreation of a Japanese city. While the environments are highly interactive they are often locked behind strict schedules that leave the player with nothing to do. Many areas exist simply to facilitate the passage of time or walking from one plot point to another. The world feels remarkably quiet during certain hours when shops are closed and characters are off screen.

‘Mafia’ (2002)

The city of Lost Heaven provides a stunning backdrop for a cinematic crime story set in the 1930s. However the open world serves almost no purpose outside of driving between linear mission objectives. There are no side activities or shops to visit while exploring the various districts. The streets are largely populated by generic pedestrians and police officers who enforce traffic laws. This design choice focuses entirely on the narrative rather than sandbox gameplay.

‘True Crime: Streets of LA’ (2003)

This game attempted to recreate a massive portion of Los Angeles using GPS data to ensure geographic accuracy. The resulting map is huge but lacks the detail and density found in its contemporary competitors. Most of the blocks consist of repeated storefronts and empty sidewalks that offer little interaction. Driving through the city becomes a repetitive task because of the lack of unique landmarks or hidden secrets.

‘Shadow of the Colossus’ (2005)

The Forbidden Lands are a hauntingly beautiful but entirely desolate region where the protagonist hunts massive stone creatures. There are no towns or friendly non player characters to interact with throughout the journey. The world is meant to feel lonely and ancient to enhance the emotional weight of the story. Players spend the majority of their time riding a horse across quiet plains and through silent forests.

‘Test Drive Unlimited’ (2006)

This racing game features a one to one scale recreation of the island of Oahu in Hawaii. With thousands of miles of open road the game world is statistically massive but geographically sparse. Outside of designated race hubs and car dealerships the island is a quiet place for solo driving. The focus remains on the joy of the drive rather than populating the tropical paradise with interactive elements.

‘Two Worlds’ (2007)

This fantasy game offers a large continent to explore but many regions lack meaningful content. Large stretches of the map are populated by the same few enemy types standing in open fields. The terrain often feels repetitive and lacks the environmental storytelling found in more dense roleplaying games. Exploration rarely feels rewarding because the world does not have unique treasures or side stories tucked away in its corners.

‘Far Cry 2’ (2008)

The African savannah in this shooter is a harsh and unforgiving place designed to make the player feel isolated. While the world is visually impressive it is mostly occupied by aggressive mercenaries at recurring guard posts. There are no civilians to meet and the wildlife is surprisingly scarce for the setting. Much of the gameplay involves long drives through empty brushland while managing a malaria infection.

‘Fuel’ (2009)

This post apocalyptic racing game holds a world record for having one of the largest playable maps in video game history. The environment covers thousands of square miles of deserts and snowy mountains with very few structures. Because the map is so large the developers used procedural generation that resulted in vast areas of nothingness. Players can drive for twenty minutes in a straight line without seeing a single building or landmark.

‘Deadly Premonition’ (2010)

The rural town of Greenvale is a sprawling map that requires a lot of driving to navigate between crime scenes. Most of the town consists of empty roads and wooded areas that look identical to one another. There is almost no reason to explore the map outside of the main story path because there are no side activities. The slow car speeds make the emptiness of the world feel even more pronounced during long commutes.

‘L.A. Noire’ (2011)

This detective game features a meticulously researched recreation of Los Angeles in the late 1940s. While the city is beautiful to look at it functions almost entirely as a set for the scripted missions. There are very few buildings the player can enter and almost no side quests available in the open world. The developer prioritized historical accuracy over the variety of activities typically found in sandbox games.

‘Proteus’ (2013)

This experimental game focuses on a procedural island where the environment reacts to the player with music and sound. There are no objectives or enemies and the world contains no buildings or characters. The experience is centered on the sensation of walking through a quiet and abstract natural landscape. It is a minimalist journey where the emptiness of the world is the primary focus of the art style.

‘The Crew’ (2014)

The map in this title is a scaled down version of the entire United States which takes forty minutes to drive across. While major cities are represented they are separated by enormous stretches of highway and empty farmland. The scale is impressive but much of the country feels like a generic blur during high speed races. There is very little to see in the vast spaces between the primary hubs of activity.

‘Elite Dangerous’ (2014)

Players explore a realistic one to one scale version of the Milky Way galaxy containing billions of star systems. The sheer scale of space means that the vast majority of the game world is completely empty and silent. It can take hours of real time flight to reach distant stars where no other players or stations exist. This emptiness captures the true feeling of being a small pilot in an unfathomably large universe.

‘Mad Max’ (2015)

The Wasteland is a sea of sand and rusted metal where survival depends on finding fuel and scrap. While the atmosphere is perfect for the franchise the world is intentionally barren to reflect the post apocalyptic setting. Long stretches of the map are composed of empty dunes with only the occasional enemy camp to discover. The game emphasizes the isolation of the titular character as he navigates the scorched remains of the world.

‘Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’ (2015)

The maps of Afghanistan and the Angola-Zaire border region are large but mostly consist of rocky terrain and desert. While enemy outposts are detailed the space between them is often devoid of life or interactive objects. Players frequently use a horse or a vehicle to cross several kilometers of empty land to reach their next objective. The open world serves as a tactical space for infiltration rather than a living world to explore.

‘No Man’s Sky’ (2016)

At its initial launch this space exploration game featured quintillions of planets that were mostly empty and repetitive. Players would often land on worlds that lacked interesting flora or fauna and had very few structures. While updates have since added more content the core experience still involves traveling through vast silent reaches of space. The early version of the game was criticized for having a universe that felt wide but shallow.

‘Mirror’s Edge Catalyst’ (2016)

The city of Glass is a sterile and futuristic metropolis built for high speed parkour movement. Because it is a rooftops only experience the world below remains a distant and unreachable background. The upper levels are mostly empty hallways and clean white terraces with very few characters to talk to. This emptiness reinforces the corporate and controlled nature of the game world.

‘ReCore’ (2016)

The planet of Far Eden is a desert world where humanity hoped to build a new home before the terraforming process failed. The resulting map is a massive expanse of sand dunes and cave systems filled with hostile robots. There are no human settlements or bustling cities to find while exploring the wasteland. Most of the game involves navigating these quiet dunes to find hardware parts and ancient technology.

‘Homefront: The Revolution’ (2016)

Philadelphia is divided into various zones under military occupation in this alternative history shooter. The red zones are ruined urban wastelands where the civilian population has been removed entirely. These areas are filled with rubble and empty buildings that serve as combat arenas for the resistance. The lack of life in these districts makes the city feel like a hollow shell of its former self.

‘Elex’ (2017)

The world of Magalan is a post apocalyptic land where magic and high technology coexist. While the lore is deep the physical map contains massive forests and mountain ranges that have very little content. Players can walk for long periods without finding anything other than basic loot or generic monsters. The game relies on its large scale to create a sense of wonder even when the world feels underpopulated.

‘Scanner Sombre’ (2017)

Players explore a pitch black cave system using a LIDAR scanner to visualize the environment through colored dots. The world is a silent and subterranean void that only becomes visible as the player interacts with it. There are no puzzles to solve and no enemies to fight within the deep caverns. The game focuses on the atmospheric experience of navigating a completely empty and dark underground world.

‘Sea of Thieves’ (2018)

The ocean in this pirate adventure is a vast and beautiful body of water that takes a long time to navigate. Most of the islands are small and uninhabited with only skeletons or animals guarding the shores. Players spend a significant portion of their playtime looking at the horizon while waiting to reach a destination. The emptiness of the sea is meant to encourage social interaction between crew members on the ship.

‘Just Cause 4’ (2018)

The island nation of Solís is a huge map featuring diverse biomes including rainforests and deserts. While the destruction mechanics are impressive the world itself feels like a giant empty playground. Many of the small towns and military bases feel identical and lack unique character or stories. Outside of causing chaos there is very little reason to stop and explore the vast countryside.

‘DayZ’ (2018)

The country of Chernarus is a massive post Soviet landscape where players must scavenge for supplies to survive. Because it is a realistic simulation most of the map consists of empty woods and abandoned houses. It is common to play for hours without seeing another human player or even a zombie in the rural areas. This isolation is intentional to build tension and make every encounter feel significant.

‘Vampyr’ (2018)

Set in London during the Spanish flu pandemic this game features a dark and atmospheric city. The streets are mostly empty because of the quarantine and the late night setting of the story. While there are hubs with NPCs the majority of the map is populated only by hostile guards and monsters. The lack of a general population makes the city feel like a grim and desolate maze.

‘Atlas’ (2018)

This massive multiplayer pirate game features an ocean map that is supposedly thousands of times larger than other titles. However the vast majority of this space is open water with nothing to see for miles. Many of the islands are procedurally generated and lack interesting landmarks or unique wildlife. Players often spend hours sailing in a straight line with no meaningful events occurring on the waves.

‘Dynasty Warriors 9’ (2018)

This long running series attempted an open world format for the first time by recreating ancient China. The resulting map is enormous but largely consists of empty plains and repetitive forests. Traveling between cities takes a long time and there is almost nothing to do in the wilderness. Fans criticized the game for trading the tight action of previous entries for a hollow and oversized world.

‘Crackdown 3’ (2019)

The city of New Providence is a neon lit urban environment designed for vertical movement and explosive combat. While the city looks busy from a distance the streets are remarkably quiet and lack life. Pedestrians are rare and the environment lacks the interactive elements found in other modern sandbox games. The world functions more as a series of platforms for the player to jump across than a living city.

‘Ghost Recon Breakpoint’ (2019)

The island of Auroa is a private archipelago filled with high tech facilities and beautiful natural landscapes. Because the island is under martial law there are no civilians or bustling towns to visit. The open world is almost entirely populated by enemy patrols and automated drones. This creates a sense of loneliness as the player moves through the wilderness to dismantle the enemy corporation.

‘Rage 2’ (2019)

The wasteland in this shooter is a vibrant and colorful desert filled with bandit camps and mutant dens. While the combat is fast and engaging the world between the camps is mostly empty road. There are very few random encounters or interesting things to find while driving the combat vehicles. The game has been criticized for having a world that serves only as a bridge between the primary shooting arenas.

‘Generation Zero’ (2019)

Set in 1980s Sweden this game tasks players with surviving against a mysterious army of machines. The countryside is beautiful but almost every house and village is completely abandoned. There are no human NPCs to interact with for the majority of the experience. The silence of the Swedish forests emphasizes the mystery of what happened to the missing population.

‘Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey’ (2019)

Players control a tribe of primates in prehistoric Africa as they evolve over millions of years. The jungle and savannah are massive but contain only basic resources and predators. There are no structures or civilizations to discover because they have not been invented yet. The gameplay focuses on the raw survival of the species in a vast and indifferent natural world.

‘Death Stranding’ (2019)

The post apocalyptic United States is a series of jagged rocks and mossy hills where nature has reclaimed the land. There are no cities to visit because the remaining population lives in underground bunkers. The game is explicitly about the loneliness of the journey and the challenge of navigating an empty world. Players spend dozens of hours walking through silent landscapes with only their cargo for company.

‘Maneater’ (2020)

In this shark simulator players explore various underwater regions and coastal towns to grow and evolve. While the underwater areas are filled with fish many of the surface areas feel empty and static. The human populated beaches are small and the rest of the map is composed of quiet swamps and industrial zones. The world serves as a hunting ground where the player is the only truly active force.

‘The Pathless’ (2020)

A hunter and an eagle travel through a mythical island to break a curse in this atmospheric adventure. The world is a series of vast forests and meadows that contain no traditional towns or NPCs. Movement is the primary mechanic and the environment is designed to be traversed at high speeds. The emptiness of the world creates a meditative experience that focuses on the beauty of the landscape.

‘Biomutant’ (2021)

This post apocalyptic fable features a lush world filled with strange creatures and colorful plants. While the world is large many of the regions feel like they are filled with repetitive tasks and empty space. There are many abandoned ruins that look similar and offer very little in terms of unique discovery. The scale of the world often feels like it exceeds the amount of interesting content available to the player.

‘Sable’ (2021)

A young girl embarks on a rite of passage across a vast desert filled with ancient ruins and fallen spaceships. The art style is striking but the world is intentionally silent and sparsely populated. There are only a handful of small settlements where the player can talk to other characters. Most of the experience is spent gliding across sand dunes in total solitude.

‘Scorn’ (2022)

The world of this horror game is a bio mechanical nightmare where every structure is made of flesh and bone. There is no dialogue and the player is entirely alone in a dying civilization. The halls and rooms of the massive complexes are mostly empty of life or movement. This emptiness creates an overwhelming sense of dread and mystery as the player slowly navigates the silent machines.

‘Starfield’ (2023)

Bethesda’s space epic features over one thousand planets that players can land on and explore. Because these worlds are procedurally generated many of them consist of barren terrain with a few scattered resources. It is possible to walk for kilometers on a moon without finding a single building or alien creature. The game relies on the player to find their own fun in the quiet reaches of the galaxy.

‘The Day Before’ (2023)

This title was marketed as a massive multiplayer survival game set in a post apocalyptic American city. Upon release players found that the city was largely composed of empty buildings that could not be entered. The streets were sparsely populated with enemies and there was very little for players to do in the world. The project was shut down shortly after launch due to its lack of content and technical issues.

Please share your thoughts on these empty game worlds in the comments.