Games

Best MMOs For Slow Exploration, Ranked

Published

3 days ago

January 2, 2025

Christoph Rediske

the secret world black desert online final fantasy xiv best mmos for slow paced

Summary

Table of Contents

Final Fantasy 14 offers an expansive, immersive world with unique biomes and sightseeing logs.
The Elder Scrolls Online provides a massive world with non-linear questing and lore-rich content.
Black Desert Online allows players to explore at their own pace with engaging activities and hidden POIs.

Slow-paced exploration is an art and not every game offers players the chance to enjoy them leisurely, much less MMOs. But, there are exceptions to the rule; in the hectic world of Massive Multiplayer Online games, there are a few oases for those travelers who enjoy roaming with peace of mind, instead of rushing to the max level.

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In this ranked list, the best MMOs for slow exploring are spotlighted, explaining why these are so cozy to players who prefer taking things easy, and all the pros of playing them without rushing content. This ranking takes into consideration qualities such as quantity/quality of content ratio, as well as engaging but not tiresome activities that encourage exploration of the world to its fullest.

7

Final Fantasy 14

A Beautiful, Ever-Expanding World To Explore

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Final Fantasy 14

Systems

Expansive zones with unique biomes.
Sightseeing logs that encourage visiting hidden spots.
Immersive story and rich worldbuilding.

Visually stunning and gorgeous wherever players look at it, Final Fantasy 14 is the epitome of MMOs. A game that encourages exploration as much as it does with leveling and group activities. After years of polishing and perfecting its content and the quality of what it has to offer, this game has never been more stable and great for exploring players.

Its Sightseeing Log can be time-consuming, but its payoff is that the players will be able to enjoy some incredible scenery and unlock some extra rewards by doing so. On the other hand, its myriad of activities to complete (Solo or with friends) encourage gamers to experience this long journey at its fullest. It is a great game to play in 2025.

An Enormous World To Explore, With Many Secrets To Uncover

Released: April 4, 2014
OpenCritic Rating: Fair

A non-linear questing system that encourages players to explore at their own pace.
Beautiful landscapes from iconic Elder Scrolls regions.
An engaging and lore-rich world with plenty of collectibles and unlockables.

The Elder Scrolls Online (TESO) condensates all the good things about Bethesda’s dark fantasy universe but with a lot of room for exploration that none of the other games in the franchise have. Zenimax did a great job at capturing the essence of TES and translating it into an engaging MMO experience.

Players accustomed to the franchise’s lore will find lots of things of value in this game, thanks to its non-linear mission system that allows them to play all the content in the order they want. Plus, it has one of the most complex and customizable class systems in all MMOs. Though discovering everything this game has to offer can take ages, it is worth the effort in the long run.

5

Black Desert Online

No Matter What You Do In This Game, You Can Do It At Your Own Pace

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Black Desert Online

Released: March 3, 2016
Developer(s): Pearl Abyss
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OpenCritic Rating: Fair

A Seamless open world without loading screens.
The Profession system is truly engaging and also encourages exploration.
Hidden POIs like caves, ruins, and landscapes make exploring more interesting and rewarding.

Black Desert Online is truly amazing and huge unique activities like trade routes, fishing, farming, building boats, and sailing make it one of the most engaging exploration MMOs currently available.

Black Desert: The 16 Best PVE Classes

Black Desert has content for both PVP and PVE, and these are some of the best classes for players who want to focus on PVE content.

Be it that players choose to be a horse tamer/breeder, or a merchant roaming the routes and delivering precious goods between the main cities, the game is always pushing players to explore beyond what the sight can see. There’s a lot to see in this game: from its hidden dungeons to the best farming spots, and other secrets to uncover that make exploration one of the most rewarding experiences in the game. Mind the PvP though, it can be a little brutal for explorer players.

4

Guild Wars 2

A World More Alive Than Ever

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Guild Wars 2

Systems

Released: August 28, 2012
Publisher(s): NCSoft

Unique Traversal Systems that encourage players to explore more.
Environmental storytelling in all areas of the game.
Dynamic world events that make the players feel like they’re living a real-time adventure.

Guild Wars 2 and its predecessor game developed by ArenaNet were precursors of the dynamic world events in MMOs. With thousands of players enjoying the game leisurely, tons of area objectives tied to exploration, and stunning panoramic views at each instance of the adventure, this game was made for slow-paced exploration.

With its many expansions, the developers have expanded the base experience countless times through over a decade of hard work and dedication to their community. It is no wonder that this game is chosen by players who answer the call of adventure, but at the same time, enjoy engaging in the content on their own terms. There are no hidden rules in the game pushing players to rush content, nor senseless grinding that can become too burdensome when they try to reach the high-stakes content.

3

Star Wars: The Old Republic

You Want To Get Good? You Better Explore The Whole Galaxy

Systems

Released: December 20, 2011
Publisher(s): Electronic Arts

No planet looks the same, great environmental storytelling.
Hundreds of secrets to uncover.
Holocron Hunt will have you exploring for hours.

The best thing about Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR for friends and family) is that players can lose themselves in its deep and engaging narrative. Each class has its own thrilling tale of survival in a brutal Galaxy, and dramatic plots with lots of player agency, much like Bioware’s original games for single-player.

Since the game has many classes, and each of them offers its unique gameplay (plus dark-side /light-side outcomes), there’s also this need for players to constantly replay the base adventure seeking new areas and uncovering more and more secrets of The Old Republic. Plus, if players want to know what Slow Exploration is truly about, they should engage in their first Holocron Hunt: that Tatooine balloon traversal puzzle is a nightmare for people without patience, much worse than World Of Warcraft‘s Time-Lost Proto-drake.

2

Ryzom

An Old School, Lesser Know, Underrated Jewel

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The Saga of Ryzom

Deep and engaging dynamic ecosystems.
Old School graphics that will make you feel nostalgic.
Low-stakes story and no strict guidelines make it a true free-roam experience.

The Saga of Ryzom is an old-school sci-fantasy MMO that has been around for years. With all the content it has to offer, it is surprising it isn’t more known to the target audience: that is, slow explorers. It has no strict quest paths, so exploring leisurely is one of its greatest virtues.

On the other hand, engaging in the many activities this game has to offer can be really rewarding, especially while playing with friends. It has a strong payoff system for those valiant enough to wander and discover, and it has made a point of encouraging players to enhance their crafting skills as part of the main mechanics of this journey of discovering new environments.

1

The Secret World

An Engaging Dark Fantasy World To Explore

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The Secret World

Systems

Released: July 3, 2012
Publisher(s): Electronic Arts

Lore-rich experience that seamlessly mixes collectibles and environmental storytelling.
Lots of hidden quests and secrets to uncover.
Dark fantasy setting using a mixture of Lovecraftian tales and old folklore myths make it a unique experience.

The Secret World emphasizes discovery and exploration like few other MMOs and uses its unique dark fantasy and urban fantasy mixture to develop its own setting and identity. The story is quite high-stakes since the fate of the world lies in the hands of the newest recruits of the three major secret societies on the planet: The Illuminati, The Templars, and The Dragon.

Using Lovecraftian stories adapted to newer audiences, and lots of myths from the native American, European, Scandinavian, and Asian folklore, it creates a seamless unique horror world, with a profound lore deeply embedded in its gameplay. It is a game that can only be enjoyed played slowly, and discovering every secret that lies hidden in the shadows.