8 Indie RPGs That Are More Fun to Explore Than Skyrim

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is considered one of the best role-playing games of the last ten years. It’s had a lasting impact and continues to be celebrated as a truly great game in its genre.

The video game industry is a perfect example of progress building on past achievements. Each successful game improves the foundation for those that follow, leading to incredibly rapid advancements – faster than any other form of entertainment.

I don’t think this means anything we loved before is suddenly bad, but it’s a cool reminder that time keeps moving. It’s amazing how something new can come along and actually be better than things we thought were unbeatable!

To show how far RPG exploration has come, and to compare it to a classic like Skyrim and the Dragonborn’s journey, here’s a list of eight indie RPGs that offer even better exploration.

8. Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

A Refined Clone

Lots of games have tried to recreate the feeling of Skyrim, but Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is the first one that really feels like the same experience at its heart.

Okay, so this game isn’t trying to be another massive, sprawling epic, and that’s totally fine. Honestly, I think it actually does some things better than the game that inspired it, especially when it comes to the story and how the fights play out. It’s cool to see them build on those ideas and really improve them with a little time and focus.

With these changes, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon offers more than just a beautiful world to explore, unlike some other open-world games. It truly makes your battles and choices matter, resulting in a deeply engaging experience that’s driven by more than just its story and visuals.

This experience is straightforward and doesn’t take long, which might not appeal to players wanting a huge, sprawling adventure. However, its concise nature is actually a strength, making it focused and free of unnecessary content – and that’s a good thing.

7. Look Outside

Inexplicable Benefits

As you spend more time playing Skyrim, you’ll notice that finding new places mostly just gives you items, unlike the game Look Outside, where exploration feels more rewarding.

This fantastic indie game doesn’t just offer amazing finales as rewards for finding extra content – it also makes its most incredible levels and battles truly earned. You’ll need to explore extensively, and along the way, you’ll discover compelling characters who add depth to both the story and the gameplay.

Even though the entire story takes place within one building, it unfolds beautifully, gradually revealing more to explore. This keeps the experience manageable while still hinting at hidden secrets – like a locked door or a powerful enemy you can only face in darkness.

I was completely blown away by how Look Outside changed things up! Instead of spreading out wide, it builds up – it’s this really narrow, deep space packed with so many hidden details. Seriously, you could spend forever finding them all, and what’s amazing is that each little secret isn’t just about making you stronger in a fight; it actually adds to the whole experience in a really meaningful way.

6. Salt and Sanctuary

A Flawless Progression

Open-world games often struggle with how to handle player progression – should the game become more difficult as the player gets stronger, or stay the same? However, Salt and Sanctuary avoids this issue entirely by using a Metroidvania design, where new areas unlock based on gaining abilities, rather than scaling difficulty.

Many players of Skyrim feel that their character gets stronger too predictably, which makes the game world feel less realistic and reduces the desire to explore, because they expect everything to be easily handled.

Unlike some other games, Salt and Sanctuary features a well-designed world with clear pathways. This keeps you from getting lost and lets you focus on exploring its interesting locations.

Comparing the two isn’t entirely apples to apples, but Salt and Sanctuary builds its exploration and progression much more smoothly than Skyrim. Skyrim‘s points of interest often feel disconnected, while Salt and Sanctuary creates a consistently engaging experience.

5. Hyper Light Drifter

To Truly Wander

Even with everything else going on in gaming, some titles truly excel at making exploration feel magical and captivating. Recently, Hyper Light Drifter stands out as a prime example of this.

Rather than relying on predictable patterns or explanations, Heart Machine creates a sense of mystery by deliberately withholding information. The game doesn’t use dialogue or cutscenes to tell you what’s coming, forcing you to discover things for yourself.

The game truly captures the spirit of adventure by encouraging you to learn and experiment with the world around you. This makes you feel like an active part of the experience, instead of simply moving through a pre-set environment.

Hyper Light Drifter builds a vibrant and mysterious world that immediately grabs your attention, especially because you start knowing nothing about it. The result is a truly unforgettable adventure.

4. Fear & Hunger

Actions with Consequences

Because choice and its consequences are so central to role-playing games, it makes perfect sense that Fear & Hunger is included here.

In over 20 years of playing games, this one is rare in how much it makes you feel the impact of everything you do – every movement, every fight, and every conversation. It’s remarkable how the game acknowledges and responds to everything.

These dungeons create a truly terrifying atmosphere, and because there’s no promise of safety, you have to carefully consider every possibility to improve your odds of survival.

Unlike Skyrim, which allows you to join various guilds and sides in the civil war, Fear & Hunger makes every decision feel incredibly important, potentially changing the entire course of your game. This creates a much higher level of tension and challenge.

3. Dread Delusion

Reminiscence of the Classics

Dread Delusion evoked a strong sense of nostalgia that’s hard to put into words, but I believe its decision to avoid hand-holding and clear directions is key to what makes its world and adventure so impressive.

I’ve always thought Skyrim holds back the player’s experience by constantly pointing them in the right direction with on-screen markers and characters who explain everything. This makes it harder to enjoy the feeling of discovery and solving things yourself.

Unlike many games, Dread Delusion throws you into a mysterious fantasy world that you must truly explore and understand on your own. This means letting go of helpful features common in modern games and relying on things like taking notes, trusting your gut, and using your reasoning skills to figure things out.

This game isn’t going to appeal to everyone, and that’s okay. But if you enjoy unique and unconventional games, Dread Delusion is a genuinely enjoyable experience.

2. Kenshi

This is What True Freedom Looks Like

Even though Skyrim feels like a huge, open world, it actually restricts what players can do in many ways. You can’t interact with everything – certain characters are unkillable, some groups won’t let you join, and certain choices aren’t available.

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Unlike other games, Kenshi gives you complete freedom to be anyone you want. It’s a true sandbox experience with almost no restrictions on what you can do.

The game is incredibly open-ended, meaning players largely create their own stories. Their choices and actions directly impact the game world, affecting how they interact with characters, fight battles, and manage their resources.

Kenshi achieves its depth by keeping things simple with graphics, story, and technology, and honestly, I’m happy to trade those things for the incredible freedom it offers. That freedom makes exploration truly special – unlike anything I’ve experienced in other games.

1. Disco Elysium

Perfect and Accessible Cohesion

Because Skyrim is built from very distinct, separate parts, it often feels unfinished. It’s like many developers added their pieces at the very end of the project, rather than designing it as a cohesive whole from the start, and those separations are noticeable.

Disco Elysium is a remarkably unified adventure game, consistently excellent from beginning to end. Its story, gameplay, world design, and sound all work together so seamlessly that it feels like a major, big-budget title rather than an independent creation.

This game excels at immersing you in its world, encouraging you to explore every conversation, finish all the quests, and even replay it multiple times with different decisions. It’s designed so that everything feels connected, making you want to experience it all.

Despite its relatively simple scope – lacking extensive maps, numerous characters, or a huge number of goals – Disco Elysium treats every single room as a complete and detailed world, packed with subtleties that could take a long time to fully understand.

Like any game, these titles have different design ideas than Skyrim, which is a truly exceptional game. However, they can still teach Bethesda important lessons as they develop The Elder Scrolls 6, ensuring these points won’t be relevant when the new game comes out.

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2026-05-03 23:43