Exploration games?

One of my absolute favourite themes in gaming has always been exploration. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there aren't many games out there that really capture the feel of pure exploration. Some of the open-worlds PC games do, in a way; the Elder Scrolls series, for example, or Fallout 3, especially, kind of scratch that itch, but all of those since Daggerfall have been non-random worlds, so once you've been there, you know what's there. The 4X games kind of do, but, really, you're only exploring to spread out your empire enough, and you switch very quickly from exploration to the other 3Xs. And some dungeon crawls also kind of do, as in games like Sorcerer's Cave or Dungeoneer or even Descent, but again, these games are not really what I'm talking about.

The type of game I'm thinking of is exactly like Source of the Nile, or for those of you computer gaming in the 80s, the awesome Seven Cities of Gold. The only purpose of these two games was exploration and discovery. Elements like combat are present, but secondary.

I'm wondering if any of you have seen or heard of any other similar games, either boardgames or for PC.

There's always...

I don't have the kind of time I'd need to explore that.

Well, once again we touch on a great theme for an AT game that routinely gets shunted off to the side in favor of orcs and elves.

SOURCE OF THE NILE was my top-of-mind answer too. But I'd also add the old Richard Berg CONQUISTADOR, which he's supposedly redoing for GMT. Given what happened with BLACKBEARD, I'd say get the old one. There's also NEW WORLD from AH's twilight years, I haven't played it but it looks pretty good.

Euros actually have done more with the exploration theme...but they're Euros, so theme isn't really foregrounded of course. GOLDLAND and LOST VALLEY have some exploration feel, but it's more adventure/treasure hunt-ish and not so much New World discovery. ENTDECKER is actually kind of underrated, as long as you're playing the revised version.

It's really kind of a shame that the concept of SETTLERS was actually broken out into three games...his original idea was that ENTDECKER would be the exploratory element, SETTLERS the settling part, and LOWENHERZ/DOMAINE would be the kingdom creation stage. And they were supposed to somehow all be playable together at some stage in their development.

Ha! I found Entdecker: New Horizons in a box in the back of my closet last night. Never played it and thought I'd traded/sold it years ago.

This is off-topic, but since it was mentioned... I haven't played Source of the Nile, but someone posted a link to this online dice game on the Source of the Nile forum on TOS, and I've been enjoying that a lot lately: www.history.com/expedition/game/ (I'd actually like to know if anyone knows of more solo dice games like that, where there's a little bit of character and theme to it.)

Tikal was one of the first post-Settlers Euro games that I liked, precisely for its exploration element, even though it's more of a "gamey" thing (when you can explore a jungle area and choose what direction it faces, it loses a little of the theme, you know?). I played it out and since traded it off, but I still think it's pretty decent for what it is.

Of course, "exploration" could mean a lot of things, so in the same way that I'm interested in "adventure" games that don't involve the usual knights and wizards and orcs and all that, it would be nice to see some more exploration games that aren't just set in the jungles of Africa or South America... could be exploring outer space or the Old West or a haunted house or whatever.

Yeah, this topic is also kind of being discussed in the Dinosaurs of the Lost World review comments.

For PC, there's Noctis . The graphics are sort of primitive by modern standards and the controls are sort of hard to get used to, but if you are in an exploring mood it's pretty awesome.

I've got a few games that involve some degree of exploration.

Asteroid is that space dungeon crawl that I reviewed a couple of weeks ago. There are only 8 map sections, so the variety of layouts is limited, but the contents of the individual rooms is highly variable, so there is still plenty of exploration.

The Temple of the Beastmen is a rather baroque dungeon crawl, skipping the usual Tolkien stuff in favor of something closer to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It's a tie-in to the Space 1889 rpg setting from GDW that I never played. Anyway, you player a Victorian era adventurer exploring an underground complex occupied by hostile Martian beastmen. The rest of your expedition party is Martian slaves. There is a central shaft going straight down, and each level branching off that shaft is made up of eight tiles worth of tunnels, rooms and secret doors. There is no direct player combat but there is some card screwage. One nice touch is that the level number is added to the Beastmen die roll in combat, simulating that classic D&D dungeon where the monsters are tougher on the lower levels. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of variety to the encounters. Lots of Beastmen.

Betrayal at House on the Hill is probably the best exploration game that I won. There is extreme variability to the layout of the house, and it's always fun flipping that tile to see what you found. I never understood the complaints about the first half of the game, because that part is always reliably fun. It's the unbalanced second half where the game tends to go wrong.

Both B.S.M. Pandora titles provide exploration -- one on planet surfaces and one in a broken-down space ship. Both are soloable. Very 80s but I've enjoyed both.

I have Stellar Conquest and am trying to get up a game. Exploration of space, combat, hidden fleet strengths. Looks like fun but again, doesn't have cubes so it's hard to get onto the table with my group.

Sag.

I don't know of many board games specifically about exploration, but there are a bunch with some exploration aspects in the game somewhere. Betrayal at House on the Hill, for example; for the first half of the game (actually, usually more than half) you're all on the same side and you just explore the house and see what's in it.

Many adventure games have a degree of exploration, though some more than others. I hear Magic Realm is very good in this respect. Talisman with tons of expansions has a nice feeling of exploration, too; each board/region has a different feel and you never know what you'll find there until you go and see.

I thought of Goldland too when I read the title but agree that it isn't exactly what is being asked for. I remember getting Stellar Conquest sent over to New Zealand in my teens and was fascinated with it but (living in a very small town) never found anyone to play it - but it does seem like a 4X game in space.
One game I see pop up now and then is Lords of the Sierra Madre , not sure how much exploring there is but people talk about it being an empire building game.
A game I picked up a few years ago and have done nothing with is The Lonely Mountain , but which seems more of an old-style adventure dungeon-crawl game.

Did anyone recommend Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery yet? That's a GREAT exploration game. In fact, I'd say it's the best one available in board game format.

honourable mentions to:
Descent: Journeys in the Dark
Tikal
Thebes
Nexus Ops
Dungeon Twister
Runebound 2nd edition
Merchant of Venus
Starship Catan
Ambush!

but yeah, start with the top (Age of Empires III) and work your way down

Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery ain't that popular around here.

Southernman wrote:

Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery ain't that popular around here.

That F:AT we all knew and loved died when Catan beat Risk in Trashdome. Uba's working on changing the site colors to match the Goa box-cover even.