The open-world genre is on a never-ending cycle of impressive growth, having gone from a curious and impressive but ambitious idea to the norm for most modern genres of gaming. The freedom to explore huge worlds at a player’s own pace is something which every gamer should experience at some stage, and there are a lot of ways to build a great open world.

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With survival becoming a major aspect of many open-world games, it's unsurprising that many developers take to setting their games in harsh parts of the world, or even the cosmos, to give players a new sort of challenge. The refreshing idea of having the climate and weather itself turn into an adversary has made for some fantastic gameplay mechanics.

7 Conan Exiles

Metacritic Score: 68

Despite not having been a major cinematic force in many years, the team at Funcom took on the challenge of bringing the world of Conan the Barbarian into gaming, and in a huge survival setting no less. The world of Conan has always been unfriendly, but the updates brought into Conan Exiles make it a brutal survival experience, including some changes to the general climate.

From the very beginning, the player character starts by being crucified on a cross and slowly dying under a blistering desert sun. Conan himself arrives to save the player, and they are then free to journey across the brutal desert, attempting to survive. While other biomes have been introduced in continuous updates since the initial release, most of them, including a frozen northern area and a dangerous volcanic region, can be described as harsh areas to try and survive in, either against NPC enemies, or in multiplayer against other players.

6 Sea Of Thieves

Metacritic Score: 69

One of the best games for experiencing the true beauty and wonder of the ocean in a tropical locale, Sea of Thieves looks like it comes with the ideal climate off the bat. However, tropical, areas like this come with their own challenges. Players don't simply get to ride about freely as pirates, experiencing whatever aspects of the game they choose, unless they run into other players looking for violence.

Sea of Thieves has many dangers, including the potential for brutal storms due to the heat. Besides monsters and other dangerous deep-sea creatures, the back-breaking level of work to run a ship in such a climate with so few crew would actually be brutal, although Sea of Thieves isn’t a survival game and is more about gently enjoying the beauties of this harsh part of the world.

5 The Long Dark

Metacritic Score: 77

One of the trickiest survival games available today, The Long Dark challenges players to survive following a plane crash in the frigid wilderness of Canada. One of the most realistic and brutal survival games in the genre, players are very alone and unable to ever really find a sense of ease that comes with time in most survival games.

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This harsh of a cold climate isn’t often found in gaming, but in th world, it is realistically challenging even to just find enough heat to survive a single night. The game takes many fascinating details into account, from calorie intake to exact body temperature, making The Long Dark a truly stressful experience.

4 Green Hell

Metacritic Score: 78

At the opposite end of harsh climates is Green Hell, another survival game which is both realistic and brutal, but instead of being set in a frigid wasteland, this one takes place deep in the Amazon Rainforest, considered by many to be the most dangerous region on Earth. Not only are there local tribes to contend with, but the forest itself works against players as they attempt to navigate even simple problems, like what is safe to eat and where is safe to sleep, in such a dangerous environment.

Players have a smartwatch, which helps them maintain a balanced diet, but they receive no further help and indeed are hindered further by hallucinations which creep in throughout the game. The challenges associated with surviving in a climate like that of the Amazon Rainforest are well-known, but Green Hell takes that realism to another level.

3 Subnautica: Below Zero

Metacritic Score: 82

The sequel to the hit game Subnautica once again puts players in an unenviable position on an alien world, which they are free to explore at their will, but also at their peril. Instead of merely being trapped in an ocean with little reprieve, this time players have to worry about the extreme cold of this frozen wilderness, as well as surviving the threats of the ocean they must explore for resources.

Players need to build vehicles, tools, and bases to survive both the ocean and the cold, experiencing even more harsh climates and environments the further they venture from their starting area. Below Zero remains the most recent entry in the Subnautica franchise, giving players a lot of time to explore the secrets in the frozen wilds.

2 Starfield

Metacritic Score: 83

Bethesda’s most recent major release has somewhat divided fans and critics, but one thing that they are all impressed by is the variety of environments that can be explored across the hundreds of planets in the game. Starfield allows players to roam the cosmos at their own pace, even focusing a great deal on the fauna and flora of the different planets.

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Starfield is a game with one huge focus above all others: scope. The sheer breadth and diversity of the worlds that can be explored, many with brutally harsh climates that can’t be survived for too long, allow players to feel as if they’re truly exploring the Universe. Additionally, space itself is the harshest of all climates, and players get to spend a lot of time out there as well.

1 The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

Metacritic Score: 96

Another exploration of a harsh world from Bethesda, it is very possible to live within Skyrim, but most players probably wouldn’t want to. Much of the country is relatively inhabitable, but entire mountainous areas and most of the northern section of the country are covered in brutal frozen wastelands and swamps that can hardly be traversed.

Players were able to deal with the landscape without much difficulty though, until the anniversary edition of Skyrim added a survival mode. Players now curse the brutal frozen areas, as they can barely be explored due to the Dragonborn actually beginning to rapidly freeze when they reach the area. Nords are harsh and sometimes outright cruel people, and their country suits them.

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