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If you want a game where you can wander without a checklist, start with Eastshade for peaceful open-world walking, No Man’s Sky in Relaxed mode for enormous procedural discovery, Journey for a short emotional voyage, ABZÛ for quiet underwater sightseeing, and A Short Hike for a compact, cheerful reset. None reproduces every unusual idea in David OReilly’s Everything, but each preserves part of its appeal: low-pressure movement, observation, atmosphere, and the freedom to explore at your own pace.
Everything remains the most experimental choice. Steam describes it as an interactive experience in which every object in the universe can be a playable character, from animals to planets and galaxies. You can shift scale, inhabit different forms, and travel through a connected procedural world without enforced goals, scores, or tasks. The recommendations below are best understood as different answers to the question “Which part of Everything do I want more of?”
What makes Everything unusual?
Everything (2017) is closer to a contemplative interactive artwork or simulation than to a conventional open-world action game. Its central idea is agency through scale: a small animal, plant, object, planet, or galaxy can become your playable character. Moving between inner and outer space creates novelty without requiring a quest log.
The game’s pleasure comes from observing relationships and inhabiting a system rather than winning. There are no enforced goals, scores, or task lists. Steam’s listing calls every object in the universe a playable character, and the developer presents the experience as procedural, non-violent, and open-world. A Steam snapshot captured in 2026 shows 84% positive ratings from 2,314 English reviews; review totals and percentages change over time, so treat that figure as a dated platform indicator rather than a permanent score.
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That combination is difficult to duplicate. Most alternatives offer only some of the same qualities: a quiet pace, a beautiful world, optional objectives, a memorable soundtrack, or a large procedural universe. The table shows where each one sits on those axes.
At-a-glance comparison
| Game | Exploration openness | Pressure | World structure | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everything | Very high; procedural and scale-shifting | Very low | Procedural simulation | Philosophical wandering and novelty |
| Eastshade | High within an authored island | Low | Open world with quests | Scenic walking and gentle objectives |
| Journey | Medium | Very low | Linear pilgrimage | Short, emotional atmosphere |
| ABZÛ | Medium | Very low | Linear underwater chapters | Marine-life sightseeing |
| No Man’s Sky (Relaxed) | Very high | Adjustable; survival and combat can remain | Procedural universe | Endless planetary discovery |
| A Short Hike | Medium in a compact map | Very low | Small authored park | Cozy, bite-size exploration |
Eastshade: the closest match for peaceful open-world wandering
Eastshade is the strongest recommendation when “games like Everything” means a quiet landscape you can explore without a combat-centered loop. You play a traveling painter on an authored island. Its Steam tags emphasize exploration, atmosphere, relaxation, nature, and single-player play.
Why it fits
The island rewards slow travel and looking closely. You can walk through varied natural spaces, meet residents, and use painting as a reason to notice scenery. Light tasks and conversations give shape to your time without turning the game into an urgent checklist. The world is legible: you generally understand where you are, what a person needs, and what a new path might reveal.
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Painting also changes the rhythm of exploration. Instead of rushing between markers, you have a natural excuse to stop, frame a view, and study the environment. That makes it a particularly good answer to “I want to wander around at my own pace,” while still offering enough direction for players who find a totally goal-free simulation too abstract.
What is different from Everything
Eastshade is not procedurally infinite and does not let you become every kind of object. It has authored quests, dialogue, and a conventional sense of place. Choose it if you want calm exploration with enough structure to make a walking session feel purposeful; stay with Everything if systemic novelty and scale-shifting matter more than story or tasks.
Its trade-off is therefore easy to state: you exchange the philosophical strangeness of inhabiting a galaxy for a readable island inhabited by people. If you want gentle objectives rather than no objectives, that is an advantage, not a compromise.
Journey: a short, wordless emotional trip
Journey is designed around movement, discovery, companionship, and the journey itself rather than combat. Its desert pilgrimage is directed and comparatively brief, making it a good answer when you want relaxation with a clear arc instead of an endless sandbox.
Why it fits
The game asks you to move through a striking environment, read visual cues, and absorb its soundtrack. Optional encounters with another traveler can create a quiet sense of companionship without requiring conversation. You can play it in a small number of sessions and still experience a complete emotional progression.
That focus makes Journey useful when open worlds feel tiring. There is no inventory economy to organize and no sprawling map to memorize. You simply follow the visual language of the landscape, pause when you want, and let the atmosphere carry the session. It is a strong choice for someone asking for an atmospheric game to wander around in, provided “wander” can include a guided route.
What is different from Everything
There is much less freeform wandering and no procedural ecosystem to experiment with. The route, pacing, and major discoveries are authored. Pick Journey when atmosphere and a focused pilgrimage are the priority; pick Everything when you want to decide what to inhabit and where to drift.
ABZÛ: underwater calm without air or time pressure
ABZÛ is an underwater exploration adventure released on PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Amazon Luna. Its design removes the usual air-gauge and time pressure, supporting a relaxed trip through reefs, ruins, and marine life.
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Rank #2
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Why it fits
Swimming gives the game a naturally meditative rhythm. You can pause to watch schools of fish, investigate submerged structures, and move through an ocean environment where sightseeing is the main attraction. It captures the low-pressure impulse behind Everything while committing to one coherent setting.
The absence of an air gauge matters for players specifically searching for “games with no combat” or “something relaxing with no timer.” You are not balancing sightseeing against a countdown. The focus stays on movement, visual discovery, and the contrast between living marine spaces and submerged ruins.
What is different from Everything
ABZÛ is linear and chapter-based rather than open-ended or procedural. You cannot jump from a tiny creature to a galaxy, and the sequence of areas is authored. It is the better choice for marine-life atmosphere and the worse choice for limitless wandering.
Platform availability is broad, but editions and store listings can change. Check the current listing for the platform you use rather than assuming every version has identical options.
No Man’s Sky (Relaxed mode): the largest scale for discovery
No Man’s Sky is the recommendation for players whose favorite part of Everything is the feeling that the world keeps expanding. Its official Steam description presents an exploration-and-survival game in an infinite procedurally generated universe. Hello Games’ Waypoint update documents a configurable Relaxed mode, and the official site describes continuing major updates and VR support.
Why it fits
Planet-hopping, scanning, building, and long-distance travel provide an enormous supply of places to investigate. Relaxed settings can reduce pressure while preserving the core loop of arriving somewhere unfamiliar and deciding what deserves your attention. This is the closest option for readers who want a persistent universe rather than a finite scenic route.
It also answers a different version of the question “What game is like Everything?” If what you remember most is moving from one scale or world to another, procedural variety is more important than a quiet, authored story. No Man’s Sky supplies that variety, but through a full exploration-and-survival framework rather than a purely contemplative simulation.
How to keep it relaxing
- Start with Relaxed mode. Hello Games documents it as a configurable mode intended to lower the baseline pressure.
- Review the difficulty controls. Do not assume one preset removes every stressful system; survival, resources, combat, and progression can still be part of the experience.
- Choose your own activity. Prioritize scanning, sightseeing, and travel if gathering materials or fighting interrupts the mood.
- Treat building as optional. Bases can add a sense of place, but you do not need to turn every discovery into a progression project.
- Use the scale deliberately. Spend one session observing a single planet or use another to jump between worlds; both approaches fit the game’s procedural universe.
What is different from Everything
This is a much more system-heavy game. Inventory management, materials, upgrades, bases, and possible combat create decisions that Everything deliberately avoids. Select it for scale and repeatable discovery, not for a completely consequence-free experience.
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A Short Hike: a compact, cheerful exploration reset
A Short Hike is a small mountain-park adventure centered on reaching a summit, helping other hikers, finding hidden areas, climbing, and flying. PC Gamer describes it as a short experience built around those low-stakes activities.
Why it fits
The park encourages you to leave the obvious route, talk to people, and collect optional discoveries at your own pace. Climbing and gliding make movement playful rather than demanding. Its modest size is an advantage when you want a relaxing session that can fit into one or two sittings.
Rank #3
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It is especially useful for readers who want a reset rather than a new long-term hobby. The map is small enough to understand, but optional paths and hidden areas keep a direct trip to the summit from being the only possible route. You can pursue the central goal, help other hikers, or simply roam until you feel finished.
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What is different from Everything
The map is intentionally small and the goals are clearer. There is no procedural scale-shifting or endless universe. Choose it when you want warmth, momentum, and a satisfying finish rather than an open-ended simulation.
Which game should you choose?
If you want peaceful open-world walking
Choose Eastshade. It offers the clearest authored landscape, gentle tasks, and enough freedom to roam without making you manage a survival economy.
If you want no-pressure atmosphere in a single sitting
Choose Journey for a wordless desert pilgrimage or ABZÛ for underwater sightseeing. Both are focused, low-pressure adventures rather than sandboxes.
If you want the biggest possible universe
Choose No Man’s Sky with Relaxed settings. It is the only recommendation here that matches Everything’s sense of enormous procedural scale, but it also has the most systems to configure and manage.
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Choose A Short Hike. Its compact map and optional detours make it easy to start, stop, and return to later.
If you want the closest thing to Everything’s philosophy
Stay with Everything itself. Its ability to turn animals, plants, objects, planets, and galaxies into playable viewpoints is the defining feature no other game in this group reproduces. The alternatives are safer recommendations for a particular mood, not replacements for that experiment.
A practical way to compare relaxing exploration games
Before choosing, decide which of four variables matters most to you:
- Openness: Do you want a procedural space with no obvious endpoint, an open authored map, or a route designed by the developer?
- Pressure: Are resources, enemies, and progression acceptable, or should the game remove nearly all urgency?
- World structure: Would you rather observe a simulation, follow environmental storytelling, or complete light objectives for characters?
- Session length: Do you want an experience that can occupy dozens of exploratory hours or one that resolves in a few sittings?
Use the answers to filter the table rather than treating “relaxing” as a universal genre label. A player who finds inventory management stressful may prefer Journey or ABZÛ; a player who dislikes linear paths may find them too restrictive and prefer Eastshade or Relaxed No Man’s Sky.
Common pitfalls when looking for games like Everything
Do not equate “open world” with “goal-free.” Eastshade is open within an authored island and includes quests. No Man’s Sky is procedurally expansive but has survival and progression systems. Read the structure, not just the store tags.
Do not equate “relaxing” with “short.” Journey and A Short Hike suit brief sessions, while Everything and No Man’s Sky can support repeated, open-ended visits. Session length and pressure are separate decisions.
Rank #4
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Do not expect every recommendation to reproduce scale-shifting. ABZÛ commits to one underwater setting, and Eastshade commits to one island. Their appeal is attention to place, not the ability to become a planet or galaxy.
Check current store details. Platforms, editions, prices, ongoing updates, and review totals change. This is particularly relevant to a live game such as No Man’s Sky and to the dated Steam review figure for Everything.
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Only in selected dimensions. Eastshade shares peaceful wandering and nature but adds quests. Journey shares observation and atmosphere but follows a short pilgrimage. ABZÛ shares low-pressure sightseeing but stays underwater and linear. No Man’s Sky shares procedural scale but adds survival and progression. A Short Hike shares low-stakes discovery but takes place in a small authored park.
That distinction matters because “games like Everything” can mean several different requests: no combat, an open world, a beautiful atmosphere, a place to wander, or the ability to ignore objectives. Match the recommendation to the specific quality you want, and expect each game to make different trade-offs.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.FAQ
Which recommendation has no combat-centered loop?
Eastshade, Journey, ABZÛ, and A Short Hike are the safer choices if you want exploration rather than combat as the central activity. No Man’s Sky can be made gentler, but combat and survival systems remain possible.
Which game is most open-ended?
Everything and No Man’s Sky are the most open-ended. The former is a scale-shifting procedural simulation built around inhabiting different scales; the latter is a procedural exploration-and-survival game whose pressure can be adjusted.
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A Short Hike is the most compact option. Journey is also suitable when you want a focused experience with a clear emotional arc.
What is the closest alternative to peaceful open-world exploration?
Eastshade is the closest fit. It gives you an authored island, scenic walking, nature, light tasks, and no combat-centered loop, while remaining more structured than Everything.
Which game has the best underwater exploration?
ABZÛ is the clear choice. It focuses on reefs, ruins, and marine life, and removes air-gauge and time pressure. Its trade-off is a linear, chapter-based structure.
Can No Man’s Sky feel like a relaxing exploration game?
Yes, especially in Relaxed mode with attention placed on scanning, travel, and sightseeing. However, it remains an exploration-and-survival game, so resources, progression, and possible combat do not disappear entirely.
Which game has the most atmosphere?
That depends on the setting you prefer. Journey offers a short, wordless desert pilgrimage and soundtrack; ABZÛ offers underwater calm; Eastshade offers nature and scenic walking; and Everything offers an unusual procedural, philosophical mood.
Best Value
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Is Everything better than these alternatives?
It is the only one built around making almost any object a playable viewpoint and moving between inner and outer space. If that idea is what you value, none of the alternatives replaces it. If you want a more legible world, a clearer arc, underwater sightseeing, or a huge universe with adjustable systems, one of the recommendations may suit you better.
Bottom line
For peaceful open-world wandering, choose Eastshade. For a short, emotional and wordless trip, choose Journey. For underwater calm, choose ABZÛ. For the largest procedural universe, choose No Man’s Sky in Relaxed mode, while remembering that survival and combat systems remain possible. For a compact, cheerful reset, choose A Short Hike. And if you want the defining combination of scale-shifting, procedural novelty, and no enforced goals, Everything is still in a category of its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which recommendation has no combat-centered loop?
Eastshade, Journey, ABZÛ, and A Short Hike focus on exploration rather than combat. No Man’s Sky can be gentler in Relaxed mode, but survival and combat systems remain possible.
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Everything and No Man’s Sky are the most open-ended: Everything is a scale-shifting procedural simulation, while No Man’s Sky offers a procedural universe with adjustable pressure.
Which game is best for a short relaxing session?
A Short Hike is the most compact option; Journey also works well when you want a focused experience with a clear arc.
What is the closest alternative to peaceful open-world exploration?
Eastshade is the closest fit, with scenic walking, nature, light tasks, and an authored island that is open without being procedurally infinite.
Which game is best for underwater exploration?
ABZÛ focuses on reefs, ruins, and marine life without air-gauge or time pressure, though its chapters are linear.
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Yes. Relaxed mode and a focus on scanning, travel, and sightseeing can lower pressure, but resources, progression, survival, and possible combat remain part of the game.
Which game most closely matches Everything’s philosophy?
Everything itself. Its scale-shifting ability to make animals, plants, objects, planets, and galaxies playable viewpoints is not reproduced by the other recommendations.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Pick Eastshade for peaceful open-world walking, Journey or ABZÛ for focused atmosphere, No Man’s Sky Relaxed for procedural scale, and A Short Hike for a cozy short adventure. Nothing else here reproduces Everything’s ability to let you inhabit almost any scale, so choose according to the specific part of its appeal you want to preserve.
Quick Recap
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