Games that reward you for exploring.

[FinnegansLog]

Since when does Skyrim reward decent loot for exploring? On the contrary, the loot system in Skyrim is as interesting as watching paint dry. Yes there are countless caves/dungeons/ruins to explore but the loot you find in them usually consists of generic items such as glass sword etc.

If you don't mind aging games, Gothic 2 often rewards exploring.

You can also find interesting loot while exploring in Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Borderlands 2 has awesome loot but that has nothing to do with exploring - you need to kill (lots of) things to get stuff.

My recommendations were mainly from an exploration perspective, except thief that is just a good game, but Skyrim has little Easter eggs to find which is quite fun.

 

[Pighardia]

Since when does Skyrim reward decent loot for exploring?

Since it was released 2 and a half years ago

 

[Zethor]

Since it was released 2 and a half years ago

Oh yes, how could I forget my collection of legendary items such as "Tongs", "Broom", "Iron Sword", found in the first 30-40 hours of exploring.