Complete maps
You know those open world games where unexplored areas of the map are simply blurred or smudged out? Well, wouldn’t it be better if a complete map was visible from the off? Not that every single point of interest should have a corresponding icon straight away though; no, exploration should reward players with things to do. Games like GTAV or Horizon take to blurring huge swathes of the landscape on their maps to encourage exploration, but assuming these landscapes have already been explored by a cartographer it’d be more realistic if the maps they created were supplied to the player. A positive example are the complete maps given to Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2. Players are given the lay of the land but are rewarded with interesting things to do when heading off the beaten path.
