Best Value Open World Games Under $40
The Open World games on Steam games under $40 that deliver the most playtime per dollar: median reviewer hours divided by current price.
All Indie Action Adventure Simulation RPG Strategy Co-op Open World Story Rich Casual Funny Survival Difficult Pixel Graphics PvP Horror Anime Puzzle Rogue-like Relaxing Turn-Based Strategy Local Co-Op Psychological Horror Hack and Slash Platformer MMO RTS Immersive Sim Post-apocalyptic Action Roguelike City Builder Life Sim Zombies Sports Racing Survival Horror Stealth Bullet Hell Dungeon Crawler Visual Novel JRPG Deckbuilding Grand Strategy Cyberpunk Tower Defense Clicker Fighting Open World Survival Craft Boomer Shooter Colony Sim Farming Sim Cozy Auto Battler Cooking Twin Stick Shooter Metroidvania 4X Souls-like Dating Sim MMORPG
By price
Price divided by median reviewer playtime — how much you pay per hour of gameplay. Lower is better. Reviewers tend to sink more hours in than the average owner, so treat this as an optimistic estimate. Free games are excluded because there's no price to divide by.
- 1The Quinfall$0.02/1hr56h66.28%51.31%
- 2shapez$0.03/1hr35h91.86%95.94%
- 3Starbound$0.04/1hr120h89.66%90.00%
- 4Monster Hunter: World$0.06/1hr121h88.71%88.78%
- 5Hunt: Showdown 1896$0.07/1hr176h74.11%73.70%
- 6Styx: Master of Shadows$0.07/1hr28h84.03%83.21%
- 7Arma 3$0.08/1hr109h90.25%90.41%
- 8FINAL FANTASY XIV Online$0.08/1hr237h86.42%86.53%
- 9Beasts of Bermuda$0.09/1hr226h77.34%68.97%
- 10Kenshi$0.09/1hr127h94.76%95.56%
- 11My Time at Portia$0.09/1hr63h90.40%91.51%
- 12The Surge$0.09/1hr20h79.52%74.62%
- 13Terraria$0.10/1hr105h97.30%97.38%
- 14Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen$0.10/1hr47h87.93%88.44%
- 15Elite Dangerous$0.11/1hr185h77.99%77.30%
- 16The Elder Scrolls Online$0.11/1hr184h81.18%80.92%
- 17GreedFall$0.11/1hr31h79.01%76.07%
- 18Trailmakers$0.11/1hr44h90.70%92.09%
- 19Tales of Zestiria$0.12/1hr43h82.69%79.71%
- 20Factorio$0.12/1hr299h97.01%97.51%
- 21Stardew Valley$0.12/1hr125h98.35%98.48%
- 22Pax Dei$0.12/1hr124h70.20%56.56%
- 23Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced$0.12/1hr123h82.56%82.42%
- 24MONSTER HUNTER RISE$0.12/1hr65h83.51%83.35%
- 25Conan Exiles Enhanced$0.13/1hr240h79.50%78.99%
- 26theHunter: Call of the Wild$0.13/1hr31h88.90%89.07%
- 27Rust$0.13/1hr311h86.81%86.82%
- 28河洛群俠傳 (Ho Tu Lo Shu ： The Books of Dragon)$0.13/1hr68h83.22%81.63%
- 29RimWorld$0.13/1hr262h97.37%97.86%
- 30My Time at Sandrock$0.13/1hr104h87.48%88.19%
- 31Vampyr$0.14/1hr29h79.75%77.46%
- 32ARK: Survival Evolved$0.14/1hr110h83.36%83.33%
- 33Sid Meier's Pirates!$0.14/1hr18h89.30%94.42%
- 34DayZ$0.15/1hr172h77.94%77.77%
- 35Fallout: New Vegas$0.15/1hr69h95.60%95.99%
- 36TerraTech$0.15/1hr42h89.55%91.39%
- 37Mortal Online 2$0.15/1hr269h70.72%60.09%
- 38Survivalist: Invisible Strain$0.15/1hr43h85.87%86.82%
- 39Internet Cafe Simulator$0.16/1hr6h78.73%72.67%
- 40Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Enhanced Edition$0.16/1hr123h83.88%83.52%
- 41The Surge 2$0.16/1hr19h80.59%75.47%
- 42DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE$0.16/1hr25h88.54%89.94%
- 43Eco$0.17/1hr181h82.70%80.73%
- 44觅长生$0.17/1hr90h91.26%93.09%
- 45Tom Clancy’s The Division$0.17/1hr35h72.24%70.87%
- 46Age of History II$0.17/1hr35h89.10%89.83%
- 47The Guild II Renaissance$0.18/1hr55h84.88%83.50%
- 48WRC 7 FIA World Rally Championship$0.18/1hr11h83.52%82.28%
- 49SnowRunner$0.18/1hr66h89.41%90.13%
- 50Crashlands$0.19/1hr28h86.80%89.50%
- 51Insurgency: Sandstorm$0.19/1hr40h84.88%84.84%
- 52HELLDIVERS 2$0.19/1hr211h75.25%75.16%
- 53The Planet Crafter$0.19/1hr63h94.75%96.04%
- 54Scrap Mechanic$0.19/1hr151h91.50%92.00%
- 55Generation Zero$0.19/1hr26h74.61%72.03%
- 56Green Hell$0.19/1hr19h84.79%84.72%
- 57Paleo Pines$0.20/1hr31h84.49%82.63%
- 58Fallout 4$0.20/1hr101h81.29%81.19%
- 59The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim$0.20/1hr100h94.51%94.79%
- 60Tales of Maj'Eyal$0.20/1hr35h89.33%94.56%
- 61Black Desert$0.20/1hr50h74.69%73.54%
- 62Satisfactory$0.20/1hr199h96.85%97.26%
- 63Fields of Mistria$0.20/1hr70h94.42%97.68%
- 64Project Zomboid$0.20/1hr99h93.82%94.00%
- 65Naval Action$0.20/1hr98h65.67%52.22%
- 66Dyson Sphere Program$0.21/1hr77h96.28%97.47%
- 67Hollow Knight$0.21/1hr72h96.71%96.91%
- 68Pathfinder: Kingmaker — Enhanced Plus Edition$0.21/1hr95h79.36%77.62%
- 69EVERSPACE 2$0.21/1hr48h85.54%85.97%
- 70The Isle$0.21/1hr95h80.57%80.16%
- 71UnderRail$0.21/1hr71h85.46%86.12%
- 72Wandering Sword$0.21/1hr82h93.11%94.86%
- 73Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire$0.22/1hr93h87.01%88.03%
- 74Mount & Blade: Warband$0.22/1hr93h97.04%97.72%
- 75South Park: The Fractured But Whole$0.22/1hr28h85.18%85.10%
- 76Railroads Online$0.22/1hr68h81.42%74.69%
- 77Cassette Beasts$0.22/1hr31h89.74%94.08%
- 78Elin$0.22/1hr90h88.99%93.43%
- 79Let's School$0.22/1hr31h88.54%92.73%
- 80Space Engineers$0.23/1hr89h88.62%88.85%
- 81Stationeers$0.23/1hr153h86.54%87.72%
- 82My Garage$0.23/1hr88h86.93%90.48%
- 83Slime Rancher$0.23/1hr22h97.24%98.00%
- 84Hero's Adventure: Road to Passion$0.23/1hr78h84.78%84.51%
- 85Soulmask$0.23/1hr104h79.77%77.19%
- 86The Long Dark$0.23/1hr85h88.70%88.96%
- 87Stormworks: Build and Rescue$0.23/1hr108h89.77%90.50%
- 88One Piece Pirate Warriors 3$0.23/1hr17h81.58%78.03%
- 89The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director's Cut$0.24/1hr42h89.04%89.46%
- 90The Scroll of Taiwu : Beyond The Dome$0.24/1hr123h68.00%65.50%
- 91Ratopia$0.24/1hr54h86.21%87.80%
- 92Train Simulator Classic$0.24/1hr25h75.14%71.63%
- 93Streamer Life Simulator$0.24/1hr8h81.33%76.10%
- 94Outpath$0.25/1hr18h86.85%92.90%
- 95Subsistence$0.25/1hr42h77.44%71.95%
- 96Far Cry$0.25/1hr12h83.27%81.81%
- 97Call of the Wild: The Angler$0.26/1hr35h76.14%63.81%
- 98No Man's Sky$0.26/1hr93h84.98%84.97%
- 99Planetbase$0.26/1hr58h82.54%79.73%
- 100The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition$0.26/1hr58h92.59%95.27%
How the math works: we sample each game’s Steam reviewers, take the median of their total recorded playtime (lifetime hours, not hours at the time of review), and divide it by the game’s current price in your selected currency. Reviewers usually sink more hours in than the average owner, so the numbers run generous. Free games aren’t listed because there’s no price to divide by, and a game needs playtime data from at least 20 reviewers before it qualifies. All prices are Steam’s own regional prices, never exchange-rate conversions.