Control had me wandering around.

Most recently it’s Clair Obscur Expedition 33. There’s an actual overworld map but you need to get your bearings in area maps and dungeons because there are none. You’ll have to use local landmarks to get around, find clues for hidden areas, and the direction you actually need to go. I’ve spent hours in single areas just getting lost admiring the design and artwork.

This is an extremely specific situation in a game, but…

In World of Warcraft, back in the day, there was a dungeon in Outland, I believe it was Helfire Citadel. It wasn’t particularly hard, but if you died, you were screwed. The way dungeon deaths worked was your spirit would spawn in a graveyard out in the regular world, and you would have to run your spirit ass back to the dungeon entrance to respawn. But finding the entrance to Helfire Citadel was so difficult I told the group if they don’t rez me, they’d have to just kick me, because I’d never make it back in. It was awful.

Abiotic Factor, survival in a facility like Half-Life with crafting, survival and exploration. Really great game and it’s pretty hard understanding where to go

Metroid and Legend of Zelda I and II for NES.

I would say many games with procedural generated worlds, like Minecraft, No Man’s Sky, etc. Where the main task is deciding where do I go next, where do I settle down, maybe there is some better place over the next hill, next planet, etc.

There are other games, where it is also sometimes not quite clear what to do next. Like games have a lot of progression and rebuilding of stuff that was done before because of it. Like Satisfactory, Factorio, etc.

And on a more literal sense, where you actually redo the game over and over to progress, like The Stanley Parable or Outer Wilds.

Some games have a very labyrinthine level design, where it also isn’t really clear what to do next, like Dark Souls, Subnautica, etc.

Or environment puzzles, where you have to figure out how to progress, like the Myst series, Riven, etc.

SNES Jurassic Park. NES Fester’s Quest

I remember the newes jedi game feeling like this a lot, but it was also effectively immersive that you don’t instantly know exactly where to go.

Oh man. For me, Tetris. Every time.

I get past the first dungeon no problems, and find the heart container, but as soon as I meet that old guy with his kite in the tree I’m lost. I think I need to craft a slingshot or something but I’ve no idea where to get the rubber for an elastic band.

Space Quest

Any FF if you set it down for a month or two.

For me it’s always been Zelda games.

The old text adventures where being able to solve a puzzle required hitting the right words. “Oh, twist, not pull.”

The Outer Worlds is a perfect example of this in the best way possible.

Devil May Cry 4, but I was able to finish it. I couldn’t even complete Devil May Cry 3.