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[baconman]

Dark Souls
The Legend of Zelda (OG)
La Mulana
You Have To Win The Game
I Am Level
Rogue Legacy, in that weird randomization kind of way (like C.A.)
Brogue does that really well too

[Praying Mantis]

Knytt (not stories), Shadow of The Colossus, Super Mario 64, GTA: Vice City.

[starsrift]

UFO: Afterlight. The map is a reasonably accurate map of Mars, barren and cold, which you then influence and terraform, watch oceans fill in and greenery spread. Watching your influence on the world like that is one of those 'Wow!' moments, very impactful.

[battlerager]

yume nikki was an awesome suggestion btw. i hadnt played it before, but damn.

no problem. great game, one of my favorites; its emphasis on pure exploration emphasizes its design and vice versa; one of its best strengths is that it's not totally aimless. the fact that it's a scavenger hunt forces the player pay attention to everything in way more detail; even for players who are inclined towards exploring and poking around, the simple goal makes a lot of difference.

It isn't? I should probably give it a chance again, the last two times I tried it I hated this game. You move so slowly and I always felt like I wasn't advancing at all...

[SirNiko]

Yume Nikki suffers from a lot of repetitive areas that have few landmarks, especially in the rooms nearest the entrance (eg, the world with the puddles, the candles, the hands). The deeper areas generally have more interesting design and better landmarks so once you get to exploring those the game is way more fun.

Super Mario Land 2 had some lovely world map design and borrowed a bit from Mario World. I especially liked how the reward for completing secret levels was to alter the appearance of the world map.

Mario U tried so hard to be like Mario World but managed to flub it with generally uninteresting changes to the map when revealing new levels.

[rj]

i like the looping areas actually a lot but i agree that they're confusing and put up a huge barrier for entry

i recommend looking up how to find the bike if you're frustrated enough that you don't want to continue otherwise; it vastly increases movement speed (if you can get it without a walkthrough, though, that's obviously best! it's very early in the game) and can help a lot if you're feeling discouraged

[jiitype]

This is probably more because of nostalgia but Pokemon Red/Blue's world was great. Just going around looking for secrets and catching Pokemon was enough to play it for hours as a kid.

[TacoBell_Lord]

A Link To The Past (aka the king of Level/World structure)
Yoshi's Island
Silent Hill 1 & 2
Metal Gear Solid 3
Digimon World

[baconman]

This is probably more because of nostalgia but Pokemon Red/Blue's world was great. Just going around looking for secrets and catching Pokemon was enough to play it for hours as a kid.

See this? YES. That's the entire logic behind OG Zelda.

[jiitype]

See this? YES. That's the entire logic behind OG Zelda.

Never really played Zelda games... except the DS ones...

Okami is another game with really nice world map. I like that the world isn't super huge, but still feels like it's full of places to explore. I should actually finish it some day.

[dynamite-ready]

Arkham's Asylum.

Never played the sequels, but the first game was great.
The place felt large, but not pointlessly so.

In some way, it reminds me of the Louvre, in terms of scale at least.
Not for opulence or texture, that's for sure.

And the Riddler challenges were a superb way to get gamers to appreciate the design.

[rj]

arkham asylum is like the only true 3D 3rd person metroidvania in existence that i can name. it's mindboggling

i do love it, yes

[Noogai03]

LEGO games, especially LEGO Batman and LEGO Indiana Jones; there's soo much stuff to do and in indiana jones there's mystery as well
And I bloody love the overworld from Pikmin and Pikmin 2 (never played #3), everything about it is cute just like the game itself

[TacoBell_Lord]

will always & forever be A Link To The Past, two worlds in one map being parallel dimensions blew my mind as a child

[Impmaster]

I actually really enjoyed Just Cause 2 and the whole "swing your way everywhere with a grappling hook." Maybe I like the world more because of the mechanics than the actual world itself though...

[Boreal]

Dark Souls
Metroid (esp. ZM, Super, Trilogy)
Kirby - The Amazing Mirror
Super Mario 64
Knytt/Knytt Stories

Amazing Mirror deserves some special recognition, I think.  Everything's connected in so many logical but interesting ways, and really interesting to explore since you can tackle boss order however you like.  Plus there's a great reward for filling out your map.

[shinygerbil]

I see a handful of mentions for LttP, but I'd like to nominate the Gameboy zeldas.
Link's Awakening - I may be coloured by nostalgia, but Koholint Island is a beautiful and very unique place. Wind Fish, indeed!
Ages/Seasons - not as instantly memorable, but so full of little intricacies with all the timehopping/seasonswitching.

I also want to mention Flashback. Though there were in reality only 4 stops (iirc) on the train system, and all the areas were pretty small, I really got a sense of travelling around of my own volition - stopping off at the bar to meet people, heading out to other areas to do stuff, heading back to the bar. Deciding on a whim to go visit another area just in case; doing my own detective work; retracing my steps; and always back to the bar. I used to just ride the train for the hell of it. I was young, and filled in a lot with my imagination of course - but it felt really cool to be able to just wander around such a cool city and take a train whenever I liked!

Beyond that, the usual Dark Souls, Morrowind (yes the best ES map). Final Fantasy 6 for the nostalgia. And a good shout on Burnout Paradise.

[baconman]

Special nod to The Great Cave Offensive / Kirby Super Star?

[s0]

I see a handful of mentions for LttP, but I'd like to nominate the Gameboy zeldas. Link's Awakening - I may be coloured by nostalgia, but Koholint Island is a beautiful and very unique place. Wind Fish, indeed!

oh yes definitely! links awakening is a great example of a map that "feels" way larger than it really is, similar to dark souls (and the original LoZ for that matter). the layout is pretty cramped if you look at the entire map but in a way that somehow makes total sense while you're actually playing the game.

[pelle]

Pikmins, and I don't want to know how much time I have spent just flying the rocket around amazed by the smooth animations