So i’m going to use the current game i’m playing as an example but it can be fitting for any game in this genre, Days Gone.
I honestly think more games should feature one or more military bases,fob, air base, naval base or better yet, a Underground facility/Bio weapons facility that the player can explore and loot, The only caveat is its very difficult, being a military faciility after all, secured even more than usual with choke points and killzones, Like for example occupied by the military(as how they did in Last Of Us) or the Federal Government in Days Gone, if the player succeeds, they get a lot of loot, advanced weapons, ammo, attachments, health etc. A Underground facility would be pretty awesome, especially if its like a BSL-4 Bioweapons Lab, which can also lore wise, have some hints to the game’s virus, plague, parasites or whatever infection is the cause.
It would be a challenge that can really pay off while also having hints of what happened to the government, military & the cause of the infection, origin etc things like that. Logically a lab will have more info on the infection while a base will have good loot, advanced weapons, attachments etc.
Almost like how Fallout did with the Enclave where the government/military was essentially having its own base of operations & well secured as an example. a real life site i can use as an example that could feature in a game that will be Mt Cheyenne, Mt Weather, Site S4 or in Russia, Mezhgorye or Kapustin Yar, if they had a game set in South Africa, it would no doubt be Simon’s Town Naval Base, there’s rumored to be an Underground facility close by, basically our Area 51 in a way