There's an old video game called Seven Cities of Gold wherein you play a european explorer poking about the new world. It has procedurally generated game worlds, and claims to use some plate techtonics. I don't remember if you could actually circumnavigate the world, but it gave a great experience of gradually uncovering an absolutely massive map, packed with things to see. Designed for platforms with SERIOUS technology constraints, the author packed a LOT of game play. Given the historical subject, it also offers up some serious topics for thought / conversation.
LOVED that game when I was a small child, even if it went over my head and I had to play together with an older neighbour. It came with 10 other games in a CD when my father purchased our first CD-ROM reader, together with a Soundblaster. The memories! Thanks for the memory lane trip!
The rapid prototype of the game, which doesn’t use the realistic map generator, but is playable, is on the same site. It’s a browser game so it does not need a download
don't forget to bury some dinosaur bones :) .. ref. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
on a related note.. talking about tectonic shifts.. might be interesting to have few time-points within same "world", and see how "things" - i.e. continents and such - move around. But that might be a different game
What a fun exploration of algorithmic procedural generation with using simple algorithms to produce outstanding effects. It’s inspirational to my own work; how to find straightforward algorithms that are easy to think about but can produce outstanding experiences for users.
As always, the Digital Antiquarian has a great article about this game: https://www.filfre.net/2013/08/seven-cities-of-gold/