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[ungalo]

Lol
Hate to break it to you but Open world is literally the natural evolution to video games

This is kind of true but only because the natural evolution of video games in the AAA field is extreme uniformization.

Before being open world, the specification is about being some kind of mix of everything you can grab from action/adventure, RPG, stealth games in third person...that can make the so-called perfect game (that you can sell very well).

And usually, those design abominations fit well with the open world. But not always. Like what seperate God of War Ragnarok from the last open world games ? It's just as bloated (in the content but also mechanically), the only difference is that the game's world is not believable, despite it trying to be immersive.

So the semi-open games are not really better. In any case, we are far from the era where games had a strong identity, were limiting themselves and following a genre's tradition. I think the choice to make an open world is sometimes more neutral than what people think compared to that.

 

[kvltus lvlzvs]

With totk and elden ring being so successful, I don't think we will see the backlash any time soon.

 

[Wunray]

I think the wide linear formula is a good compromise between the two, that's why is love the dishonored and deus ex games so much.

 

[Topher]

With totk and elden ring being so successful, I don't think we will see the backlash any time soon.

Yep. Open world has made those franchises more popular than ever.

I get the OPs personal preference and want for more linear games, but that in itself doesn't justify a "backlash" for open world games be the result when the format is obviously very popular among gamers.

 

[flying_sq]

I liked open world games when they were the exception. GTA, first Forza Horizon game, first Just Cause, etc. Now I like more limited space, richer, denser areas in games. I just feel like I am wasting my time so some reviewer can say it took them 60-80 hours to beat.

 

[nemiroff]

Steam data from https://steamdb.info/ :

2021: 11 482 games released
2022: 12 786 games released
2023: 5 240 games released so far

Games with an "open world" tag:

2021: 895 : 7.79%
2022: 928 : 7.26%
2023: 454 : 8.66%

These are suggestive numbers dependant on tag precision. They do not take into consideration budget, sales numbers nor reviews.

 

[Bond007]

Never been a huge fan- yea, some of my favorite games are open world but not every game needs it.
To be honest, i prefer my linear experiences more often than not. Racing games? Sooo, over open world there especially.

Not every game is gonna be GTA/Read Dead/Zelda

 

[NightmareFarm]

Steam data from https://steamdb.info/ :

2021: 11 482 games released
2022: 12 786 games released
2023: 5 240 games released so far

Games with an "open world" tag:

2021: 895 : 7.79%
2022: 928 : 7.26%
2023: 454 : 8.66%

These are suggestive numbers dependant on tag precision. They do not take into consideration budget, sales numbers nor reviews.

Ok now fetch the percentage of AAA games which are open world.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I don't have a problem with it as long as the game is good. Even in the case of Ubisoft games, I often just ignore the bloat and focus on the meat of the game. I know, what a crazy notion, if I don't want to bother with any of the side content then I can just ignore it...

The only Ubisoft games that I genuinely didn't like and didn't even bother finishing was The Crew, Immortals, and Watch Dogs but that's because those games were incredibly uninspired and boring. While The Division had an interesting setting and fun combat, and Assassin's Creed games are just great to explore and fun to play, something like Watch Dogs crossed the threshold of mediocrity for me because there was nothing about its story, setting, or gameplay that would be even remotely interesting or uniquely fun. The entire game felt like it was designed by committee. Also, Immortals made the bloat into its core gameplay loop and that's where it lost me. Once it asked me to do 150th puzzle dungeon that was nearly identical to the 149 previous ones, I just had enough. And it's a shame because there are some things that are really cool about that game, like the art style or open world exploration.

But, once again, I never saw the open world specifically as a problem in those games. It's merely what the developers choose to do with that idea.

Besides, the trend has been leveling off for a while now. We've had plenty of linear or metroidvania-style games over the past couple of years, mixed with some open worlds. It seems like the selection has been much more balanced recently.

 

[Majukun]

we've had an open world trend since the playstation 2 era, not 2011....people still complained at the time that some games were going unnecessarely open world and nothing changed, so I would not hold my breath about that

 

[nemiroff]

Ok now fetch the percentage of AAA games which are open world.

That was your job before posting this thread, I'm not your lapdog.

Edit: And why should we care what the budget of a game is as long as we enjoy it (with that said, there's nothing wrong with a personal interest pivoting towards big production value). I hope we're not supposed to limit the discussion to a narrow set of ever-moving subjective parameters.

 

[NightmareFarm]

we've had an open world trend since the playstation 2 era, not 2011....people still complained at the time that some games were going unnecessarely open world and nothing changed, so I would not hold my breath about that

We had open world games back then but it wasn't oversaturated with open world games.

If anything 6th gen is an example of a balance where there aren't too many open world games.

 

[hussar16]

I hope not we barely even scratched the surface of amazing open world games.you have to understand full open world games without limits of power haven't Ben achievable til 10 years ago. We haven't even scratched what a real open world game can do

 

[Balducci30]

I don’t. There’s still a lot of untapped potential in the open world format

 

[zcaa0g]

Amid Evil was a refreshing experience. A modern day Heretic/Hexen with large well designed and unique levels. It would be nice to have more of that.

 

[Old_and_Slow]

I'm tired of everything under the sun being open world since like 2011. Bigger doesn't always mean better and the open world aspect feels like unneccessary bloat a lot of the time and just makes getting from place to place without menu teleporting a bore. Not to mention levels feel more intricately designed in linear games. MGS2s big shell was far more enjoyable and interesting to traverse and explore than the vast open empty spaces in MGS5 for example. Arkham Asylum's level design was very satisfying with it's metroidvania elements that teased you with blocked off locations which you unlock later on once you get a certain gadget. But then City replaced that with a tacked on open world which made it all generic. Linearity allows developers to script great gameplay sequences that wouldn't be possible in an open world game. I can't see games like Ghostrunner or Neon White being open world.

This is part of the reason why i'm hyped for FFXVI. It's refreshing. You have plenty of room to fight enemies and do a little bit of roaming around but it's not another tacked on open world and as a result they were able to focus more on the gameplay and story.

I am with you OP.

Arkham City was a disappointment for me as well after Asylum. The open world in that game served no purpose, as do many of the tacked on open worlds games have now.

Elden Ring has shown that an open world can be done well. Devs that can't figure out something other than a pointless or empty space should stick to a well designed space instead.

 

[Rayderism]

People have been complaining about open-world fatigue and the emptiness of most OW's for a quite a while now. Game companies don't care. Until it drastically starts affecting their bottom line, they're going to keep churning them out and act like it's the greatest damn thing. It's a super easy way to bloat the hours of play in the game.

Many people seem to equate game time as value for the money. But if you spend most of your time just moving forward through a mostly empty open-world heading to your next objective, that perceived value is quite hollow.

Personally I prefer more linear games with awesome setpieces, or at most, a semi-open-world type game that focuses on awesome setpieces with reduced time-wasting exploration of the emptiness.

 

[touchfuzzy]

With totk and elden ring being so successful, I don't think we will see the backlash any time soon.

Yep - not to mention Hogwarts and upcoming games like Starfield and Spider-Man 2 that will also be big sellers. All the biggest non-COD/sports games of the year are open world. It's not going anywhere.

 

[RCU005]

To me, the biggest issue of open world games is that they are always post-apocalyptic.

Of course it would very hard to recreate a complete city like GTA for every game, but if you haven’t noticed, every game has you playing in the woods or a destroyed city. Always in an era where there are small towns instead of big cities, where they give an excuse to have rudimentary tools so they don’t have to create a civilization.

The issue is not with a game being open world, but that they are al sandy.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Open world games always have the random hatred.

 

[Kaleinc]

Open world games are the same corridor but wider and require more running around to fetch pelts.
First go from town A to town B, from B to C. Then from C to B, from B to A, from A to C. etc etc ad nauseum.
Variety for soy boys.

 

[Chronicle]

I always felt open world ruined racing games. Shame. There were some great ones.

 

[Gambit2483]

I always felt open world ruined racing games. Shame. There were some great ones.

Forza Horizon 5 says Hi...

 

[Guilty_AI]

I always felt open world ruined racing games. Shame. There were some great ones.

Depends on how its executed. Driver San Francisco did it really really well.