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[jm89]

They will defintley get there. GOT, days gone and horizon were fantastic, the latter 2 was the first attempt for the studios at open world games.

I would not be surprised if one of them does an RPG, they have the talent and financial backing to do something big. All three of those studios are on a hiring spree aswell so no doubt they are gonna go bigger.

 

[Perrott]

I think since open worlds became a well developed, practical game design choice with Grand Theft Auto III, it's been fair to say that Rockstar has ruled the roost in the open world space. Lots of companies have also made great open world games (Mercenaries comes to mind,) and occasionally somebody has made a better GTA than Rockstar (Saints Row 3 says hello.) But even where one game might show its weakness, Rockstar always had other games to show that they weren't just sitting around stagnating, like Red Dead Redemption or L.A. Noire.

This gen was something different. There was no GTA, and Red Dead Redemption II, as amazing as it is, had some serious flaws. And other great franchises in the space, like Assassin's Creed, couldn't help getting stale. Sony spent the last few years hitting it out of the park over and over, with God of War, Horizon: Zero Dawn and now Ghost of Tsushima. Even Days Gone, which I think is fair to say sits a tier lower than those games, gave a better overall experience than a lot of other open world games from other publishers last gen.

Is Sony currently the best publisher of open world games? And if not, who is?

You are saying that Red Dead Redemption 2 is a flawed game while also saying that Sony knocked it out of the park with two of their most generic and average open world releases, aka Horizon and Ghost of Tsushima? Sorry, but your nonsense cannot be taken seriously lol

Sony's best open world game is Death Stranding and even that game, as groundbreaking and brilliantly designed as it is, has absolutely nothing to do against Red Dead Redemption 2.

 

[Rest]

I think Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon and Days Gone and Spider-Man are all great games but the open worlds feel like a bit of a waste.

I forgot about Spider-Man, I think of it as a Marvel game even though Sony published it.

 

[Business]

RDR2 and BOTW are hands down the best open world games and Sony didn't make neither.

 

[Punished Miku]

I rate games by how good the combat and feeling of control is,. not what NPC do and so R* games are absolutely crap combat its mind numbing.

Ghosts of Toshima has the best combat in open world by a country mile.

Ubisoft games have combat ? Lol.

GoT combat is nothing compared to Dragon's Dogma, Monster Hunter World, or Dark Souls III.

It's fun combat, but all the bosses suck horribly, and it's mostly the same kind of combat as Assassin's Creed II, with some stance switching that's a pale imitation of Nioh II.

 

[ToadMan]

GoT combat is nothing compared to Dragon's Dogma, Monster Hunter World, or Dark Souls III.

It's fun combat, but all the bosses suck horribly, and it's mostly the same kind of combat as Assassin's Creed II, with some stance switching that's a pale imitation of Nioh II.

So as he said - GOT has the best combat in an open world game.

 

[Punished Miku]

So as he said - GOT has the best combat in an open world game.

How is Dragon's Dogma not an open world game?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Ghost of Tsushima is straight up the Assassin's Creed formula just executed really well...

 

[geordiemp]

GoT combat is nothing compared to Dragon's Dogma, Monster Hunter World, or Dark Souls III.

It's fun combat, but all the bosses suck horribly, and it's mostly the same kind of combat as Assassin's Creed II, with some stance switching that's a pale imitation of Nioh II.

I dont agree, go play Ghosts legends on hard mode against 15 enemies - there is no comparison, it is sublime.

Bosses are 1vs1 samurai fights - they are intense, especially the last one against your ******.

I have no idea what you consider a boss - the key fights in Ghosts are against overwhelming odds - there are no dragons.

Ghosts is nota fantasy fight against mythical beasts, if it was, it would still be better implementation.

Monster hunter and Dark souls is clunky in comparison.

 

[RedWhiteBlue]

GoT combat is nothing compared to Dragon's Dogma, Monster Hunter World, or Dark Souls III.

It's fun combat, but all the bosses suck horribly, and it's mostly the same kind of combat as Assassin's Creed II, with some stance switching that's a pale imitation of Nioh II.

The comparison with Dark Souls 3 and Nioh 2 nails it for me.

Ghost of Tsushima falls into the open would trap of trying to have variety and not getting anything really great done.

Where Nioh and Dark Souls can focus in on combat because they aren't trying to develop a sprawling world where the player can go anywhere etc.

Hitman 3 would be the place to go for stealth and creative solutions and again it's because they aren't giving a ridiculously huge world punctuated with stealth or combat areas.

 

[AV]

I rate games by how good the combat and feeling of control is,. not what NPC do and so R* games are absolutely crap combat its mind numbing. I lasted about 4 hours into GTA5 - If you want a sandbox fine, but combat is important and R* games are sluggish and poor combat - its hardly ninja gaiden or COD lol.

Less said about BOTW combat the better - I was 7 once. What does dat button do

Ghosts of Toshima has the best combat in open world by a country mile.

Ubisoft games have combat ? Lol. I just finished Valhalla and it was good for ubsoft I enjoyed it, but took a a few days for me to acustom to the B tier combat after ghosts - transition was really hard going from a Sony open world to ubisoft.

Right, I'm talking about the worlds though, not the combat. RDR2 combat is about as rudimentary as it gets.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Valheim and Fortnite are the current kings of open world design.

Both games have open world's where everything in them has a value to the player. RDR2, Ghost of Tsushima type games look beautiful but are mostly dead in terms of player meaning.

They'll both be eclipsed within the next year or two.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I dont agree, go play Ghosts legends on hard mode against 15 enemies - there is no comparison, it is sublime.

Bosses are 1vs1 samurai fights - they are intense, especially the last one against your ******.

Ghosts is nota fantasy fight against mythical beasts, if it was, it would still be better implementation.

Monster hunter and Dark souls is clunky in comparison.

Yuck.

I enjoyed Ghost of Tsushima immensely and absolutely adore how the combat can make you feel like a badass, but it's just a more interesting and slickly executed version of the old Assassin's Creed Simon Says-style combat.

 

[Punished Miku]

Yuck.

I enjoyed Ghost of Tsushima immensely and absolutely adore how the combat can make you feel like a badass, but it's just a more interesting and slickly executed version of the old Assassin's Creed Simon Says-style combat.

It really is the same type of combat system.

I think people have forgotten what that combat was like in AC pre-Origins. It wasn't all bad. I remember just purposely getting in fights over and over to land counter hits and see the cool kill animations. It's the same loose lock on, animation priority style with counter hits and some side steps, and cinematic finishers.

 

[HE1NZ]

Best open world game of last gen. Insane detail and historical accuracy. Incredible atmosphere. Snappy controls, smooth framerate (on PC), fast and fluid traversal, climbing and combat. Just perfect game.

 

[Jadsey]

It’s fair to say they are leading the industry.

 

[yurinka]

No. Sony makes great open world games with great sales, but GTA and Ubisoft lead the open world games lead the genre in terms of sales.

Rockstar releases a new game every gazillion years, and Ubisoft in that period release a gazillion open worlds during that period, which combined should get more or less simlar amout in both companies.

 

[Ogbert]

Best open world game of last gen. Insane detail and historical accuracy. Incredible atmosphere. Snappy controls, smooth framerate (on PC), fast and fluid traversal, climbing and combat. Just perfect game.

Enjoyed it, but I hit a brick wall with every Ubi game. About 25 hours in, 27% completion and I think ‘fuck it, i’m done’.

I do like Ubisoft though and I think they get unfairly criticised.

 

[Rest]

especially the last one against your ******.

Legit almost cried before the credits rolled. Such good story telling.

 

[HE1NZ]

Enjoyed it, but I hit a brick wall with every Ubi game. About 25 hours in, 27% completion and I think ‘fuck it, i’m done’.

I do like Ubisoft though and I think they get unfairly criticised.

I 100% the game (the only AC I did). I'm a fan of Egypt so I guess I'm a little biased.

I like AC games because you feel in control (unlike games like RDR2 where every button you press causes a cutscene) and you literally go anywhere even more so than in Bethesda games.

 

[Warablo]

No, but GoT and Horizon Zero Dawn are refined Ubisoft games.

 

[Thirty7ven]

Yes they are, and they are betting heavy on it. PS5 I/O architecture is what it is exactly because of open world games so you can expect them to keep going at it hard.

Obviously opinions will vary, and you can find all sorts, but inside the industry the feeling is exactly that. During PS4 gen it was wide linear and open world, heavy focus on character and world building, action and adventure. I expect that during the Ps5 generation they will manage another jump in quality and invest more on emergent gameplay.

 

[HotPocket69]

Tell me your a fanboy without telling me your a fanboy.

It’s “you’re” you dunce

 

[MrS]

Absolutely not. Days Gone and Horizon are not good open world games.

 

[Verchod]

But are some of these open world games open world for the sake of it? Are they better for being so.
Rockstar's games suit being open world, it fits the narrative. And obviously all RPGs do too. Far cry works being open world because it's about survival, but I don't think any Assassin's creed game is better for being open world, everything outside of the story is fluff.

 

[Banjo64]

 

[Goro Majima]

This is a hard topic because at no point was I saying to myself "wow I've never seen this before!" while playing Ghosts or Horizon even though they're both fantastic games.

Have to remember that we've been doing "open world" for a couple decades now so it takes quite a bit to be impressed by something. Most of the time it's just shit I've seen in Morrowind or Oblivion like 15-20 years ago. BOTW's "climb anywhere" thing that was quickly adopted by Assassin's Creed Origins was probably one of the very few memorable upgrades to the whole experience.

I also distinctly remember Ghost Recon Wildlands and Valheim throwing you to the wolves with a "here you go asshole - good luck!" feel without any of the procedurally unlocked open world thing that 95% of open world games do like Ghosts and Horizon.

 

[pasterpl]

Wouldn’t you consider likes of Skyrim an open world game?

 

[Retinoid]

Absolutely not. Sony, much like Ubisoft, Bethesda and now R*, are completely clueless in how to craft a open world. They use archaic design philosophies that aren't engaging for the player and give the illusion of progression through useless traversals across barren, empty plains. The best open world games, imo, are from Piranha Bytes - specifically Gothic 1/2 and more recently Elex.

 

[Rest]

Wouldn’t you consider likes of Skyrim an open world game?

Yeah, but it came out ten years and two generations ago.

 

[Jaysen]

They're certainly leading it in mediocre open world games. Graphically super impressive, but the gameplay in many of them is just so damn lackluster.

 

[Negotiator101]

I think since open worlds became a well developed, practical game design choice with Grand Theft Auto III, it's been fair to say that Rockstar has ruled the roost in the open world space. Lots of companies have also made great open world games (Mercenaries comes to mind,) and occasionally somebody has made a better GTA than Rockstar (Saints Row 3 says hello.) But even where one game might show its weakness, Rockstar always had other games to show that they weren't just sitting around stagnating, like Red Dead Redemption or L.A. Noire.

Last gen was something different. There was no GTA, and Red Dead Redemption II, as amazing as it is, had some serious flaws. And other great franchises in the space, like Assassin's Creed, couldn't help getting stale. Sony spent the last few years hitting it out of the park over and over, with God of War, Horizon: Zero Dawn and now Ghost of Tsushima. Even Days Gone, which I think is fair to say sits a tier lower than those games, gave a better overall experience than a lot of other open world games from other publishers last gen.

Is Sony currently the best publisher of open world games? And if not, who is?

No, Rockstar are on another level and I guess Breath of the Wild is next best. Sony have made good open world games but nothing great yet, maybe Horizon 2 will though.

 

[carlosrox]

How is the answer not Rockstar or Ubisoft?

 

[Silent Viper]

Sony open world games are not even same league as Rockstar.


Heck i enjoyed Exploring Witcher 3,
Skyrim,AC and Fallout open world way more than Static and dead HZD and Spiderman open world.


Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed HZD and Spiderman but not for their open world but story, characters, gameplay and graphics quality. Open world is very boring and not fun to explore in Sony games.

 

[eastcoastkody]

No. its Ubisoft. Damn near everything they do is open world

 

[Robb]

Not even close, IMO.

I'd put both Ubisoft and Rockstar way above Sony in that regard.

 

[Silent Viper]

Sony good at making 3rd person cinematic linear or semi linear action games. They yet to impress me with games in shooter, RPG and open world genre.

 

[carlosrox]

Pretty sure Elder Scrolls Next, GTA Next, and whatever actual Next Gen Ubi games come next will prove even further that Sony's not on the same level.

Rockstar has very high quality (though stuff like RDR isn't for me), Ubisoft has pretty good quality with insane quantity, and Bethesda will probably look to seriously impress with their next gen open world games.

GOTS is the only Sony open world I'm interested in really. Maybe Horizon. No interest in Spiderman.

 

[SLB1904]

i dont know if its leading or not tbh

but i can say i had a ton of fun with their open world games

 

[Yoboman]

Slightly off topic but why is God of War not open world? Is it just a scale thing? It’s open and fully explorarable off the main path, has a world map and missions. Heck it even has vehicles

 

[Keihart]

 

[Silent Viper]

i dont know if its leading or not tbh

but i can say i had a ton of fun with their open world games

See gif you posted showcase visuals more than anything. They all look pretty but don't look alive , reactive and dynamic like Red dead nd all.
Sony open world very static which makes exploration boring after few hours


See this

 

[Punished Miku]

Slightly off topic but why is God of War not open world? Is it just a scale thing? It’s open and fully explorarable off the main path, has a world map and missions. Heck it even has vehicles

Agreed. The lines have blurred. Personally, I think Monster Hunter World is every bit as open world as anything. Does it really matter that much if Dark Souls III has lots of interiors and well crafted levels? It's also pretty open.

God of War is kind of in the nebulous "adventure game" category occupied by Zelda, and pretty much nothing else. But it's also partly "action game" like DMC and Ninja Gaiden. But it's also extremely open and has literally no loading lol.

 

[Silent Viper]

Slightly off topic but why is God of War not open world? Is it just a scale thing? It’s open and fully explorarable off the main path, has a world map and missions. Heck it even has vehicles

Its semi open world. Its more like your TR Reboot and Arkham Games. Metroidvania style game than a true open world.


True open world gives you unrestricted access to every area of map. Its upto you when you want or how you want to explore. God of war areas are locked behind story progression and certain areas cant be access after you progress in story

 

[JLB]

hahaha, jesus.

 

[SLB1904]

See gif you posted showcase visuals more than anything. They all look pretty but don't look alive , reactive and dynamic like Red dead nd all.
Sony open world very static which makes exploration boring after few hours


See this

ghost of tsushima static?

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

How is the answer not Rockstar or Ubisoft?

Pretty, dead world's aren't very good.

 

[KyoZz]

Good graphics don't make good gameplay please make the difference.
So no.

 

[LaughingStock]

I'd say sony is a little bit above ubisoft when it comes to open world.

 

[Fbh]

Sony basically makes Ubisoft style open worlds with more "soul" and less of that stale designed by committee feel.
They are good games but I don't think they push the gameplay or design enough to really be industry leading.