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[Captain Hero]

I mean I love them , to play in an open world is freedom to do what you like but something is missing in there and maybe a lot
are just faded away with many open world games . At first its fun to run in that gorgeous land , fly in that area or just Get on your horse and find a victim to lasso , etc .
but its just nothing new in there the same open worlds the same elements the almost same combat but tweaked in many ways , some of them share the emptiness in the game's world and some share the massive open worlds but you cant find quality in them . I know there are great open world games no doubt about it , but devs need to go in different directions i don't mind a liner story game with no open world shit but give me that 20+ hours to play .. difficult ? no its not I even started to look at some games development as lazy approach
such as AC latest games , MGSV fake open world and Death Stranding .


So Gaf , do you think more of open world games is good or bad ?

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[and 3 others]

Yeah, too many. If Metal Gear Solid 5 was more linear, like the Hospital, or OKG compound, and was more fleshed out with cut scenes, instead of audio tapes, and helicopter pickup zones, it would have been *Game of the Generation. *for me

 

[unintelligent orange]

open world is lame. i must be in the minority that actually like linear story driven games.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I don’t really care. The open world vs linear thing is kinda off my radar at this point. There’s a shitload of open world games now, for better or worse. I just try to play the good ones

 

[Guilty_AI]

I don't hate open worlds but i do hate having a open world just for the sake of having it.

I didn't hate MGSV's open world because it was there for the sake of making the game more tactical. Yeah it was 'dead' but it was also useful.

On the other hand, i hated RDR2's open world. The game is largely story driven and having separate, closed off areas for each chapter with more "condensed" content would've worked better than a single large one. There was just not much point to it, making traversal harder and boring.

 

[Silvawuff]

I think it depends on how good that open world is. Breath of the Wild has something interesting going on every 10 feet, where, I dunno, some other open world epic might be a bit more spartan.

 

[bitbydeath]

I’m fine with it. People equally complain about linear being too common as well.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

I like open world but don't think it is a necessary design choice for every game. I know Sleeping Dogs, which is open world, was a lot of fun because of its melee combat creating an addictive gameplay loop although one that could work just as well in a linear game. However you don't see many open world games set in Hong Kong so it was a good opportunity to really explore that kind of setting in a game.

 

[Moogle11]

Nah. I’m pretty fatigued on them. I’ll deal if the story, questing etc is good, but I use the hell out of fast travel, waypoints, compass/minimap to make it more linear in playing through side quest lines and the main story.

If we had more linear (Uncharted, TLOU etc.) story driven games or more semi-open (i.e. zones) ones (God of War, Kingdom Hearts) I probably wouldn't bother with open world stuff. But so many story-driven games are either open world, or turn-based JRPGs (hate turn based combat) that I have to deal with some game design and gameplay things I don't like to have enough story-driven games to play.

 

[CobraXT]

open word is just a way to not craft a good level design .. most of them have same-y environments and lack attention to details

 

[FeldMonster]

There are enough that there is variety in setting and gameplay. Not every game will appeal to every player, and that is okay.

For me, Rage 2 was awesome, but none of the other open world games seem particularly interesting, maybe Far Cry 5? Enjoy the small few that interest you, and don't worry about the rest.

 

[Portugeezer]

After 20 hours I just end up sprinting and fast travelling everywhere.

 

[Danjin44]

If given a choice I always choose proper level design over open World any day, but my bigger issue is that "open world" has become default choice for western developers for 90% of their games, it has become very rare to see western developer make a game that has proper level design.

 

[TTOOLL]

I may sound repetitive and I know God of War is not considered open world, but if you played it you know it is. However, there is a strong story that drives you forward while it gives you exploration, collectibles and crafting. Everything well balanced.

What I can't stand about open world games in general is the amount of bullshit they put there just to populate the world. Meaningless quests, useless items, complex crafting system (in a bad way). Go there, fetch me this, thanks. That's it?

 

[Newly Vacant]

I like the current open world trend. Given the option, I always prefer open world games. Sure, some games handle the world better than others, but I think it's always a net positive. I hope the trend continues.

 

[jshackles]

I don't really mind open world, as long as it fits the game. As others have said, Metal Gear Solid 5 was terrible but other games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey I really enjoyed.

I really like the rare game that's able to do both really well. For example, some of the newer LEGO games come to mind: they take place in an open world you can go anywhere or do anything, but the levels themselves are all self-contained and kinda exist outside of the main hub. Not a perfect example, by any means, but it shows how well the concepts can be blended if done correctly.

 

[Captain Hero]

I really don't want next-gen to focus on many open world due to having fast SSD in nextgen consoles .. I mean I'd be upset to see that everywhere .Open world in many games is just to make less efforts in development such as an empty world with repetitive missions , and to look at next gen they will fuck our asses with big worlds and ray tracing I just know it . Just look at LightFall ( I mean GODFALL )

 

[Moogle11]

I may sound repetitive and I know God of War is not considered open world, but if you played it you know it is. However, there is a strong story that drives you forward while it gives you exploration, collectibles and crafting. Everything well balanced.

It's not open world. I just has a big hub and some semi-big zones. There isn't much sense of exploration as there are very limited branching/hidden paths in most zones.

And to me that was a good thing and a big part of why it's my game of the generation so far! Zones and the hub were big enough to give some feel of being in an adventure, but not a ton of time wasted just aimlessly traversing or figuring out where to go next or exploring big empty areas hoping to find something useful and coming up empty more often than not like in most truly open worlds.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

It's bad in the same way that there are too many sidescrolling indie games. They all just kind of blur together and copy one another too much. Other than a few standouts, I am completely burned out on open-world games this gen.

To answer the question, I would love it if we had more open-world games... if they surpassed the old ones and took them out of circulation. But most of them are too clogged with "content" and too clunky / sparse on emergent mechanics to hold my interest and I go back to old ones like Minecraft and Breath of the Wild.

 

[mortal]

Every gen seems to have design trends. With last gen it was shooters.

It's not that there are too many open world games. it's that there are too many mediocre open world games.

 

[sublimit]

What I can't stand about open world games in general is the amount of bullshit they put there just to populate the world. Meaningless quests, useless items, complex crafting system (in a bad way). Go there, fetch me this, thanks. That's it?

To be fair open world games have the excuse that it's very hard (and expensive) to fill huge maps with organic and meanigful sidequests.

However what i find inexcusable is when very linear games like FFVIIR include garbage sidequests and boring fetch quests just to stretch the game's completion time. I mean you have a closely and carefully structured linear world. How hard would it be to design interesting sidequests in a world like that?

 

[Moogle11]

To be fair open world games have the excuse that it's very hard (and expensive) to fill huge maps with organic and meanigful sidequests.

However what i find inexcusable is when very linear games like FFVIIR include garbage sidequests and boring fetch quests just to stretch the game's completion time. I mean you have a closely and carefully structured linear world. How hard would it be to design interesting sidequests in a world like that?

Agreed. Especially since Witcher 3 showed you could have better side quests by just having some decent writing and little self contained stories attached to them. The gameplay variety in the quests was limited, but I didn't mind since even many of the hunts had neat little stories attached. Then you have FF7R--which I did really enjoy as a whole--have a bunch of mostly boring sidequests with very little story attached to them as they felt a need to drive up the average playtime since many were upset about the game being episodic.

 

[Captain Hero]

Agreed. Especially since Witcher 3 showed you could have better side quests by just having some decent writing and little self contained stories attached to them. The gameplay variety in the quests was limited, but I didn't mind since even many of the hunts had neat little stories attached. Then you have FF7R--which I did really enjoy as a whole--have a bunch of mostly boring sidequests with very little story attached to them as they felt a need to drive up the average playtime since many were upset about the game being episodic.

indeed , The Witcher 3 gave us side quests missions in the perfect way you could ever imagine with so good writing as you said and the story of every side quest really impress me

 

[Aion002]

I like open worlds if the world is interesting or fun to travel in, like The Witcher 3 and Spiderman, or when it has neat smaller segments that connect the whole map of the game, like in Dark Souls, Sekiro and Bloodborne... I also like when the world is smaller, but unique like in God of War or Way of the Samurai.


I hate it when is a bloated mess like in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, where is not fun to explore and is a pain to travel long distances.

And, I must also say that Red Dead Redemption 2 world map is amazing, just walking around in the horse is a fun experience... Which is bizarre, because it works in similar ways of AC Odyssey, but it never feels bloated or boring to me.

So yep! More open worlds for me is good... be it like Sekiro or like RDR2!

 

[alabtrosMyster]

They all feel like re-skinned UbiSoft games... this is really boring once you did it twice, and give how many years this has been going on I have been bored for a very long time, enough that I tune out when the words "open world" are uttered in the introduction of a new game.

 

[Frogman_676]

it's a fad that will die like last gens flood of shooters.

 

[.Pennywise]

You either have a really compelling story (The Witcher 3) or really compelling gameplay mechanics (BOTW) or you have a really repetitive and boring open world (AC Oddyssey).

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

I think I personally am getting burned out on them. Mostly because they aim for the same release window. I had this happen with Witcher 3 + MGS 5. Loved em to death but couldnt go back into a new game for awhile because I was so burned out from all the hours put in. More recently same thing happened with Spiderman + GoW + RDR2. Amazing games but again, killed me and wished for something more linear. Problem is people make opne world for the sake of it being open world, even if sometimes it doesn't fit at all.

thats why I cna not get over the death of Drive Club...almost all racers today (arcade ones) are open world map. DC was old skool NFS in modern polish. Exotic cars, exotic locations, breakneck speeds and amazing weather effects. I couldnt care less driving around town to find a race, just want to start the actual race straight away. Think thats why Burnout Paradise also suffered.

 

[Bakkus]

baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad

 

[Stuart360]

I struggle to play games that are NOT open world now to be honest. I mean that depends on the genre obviously but i'm cuurrently playing through Far Cry 5 again, and just loving it. Assassins Creed Odyssey is my fave game this gen. Linear games where you are shunted down a set route of coridoors just doesnt do it for me anymore.
I just love the 'here is a huge content filled map, have fun' style of open world games.

 

[CatLady]

I much prefer open world as long as it has a good story, an interesting and varied world with reason to explore it with interesting content and side quests.

It's a waste in games like FFXV, or MGSV that are super repetitious or filled with meaningless fetch quests. I think Bethesda RPGs and the newer AC RPGs have a lot of interesting content and side quests that keep me playing for hundreds of hours.

 

[Shai-Tan]

I think it’s a budget problem. Infamous had fun mechanics and a few hours of story but most of the game was 3-4 copy pasted missions. Compare to GTA V where it’s all fleshed out or The Witcher 3 which had decent enough story to follow along despite the mediocre combat.

When I attempt to play a mid tier open world I’m always left wondering which mission is going to not be as pointless as a World of Warcraft quest, so inevitably I over commit and do a bunch of nonsense that is about as fun as doing tasks on The Mechanical Turk. I shouldn’t have to go look up a faq to be told which side missions are worth doing and what % are low value filler

 

[Psykodad]

Too many of something is never a good thing.

But if games are well done and engaging, I don't mind most of them being open-world.

 

[Bryank75]

Too many? I think we don't get enough high quality (no mtx) games.... both open and linear.

More choice is always good, for instance this year we get an open world Viking game and Samurai game. People have been asking for an open-world Samurai game for years.

I tend to prefer linear games...like MGS3 and 4 compared to 5 but it depends, I appreciated the originality of the world and how you could help others by building structures and roads in DS.

It's up to the developers to justify the design choices really.

 

[Ten_Fold]

Big open world games can get boring, only open world game I enjoyed this gen was BOTW and I feel that game’s main problem was lack of dungeons. I say make a small overworld that’s somewhat connected filled with hidden areas.

 

[and 3 others]

Fallout 3 was my favorite opened word game. Always something interesting around every corner.

 

[Hendrick's]

My hope is that as most games gravitate towards open worlds, and given the next gen tech, we start seeing more interesting open worlds. I guess that is probably wishful thinking though. You would have though that Ubisoft would have figured it out by now, but theirs are some of the worst.

 

[its_Ditz]

.

 

[Damigos]

Too many indeed.
And most open worlds dont do it right.
The concept of open world i love most is the God of War one. Which is semi open.
Too much choice is bad

 

[ZywyPL]

I cannot understand the open-world games appeal, at their core they have the same 12-16h long plot as all the other games, with mindless walking for additional 40-80h, while the worlds themselves are most of the time completely empty, dead, hence boring to actually travel around. The gameplay is also usually dull and uninspiring, I mean, it's just melee combat 99% of the time, and how exciting a dumb swinging a club or sword can be? They try obviously, by turning it into QTE fest, which gives the opposite results... So hopefully the open-world formula will slow down with the upcoming generation, I'd love to see more streamlined, action packed games like during PS360 era.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I love the phrasing of the question. "Too many blah blah blah ... is it good or bad?"

 

[GymWolf]

Yes i love open world, just make the combat at least decent if you are creating one.

 

[brian0057]

Too many open world games isn't the problem.
Too many bad and/or generic ones is.

 

[MadchesterManc]

The only open world game I've genuinely enjoyed this gen has been Death Stranding, likely due to the environment and your choice of how to traverse it being integral to the game.

Most other open world games I've played just felt like the environment was a backdrop you can walk through.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

I'm tired of them but I am wanting to get AC Origins at some point. We need more linear 15 hour experiences next gen.

 

[Shifty1897]

It's easy to say there's too many open world games, but when you look at the top rated games of the last decade, well, the majority of them are open world. As long as they rate high and sell well, developers aren't going to stop making them.

 

[Hypereides]

I don't know, is oversaturation of homogenized, mundane open world a bad thing?

 

[GreyHorace]

Eh. I think we can never have too many open world games. Some of my best gaming memories have come from the genre. I've been, amongst other things, an assassin in Renaissance Italy (Assassin's Creed Ezio trilogy), a pirate in Caribbean (Assassin's Creed Black Flag), a trio of thugs based in the West Coast (Grand Theft Auto 5), a cowboy in the twilight of the Old West (Red Dead Redemption 1 & 2), a superhero in the Big Apple (Marvel's Spider-Man) and a monster hunter in a Old European fantasy world (The Witcher 3). I'm eagerly awaiting the chance to be samurai in feudal Japn (Ghost of Tsushima).

To complain that there are too many open world games is like complaining there are too many first person shooters or platforming games. I like to have choice and variety in my gaming. Sure, there'll be bad open world games out there. But like JareBear: Remastered said, why bother with them when you can just play the good ones?

 

[Fbh]

I prefer more linear experiences but I don't mind the occasional open world game.

I think this year has good variety though. As far as big releases go we've had plenty of more linear games like RE3 Remake, Nioh2, FF7Remake, Doom Eternal and TLOU2 releasing soon, and then for the rest of year there's also some big open world games like Ghost of Tsushima, Assassins Creed and Cyberpunk.

Add in indie and lower scale games and I think there's enough variety for everyone

 

[Matsuchezz]

I don't mind playing Open world games, as long as the story flows and has a decent pace, I am all for an open world, I hate when you have to do 4 or 5 side quests to progress the story, i hate that. I would rather have a 10 hour story game in an open wolrd and do the sidequests if I feel like it. I played the first mission on RDR2, and i have not touch it since i found out it has a ver slow pace.