Open worlds in games called sandboxes are very specific. Some people love them and they are happy while traversing huge tracts of land while others hate it and prefer to follow a more established path.
There is currently fashion for open worlds, just behind the battle royale mode. Game developers pride themselves on sandboxes and their presence is often mentioned in the game trailers at the first point! Few people know that the first game with an open world was Ultima from 1980. Four years later, Elite appeared, predecessor of Elite Dangerous. If we're already in space games, I have to mention No Man Sky. That game was advertised very loudly. But it turned out to be a flop, although after a series of patches NMS gained a second life.
In the game we have such a huge world, that the chances of meeting another player is almost impossible. The concept of creating such a great and big cosmos simply outgrew the developers. In addition, the planets were just empty. There were nothing that would keep the player's attention. Space exploration seemingly interesting, endlessly boring and repetitive. Elite Dangerous is a more complicated game, also with an huge open world, but in an elite universe we can often meet fellow or enemies.
Big worlds are also available in MMO games. I used to be a frequent visitor to Runescape servers. You could play for free on a fairly limited area and visit several cities. The discovery of the great game world involved to purchase a monthly subscription. When I played for free, the world was just too small for me. When I bought the subscription, the world overwhelmed me, but every piece of it was really interesting. Ability to increase skills, many quests, trading with other players or learning the story of this fantastic world by talking to the NPC. Expanding the game area for a subscription fee seems to be an interesting option.
Similar feelings about the accumulation of elements on the map I had in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. You could go to the forest, collect medicinal plants, run into swampy monsters or start a side quest somewhere in the forest hut. And for that I love CD Projekt's game. I guess there is no other game in which side quests so push the story forward. While other titles made us to kill number of opponents and bring some items, The Witcher was outside the schemes. In this huge world, there was actually something to do and it was very exciting. Each NPC was a unique character who had some interesting stories to tell. Exactly the same impression I have when I was playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This brilliant title offers not only open world, but also incredible interaction with every element of its world. When in another game we can not reach the island a few meters from the river, here we are able to cut down the tree that falls into the water, jump on it and sail. We will make a bonfire with a flint, and we will get to the high mountains after a really long and tiring climb.
When discussing open worlds, it's hard not to mention Grand Theft Auto series. I think every game was very successful. The series has always given a lot of freedom and interesting areas. Particularly noteworthy were the places outside the city. An amazing job was done by the village in GTA: San Andreas or the desert in the fifth part of the game. Flying by plane, we can see that the creators created this world very well. In addition, they hide a lot of "collectibles and Easter Eggs" there. However, I personally think that the necessity of collecting various dumplings is artificially extending the game time. From the other hand, achievment hunters just can't ignore this. Soon, another production by Rockstar with an open world, which according to the creators is going to be immense. Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming.
Minecraft turned out to be the huge success. World full of square blocks has won the hearts of younger players. Who would expect that such a simple idea will turn out to be a great success. Well, normal building, acquiring raw materials and chasing pigs. But enormous areas of the game brought it success. The open world simply attracts, and when we must search for some raw materials deep in mines, it's fun for hours. In the game wonderful buildings, stadiums and incredibly interesting structures were made.
A similar or larger success has become a game where the world is the size of the Earth and it is mapped in a 1: 1 scale. On the screen of mobile devices, we see an accurately reversed map in which we can meet colorful creatures. Pokemon Go. The game is a sensation because it ordered the kids to leave the house. It also encourages you to take long walks, because after traveling 5 or 10 kilometers, eggs are hatching quite good pokemon. Some tried to cheat the system by tethering a phone with a fired game to a dog or a cat. Most players, however, played fairly. Recently, I even saw my father and the child who played together.
Time for games without a map. An extremely difficult series is Dark Souls and other games, called "Souls like." Because Dark Souls has set a certain trend that continues to this day. Some players just like to get lost. They go into unknown locations only to get even more experience out of the game. A dense, dark climate and a journey into the world that we do not know and we do not know where we are going.
But what about other games? What if someone just gets lost in such a big area, not from laziness but from helplessness? He doesn't have to do all the tasks, he can follow the main path and not pay attention to what is happening next to him. He doesn't have to search for collectibles and other Easter Eggs. I personally find great pleasure in those big worlds. I know that there are much more games like that, but I only write about the games in which I had the pleasure to play. On the other hand, sometimes I simply don't want to run around the huge terrain just to do a side quest. I also don't want to play a game for more than 50 hours, if you can finish it in 30. That's why I had fun in Uncharted 4. There was no open world, because it changed often after completing certain missions. The game is the ideal optimum for those who want to have fun and have enough sandboxes. The locations are beautiful and quite large. Moreover, the game offers finding many well hidden treasures and emotions at the highest level. It is one of the best evaluated games of this generation.
There are more and more sandboxes, and there is a chance that they will be slowly displacing games with a simpler stroy. I do not see a problem if these worlds look as good as in The Witcher or Zelda. However, it is worth considering in which direction our beloved industry is going if the big game world does not offer anything else, as it was the case in the first version of No Man Sky. When choosing a game, we have to think about what we really expect from it. Let's choose wisely when the plot is more important to us than the open world.
Graphics: pixabay.com & foter.com
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