Upcoming open-world games honestly need more content

Darryl Linington from Tech IT Out writes: "Open-world games much like Horizon Zero Dawn, Red Dead Redemption 1/2, Grand Theft Auto V, Fallout 4, The Elder Scrolls, The Legend of Zelda, and many other open-world titles have been the benchmark of open-world gaming."

[Smokehouse]

Or less open world.

[Razmiran]

MORE???
Usually they have so much that even after finish most of it I feel guilty for moving on to another game

[dreamoner]

What they have so much of is cheap content, collectibles and stuff to fill the open world. Most open world games are pretty short games if you only do the real content, i.e. main quests & non FeDex side quests; tho Witcher 3 might be the only exception with the abundance of quality content while also having all the collectibles & shit.

[Livingthedream]

Fall out,GTA,Red Dead, Witcher even assassins creed games have a lot of content.

[rainslacker]

I think they just need interesting content. Not so much more of the same uninteresting stuff. Even the best ones with interesting content tend to have a lot of the uninteresting stuff as well.

[Bwremjoe]

This. I really don't enjoy having the feeling I only played a minority of the content. HZD (here used as the banner image) is actually perfect, with no too much, not too little.

[RealOldGamer]

I both agree and disagree with this.

They need more solid, fully voiced side stories and cool activities. A new game+ mode is also very cool.

My biggest issue, is that a lot of the stuff you get after finishing the main story revolves around collecting things or boring samey side quests that really aren't all that interesting to do.

[CorndogBurglar]

No they don't. The big ones are fine. All of the huge games listed in the intro are fine they way they are. It's great to have huge games like that sometimes.

That doesn't mean ALL open world games need to be like that. God of War was such a relief for me because it was an open world game, but small and contained. It was a breath of fresh air, honestly with just enough content to keep most people happy.

There is nothing wrong with that. We need variation. Open world games of all sizes. If they were all gigantic then people like me, people with full time jobs and a family, wouldn't have the time buy and play them all.

[NecrumOddBoy]

GOW is open-linear and that design (Metroidvania-ish perhaps) is a tried and true format that allows for meaty content without overstaying its welcome. Uncharted Lost Legacy also was partially open linear alongside its mostly wide linear gametype and it was phenomenal.

In regards to Horizon Zero Dawn vs Breath of the Wild versus Ubisoft's formula, I think Horizon had plenty of content without overstaying its welcome. It took me exactly 70 hours from start to platinum and I felt like it was a phenomenal package. Most Ubisoft games are filled with check the blocks and collect a thon's that grow so tiresome no matter how good the game is. Zelda Takes the Cake for me as one of the most overrated titles. Breath of the wild was the definition of check block repetitiveness. I would equate it to an iPhone game because the only thing you do is solve cheap physics-based puzzles over and over again to collect gems.

All these articles are popping up because of days gone. That is a game that is unfortunately taking the blunt end of the hate, masked behind the excuse of a tired open world genre. Unfortunately its 2019 and DG isn't "woke" to receive a good score. And sadly, it's going to receive worst scores than other games that have five more negative marks.

[Nacho_Z]

I think open world games should scale way back on quantity and ramp up quality. The game worlds don't need to shrink but the quality of what you do in them and the places you explore need work because the more we get of them the blander they get.

More interesting and engaging quests and environments and much less busy work. I like a big area to adventure in so I wouldn't change that necessarily but if there's nowt worthwhile to do what's the point.

[AK91]

More? I actually think the opposite

[antarius]

AC: Odyssey has so much to do it’s ridiculous.

[HylianMigz]

more meaningful content perhaps

[Hardiman]

I think the sizes are fine and next gen devs should keep that scale but fill it with more meaningful content. With more powerful CPU's they should be able to deliver some amazing worlds filled with great possibilities!

[DafunkyRebel]

Some have too much content and it becomes boring or contrive is enough for people to not finish the game

[Lore]

Exactly. Branching is the future in my opinion. Developers who dedicate their time to making open world deep rpg’s need to understand that CD Project (& arguably Techland) are leaders in the genre. Bethesda does great things as well. And for Days Gone’s first outing I am very pleased, but there are obvious issues (Immersion is broken once the player loses interest in looting/exploring since the loot and crafting material is somewhat dull and uninspiring). I expect to be handsomely rewarded for stumbling upon a random cave out in the middle of the wilderness well off the beaten path - not to find an axe that I already have. This is my main disappointment with the game. There needs to be special rewards ffor the players who go out and explore and this just does not really have any of that. Allow players to earn their way to unlocking certain locks/safe’s, or force me to remember a certain location that was inaccessible for whatever reason to earn my way in later on through the hard earned side content endeavors I choose to partake in. There needs to be layers to content progression and quests. Don’t just fill the world with single layered quests and basic “skill tree unlocks” & basic progression, but actually put your heads down & find ways to add layers of depth to everything (story, quests/missions, character progression, crafting, collectibles, heavily rewarding exploration, etc. With Days Gone for example, looting loses it’s thrill and mystery once the player realizes that there is only a handful of items to be found and they all only correlate with survival mechanics. Apply mission structures and side content with finding x amount of x, and then doing y. Allow the player to be rewarded for exploration by finding letters/codes/maps that lead to something meaningful. Go ahead and then branch that off with a recent quest giver who’s waiting for you to locate 10 collectibles prior to allowing you to further branch off and do another separate mission, which then leads to something else. Branching paths both narratively and progression wise is where smart publishers are heading because they think ahead and like players who truly want to be immersed.

Regardless of the gripe I get for this though, I will say Bend was more impressive to me than Gorilla. Horizon based it’s foundation off of combat, with no reward for exploration which in my opinion takes away immersion. I honestly feel like the Last of Us Part II will end up having more meaningful loot to find and it’s not even an open world game. If Bend and Gorilla fixes this then they will be among the elite in their class like CDPR, Techland & Bethesda.

[william_cade]

More reactive content. Make our choices mean something.

[ILostMyMind]

Actually, open world games need very well balanced content or it becomes boring.

[Germaximus]

I can agree with Rockstar games but it's both hilarious and ridiculous that Horizon and Elder Scrolls are mentioned. My first thought is this person is new to video games.

[Hedstrom]

I wanna see more games like God of war that is semi open and every area is interesting!

[Daeloki]

They should maybe update the title to match the final conclusion, ie better content, not more...

[Phantom68]

More???? That is madness. Open world games have already tons of content to a point that it is impossible to implement them unless you buy 6 games a year. Less is more.