Why I Don’t Like Open World Games Anymore

GameJudgment's Patrick O'Rourke says,

"I used to love open world games; now I don’t.

For me part of the appeal of open world gaming was experimentation and exploration. Discovering new things about the game, secret areas, learning to fly the dodo (it was quite an accomplishment actually) and just generally exploring every tiny corner of the game’s vibrant world, defined open world games."

[xhedleyx]

Interesting story

[EYEamNUMBER1]

the reason i think open world games are somewhat stale is because the open world doesn't really do much

take read dead redemption for example
it was open world and the world was big but at least 60% or more of it was completely empty and i spent more time going from point a to b on my horse than anything else

i don't dislike open worlds but they sure could use some work

[Peaceful_Jelly]

That's exactly why I have never liked open world games. The only sandbox game I have ever liked was Oblivion because that game's packed with stuff and Skyrim looks soooo sick!

[fluffydelusions]

La noire was pretty good but no real reason to explore it.

[pixelsword]

I dislike almost all of them because in a wide city, you can only go into less than 1% of the buildings. On weekends, sometimes I wander through areas and go into businesses, so most sandbox games are incompatible with my personality.

[milohighclub]

I think that games have become to easy, developers should always include the option to turn off extra help in the game turn off arrows and hints e.g Batman should include a dark knight mode, in which you have to remember stuff to get you from A to B instead of been told where to go.

[SilentNegotiator]

They need to make smaller, more populated open worlds.

But "Well populated" isn't as good of a marketing line as "5 billion square miles!!"

[SilentNegotiator]

Too many people hear "Grand Theft Auto" when "Open world" is said.

But I mean, I was just playing KOTOR2. It's ALMOST open world. You can't hardly go 10 yards without meeting a significant character, finding resources, getting into a battle, finding a game to play, etc. Those are the sort of elements that can make for a great open world game; Open world doesn't have to mean "boring, nothing-to-do, concrete jungle"

[Rowland]

sad story - this poor chap hasn't played RPG's at all.

[xhedleyx]

Doesn't he mention he played Final Fantasy XIII in it....

[skip2mylou]

thats not even close to the open world rpgs

[acemonkey]

i havent played rpg..played New Vegas but stop playin it after it froze and messed up and lagged every 5 secs for me..but i pre order Skyrim,Dead Island and Rage... so maybe this year be the year i turn into a RGP fanboy

[KwietStorm_BLM]

What did you think New Vegas was?

[acemonkey]

A RPG that sucked...that had a tons of bugs that messed up me wanting to play a RPG...didnt mean havent played RPG..some people think or would say GTA's are RPGs

[Rowland]

how are Morrowind/Oblivion/Fallout 3/New Vegas/Witcher etc worlds stale ? !!! - these are some of the most stunning, vibrant, haunting, punchy & exciting worlds in gaming per se.

You clearly haven't experienced these adult RPG's which have all won awards & critical acclaim for their game world design.

[Urrakia34]

What? Did you even read the article man? He never called any of those franchises stale.

[jon1234]

hes saying that those are games the author should have played that are recent, open world and awesome

[jon1234]

oh thats so true, i was reading this and thinking damn i havent played a game that had me hooked and was open world, but fallout 1,2,3 and vegas were awesome, i recently played 1 , 2 and vegas and they are all awesome , i miss playing them after i beat it :'(

[newhumanbreed]

Hey article author, you may need to hire an editor. Your grammar is poor.

[pat_11_5]

I realize I'm not the greatest editor, I've taken a few courses but it's never been my strong suite...

If your referring to my short, choppy writing style that's just how I roll with my prose. I can't do much about that.

I really don't see any errors though so I'm not sure what you've found. Feel free to PM me anything.

[dgonza40]

wow, handled with class :p

[newhumanbreed]

I see plenty of errors, but I rather not get into it. The only reason I said that was because it was difficult reading your article without having to correct your writing in my head.

[pat_11_5]

I'm not saying they're stale... I'm saying I just don't have the time to play them anymore.

Fallout was a great game, but at this current point in my life I don't have the time to explore it's vast world. I only completed the main story campaign.

[kraze07]

I just recently finished AC: Brotherhood and it got me thinking about this. Well sort of, I actually like how the Assassin's Creed games do open world gameplay. No game made me feel like I was actually living in another world but Oblivion though. I swear I literally spent weeks playing that game WITHOUT any mods.

Some open world games just aren't filled with enough content these days like GTA4. Going to current gen Liberty City was a let down compared to what San Andreas offered last gen.

[bozebo]

"Going to current gen Liberty City was a let down compared to what San Andreas offered last gen."

this ^

[pat_11_5]

I'd totally agree with this. It was a realistic city but it just wasn't any fun.

San Andreas was the best, I kind of still wish I had that game.

[bozebo]

buy it on PC pat, it's rather cheap on steam and should run smooth on any modern-ish PC. Probably won't even need dedicated graphics.

[pat_11_5]

I'd add LA Noire to that list. What a waist of an awesome vibrant world. I guess the game was never meant to be open world though if you think about it. It was a really linear experience and that was the entire point of the game.

[TheBatman_Fanatic]

"I can even get out of my car and shoot people? Sign me up" (Rourke).
That cracked me up lol
Yes, like others have said, interesting article.

[iceman2885]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I've always been turned off by open world games. The main reason being the repetitiveness that accompanies open world games.

Sure they are fresh for the first island or section or what not, but before you know it you are repeating the same mission with a different skin.

While I like the original parts of open world games, I can't stand the fact that when it all comes down to it, you have to repeat the same mission over and over again with different skins and names to finish the game 100%.

Like i said, I'm really in the majority on this.

[SageHonor]

Did you meant to put majority at the end?

[iceman2885]

Nope, I meant minority.

[SageHonor]

Other than RPG games like the ones mentioned above by Rowland. Open world games are boring because the world doesnt give us much to do.. L.A. Noire being an example. There were cases and street cases. Then there are 95 cars to collect and landmarks to see. I understand its a story but still that isnt doing too much to support immersion when the world is boring. Red Faction Guerilla and Infamous both felt repetitive. Prototypes world was boring and the only thing good about that was moving along the world. Traveling can also be tedious.

You know what, I think I'll write a blog about this.

[Der_Kommandant]

You need to play infamous

[TheBatman_Fanatic]

Agreed! Great example of a good open world game. Also, I would recommend Arkham City, but that's not out yet, unfortunately. :(

[LMS]

i think he brings up some good points about games becoming too easy, then again, if you want a challenge, many games have some type of "hard" or "extreme" or "brutal" option

I usually go with medium difficulty and find in many games this is enough, but I do love a game like the witcher 2 or demons souls that makes you earn your victories!

As for open world games, i like them, if they are done well, GTAIV was great, even better now on PC

Red dead was great too

I hate to say it but i absolutley could not get into la noire at all!

I disliked everything about the game

The flashbacks, the ugly graphics, the boring investigations, I paid $65 on faith that it was under rockstars guidence, nope...could not stand it...good thing I know how to smoooze the chicks at target, they took it back and gave me my cash!!

[StarWolf]

WTF did I just read? He didnt even give us a "Why" . He just went on to rant about how he likes to be told what to do. But then the next paragraph , he rants about games not being challenging.

[jbl316]

For me, I still like playing open-world games. GTA IV was not the best game but at least you could go out and have fun playing bowling or flying a helicopter etc.

The only genre I've stopped playing is FPS games. I've played too many of them now that I became sick of shooting people all the time lol...

[Venjense]

I still love open world games, there among my fab this gen

[pat_11_5]

@newhumanbreed
What's the point in telling me then if your not actually going to let me know what youve found that was so incorrect? An immense sense of self satisfaction I presume.

I'm all for constructive criticism but I honestly can't stand people like you. It's one thing to try to embarrass a writer in a public forum it's another to to continue to do so after he's accepting of your criticisms.