Editorial: Does every game need an open world?

Does every game need an open world?

          It seems that with every new generation of consoles, there’s a new trend that everyone seems to follow. In the days of the N64 and the PlayStation 1, we had colourful mascot platformers. A few years ago, everyone was drooling over grim and gritty first person shooters. And nowadays, all the companies have come together under a single umbrella, each with their own take on the genre: open world games.

          If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, an open world game basically can be any genre, be it action-adventure, shooter, platformer, sports, you name it. The overworlds are massive, and would take hours upon hours to explore in full. You can go wherever you want, whenever you want, with little to no limitations. Now, this can mean two things. Either the worlds are filled to the brim with different and unique stuff to do, or it’s just the same content you’d get in a usual release, just spread out a bit more.

          Already, we’ve had tons of high-profile releases in the genre, such as The Division, The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, and more. Even Uncharted 4 had a few open world segments, such as the now praised segment driving around a massive Madagascar savannah. And we saw even more coming at E3 this year, like Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and nearly every game at the Ubisoft press conference.

          But in the aftermath of the conference, I’ve heard several people worried about open worlds. Ubisoft seems to be taking the majority of the criticism, as they seem to be hooked on the idea of open worlds. Between the new Ghost Recon game, Watch Dogs 2, Steep, and several others, they seem content to give each and every one of their forthcoming releases an open world to call its own. The problem is, as we’ve seen in games like the previously mentioned The Division and the original Watch Dogs, Ubisoft has a habit of being the bad side of open worlds: giant expanses of nothing but dirt and mud, with the same amount of content you’d find in a regular release, except it’s spread out a bit.

          That just begs the question: does every game need to have an open world, or is a linear experience better? Do we really need an open world skiing experience like Steep when we already have the SSX series? Will Breath of the Wild be a breath of fresh air for Zelda, or will it be just as mixed as Skyward Sword was?

          There really isn’t a definite answer yet. Some games, like Witcher 3 and Uncharted 4 handle their open worlds really well. You can explore, discover, and have fun at your leisure, doing unique missions and finding secret treasures. I loved the open world in Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, despite it being filled with similar missions like races and delivery missions. And then there are other games, like the ones Ubisoft showed off, where there’s nothing to do except walk around this giant plain filled with a lot of nothing until you find the next repetitive mission. It’s no wonder people are getting sick of them.

          So how do we fix this problem? Well, I think there will come a time when game developers are forced to come to terms with the genre, the same way that gritty, brown hued modern warfare fps games phased out with the new generation. Now we have games like Overwatch and the forthcoming Battlefield 1 that are showing the shooter genre in a new light. One is colourful and cartoony with an iconic cast of characters, another is set in a time period so rarely explored by video games.

          Perhaps, somewhere down the line, open world games will meet the same fate. As game developers discover new and exciting ways to pull in gamers, we may be seeing less of what’s so commonplace today. And when an open world game does pop up again, it’ll have a new and unique take on the concept, making it stand out from the rest. And for that, I am truly excited.

Song of the Week

          This week I’ve chosen the Credits theme from Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, a game with (in my opinion) an excellent open world and a phenomenal soundtrack accompanying it. If you haven’t played the game yet, don’t worry, there are no spoilers in the video or audio!