Can Open World Games Be “Too Open”?

A pretty open world game is the desire of each and every gamer out there. A game where nobody is bossing around you to tell you what to do. Instead, you can roam the vast and pretty world on your own doing whatever you want.

But sometimes a question arises- Can Open World Games Be “Too Open”? There is no certain answer to this question, but it varies from person to person.

For some people, such as the likes of my gamer friends, no open world is big enough. Whenever they get a new open world game, they ignore the main quest and set out on a journey in a pretty car or on horseback to sit back and calmly dwell in the pretty and open wilderness or the bustling streets. This journey may take an hour or ten, depending on the game and they enjoy each second of this journey.

While on the other hand, there are people who have a life and cannot spend more than an hour or two in front of their screens. Although they do enjoy roaming the beautiful carved open worlds, it just becomes repetitive and tiresome over time.

Zelda Breath of the Wild, although a wonderful game whose mechanics left me awestruck, may be labelled as “Too Open”.

I haven’t reached the point where Zelda Breath of the Wild felt “Too Open” to me, but I’ve definitely reached that point in the likes of Skyrim, Fallout 4 and Dragon Age Inquisition.

When the games become “Too Open” they lose their objective and direction. (And that is also, incidentally, the scientific proof of why Minecraft’s players’ life has no meaning, at all). This may lead to the loss of interest of the player who can spare no more than an hour on gaming daily. Hardcore gamers may have totally different opinion on the matter, but that doesn’t alter the facts.