Four Rules for Designing an Awesome Open World
We’re experiencing a sense of whiplash as we move from the fun but somewhat disappointing Mass Effect Andromeda to the beautiful and inspiring (and ridiculously named) Horizon: Zero Dawn. Both games have great graphics and open experiences, but Horizon somehow makes its open world work while Mass Effect really didn’t. This has us wondering what makes a game’s open world fun to play. Some games give you a big open world that is fun to bound around in even if you aren’t questing (looking at you, Witcher!). Other games give us big open worlds when we wish they’d give us tight, episodic levels (hope you’re hearing us, Deus Ex). Here are four elements that we think make a for a fun open world experience.
The Best Open Worlds Are Beautiful
To get players to enjoy the worlds, it’s important to keep them pretty. Mass Effect Andromeda’s planets are gorgeous, and Far Cry’s worlds are always captivating. Horizons: Zero Dawn’s visuals have moments of great beauty and are more varied than we anticipated but variety isn’t essential; Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag’s oceans and beaches were equally inspiring. Still, there is no doubt that The Witcher 3 does this better than anybody. The worlds Geralt travels through are varied and beautiful, with amazing music underscoring the experience. On the other hand, the worst offender in recent memory is probably Fallout 4, which makes a convincing post-apocalyptic Boston that just isn’t much fun to look at. Post-apocalyptic Boston is ever bit as pretty and fun to traverse as you would expect it to be (that is to say, not very).
The Prettiest Open World: The Witcher 3
The Ugliest Open World: Fallout 4
In case you ever wondered if graphics can be both “good” and “ugly” at the same time, Fallout 4 is here to prove it.
The Best Open World Have Fast Travel
Open worlds have to strike a balance with the fast travel system and it’s hard to think of a game that does this very well. The game needs you to traverse the open world to see the game but it also doesn’t want to obligate you to repeatedly travel through the same environments. The Witcher and Skyrim lets you travel to signposts but you have to find a signpost or city to do it. Some games, like Grand Theft Auto, limit your fast travel to cab rides you have to pay for. Deadly Premonition lets you fast travel once you open up an option for it, but this mechanic is a little clumsy. Horizon: Zero Dawn has a better fast travel system: early on you can purchase and use tickets for limited fast travel, forcing you to explore the world. Pretty soon after that (once you open the map up) you obtain a golden ticket for limitless fast travel to previously located campsites. On the other hand, fast travel is probably the biggest problem we have with Mass Effect Andromeda; the game lets you fast travel within a world but but not between worlds. Once you’re on a planet you can fast travel to previously found locations, but there is no quick way from one planet to another. It’s always back to the ship (cutscene), leave orbit (cutscene), enter orbit (cutscene), land (cutscene) and fast travel, which can be infuriating when the next clue in your side mission lies on another planet in another system.
The Best Fast Travel: Horizon: Zero Dawn
The Worst Fast Travel: Mass Effect Andromeda
These big guys are one of the few robots who won’t hurt you. Haven’t quite figured out why they were built in the first place, but they are cool looking.
The Best Open World Keeps You Collecting Collectibles
Games often encourage exploring the open worlds by letting you find and collect various collectibles and items to keep things interesting. Sometimes these collectibles lead to powerups, like the loot systems of Borderlands and Destiny. Loot systems work well; they keep you engaged in battle and the excitement of finding a rare weapon (on rare occasion) is a strong motivator. Collectibles sometimes open up rare rewards Other collectibles keep you equipped; Horizon: Zero Dawn fills the world with ammunition for you to collect to stay ready for your next hunt. Our favorite rewards are those that capture the spirit of the game, like Fallout’s ability-enhancing Bobbleheads or Batman’s well-crafted Riddler trophies. But our absolutely favorite collectibles are Alan Wakes’ episodes of Night Springs that you can watch in full during the game. These Twilight Zone rip-offs are hilarious and fun and a welcome break from the high stakes terror that fills most of the game (you can see them all here). On the other hand, there’s the pointless pick ups that some games provide. Even though it’s technically not an open world game, I can’t help but think about The Order: 1886, with it’s purposeless photos and random newsclippings. Once again that game is a perfect cautionary tale.
The Best Collectibles: Alan Wake
The Worst Collectibles: The Order: 1886
Shadow monsters or no, I’d never miss an episode.
The Best Open World Are Fun
The best open world games give you a lot of fun activities to do. Far Cry and Assassin Creed games give you plenty of activities to keep you engaged as you explore the map. Horizon: Zero Dawn does a good job keeping the world fun by keeping you hunting prey. Each encounter with the game’s robots is potentially dangerous requiring you to take your time in sizing up your potential prey. But the most fun open world we’ve ever seen, surprisingly, has to be Mad Max. Driving around and harpooning enemies is fantastically fun. Stopping to invade a base (with the hilariously brutal fighting sequences) is always pretty great and targeting the various caravans is a blast as well. On the other hand, No Man’s Sky is a game that is amazing in its scope but not at all fun to play. Worlds are fairly boring, battling is uninteresting, and the number of activities are incredibly limited. No Man’s Sky is a strong reminder that ambitious games must still be fun.
The Most Fun Open World: Mad Max
The Least Fun Open World: No Man’s Sky
Harpooning these guys here is way more fun that hunting those poor whales in Assassin’s Creed.
