I’m a little bit surprised by the ongoing conversation that you Ubisoft have sparked with their announcement about Star Wars outlaws where the planets size seemed to increase and increase and that they should be larger than anything that we’ve seen before.
While this seems to be an attempt to position the game especially well on the market, in comparison to other open world games with large maps. The discussion about larger map and endless traveling options don’t necessarily have a very appealing impression on me, though. The reason being that there is a number of games, especially open world games, that have large maps that have recently been criticized for the fact that they have gigantic maps but these maps can’t really be fully discovered or don’t offer any meaningful content – or feel…empty. So while you could explore the maps there’s nothing to see or nothing to interact with and the sheer vastness of the map does not serve a specific point other than making good numbers on the data sheet.
There are games that have large maps such as Starfield and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for example that have large maps that were previously in the discussion around delivering large maps with not too much content. While you could argue that games like Starfield don’t necessarily need a lot of content for some of their planets that you can visit, to drive the point of the vastness and the emptiness of the universe. The vastness and loneliness can add to the atmosphere and the theme the game is trying to induce, to immerse you into the right experience.
There are a number of open world games that have enormous maps that also deliver content on most of the places on these maps where players get to interact with NPCS or collect loot or engage in side quests such that, despite the fact that the map is enormous, it doesn’t feel empty. One of the good examples that I always bring up is the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. To me, BOTW delivers an incredibly large map with a lot of content in all of the possible places on the map. There’s very few open spots where there is nothing to discover. The main quest is spread across the map, forcing you to visit different areas of the map throughout the journey. In between spots, there are more points of interest that spark a number of interesting new side quests that take you to even more places.
Scattered across the map, there’s also the progression system in the form of Shrines, that deliver for getting additional hearts and getting additional strength – also required the progression in the game, for example acquiring the Master Sword. This progression system is also used for delivering collectibles for completionists, that want to complete the game 100%. For those that still need more, there is 900 little artifacts called Krogs, that are hidden in the game that you need to find, or complete a small mini game for. Again, some of them are needed to progress in the game to carry more weapons, but more than half of them are for completionists only. So at times BOTW even feels a little bit excessive when it comes to content on the map because if you want to travel between two places and the distance is not too far, you can get caught in a number of side activities that you didn’t plan for, dragging you to a shrine, possibly another, then there is two or three Krogs you run into a number of enemies or an enemy base that you need to fight, collect the loot, meet a few NPCs all of the sudden that tell you a riddle, pointing to yet another location to explore. And all of a sudden a reasonable distance that you could have completed in 20 minutes going from A to B might take you 2 1/2 hours to fully complete because you get sidetracked in smaller things.
So clearly there is some a balance to be struck when comparing open world maps, their size and the content that players want and expect.
- There’s an expectation that from time to time, there are interesting and non-repetitive quests or additional actions that can be picked up, so that going to a distant place or going to a new area is worthwhile player’s time. There is actually something to do that drives the story forward or helps you build up your character so that you get stronger completing it.
- Another reason might be that you want to explore an area that gives you additional insights into pockets of the story that you have not heard about or that completes your knowledge of the story the background story and additional context it might be things to see it might be things to learn about it might be additional characters that you engage with that tell you more parts of the story such that you don’t necessarily go through another side quest but you get new insights that help you build that help build up the story and immerse you even better.
- The third clearly is the storyline with the progression system that helps you move forward with the storyline. If you want an area to be worthwhile a player’s time, then it either needs to be directly connected to the main storyline or offer benefits or positive impact by side quests or through a progression system to strengthen the character or strengthen the weaponry that is in direct support of the main storyline.
- The 4th is a benefit for the completionists among us that would be what Breath of the Wild does with the Krogs or possibly with the Poes in Tears of the Kingdom. These are collectibles that are optional that can be exchanged in other places in the game for valuable items but aren’t necessary for completing the main story but these can be scattered across the map so that exploring the map engaging with the map and spending time in all of the places is worthwhile because you’re driven completing these things.
Ultimately, it’s all about being entertained, and a worthwhile experience in my gameplay. Sometimes, I want to focus on the main story, sometimes, I want to go on side quests to learn more about the backstory and NPCs that enrich my understanding of the game world. Sometimes, I want to go and collect things and level up so my character gets stronger. Other times, I am okay going on exploration tours with no exact goal or target in mind – but almost never am I interested in wandering a map and there’s nothing there to see or interact with for longer patches of gameplay.
FRICKELSOFT 