Technology has advanced to the point where we can have enough memory space, processing and graphical power to not only make a game look good, but play good as well. In the past, open world games were limited by the current hardware they were on and sandboxes were often filled with buildings that can’t be entered and NPCs that are carbon copies with scripted responses. Part of what delayed Watch Dogs was how the dev team felt that the game wasn’t fun and there weren’t enough dynamic experiences created by the AI. Open world games now have the ability to not just show you a world that looks interesting but also one that can be interacted with at will, one that can be changed and influenced. Cinematic set pieces are no longer reserved for linear games anymore and I’ve been very impressed by games like Far Cry 3 that tell a convincing story within a big open world, with convincing characters. We’re just at the beginning of the new gen and in the near future, we may have the technology to create experiences where every building and NPC can be interacted with. It works well to make the world in the game more believable and make you feel like you’re actually there. Deus Ex: Human Revolution had one of the most believable settings, where you walk through the orange neon-tinted streets of a futuristic Detroit, seeing all the citizens and fighting through warehouses and factories. The more the next gen can push the limits of what we can do with an authentic experience, the closer open world games can get to making us feel like we’re really in that world.
The Division presents a detailed world for multiple players
Online capabilities will also be a big part of next-gen open world experiences. Destiny and The Division will have a MMO style co-op focus, allowing players to team up to explore the world, whilst Watch Dogs will have a 8 player free roam multiplayer. Integrating online functionality with a singleplayer experience will further the pursuit of having an almost indistinguishable multiplayer and singleplayer experience. While games like GTAV have a separate online portion to the singleplayer campaign, Destiny will allow you to play the game like you’re playing a singleplayer game but will allow for players to join you in real time and be a part of your adventure. Drop in play isn’t something particularly new, since games like Borderlands allow you to play with up to 3 friends at any time. How seamless the transition is, however, varies from game to game, with some being more successful than others. Also, it’s important to remember that not everyone enjoys multiplayer gaming, so a lot of these features will be lost on those who prefer playing on their own to interacting with online players. It’s the job of the game developers to make the system work well and market the multiplayer component as worthwhile for players, since multiplayer gaming carries its own stigmatism.
Open world games aren’t perfect and some of the best ones suffer from strange problems. Glitches, game breaking bugs, corrupted saves and death loops are some of the very real problems that plague a lot of open world games. Some of these are hilarious and interesting to watch, while others are enough to ruin a game for someone or take them out of the experience. Without the immersion caused by a believable world, a game experience becomes fragmented and gamers will lose interest. Also, for all the potentially dynamic events that can occur in an open world, organic experiences aren’t something that everyone can witness and often real time events go unnoticed. So it’s not at all smooth sailing for open world games and they have a lot to live up to if they want to be successful. With more and more open world games being announced as time goes on, gamers have a lot to look forward to regardless, including the surprise announcement of Batman: Arkham Knight. Whether or not open world games succeed in delivering the authentic experience they strive for is yet to be seen, but I for one am very excited to see how far gaming can go with the next gen and open world games.