Open World Adventures Part 2

Yesterday we took a look a first look at Open-World adventures and the different basic approaches developers can take when creating one. For that I used terminology that is often associated with MMO Games, but can also be applied to offline Open-World adventures. After we talked about the Themepark approach we take a look at the opposite today. So get your shovel and hop into

The Sandbox:

While in Themeparks the Overworld serves as a way to connect the different attractions with each other, in Sandboxes it is the attraction. While there is a clear distinction between actual content and fluff in Themeparks, this doesn't apply to Sandboxes.

A Sandbox Open-World only offers a vague goal. How your reach this goal is completely up to you. This kind of gaming experience has become quite popular on the PC in the last couple of years. Games like Rust or DayZ helped popularize an open style of gameplay.

Now that doesn't mean the sandbox doesn't offer any goals, but it keeps them vague. This, of course, comes with the challenge of keeping the player engaged. What good does a huge world, when I don't have any goals to chase. Games like Rust solve this problem via their multiplayer. The Players create their own stories, their own adventures. Maybe some other group murdered your friend, while you were asleep and now you want to seek revenge. There are countless great tales from Rust and DayZ players, which don't have to hide behind the scripted stories of AAA games.

But what do you do, when your game doesn't offer any multiplayer? The Rise and Fall of a good Sandbox is the World. It itself needs to be engaging. The areas should tell a story by themselves. They should invite the player to explore them without the need of specific quests telling them to do so.

Picture Source: Dillian

A good example for such a world is the Planet Mira from Xenoblade Chronicles X. Each of its five contintens offers a a completely fresh approach at world design and tells it's own story. Also thes continents open up little by little to the player. At first you explore them on your feet before unlocking your Skell and finally you take Skell into the air and a completely new perspective opens up. The world invites you to explore with different rewards, sometimes small sometimes bigger, collectibles and breathtaking views.

Picture Source: Dillian

Breath of the Wild seems to follow suit and even enhance this sandbox gameplay further. The feature that struck out the most was undoubtedly Links ability to climb nearly every surface in the game world. From trees to buildings to massive mountains. Nothing is out of reach for him. This greatly changes the way you traverse the world and tackle its challenges. This truly removes the limits set by other games. While Xenoblade Chronicles X has a great Open-World it still creates boundary, which you can't overcome. Later this is weakened by your Skells ability to fly, but only by a little. Breath of Wild however doesn't seem to have such boundaries. There is no ''if you want to enter this canyon you better walk around the mountain and enter it from this exact location.” No you can simply climb down and surprise your enemies that way.

Picture Source: Nintendo

Sandbox style Open-World games are slowly on the rise. I think Breath of Wild will only strengthen that development. Still only creating a huge world is not enough these days. While Themepark games have many different attractions to choose from the Sandbox only has one. The World itself. This is both, a challenge and a huge chance, and it's up to developer to create a world worth exploring.

What are your thoughts on Sandbox games? Do you enjoy their vast Open-Worlds? Or do you prefer a more focused experience?

Tomorrow we'll take a look at the future of Open-World games. More specifically my ideas for the future of Open-Worlds.

And as always

thanks for reading