If you had asked me in 2015-2020 why I loved The Wizard 3, I would do they probably made a very long list of things. In 2021, however, after the release of both 2077. Cyberpunk and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, this list is much shorter. Basically, now it’s just “wind” and “sun.”
In the old days, more carefree, I thought The Wizard 3 it was exceptional for several reasons, most probably the same ones you would have listed. Things like clever writing, memorable searches, consistent choices, and enjoyable main character. So when the same team responsible for the achievement The Wizard 3 I prepared last year to launch a new game, this is the kind of thing I woke up excited about. More sad barons, more babies in the oven.
2077. Cyberpunk, as you know, no doubt did not work on these fronts, or many others, to the point where the game felt like it was playing something from a completely different studio. I started the game waiting to feel the same reckless magic and uninstalled it, not finding a single drop of it.
Going further he came out of Cyberpunk, then literally the next game I played was Assassin’s Creed ValhallaAnd what do you know. Looks like I was going to feel that Witcher 3 after all, just in someone else’s game. And this is mine Witcher 3 worship (or at least her heart) had not had as much to do with the consequences and the stories; I was just in love with a beautiful forest and a fast sunrise.
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I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m a game designer in the open world. That shit has to be hard. But I enjoy them, and if a life spent playing them has taught me anything, my appreciation for their worlds – not the games themselves, but the places where they are located – often has little to do with how “busy “are.
If big single player games are anything to go by, they are a form of escape, so my favorites are usually the ones that really let me escape. use Cyberpunk as an example, just because it’s so recent, it’s located in a huge, lively city, full of cars and pedestrians and commercials and shops. This is not an escape! That’s, uh, the life most of us already lead every day!
No, if most of us live an urban life, then it is a natural setting that is a real escape. And The Witcher 3 it was such a beautiful world, where you could almost smell wet grass and the wind on your face, and it’s one of the few open world games I’ve ever wanted to get to every corner of its map, not to meet my goals , but only to see what it looked like and to absorb everything.
A living world, vibrant like this, is much more attractive than a concrete jungle. Maybe it’s just me, maybe it’s more primordial in all of us, a call to nature that becomes more pronounced the more we get from it. I also wrote about virtual tourism in the Yakuza, but this is a specific place. This is more of a state of mind, a love of nature wherever it is, whether it is a fantasy world or a historical caricature.
Other games I loved for this reason are Oblivion and Far cry series, while Assassin’s Creed Odyssey came very close a few years ago, even though its Mediterranean shores and clear blue waters came close to my love Wind Waker than The Wizard.
Valhalla, still, oh boy. It is exact what I’m after. Its idyllic caricature of ninth-century England is like a weekend getaway in a nature reserve, albeit with lots of murders and climbs between them. It’s not my ideal vacation, but it’s part of the package.
While Of Valhalla the opening of the sequence in Norway is amazing in its alpine way, once we got to England, it took about three seconds until that sensation started tingling. That’s it Witcher 3 hum. Oblivion fever. Long grass. Big trees. Falling leaves. Chirping birds. Flowing water. A light breeze. Sunlight dips through the branches, bathing a campsite in an amber morning glow.
Ah, that’s shit. This is escapism. Not in deeds, but in setting.
Valhalla Events that some of the most memorable open worlds are not defined by their density and that employment does not equate to credibility. His England has a few points on the map where things happen, sure, but for vast expanses there is nothing to do, so, like all the best road trips, he has nothing to do but try the stunning scenery. , which is a pleasure that resonates with me, much more than the tiring weariness of the open world.
Although it can be tempting to pack a world of video games with as much sound, anger, and stuff as possible Cyberpunk it seemed so intentional, sometimes it’s better to let an open world be open and enjoy the views. In these cases, as with Valhalla, nothingness is not a problem. It’s the best thing in the game.
