I was playing both Ghost of Tsushima and Assassin’s Creed Origins and thinking about how they felt so archaic when compared to Breath of the Wild. The open world in a lot of these AAA games are simply backdrops that connect Mission 1 to Mission 2. Devs add collectibles and fetch quests to these areas to make them seem apart of the game but in the end the open world never evolves beyond a big level select screen.
BOTW flipped this and made the open world apart of the mission. For one, instead of sprinkling the map with a ton of icons/quests, they gave you the icons and let you highlight what was important to you on the map. Secondly, the open world had a tangible impact on your ability to accomplish your tasks.
- Can’t just take your favorite metal sword and shield to the tropical area if it’s thundering, you’ll be electrocuted.
- Can’t just wear your favorite tunic in 30 below weather, you’ll freeze.
- You’re not just gonna climb that rock all Willy Nilly in the rain, you’ll slip.
- You can’t just swim that large body of water, you don’t have enough stamina and die.
- Can’t just start a fire to cook because it’s raining.
Other “open world" games hardly feel like "open world" in 99% of cases.
They’re just a linear game that has a "free play" mode in between missions. What you do during "free play" is just for your own enjoyment and has no long term impact. Buildings you destroy will be rebuilt, police will respawn, etc.
Watch the videos below…they compare BOTW to Horizon Zero Dawn.
On HZD see how a rock doesn’t even slide down the mountain in the more realistic looking art style? Or how if I shoot an arrow in BOTW it’ll actually arc and land somewhere and I can pick it up...can’t do that in HZD. Or how if I shoot a fire arrow into grass in BOTW it starts a fire, in HZD it does nothing. Or if I hit a tree with a sword in BOTW it destroys the tree, in HZD the tree is unaffected.
BOTW is a master class in gaming. No other open world games gets even close to it…not even tired ass GTA V and its crap missions.
