So there is a problem that I personally have with open world games, I am sure some of you guys share as well. Open world games tend to have immense amounts of content, a lot of that content is stellar. Yet once I finish up one of these games after 80-120 hours of living in these worlds, I have no desire to ever replay them again.
The Witcher 3 is one of these games, a lot of people even call it one of the greatest of all time, you cannot deny the writing is spectacular, the side quests alone have more depth, character moments and intrigue in them than a lot of games do in their main campaign. This is a game that at launch I played for 86 hours to finish. I have tried to revisit this game many times but each one of these attempts never makes it past white orchard. Why is that? This isn't just the case with the witcher 3, it's the case with breath of the wild, metal gear solid V, GTAV, and practically every open world game I can think of. But why? It's not the length that's the problem either, Last year I've played through Persona 5 twice within the same month of the game releasing, and that game is certainly longer than most of the games I mentioned main story content.
Open world games feel like they're designed for the first playthrough of a game, everything is paced out so you're only pulled in if you've never experience the game before and when you're done you've got a host of extra post game activities you can mop up and then put the game on the shelf for good.
I really can't quite explain why this is the case with open world games because a lot of the issues I feel can be applied to any game, but there really is just something about open world games that makes you feel like you do it all and there is no reason to return. I think part of it is the sheer amount of distractions coupled with the investment already made into a single play through, but even then it's hard to say that definitively because both the witcher 3 and persona 5 have NG+ options where almost everything carries over yet I can't bring myself to care for another run of TW3 the same way I can over another run of P5.
I think the more real reason is that open world games lack the things that make games that traditionally fun to replay. Things like strong level design, encounters, set pieces, weird shifts in gameplay and that feeling like you've conquered the game mechanically. I can go back and play through resident evil 4 any day of the week and have a blast, but I don't think I'll be able to sit down with breath of the wild again for a long time.
This whole post came off as a bit rambly and I'm sorry about that haha, hopefully you guys understand what I'm trying to say here.
The Witcher 3 is one of these games, a lot of people even call it one of the greatest of all time, you cannot deny the writing is spectacular, the side quests alone have more depth, character moments and intrigue in them than a lot of games do in their main campaign. This is a game that at launch I played for 86 hours to finish. I have tried to revisit this game many times but each one of these attempts never makes it past white orchard. Why is that? This isn't just the case with the witcher 3, it's the case with breath of the wild, metal gear solid V, GTAV, and practically every open world game I can think of. But why? It's not the length that's the problem either, Last year I've played through Persona 5 twice within the same month of the game releasing, and that game is certainly longer than most of the games I mentioned main story content.
Open world games feel like they're designed for the first playthrough of a game, everything is paced out so you're only pulled in if you've never experience the game before and when you're done you've got a host of extra post game activities you can mop up and then put the game on the shelf for good.
I really can't quite explain why this is the case with open world games because a lot of the issues I feel can be applied to any game, but there really is just something about open world games that makes you feel like you do it all and there is no reason to return. I think part of it is the sheer amount of distractions coupled with the investment already made into a single play through, but even then it's hard to say that definitively because both the witcher 3 and persona 5 have NG+ options where almost everything carries over yet I can't bring myself to care for another run of TW3 the same way I can over another run of P5.
I think the more real reason is that open world games lack the things that make games that traditionally fun to replay. Things like strong level design, encounters, set pieces, weird shifts in gameplay and that feeling like you've conquered the game mechanically. I can go back and play through resident evil 4 any day of the week and have a blast, but I don't think I'll be able to sit down with breath of the wild again for a long time.
This whole post came off as a bit rambly and I'm sorry about that haha, hopefully you guys understand what I'm trying to say here.