Discussion Is the open world genre getting stale?

[Tyler]

Played Avowed, Star Wars Outlaws, and the new Assassin's Creed back to back and honestly they all blend together. Map markers, collectibles, outposts, crafting. The formula hasn't really changed in years.

The only recent open worlds that felt fresh to me were Elden Ring and Tears of the Kingdom because they actually let you explore without a checklist.

Anyone else feeling open world fatigue or is it just me?

 

[Ferdinand]

It's not you. The Ubisoft formula got copied by everyone and now 80% of open worlds feel the same. Elden Ring proved you can do exploration without hand holding and it's so much more rewarding.

 

[Corey]

I think the issue is that most open worlds are big for the sake of being big. Give me a smaller, denser world with interesting stuff in every corner over a massive empty map any day.

 

[Brad P]

Ghost of Tsushima found a good middle ground. It has the open world structure but the art direction and wind navigation made exploration feel different. Not every game needs to reinvent the wheel, it just needs personality.