Summary
- Minimalistic game design: Shadow of the Colossus proves open-world games can be focused and streamlined.
- Enemy reactivity: Metal Gear Solid 5 forces players to adapt when enemies adjust to overpowered tactics.
- Interrogation facial capture: L.A. Noire's innovation deserves a second chance for another AAA studio.
Open-world games have been around for a long time now, and for good reason. They ostensibly embody the ultimate promise of video games: being able to do just about anything. Although the genre may seem highly evolved and at the peak of its power, there are some incredible open-world mechanics that have been left by the wayside that deserve a return.
Whether they were dropped in favor of more audience-appeasing features, a flash of creative brilliance, risky, or just extremely expensive to replicate, these mechanics have found themselves trapped in old open-world games that are at least a decade or so old.
A Minimalist, Focused Experience - Shadow Of The Colossus
A Wide Open World With A Single, Clear Objective
It can often feel as though open-world game content includes everything but the kitchen sink, and that's probably because game developers are trying to keep players busy in the open world for as long as possible. Minigames, sidequests bounties, towers, collectibles, and the ubiquitous open-world crafting mechanic all work to distract the protagonist from their very important mission of saving the world. However, the masterfully minimalistic design of Shadow of the Colossus proves that open-world games can be the perfect platform for a streamlined, focused adventure, provided they can find the right gameplay hook.
While there are collectibles, they are hidden, and the game makes no effort to track them as other open-world games would (usually obsessively). Making a game purely about seeking out and fighting boss monsters was, admittedly, a stroke of genius. Perhaps with the right inspiration and enough confidence, another studio may someday step away from the "high-player retention" design design goal and create another game as clear-cut and focused. Even Praey for the Gods, Shadow of the Colossus' indie spiritual successor, buckled and added crafting mechanics.
Reactive, Long-Term Enemy Tactics - Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
When Enemies Get Tired Of An Overpowered Build
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
- Released
- September 1, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- Action, Open-World
It's hard to believe that Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is over a decade old, given how advanced its designs and graphics are, even today. Something that really worked well about this open-world stealth game is the game's often-unsung enemy-tactic reactivity. If players found an overpowered way to resolve their problems, enemies would adapt, forcing the player to change tactics. For example, relying on headshots all the time meant that word would spread and soldiers would more frequently be walking around with helmets.
10 Crazy Stories About Metal Gear Solid 5's Development
Metal Gear Solid 5 is beloved by many fans but there are a lot of crazy things that happened during development you may not know!
Executing missions during the night would mean seeing more guards with night vision goggles. With all the combat or gameplay variety built into open-world games, it would be interesting to see more of this, where enemies force the player to try out a playstyle they would otherwise ignore because the enemy has sussed out their moves. However, such a mechanic requires endless testing to get right. Given the development time for most open-world games (with a few notable exceptions), most gamers probably wouldn't mind waiting for a mechanic as rich as this.
Reading Facial Features - L.A. Noir
It's Hard To Trust Anyone These Days
L.A. Noire
- Released
- May 17, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
A vastly underappreciated skill in the real world is the ability to gauge another person during a discussion, negotiation, or initial meeting. LA Noir made this one of its central mechanics. Rockstar leveraged cutting-edge mocap and facial capture technology for LA Noir's interview segments (32 cameras were used to map actors' performances onto 3D models), in which Detective Phelps must suss out lies from true accounts as he interrogates witnesses and suspects.
While the game's development was expensive and difficult and the interview mechanics ultimately received a mixed reaction from players, it is a fascinating feature that deserves a second chance. Some studios have used incredible facial capture technology to great effect (i.e., Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and Metal Gear Solid 5), but none have used it for interrogational gameplay. After more than a decade of technological advancement, perhaps it is time for another AAA studio with the courage and resources to make another attempt.
Fully-Developed And Interactable NPCs - Shenmue
The Secret Lives Of Non-Playable Characters
Shenmue
- Released
- December 29, 1999
- ESRB
- t
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
Not every open-world game needs to include non-playable characters. Sometimes, the joy of an empty landscape is just the antidote for burnout or ennui. While Sartre might argue that "Hell is other people," humans have an undeniable fascination with other humans that does not end in virtual worlds. Shenmue wowed the world with its unprecedented detail, much of which involved the secret backstories, private schedules, and interactable personalities of its NPCs. Many open-world games, such as The Witcher 3, feature crowds of people with realistic animations: Carpenters cut wood, cleaners sweep, and so on, but these are surface tricks.
Open-world games fail to grasp what Shenmue offered gamers back in 1999: a chance to get to know people on a meaningful level. Interactions with NPCs in modern open-world games tend to be shallow, and the level of depth between characters is wildly uneven. With advances in LLMs like ChatGPT and Deepseek, characters with intricate, hand-written backstories could appear in open-world games as large as Red Dead Redemption 2 or Cyberpunk 2077 in the future, at least if AI companies can get them to stop hallucinating so hard.
The Nemesis System - Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor
Making Memorable Rivalries Organically
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
- Released
- September 30, 2014
WHERE TO PLAY
Scripting rivalries in video games is one thing, but the clever designers behind Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War figured out how to cultivate them dynamically. Depending on how the Talion defeats a named Orc enemy (or is himself defeated), their nickname or status may change. For example, they will be promoted for defeating Talion.
When met again out in the world, these familiar faces will remind the player about their last encounter, upping the stakes in the rematch. Imagining, for example, an open-world superhero game with Nemesis System villains that dynamically appear and evolve over the game is tantalizing. Sadly, Warner Brothers' decision to patent the Nemesis System mechanic is another example of how capitalism prevents innovation as much as it creates it, and no other studio will be able to borrow the idea until 2036.