Open world

Clear Skies was the second one, where they emphasised inter-faction fighting I think. I found it hard to get into. Call of Pripyat, number 3, I found a little comprehensible. Metro Exodus involves some of the same people and is supposed to be more open than the other Metros too, so maybe wait for that one.

Clear Sky, yeah. I played it recently for the first time using only bug fixes and ended up loving it. Probably my favourite vanilla STALKER experience (when it comes to mods Misery still wins).

I don’t think these games are really hardcore, just maybe more than your average game.

Any of you interested in Stalker really should read Roadside Picnic.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1613743416/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520193675&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=roadside+picnic&dpPl=1&dpID=51dpiZ3d5SL&ref=plSrch

I watched Stalker the other day, if that counts!

I’m pretty sure you can get it via Project Gutenberg.

That’s cool. Metro 2033 is also a great read.

I watched a friend play this for about 2 hours last weekend, and the world felt really empty to me. The NPCs seemed shallow… It just didn’t click for me. Maybe it is just the general art design.

Thanks all. I read Roadside Picnic, and have the Stalker series. Scott, if I had that console I think I’d be playing Zelda. That game looks like art.

BTW is the new Metro game going to be Open World?

Thanks again all!

Not using the ‘Pro’ HUD mode? :o

I kind of like all the UI elements when I play. /shrug

I mean, it’s a post-apocalyptic setting, so … yes?

Wait, what? The latest Zelda takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting? This thread is getting hard to follow.

It does. The game starts 100 years after the devastation of Hyrule. You can see overgrown ruins etc in many screenshots (inc. the two posted above).

So then are we talking post-apocalyptic in the sense of Wind Waker, where Hyrule had been flooded? I’m guessing we’re not talking nuclear holocaust aftermath.

Well not nuclear as there’s no fallout, but the land nearer the ruined castle is covered in a harmful substance called Malice:
image

Is it a spoiler to say it was Ganon? Probably not. :)

Calamity Ganon Destroys Hyrule cutscene from near the end of the tutorial plateau shows a bit on how it happened:

click...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHIZEMid1pw&feature=youtu.be&t=3m33s

At this point in the series, it would probably be a spoiler to say it was anyone else. Still, that’s an interesting cutscene you linked, and that info I was not aware of. From what little I have seen of the game the world looked very verdant and alive, so I would not have expected some massive cataclysm. The weird octopus eyebeam things put me in mind of the alien tripods from War of the Worlds too. Looks cool!

Yeah the game takes place 100 years after that initial part of the cutscene so stuff is grown over. Which is pretty much in-line with recent trends for post-apoc games! :)

@Profanicus has covered a lot of what I would have said, but to build a bit more there are actually some villages and pockets of civilization that remain, though it’s likely @dionisus1122 wouldn’t have watched his friend encounter them in just 2 hours. The world is massive and covers all climates with cities both under water and in mountains, and it took me an entire weekend of playing to make my way to the first little village, which is full of wonderful NPCs to interact with, and until then you can feel alone in the world (though the closer to villages and further away from the castle you get the more people you can see walking the roads and such).

Entering one of the villages:

Coming across a trading outpost:

I noted recently in the Zelda thread that the world seems heavily influenced by the floating island Lupita in Castle in the Sky, if you’ve seen that. Fallen tech society, abandoned and broken robots everywhere, some alive, etc.

I finished ME Andromeda:

  • good game, a bit disappointing as follow-up to original trilogy. Quest design and writing are biggest let downs, but they are not terrible, just mediocre. Some of the main missions are genuinely great. It still has Mass Effect feel. Combat is fun if you like third person shooters, it is competently executed.

I played Elex for 60 hours (still playing it right now):

  • great game, probably best Piranha Bytes game since Gothic 2. It is a mix of Mad Max, Gothic and Horizon when it comes to setting, but purely Gothic game when it comes to game design. I just love exploring their worlds, so much freedom everywhere, lot of quests are quite reactive and allow lot of decisions, some are nicely interconnected. Combat is not great, but it doesn’t bother me, it works well enough.

I played Kingdom Come for 4 hours, but only in prologue:

  • it seems like a brilliant game once it will be patched up - some people report lot of bugs, others finish it without issues, it is YMMV for now. I love the prologue, it is completely unlike other RPGs, very life-like, and I love the open-endedness of quest design combined with AAA storytelling production values. First person perspective with proper body modeling, it is like medieval Deus Ex. Looking forward to playing it once patched up and my PC is upgraded.

I saw this part of the quote and briefly thought you were going to say something negative about a game!