Agreed. My favorite Tomb Raider of the last decade is probably Anniversary for that reason. Also it is the endless waves that kills Uncharted for me as well.
@divedivedive your disaster recovery idea is intriguing. You could set it up with a Dead Rising style timed world evolution, where at certain intervals world states change. Maybe start out where early game one area is clogged with traffic along the evac route, so navigating gets difficut through there. As time moves then areas start to flood, debris and trees start to fall and block some roads, certain vehicles become less useful while others more. That traffic jam you had to route around earlier? Now it has dissipated, but some people are stuck on an overpass that has become an island, and now you need to rescue people.
Then the floods receed and your task is to help clear the way for relief crews. The game ends a few days post disaster, once you have enabled aid organizations to spread out into every neighborhood.
That could be real interesting.
I am wondering if this sort of whole approach is what makes a seemingly boring game like Spintires engrossing to some of us.
I guess ETS2 fitted part of that bill as well, somehow.
I like that. There should definitely be a workable way to make nonviolent, or at least avoiding conflict with other humans, a workable solution to gaming. There are so many other problems in the world, why add to them?
Yeah. I mean I guess it depends how you define it too. The whole survival genre could be ripe for this sort of thing, with the right design. But imagine a Robinson Crusoe style game where you are shipwrecked. Or we have games like The Long Dark, which I don’t believe has any combat with humans.
They’re not open worlds, per se, but @Left_Empty mentioned ETS2 and Spintires. Which aren’t open world in the traditional AC/ GTA vein either. But the existence of games without human combat, and the massive popularity of open world, makes me think that you could certainly successfully merge the two.
I think as to the “why” it’s pretty simple. Big games are just like Hollywood, it’s a ton of investment, so look at what sells, and copy that with a different name/skin. Tomb Raider has turned into Call of Duty light for instance, which I think is horrible, but you can certainly understand how it got pitched and made.
People have a hard time chucking 100 million at something that’s untested, not surprising. I think anything like this usually comes from a smaller dev on a smaller budget with not so stunning presentation. If one of those games really takes off, then you’ll see a glut of AAA games in a few years with the same premise.
AAA games are always going to be the safest route, with a (often foolish) notion that they will get a return because people already like “this”.
This is actually a great recommendation, perhaps only lacking in realistic look. Such a fun game about exploring and doing whatever you want.
To that end there are a few nature games where you play as animals that kinda fit the bill. But if someone took the expanded realistic setting of say, Hunter: Call of the Wild, but make it about exploring or finding lost campers or anything really, that would be awesome.
It reminds me of playing Red Dead Redemption and just wanting to explore without all the distractions because it felt so much like seeing a great western from the inside out.
Or at a least without the mountain lions, for Christ sakes.
It’s interesting that while the enemies were built into its gameplay, or because of it, the deadites in State of Decay were much less infuriating in their interaction with you than a lots of the occasional but definitely trolly-feeling features of other openworld games.
When I play these kinds of games, I tend to be more interested in what’s going on in the background than the slaughtering that I’m supposed to be doing. I’ve always been fascinated by games that try to create the illusion of a real city where people are going about their own lives. What I’d love is something like a Richard Scarry book but for adults. Just let me wander around the city watching people live out their own stories. I think I’d be more interested in that than getting bits of story in the form of cutscenes between battles.
The long Dark has you covered there - exactly!
Those were terrifying, but quite honestly I loved the hunting part of the game. Why is it that so many Rockstar games kill me with their in game missions though. It’s like playing in a cool sandbox but with this feeling of dread constantly at the back of your mind because you know it’s going to be some gameplay or situation that just causes you anxiety and … makes it less sim and more game.
I can really understand Guap here, I’d like to see an open world game turned into an open world.
Also, @Nesrie wasn’t keen on Minecraft, which I can completely understand, but modded minecraft really goes a long way to making it what Guap is talking about here, sans realistic graphics. You can remove the scary parts of the game if you want and turn it into fantastic building, designing, farming, or exploring styles of play. I know it’s not for everyone with the look and feel of play, though, so back to what Guap was saying, could they make something like that but more realistic?
This became less of a problem to me when I stopped feeling shame for changing the difficulty level to easy or story mode in games where I didn’t like the fighting, but really enjoyed the story. I played the entire Mass Effect (both trilogy and Andromeda) on easy, which made me love all those games a bit more.
I think this went for Uncharted 3 as well if I remember correctly, and a few other games.
Not saying it’s the same as a non violent game, but at least it doesn’t disrupt the exploring of a world or enjoying a good story as much.
Yeah, this is pretty much it. A “realistic” open world that looks good takes a shit-ton of artists and probably a $100m plus budget. No studio is going to take a risk that big on a format they don’t know will sell like gangbusters. Violent open world games have a reliable track record, especially ones that let you shoot your mates.
That’s even before we get to having to build gameplay systems and mechanics that are largely underdeveloped, especially in an open world context. Think how little real change there is in AAA open world design from game to game. Even with a year off, all AC:O could do was add a paper thin RPG layer and basic combat system, while stripping away many of the systems that had built up over the years. With five years between GTA IV and V, Rockstar made a handful of heists and the player character switching mechanic (as well as GTA:Online of course).
I played 50 hours of Forza Horizon 3 doing that!
See Steep, from Ubisoft, where you have that and more sports.
Because that’s literally, pressing a button. Which is pretty boring. This is really translated to ‘I want to sightsee in a virtual world’, which it seems it will be possible in AC Origins. And in any case, you can already do that in most open worlds, few locations are ‘locked’ with hostiles in GTA5 or Watch Dogs 2, from what I remember.
If you real question is “why don’t they make a story-focused game, like films, instead of having so much action?” the answer is because we don’t have way to make realistic character & story interaction. Most videogame stories are ‘canned’ or just have a few variations ala Mass Effect, so they can’t replace the gameplay.
The most scaring game I played was Sims. I had a sim family and the children where not helping clean the house (food on the ground, that stuff). I remember myself angry at the npc’s for not helping the mother npc clean the house.
Then I closed the game.
With the screen off realised my room was dirty.
Too real, man.
Nice recommendations! I just wishlisted both of those, and had not heard of either.
Couldn’t you do the peaceful thing in Shenmue?
Has Euro Truck Simulator been mentioned? It is fairly realistic, and violence does not pay.