Just last Friday the highly anticipated open-world Ghost of Tsushima finally dropped. As a loyal consumer of all things PlayStation, as well as a great admirer of Japanese history and culture, this exclusive has been on my radar since it was announced.
Our very own Vinny Fanneran recently reviewed Ghost of Tsushima for the site. While he was immensely pleased with the culmination of Sucker Punch’s collective conscientiousness, the open-world nature of the game presented minor issues. Not least among these were the myriad distractions that would prevent even the most urgent of players from achieving anything vital to the primary mission of protagonist Jin Sakai.
Consequently, my mind has recently been reflecting on the love affair this current console generation, which is soon to reach its conclusion, has shared with the open-world genre. In these past seven years alone, we have been presented with titles such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and many, many more. So much more, in fact, that gamers have become somewhat tired of the genre.
However, it is not this issue I wish to discuss with you today, dear reader. Instead, I wish to discuss my own rather strange relationship with the genre. Akin to every other genre of fiction, open-world titles have their strengths in addition to their flaws. So enjoy my attempt at explaining how I simultaneously love and despise the genre yet have thus far failed to quit it altogether.
I Just Logged On to Say I Love You
Some of the most exquisite portions of Ghost of Tsushima are soaring on horseback through the luscious environments so wonderfully realised by Sucker Punch’s art department. A sensation that is only bolstered by the vivid sound design of the wind that beats against the fatigued face of Jin Sakai. As I experienced this first-hand, the section of my brain that stores my memories was aflame with positive recollections of similar experiences in Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption II.
Though the option to fast travel, another trope of open-world games, was there for me to utilise at my relative leisure, I vehemently refused each opportunity. All I wanted to do was bond with my horse, allow it to carry me across the jaw-dropping vistas of the old west, and take full advantage of any random encounters I chanced upon during my travels. In a game that is rather rudimentary in its mission structure, these were the few times I felt wild and free.
The Semi-Open Road
Though not open-world, I additionally received a select few of these moments in various Naughty Dog titles. More specifically: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and The Last of Us Part II. These titles present the player with one stage each that does away with the more linear level design seen throughout the remainder of their run-times and, instead, permits them to explore completely at their leisure. Consequently, the stories that are told during these stages feel more directed by the player, than the developers themselves.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is another title that evades being overtly open-world, yet the fact that it takes place in one, interconnected world that requires you to travel back and forth between previously explored sections makes it a title more befitting that moniker than Naughty Dog’s efforts.
However, unlike most open-world games, the titular asylum is relatively small in scale, meaning that everyone’s favourite cape-and-cowl-donning vigilante must seek alternative paths to traverse the game’s world. Not only does this better suit the covert nature of the character, but it also ensures that players are constantly encountering something new as important events, and optional secrets need to be positioned much closer together.
Several Things I Hate About You
Unfortunately, there are a great multitude of criticisms that can be levelled at open-world games, and those titles that integrate open-world philosophies into their gameplay, which can likely contribute to player fatigue. Firstly, I previously expressed my joy at being able to ride free in Red Dead Redemption II and take in the rich world around me.
However, once you have committed to a mission, a purple line will decorate the mini map in the bottom corner of the screen. As this line provides the easiest path to your destination, I found myself paying more attention to the mini-map than the expansive world that Rockstar spent so much time and energy crafting.
Re-Imagining a Tired Genre
Fortunately, Ghost of Tsushima offers a solution. Sucker Punch have included organic means of directions in the form of the Guiding Wind mechanic. Along with ground-based and airborne creatures that escort you to your destination. This is a brilliant solution as I am being led clearly to where I need to go without ever taking my eye off the game’s visually arresting landscapes.
I opened this article by discussing that it is nigh impossible to get anything done in Ghost of Tsushima due to the myriad side quests and other distractions that entice players to veer off the primary path. Not only have I experienced this to some degree in my own playthrough, I have encountered this issue in many other open-world games also.
For instance, it was a wonder I ever completed Marvel’s Spider-Man, released in 2018. I would swing through NYC, intending to arrive at the next main mission when a side quest would blip onto my radar. By this point, I had completed enough of these side quests to realise that they were rather lacking in variation. Alas, there were crimes that needed to be fought and since I was a crime fighter, I swung in to fight crimes.
Often, I would experience entire play sessions where I completed a grand total of zero main missions; so overwhelmed was I with side quests, exhausted from their completion. Eventually, I ceased to take them on altogether as a direct result of this fatigue.
I Wish I Knew How to Quit You
In spite of these flaws, I continue to punish myself each and every time I pop in an open-world game. The worst part is… I enjoy it.
Without doubt, fulfilling every side quest in an open-world game exhausts me to the point of shutting down my console. However, I also derive immense satisfaction from watching my progress percentage increase with each task completed.
If the distraction yields nothing but the smallest of rewards, I will continue to let it whisper in my ear as I explore to my lonely heart’s content.
Although this long-enduring genre has hurt me time and again in the past, I will continue to adore it. I know I won’t receive that sense of fulfilment from Ghost of Tsushima until I have reaped all of its rewards. No matter how insubstantial, no matter how inconsequential.
