Taking a step back from an open-world franchise such as The Elder Scrolls or Fallout is akin to appreciating a landmark from an encompassing viewpoint. Not only does it represent the individual systems, the milestone itself also acts as the summation of its technical construction; from environmental design to the bifurcating narrative paths, each brick signifies the layering process required to manifest a true, free-roaming experience. It’s a complicated beast; one that is arguably determined by two simple yet crucial words: player agency.
As one would expect, independence and open-world games are analogous. So much so, in fact, that many developers cite player freedom as the compelling core of open-world games. The off-rails nature of these titles bestow the user with a greater sense of satisfaction. To hold a tangible influence over the causality and indeed outcome of an in-game situation is a remarkable quality for a game; one that acts as the lynchpin for the genre itself. And while the formula has evidently evolved throughout the gaming generations —implementing larger, more dynamic worlds and non-story events—maintaining the player’s investment through choice, consequence and, ultimately, unique progression has been the crux of the open-world game since its inception.
From its humble beginnings in the arcade cabinets of the 80s, though, the allure and indeed ambition of the open-world game was always handicapped by the technological restraints of yesteryear – settling with basic environmental design and vector graphics that was considered cutting edge for the time. Nevertheless, as developers pried and experimented with primitive 3D models and isometric graphics, the flexible, non-linear framework of the genre began to take shape. At this time, a niche category of the industry decided to forgo pre-defined levels and set goals and instead adopted a liberating approach to game design. This modus operandi, one of pushing the conventional boundaries of level design, helped cultivate titles such as Adventure (1979), Elite (1984) and, perhaps most notably, Novagen Software’s Mercenary in 1985.
With its ambitious open-world framework and inFamous-like degree of player choice, the British-born, 8-bit title was critically acclaimed for its time, and is widely considered to be one of the genre’s most prominent ancestors. In hindsight, it was titles such as these that helped map out the formative blueprint for the open-world game we know today. The ability to explore an expansive universe —such as Mercenary’s sprawling yet nuanced planetary system—is the quintessential foundation upon which developers have honed and perfected the free-roaming experience over the last thirty years. Formative principles including in-game maps and secret passageways, which are widely considered to be stalwart tropes in current titles, were then popularized through franchises such as Super Metroid and The Legend of Zelda throughout the 80s and 90s.
As time progressed, however, perhaps one of the most notable advancements for the open-world genre was its gradual shift from the adventure category to third-person action games; a shift typified by the launch of Grand Theft Auto in 1997. Although Rockstar’s series didn’t transition into the third dimension until its third numerical title in 2001, GTA incorporated many of the elements from its free-roaming progenitors. From emergent gameplay to interactive NPCs, these features have acted as lodestones for the franchise and will continue to inform future iterations. If open-world was teetering on the periphery at the turn of the millennium, implemented as a characteristic rather than a fully realized gamespace, then Grand Theft Auto was the satirical vehicle that propelled it towards the mainstream audience.
That said, it wasn’t the only release to have left its mark on the genre of late. In fact, Assassin’s Creed served as a poignant example of the evolution of open-world games. While Grand Theft Auto may have pushed the envelope in terms of game design, Ubisoft’s clandestine franchise layered numerous, complex systems on top —such as the game’s compelling musical score and rich, historic landscape— that effectively underlined the genre’s potential. It was a huge moment for the industry; one which truly showcased the horsepower of the current-gen systems back in 2007.
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