We absolutely love open world games here at GamingBolt, and we’re far from being alone in that. From the level of freedom they promise to the amount of content they deliver, there’s plenty to love about them- or, well, at least when they’re well designed, that is. At the same time though, we’re also firm believers that there are certain games and certain types of experiences that absolutely should not be open world. Either because of their pacing, their focus, their design philosophies, or any number of other reasons, there are some franchises that we feel would lose themselves a little bit if they decided to go open world. Here, we’re going to talk about a few such franchises.
RESIDENT EVIL
We quite like the idea of a survival horror game that takes place in a large and open setting and offers the freedom of an open world game. The Evil Within 2’s semi-open world sections, for instance, are among the game’s highlights. But Resident Evil most certainly isn’t a franchise that should veer in that direction. The level design is always a core pillar of any new Resident Evil game, and navigating the series’ trademark settings with their meticulous design is always a massive part of the experience. Going open world would dilute that massively, to say the very least. Resident Evil Village’s hub and spoke did, to be fair, boast more open ended design on a macro level, and yes, the game was better for it, but we wouldn’t want to see a Resident Evil game trying to take that design philosophy to its absolute extreme.
