Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Serving as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain released the year after, two-hour long Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes introduced fresh stealth and traversal mechanics, manoeuvres that became staples in MGSV’s proper release. Set a few months after Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker in 1975, Ground Zeroes follows Snake’s infiltration of American black site Camp Omega as he attempts a daring rescue. Renowned for presenting newfound immersion to the series, the main complaint with Ground Zeroes is it was just too short.

The Order: 1886

Despite its frustrating overreliance on then-outdated QTEs, The Order: 1886 oozed style and atmosphere. It’s steampunk story set within a vampire-enriched Victorian London expressed deep imagination too. Perhaps its sky-high expectation was ultimately it’s undoing but there’s enough here to warrant a sequel. Interestingly, developer Ready at Dawn have since been acquired by Meta, and Sony themselves renewed the IP as recently as December 2021 – a VR sequel, then, surely isn’t out of the question.

]]> 606230 https://gamingbolt.com/14-huge-playstation-game-worlds-that-are-a-treat-to-explore Mon, 13 May 2024 11:13:12 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=583429 Whether a game chooses to be linear, open world, or somewhere in between, there’s nothing quite like diving into an experience that has a vast world to explore and traverse. With a couple of features in the past, we’ve looked at several PlayStation-exclusive titles that fit that description, and here, we’re going to continue doing that. Here are a few more of the biggest video game worlds you can explore in games on PlayStation consoles.

HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST

We’ll start things off with one of the most obvious entries. Horizon Forbidden West had the tall order of one-upping its predecessor’s open world, and it did so with surprising ease and confidence. Its map is massive and brimming with engaging quests and breathtaking sights, making exploration endlessly engaging in a way that’s rare to see in games. The fact that it’s also one of the best-looking games ever made only makes its map that much more unforgettable.

FINAL FANTASY 7 REBIRTH

One of the most recent entries on our list, and also one of the most outstanding. Honestly, it’s hard to believe that something on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s scale can even exist in the current AAA market. Its world is mind-bogglingly large, but on top of that, also boasts some of the most impressive environmental variety you’ll ever see. There’s a bevy of towns and cities to visit, an impressive variety of side activities, minigames, and side quests throughout the map, a startling number of unique traversal methods across different regions- and that’s just scratching the surface.

GOD OF WAR RAGNAROK

God of War Ragnarok took the wide-linear, semi-open world approach of its 2018 predecessor and did what you would expect a sequel to do by expanding its scope by a noticeable degree. There’s a handful of large, semi-open maps that you explore throughout the game, and each of them houses a hefty amount of side content that’s almost always well worth seeking out. Some areas are particularly excellent- like the Crater in Vanaheim, which might just be one of the best areas in any God of War game ever

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2

After letting players zip through the same New York City map in two games, with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Insomniac decided to expand the available play space by nearly doubling the size of the map. But Spider-Man 2’s New York isn’t just impressive because it’s larger- it’s particularly impressive because, typically enough for the series, traversing it is an absolute dream. Significant improvements to the core webswinging mechanics (most notably the faster speed of movement) are combined with new mechanics like the Web Wings to ensure that moving through Spider-Man 2’s Manhattan never, ever gets boring.

NIOH

Nioh was obviously not anywhere close to being an open world game, but in spite of its segmented, level-based structure, it was a surprisingly (surprisingly at the time, at least) beefy experience. Levels in Nioh could be quite large, and exploration was often handsomely rewarded. If you’re the sort of player that doesn’t just stick to the critical path, you can lose yourself in Nioh’s world for dozens upon dozens of hours on end.

RISE OF THE RONIN

Breaking from tradition, Team Ninja recently delivered its first ever open world game in the form of Rise of the Ronin, and though the game’s execution of some of its new ideas divides fans, there’s no doubting that those looking for a massive map to explore will find it here. Rise of the Ronin’s 19th century Japan map is brimming with things to do, and regardless of whether or not it sticks the landing in other areas, when it comes to its traversal mechanics, the game never loses its charm.

FINAL FANTASY 16

Final Fantasy 16 not being an open world game was a disappointment to some, but even with its semi-open structure, the action title succeeds in giving players a large world to explore. There’s a number of sizeable maps that players visit throughout the entirety of the game, with an abundance of side quests, hunts, and more to seek out. Admittedly, mileage varies on how engaging that content is- but those who love the game’s combat enough to fully dive into all of its offerings aren’t left wanting.

FORSPOKEN

The prospect of a new AAA open world action RPG IP from Square Enix was an exciting one on paper, but Forspoken turned out to be one of the more prominent high-profile failures of the industry in recent memory. Even so, though it disappointed in a number of key areas, Forspoken still had its strengths. Chief among them were its traversal mechanics, which made zipping and flying across its world a constant blast, even if other aspects of the open world experience were often subpar.

INFAMOUS 2

We’ve spoken about inFamous Second Son in previous editions of this feature, so here, we’re going to turn the spotlight on its immediate predecessor. Though not as large the many PlayStation open worlds that followed in the years after its release, inFamous 2 was a sizeable game in its own right. The city of New Marais also looked and felt much more alive than the first game’s Empire City, and above all else, served as an excellent sandbox for players to wreak havoc in as a superhero (or supervillain).

THE LAST GUARDIAN

The Last Guardian is another example of how even a linear game craft a deceptively large world- one that perhaps feels even larger than it is. Environments in the acclaimed action-adventure title were often quite large, of course, while their underlying atmosphere of mystery made them seem that much more imposing. And of course, with a companion like Trico always by your side, exploring your surroundings and discovering secrets always felt rewarding, especially as your bond with the adorable creature grew.

KILLZONE SHADOW FALL

Killzone Shadow Fall did something most had never thought Killzone would ever do by shedding the hyper-linear design style of its predecessors in favour of much larger and more open-ended levels- and it worked out surprisingly well. By presenting players with a number of different options when chasing specific objectives, levels in Shadow Fall often encouraged exploration in ways that you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a Killzone game. Of course, it was by no means a massive experience in any sense of the word, but it provided an exciting glimpse of what a Killzone game in a larger, more open world could look like- one that still hasn’t been followed up on, unfortunately.

RETURNAL

Given its roguelite nature, you become very familiar with each of Returnal’s six biomes as you make your way through the game, and it’s hard not to be surprised at just how large the game is. Each biome is not only significantly different from most others, they’re all also surprisingly large, and made to feel even more so that the randomization of which areas and rooms you see in each biome changes in every run. Add to that rewarding optional content and some sprinkles of solid Metroidvania-style exploration, and traversing these large maps manages to remain compelling throughout the game.

UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF’S END

Naughty Dog has mastered the art of crafting linear, cinematic experiences like no other studio has been able to, but it has also been sprinkling larger and more open-ended levels into its games over the last several years. That started with Uncharted 4, which not only has a semi-open world section in Madagascar, but also has regular levels that are much wider in scope than previous Uncharted titles. Like a couple other Naughty Dog games in recent (or relatively recent) years, it’s an intriguing glimpse of what a non-linear Naughty Dog game would look like.

UNCHARTED: THE LOST LEGACY

Immediately after Uncharted 4, Naughty Dog followed up on its semi-open world section with a similar section with an even wider scop in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, even if the game itself was obviously smaller in totality. Specifically, we’re talking about The Lost Legacy’s Western Ghats, a fairly sizeable map that players are allowed to explore freely, as much or as little as they want. Traversing through the environments in your 4×4 and seeking out optional content and hidden treasure is surprisingly engaging, ensuring that this section stands out as a highlight of the game.

GOD OF WAR RANGAROK

God of War Ragnarok’s approach to wide-linear design differs a bit from its predecessor, because rather than using the hub-and-spoke design of the 2018 title, it instead takes you to numerous larger maps throughout its experience, and it’s a change that works out for the best. In addition to boasting excellent design that constantly encourages exploration, God of War Ragnarok’s maps also exhibit an impressive amount of visual and design variety.

RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE

The Resident Evil franchise has always held up exploration as one of its key pillars (with some notable exceptions), so expanding that to a setting that emphasizes that aspect even more heavily felt like a natural step forward in Resident Evil Village. The titular village is a large environment that remains immensely fun to navigate throughout the experience, especially as more of it opens up over time, while at the same time, through the four main areas connected to the village, the game also delivers the tight, claustrophobic design the series is known for in spades.

ALAN WAKE 2

Where the original Alan Wake was a hyper-linear series of shooting galleries, its sequel goes in the exact opposite direction. Alan Wake 2 revels in slowing down the pace and allowing players to thoroughly immerse themselves across its main locations, where you have quite a bit of freedom to explore at your own pace (the rewards for which are almost always well worth the effort). Backtracking through older locations also always remains satisfying as you gain access to previously inaccessible sections, while there are, of course, plenty of meticulously crafted linear sections to enjoy as well.

PIKMIN 4

Exploration is king in Pikmin 4 in a way it never has been in any previous Pikmin games. By almost completely removing the concept of time limits, Pikmin 4 lets you explore every nook and cranny of its areas to your heart’s content, without anything urgently pushing you towards your next main objective, and that is reflected in the way the game’s maps are designed as well. Each of them is significantly larger and boasts impressive variety, not only in visual terms, but also in terms of how you interact with the environment and make it easier to navigate for yourself and your army of Pikmin.

LIKE A DRAGON: ISHIN!

Like all other RGG Studio games, Like a Dragon: Ishin! focuses on depth and detail over pure expanse. The bulk of the game takes place on one not-all-that-big map set in Edo-era Kyoto. As far as pure map design in the series goes, this isn’t a particularly special map- it’s good, but nothing that stands out. What pushes it over the edge is the incredible sense of place and atmosphere that it drips with, properly recreating the architecture, layout, and aesthetic of Japan in the dawn of its modern era. RGG Studio has made a lot of great maps- few are as memorable as this.

UNCHARTED: THE LOST LEGACY

Uncharted 4 introduced elements of wide-linear and semi-open world design to Naughty Dog’s traditionally hyper-linear series, and its standalone follow-up, The Lost Legacy, took that to even greater heights. Though those design sensibilities are limited only to the early sections of the game where you’re exploring the Western Ghats of India, that section is also surprisingly sizable, and leaves quite an impression. From navigating the terrain, both on foot and in a four-by-four, to uncovering its secrets and optional content, it stands as one of the game’s strongest sections.

SUPER MARIO: BOWSER’S FURY

People have been wondering what an open world Mario game would look like for a long time, and never have we come closer to seeing what something like that would look like than with Bowser’s Fury. Released to the world as a standalone addendum to Super Mario 3D World’s Switch port, Bowser’s Fury is an incredible four-hour romp that somehow manages to perfectly blend Super Mario’s tight platforming and level design with open-ended design and an emphasis on exploration. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of that from the franchise in the not-too-distant future.

LIES OF P

Soulslike design has become like a second language to many by now, but even though there’s no shortage of games that try their hand at it, very few of them in recent years have done it as well as Lies of P. The city of Krat is massive and winding, and making your way through its intertwining areas that loop in and around themselves never loses its spark. It helps, of course, that the game looks as gorgeous as it does, because around nearly every corner is something new and exciting to see.

LORDS OF THE FALLEN

Developer Hexworks said prior to Lords of the Fallen’s launch that it was building the game as a Dark Spuls 4.5, and while the Soulslike action RPG doesn’t quite hit that level of quality, it does have plenty of the right elements in place. Its expansive world, though not fully open by any means, encourages exploration constantly, which is made that much more interesting by the game’s dual realm mechanic. That feeling of gradually mastering and unlocking the world around you is one of the biggest strengths of the Soulslike genre, and Lords of the Fallen delivers that in spades.

MONSTER HUNTER RISE

Monster Hunter Rise continued the move towards more open maps that Monster Hunter World started. Rise’s maps are actually smaller,and have less going on than World’s, which had a lot of environmental effects and interactions independent of the player. What Rise’s maps do have, however, is design that is perfectly tuned to all the wonderful new traversal tools the game gives you in the wirebug and the Palamute. The act of actually moving through the maps to find the monsters has never been as fun in Monster Hunter as it is in Rise, and the traversal tools, as well as the maps designed around those tools, are both to credit for that.

OUTER WILDS

Outer Wilds’s exploration serves as the perfect marriage between gameplay and narrative, thanks to how intrinsically those two elements are tied together throughout the experience. In each loop, the more you explore, the more you learn the Nomai, the solar system they once used to be spread out across, and the time loop that it’s currently caught in, and the game paces that almost to pitch-perfection. Pretty much the entirety of Outer Wilds is unlike anything else you’ll play, and how rewarding it makes its exploration through narrative discoveries contributes to that uniqueness massively.

STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a solid first foray into Metroidvania design for Respawn Entertainment, and with its sequel, Jedi: Survivor, the developer expanded that idea with significantly larger play spaces. There are, of course, plenty of Metroidvania locations scattered throughout the game, but the Koboh map in particular is where Jedi: Survivor taps into a much more expansive and open-ended design style. And it does that excellently, somehow managing to sprinkle that large, semi-open world map with plenty of Metroidvania design elements.

PREY

Prey’s Talos I is probably the best setting we’ve ever seen in an Arkane game, which, as those who’ve played other Arkane titles will tell you, is high praise, to say the least. The space station is not only dripping with atmosphere, it’s also spectacularly designed. Navigating its environments and slowly being able to unlock more and more of it as you grow more powerful makes for an incredibly satisfying and organic progression curve throughout the experience.

DEATHLOOP

Deathloop is decidedly more linear than most other Arkane titles (Prey especially), but in spite of being much more focused on action and forward momentum, it does still retain its fair share of the open-ended design that you expect to see in the studio’s games. There are multiple maps to explore, and going out of your way to do that is always encouraged. Not only do you learn more about the world and the people you are targeting, you’re also constantly treated to the incredible art design that’s so abundantly found throughout Deathloop’s world.

SNIPER ELITE 5

The Sniper Elite franchise probably doesn’t get as much credit for its level design as it should, and Sniper Elite 5 exemplifies that perfectly. Every single map is designed as an incredible stealth sandbox where player freedom is emphasized first and foremost. By allowing you to constantly discover new and creative ways to tackle obstacles and sprinkling in a healthy dose of optional content, every map in Sniper Elite 5 becomes an absolute blast to explore as thoroughly as possible, while also making replays that much more rewarding.

Horizon Forbidden West

Guerrilla Games delivered an excellent sequel with Horizon Forbidden West, a game that corrected almost every criticism with the original all while greatly expanding upon the scope of the original release. Horizon Forbidden West is also a visual powerhouse that presents its gargantuan world with striking attention to detail, and one of the more impressive aspects of that presentation is definitely Aloy’s hair. Sporting dense braided locks, Aloy’s character model has full hair physics for each of these locks that swirl and twirl with each movement. Sure, they are prone to glitching out every now and then which results in some hilarious moments – but by and large, the hair looks and functions in a pretty realistic fashion.

For well over a decade at this point, Naughty Dog has been on a constant mission to push the limits of whatever hardware it’s working with to deliver games with stunning visuals that set the standard for the industry at large. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End did just that when it launched for the PS4 back in 2016, to the extent that it’s still considered one of the best looking console games around, while the following year, The Lost Legacy delivered more of that technical excellence. Given that, and the fact that these are both fairly recent releases, neither game was really in any need of technical touch-ups, which means the jump in visual quality was never going to be drastic. By that same token though, when you take two games that still look as good as these two do, there’s very little chance that their remasters aren’t going to be visually impressive as well.

"There’s no denying that the inherent strengths of both these games hold up even now, and getting the chance to dive back into them is, as always, a welcome one."

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection delivers the best looking versions of games that were already technical stunners. Offering up three graphics modes, the two remasters look and run well across all options, running at 4K and 30 FPS in Fidelity Mode, an upscaled 4K and 60 FPS in Performance Mode, and at 1080p and 120 FPS in Performance+ Mode. In the vast majority of games, my preference tends to lie with better performance than with sharper image quality, and that’s what I went with here as well- which turned out well, because Legacy of Thieves Collection hits its performance targets with very few dips, if any. The sharpness of the visuals does drop noticeably from mode to mode, which might bother some, but even with those concessions, both these games still look amazing.

Beyond that, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection also features support for the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, using both pretty effectively in everything from combat and swinging on ropes to driving a vehicle and more. Other recent PlayStation remasters on the PS5 like Ghost of Tsushima and Death Stranding have made far better use of the controller’s feature, but even so, Uncharted does a good enough job of it that I actively noticed its implementation at least a few times while playing the two games. Meanwhile, the console’s SSD is also put to use to cut down loading times- but honestly, load times have never really been much of an issue for Uncharted games.

Put together, Legacy of Thieves Collection offers a fairly small number of upgrades on both the games it remasters. Each improvement is implemented well enough, but they’re all rather conservative in nature- which, of course, is what you expect for games that aren’t really in need of any major upgrades. The collection is obviously going to be a far better value proposition when it launches later this year for PC, when an entirely new audience on an entirely new platform will be able to play these games for the first time. But for those who’ve already played either Uncharted 4 or The Lost Legacy on a PS4, it’s not as easy of a recommendation, especially when even the cheapest possible way to get into it right now is a $10 upgrade.

"Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is a great option for anyone who’s itching to experience Uncharted 4 or The Lost Legacy again."

Of course, as I mentioned earlier in this review, the core inherent strengths of Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy haven’t lost any of their luster, which is an automatic point in Legacy of Thieves Collection’s favour. Both games have the best combat in the series so far, and improved mobility and solid implementation of stealth are hugely responsible for that. That improved mobility also makes for better platforming sections than previous Uncharted games, while both titles also embrace a far more open-ended design approach at times as opposed to the persistently linear nature of the series’ earlier entries. Add to that the predictable excellence of expertly crafted high-octane set pieces that Uncharted has always been known for, and what you have is two games that are still as much of a blast to play through as they were a few years back when they first launched. From that perspective, of course, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is a great option for anyone who’s itching to experience Uncharted 4 or The Lost Legacy again.

There’s no telling how long it’s going to be when Uncharted will come back with a new entry, what that new entry will look like, whether or not it will be able to live up to the series’ standards, or even who will develop it. What we do know is that whenever that happens, that next game will have a lot to live up to. Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy, which offer perhaps the best realization of the Uncharted formula yet, are perfect reminders of that, and even though their remasters in Legacy of Thieves Collection are a bit too unambitious, I always welcome the chance to go back to these two modern action-adventure classics.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Retailing for $49.99, the Legacy of Thieves Collection offers support for the DualSense’s adaptive triggers and haptic feedback along with fast loading times and spatial 3D audio. It offers three modes for each game – Fidelity for native 4K/30 FPS, Performance for 60 FPS and Performance+ which runs at 1080p resolution and 120 FPS. Multiplayer for either title isn’t included.

However, those who own either game or their digital bundle on PS4 can update to the digital Collector’s Edition for just $10. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is out on January 28th for PS5 with its PC version releasing later this year. Check out our review for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End here and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy here.

UNCHARTED: THE LOST LEGACY

In the early years of the Uncharted series, Naughty Dog tried to cram boss fights into the games, and the results were mixed- decent at best, atrocious at worst, but always unnecessary. As time has gone on, Uncharted has stopped feeling the need to have any boss fights at all, and its last entry, The Lost Legacy, relegated its final confrontation against the villain to a glorified interactive cutscene. And you know what? That was absolutely the right choice. Uncharted has always been about its cinematicism, storytelling, and blockbuster action more than anything else, and The Lost Legacy was a better game for its decision to focus on that rather than ticking the boss fights box.

Both titles were already incredibly good looking on PS4 but the remasters in the Legacy of Thieves Collection look even better. Sony has confirmed that the PC version is being developed by Iron Galaxy Studios and will release shortly after the PS5 version. Of course, how things will work for current owners of both games on the PlayStation 4 remains to be seen.

The other question remains – what about Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection which features the first three games? Is that coming to PC as well at some point? We’ll have to wait for more details so in the meantime, you can check out our reviews of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy on PS4.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD

Let’s begin with the most obvious choice. Breath of the Wild is the poster child of games with groundbreaking exploration. It has the regular stuff going for it, of course, which is a massive world full of beautiful and varied sights to see, which it props up with its excellent traversal loop of climbing and gliding. What really sets it apart, however, is the sheer brilliance of its emergent gameplay, which never ceases to surprise with its reactivity.