Open world games featured inThe Elder ScrollsorGrand Theft Autogive players plenty of opportunities to have fun without focusing on the main quest. Aside from side missions, books and NPC habits inThe Elder Scrolls,as well as entertaining radio segments and mini-games inGrand Theft Auto,add significantly to the game’s immersion. However, certain games subvert open-world expectations by outright punishing players for exploring the world too much.
The idea of open-world titles doling out punishment on players who delay their stories can get wild at first. However, these restrictions can add much-needed urgency in games with vast environments when done correctly.
Set in the region of Cyrodiil, players ofThe Elder Scrolls 4: Obliviononce again take the role of prisoners caught up in a plot to save the world. This time around,players witness the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim VIIand are entrusted to ensure the survival of his last remaining heir, Martin Septim. While the game still allows players to delay the main quest and make their own fate in Cyrodiil, the game puts players at a disadvantage when they inevitably make too much progress in their levels.
Leveling up occurs by repeatedly performing chosen Major Skills. Theoretically, players who level up their combat-oriented skills won’t have much of a problem fighting stronger enemies who grow in levels with them. However, this scaling becomes a problem when players focus on non-combat abilities, rendering them much weaker than their foes in the long term. The fact that Major Skills are selected in Character Creation also force players to be more proactive even in their exploration, punishing leisurely playthroughs.
Protagonist Lightning ofFinal Fantasy 13wakes up from stasis inLightning Returnsonly to find out that the world is ending in 13 Days. Tasked to save the world by the deity Bhunivelze, players andLightning rediscover the course of events that led to his desperate pre-apocalypseand the true agenda of larger forces behind them. While Nova Chrysalia’s open world allows Lightning to freely take on quests and explore the world’s remnants, the game’s ticking clock will eventually wind down to its destruction.
If the Apocalypse happens, the game restarts into a New Game+, retaining the player’s current permanent buffs, equipment, items, and certain stats. However, despite this “reward,” players still have to repeat all main quests and side quests they finished. Moreover, players still run the risk of draining time all over again without proper time management.
Photojournalist Frank West ofDead Risingis on a mission to discovery why Willamette Parkview Mall is overrun by zombies. Unique to the game is its more comical take on zombies that sets it apart from Capcom’s other hit zombie franchise,Resident Evil. On top of being able to use various weapons, Frank can earn Prestige Points from fights and taking photos to “level up” in an RPG-esque progression system.
Where the open world game actively punishes players is through its “72 Hour Mode,” the story mode where Frank and the playershave three in-game days to finish all the game’s major missionsand finish Frank’s journey. The only way to playDead Risingin sandbox mode is through its “Infinity Mode,” the second mode unlocked after finishing “72 Hour Mode” and his extended one-day stay via “Overtime Mode.” Not only is the game’s “free-time sandbox” unlocked behind a persistent timer, failing to finish Case Files unlocks other endings that don’t count towards the game’s completion.
Set in an unnamed solar system, players ofOuter Wildsare astronauts linked to a statue of an ancient civilization just minutes before their star goes supernova. When the supernova begins, the world ends and the game resets,revealing a time loop. Players are encouraged to explore the game and discover the true nature of a race called the Nomai, the time loop’s causes, and ways of stopping it.
While failing the game’s 22-minute timer simply sends players back on a time loop, their time is best spent when maximizing time during exploration of the game’s many regions instead of mindless roaming. Not only that, the game’s puzzles, locations, and events often switch up with each subsequent playthrough, forcing players to remember how each puzzle works to reveal clues or risk having to repeat everything all over again.
In what may be described asStardew Valleyvillage management meetsPhasmophobiafrights, the story ofThe Foresttakes place in a mysterious island where plane crash survivor Eric LeBlanc has to find his son Timmy. Regardless if games play alone or with up to seven friends,The Forestgamers have to hunt for food, gather and create supplies, construct settlements, and survivewhile searching for Timmy and unlocking the island’s mysteries.
When players waste too much time wandering around, they risk getting hungry, thirsty, and losing energy - all placing them at the risk of death. Likewise, players wandering aimlessly can encounter the game’s various mutant cannibals who, like the protagonist, evolve with armor, weapons, and even an extra appendage or two. Improper juggling of priorities can end up with players spending the night with no food, die of hypothermia with no fire, or end up outnumbered with no shelter to protect them.
WhileMiddle-Earth: Shadow of Waropens with undead ranger Talion and elf lord spirit Celebrimbor finally forging a Sauron-free Ring of Power, an encounter with the spider Shelob sends them on a quest to steal a Palantir from a besieged Minas Ithil. While it’s possible to ignore this main quest and explore the game’s more colorful biomes, delaying the story can pose a lot of disadvantages to Talion and Celebrimbor.
Not only does the game have a number of story-locked abilities, its main story also follows a general “path” across the game’s areas that also segregate enemies by level. While players can pull aDark Soulsand start defeating more powerful foes, the game’s Nemesis System may work against players who can’t handle the challenge. After all,Shadow of War’s updated Nemesis Systemnow promotes enemies who defeat players, as well as boasts improved AI that can adapt to a gamer’s playstyle.
Set in a post-apocalypse where the Great War plunged the world into nuclear hell,Fallout 1is the first title of Bethesda’s acclaimedFalloutseries. This is the first time players take the role of the Vault Dweller, where they need to replace Vault 13’s water chip. Throughout this main quest, the Vault Dweller discovers a plot that puts the remnants of humanity at risk. The open world’s punishing components come in the form of its in-game timers.
Players havean initial 150-day timerto find the water chip, where finishing this unlocks the second half of the story and its hidden 350-day timer. Version 1.1 gives players a hidden 13-year timer, instead. While all these timers may be enough for the casual player, playing the game in its first release can be punishing for extremely leisurely gamers. Not only would Vault 13 start deteriorating upon wasting the 150th day, but it will also be destroyed if the main story isn’t completed after the game’s 500th overall day.
