Horizon Zero Dawn and Marvel’s Spider-Man Show PlayStation is Nailing Open-World Travel
Open world sandboxes are among the most successful and popular videogame genres. Everything you need saints RowToLegend of ZeldaThe format has been adopted by the series, allowing players to have fun in an open environment. It is important to traverse large landscapes. This means that enjoyment and accessibility must be balanced.PlayStation Exclusive games have adopted this open-world format, taking the genre in new directions due to the variety of characters and styles that populate these games.
Horizon: Zero Dawn and Marvel’s Spider-Man are two shining examples of what PlayStation games can offer in the open-world traversal. These two titles offer living open-world environments. But what sets them apart from other games in this genre is how the game allows the player to explore the world around them. The game’s emphasis on the enjoyment by simply interfacing with the world has a major impact on its overall quality, something that other open-world games should strive to emulate.
Open Worlds – The Long, Lonely Roads
Open world games offer developers a great way to get as much content as possible and allow players to explore their imaginations. This approach to game design can have its downsides. It can allow the player too much freedom. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s game world, for example, is absolutely gargantuan, with vast open oceans and lush forest landscapes. Although this is a remarkable technical feat, it can also be frustrating because the objectives are scattered too widely across the map. The player has no other options than walking or riding horses.
One argument is that these games allow for fast travel, which reduces backtracking and distances between locations. Players are indeed provided with a vast, detailed environment. However, they may feel compelled to skim most of it. PlayStation games are known for their open-world exploration, and Marvel’s Spider-Man and Horizon: Zero Dawn have tried to break the mold.
Ride a Metal Machine/Do What a Spider Can
Grand Theft Auto is an example of an open-world series. Although it is impressive, the gameplay of each game has remained consistent. You have access to many vehicles, including motorcycles and sports cars. However, they are not exactly unique. Similar sentiments can be applied to Saints Row and Just Cause, which all take place in semi-realistic settings. PlayStation games embrace the strange, otherworldly, and supernatural in open-world titles. This is evident with Horizon: Zero Dawn, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and many others.
It takes time to develop games, especially for big-budget titles that can take years. Players must spend enough time exploring the locations, despite all the work involved. Marvel’s Spider-Man does a commendable job in letting players jump into the wall-crawler’s shoes, diving off skyscrapers, and pulling off dazzling aerial acrobatics with relative ease. Insomniac captured Spidey’s speed and momentum with great ease. Although fast travel is possible in the game, players who can maintain a steady web-slinging rhythm can cruise across the map in just a few seconds.
Horizon Zero Dawn takes full advantage of its sci-fi setting, themes and implements them into the open-world exploration. Instead of simply having the player walk across vast open spaces, the player is put in the shoes of a character that would have to master survival skills in such a world. Horizon: Zero Dawn’s various machines, which animals clearly inspire from our world, can be overridden and mounted to provide transport. Players will have to climb giant machines while they move to be able to see more terrain.
