10 Modern Video Game Tropes Everyone Is Rejecting
4. Game Worlds Always Getting Bigger
Whenever a new game is announced, especially if it’s a new entry in a series, the chances are that at some point someone is going to boast about how unimaginably massive the map is. It’s only recently that Bethesda have revealed that upcoming sci-fi RPG Starfield will have 1000 planets for us to explore.
While the prospect of exploring a digital universe of this size suggests hundreds of hours of storytelling potential, bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. That’s a lesson we’ve learned on several occasions.
The promise of a sprawling map is a promise for epic adventures set within a variety of different areas to explore and discover. This was the case when it came to Skyrim and The Witcher 3, with each new undiscovered location containing something worth seeking out.
However, a game’s world is only as good as the content that’s in it. And as maps get increasingly bigger, it becomes harder to fill them with meaningful encounters.
The sprawling streets of Cyberpunk's Night City make for a wonderfully realised dystopian setting. However, it's vast, empty areas and overreliance on side content to fill the map detracts from the overall experience of an otherwise excellent game.