10 Open-World Games That Punish You For 100%
5. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Surely no open-world game in recent memory has been guiltier of punishing your curiosity than Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
It's arguably been a significant problem with the series since its inception, that by simply stopping to explore its lush world, you're liable to become so powerful that the main story is an absolute joke.
Given the ludicrous amount of things you can and probably will want to do in the game, it's incredibly difficult to keep step with the level recommendations for the main questline, short of actually forcing yourself to stop exploring, which sucks.
This obviously isn't the way that most people want to experience the story, but the alternative is just bossing your way through it with minimal resistance.
Perhaps worst of all, being overlevelled will also result in you receiving a meagre amount of Class Points, making it difficult to advance your class progress. If that's not punishing you for doing everything the game has to offer, what is?
A game with this much to explore and experience shouldn't then penalise players for daring to do so.