8 Ways All Video Games Are Becoming Exactly The Same

1. A Focus On "Shared-World Experiences"

Destiny 2
Bungie

It's not enough to have single-player campaigns anymore, as every game has to be a 'shared world' experience that puts the focus on competitive or cooperative play with other real-world players.

Spearheaded by the likes of Destiny in 2014, in the intervening years the biggest developers and franchises have scrambled to follow suit. Now, with the likes of The Division and the upcoming Anthem dropping the conventional single-player framework in favour or a more fluid multiplayer system, it looks like most current releases are getting in on the shared-world hype.

Even games that haven't adopted the multiplayer focus entirely still feature the philosophy of this design in some way. Releases like Dark Souls allow other players to invade your world for the chance of gaining rewards, while even a title like Shadow of Mordor allows other players to avenge your death even if they aren't technically in your game.

This inter-connectivity between players seems like an inevitability in an increasingly online world, but it shouldn't only be implemented for the sake of it.

Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.