9 Most Overdone Clichés In Modern Video Games

2. "A Huge Open World!" With Nothing To Do

Anthem, Mass Effect Andromeda, Just Cause 3, Days Gone - all championed the idea of humungous, immersive or otherwise worthwhile open worlds... but forgot to give you anything memorable inside.

Anthem was every bit the product of its troubled development; a world raised and lowered to accommodate a flight mechanic the devs simply couldn't decide on until months before launch. Mass Effect Andromeda was the same - taking Dragon Age: Inquisition's "Hinterlands problem" and multiplying it across every planet.

Just Cause's notion of destruction itself being "the thing you do" worked best for the first couple of entries when Havok physics alone were noteworthy, but the franchise has struggled massively to offer anything else.

Games shouldn't just be open world for the sake of it. Titles like The Witcher 3, Breath of the Wild and Ghost of Tsushima fundamentally tie their character and story progressions to that of the world itself. Anything less, and we're verging on something included for the back of a box or advert, rather than necessity.

Here's the test of an open-world game:

If, once you've unlocked the ability to fast travel, it comes as a relief - something you do to get to "the real game" and bypass the world - then that game has failed as an open-world experience.