Assassin's Creed: The Wasted Open-World

When It Comes To Open-World Titles, How Big Is Too Big?

The underlying message here is a simple one: generally speaking, quality over quantity is the way forward. The best sidequests in open-world games are satisfying, offer mini-campaigns in their own right, reward the player for taking the time to complete them, or offer access to an entirely new area, mechanic or similar. The more of these elements a title can work into its bonus content, the better.

The worst ones, meanwhile, seem a little inconsequential and tacked on. Completionists will always be open to hunting each and every one down, if only to be able to say that they’ve done so, but would they enjoy themselves in the process? That’s what really matters.

The difficulty lies in balancing the size of an ambitious open world with the amount there is to do within it. Battle royale players will be familiar with those long periods in a match where they don’t catch sight of another player. Downtime is always welcome in these titles, as they become suddenly super hectic when the action kicks in, but imagine a vast, open-world map that felt like this almost all the time. It would make for a disaster of a game.

Fast travel options can negate a lot of this, but the ever-authentic Red Dead Redemption 2 made even this feature intentionally clunky. The hope, in short, is that Valhalla’s world will be as action-packed, vibrant, busy, dangerous and alive as the period of the British Isles’ history that inspired it.

Origins and Odyssey were both great games, but perhaps their ambition got the best of them at times. Feeling the need to fill those enormous maps with all manner of fetch quests and other unnecessary distractions did them no favours.