2. A More Condensed & Focussed World Size
With GTA V we saw the most detailed and expansive world created so far; every single pixel was laboriously hand-crafted to compliment an unmatched sense of immersion, with a city that positively pulsated with life. However, bigger is not always better, and aside from hailing a cab to get around exploring for the sake of exploring, it was more of a chore realising your checkpoint was a good 5-10 minutes of game-time away. With so many instalments in, the general allure of burning round the city just doesn't hold up - especially when there's always going to be more variety on-foot through weapons, cover points and infiltration possibilities. This isn't to say that the world should be drastically reduced to last-generation proportions - but when you think about it, what benefit is there game-wise to worlds that take considerable amounts of time to traverse? Sleeping Dogs got the balance down-pat; going across the entire map took a good few minutes but your checkpoints were always within pretty close reach of one another, making for an experience where you could get distracted doing side missions or tracking down collectibles, but the main thread was within arm's reach when you were ready.