4 ms·

I wonder if it will be fun. The open world Zelda game kinda made sense to me because those games have always been pretty open. You could always wander around.

I wonder if it will be fun. The open world Zelda game kinda made sense to me because those games have always been pretty open. You could always wander around. When I was a kid, I played Ocarina of Time as an open world game, I just wandered around and made up the NPC interactions in my head. And the 2D entries in the series had pretty big worlds. Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see if the trick can repeat outside that context. The open world Pokemon was pretty bad, but that series has been resting on its laurels for longer than most of the players have been alive.

honkycat 1y ago
The Forza Horizon series are open world car games, and they are very fun and effective.
- AlwaysRock 1y ago
  Need For Speed: Underground 2 and I think a decent chunk of other NFS were open world and really fun. Driving your car around in a driving game should be fun.
- walthamstow 1y ago
  A gamer friend described the new Mario Kart to me, a non-gamer, as "Burnout Paradise, but Mario Kart"
badgersnake 1y ago
Burnout Paradise did this to Burnout and imho, it made that game worse. If you haven’t played Burnout, go find a PS2 emulator and a Burnout 3 iso and you’ll have an amazing afternoon.
- jihadjihad 1y ago
  Burnout 3: Takedown was awesome but oh man, in 2025 my eyeballs cannot deal with the lower-res graphics/textures and short draw distance. Especially with things flying toward you at high speed!
- SirFatty 1y ago
  I first saw Burnout 3 at a family member's house. On the way home I stopped at Gamestop and bought a (first gen) Xbox and that game. What a fantastic game, the kids and I played it for countless hours. Too bad it never carried forward (Paradise doesn't count). Still have all that gear in a plastic bin.. I think about firing it up, but maybe I should leave it alone and just enjoy my memories.
  - jihadjihad 1y ago
    I don't have a DVD player at the house, so the trusty PS2 has been given new life with the kiddos. Sometimes it's nice to be able to fire up 007: Nightfire like old times!
wegfawefgawefg 1y ago
Both scarlet/violet sold 27million copies, comparable to all the other mainline games, and legends was the most popular sidegame by far at 15 million copies sold. I think the series is never going to not be open world going forward. It was a resounding success and most people like it.
DistractionRect 1y ago
Yeah, it doesn't really elaborate on why openworld might be more fun than standard tracks/cups. Sure, I can drive around in it and look at it, but what makes than fun? This article basically tells us large scale level design takes a lot of effort, but no more. Zelda makes sense to a degree, but IMO they lost the plot on what made Zelda games interesting. Old Zelda games were kinda open, but had (mostly) fixed sequence. The games were basically lock and key puzzles with a lot of back tracking. As you went you unlocked more items (keys), but having to key wasn't enough. You had to figure out how/where to use it. The way everything layered was elegant. You were excited to get to a dungeon, they always need a new gimmick(s)/mechanic(s), you got a new toy, and two boss fights. Once you were done, you got to see how this new thing unlocked more of world. New Zelda games have puddle deep dungeons and shrines to quickly get you back into the overworld, and you've already unlocked all the mechanics before the tutorial is over. So all that's left is exploring the overworld for the sake of exploration, which has a thousand seeds and a hundred shallow shrines to encourage you overturn every stone in it. I get I might not be the target demographic, open world games aren't inherently bad, and the new Zeldas enjoyed great commercial success. However I do feel this shift to open world misses and loses what made Mario Kart and Zelda beloved series to begin with.
- bee_rider 1y ago
  Actually, fwiw, I didn’t really play BotW. My non-gaming SO did, I just did the boss fights. They seemed to have fun exploring and hunting for ingredients. Although it was the pandemic so maybe standards were low. Nowadays, I find the stagnation of open world games a little boring. But, I also enjoy steeping in a world. So I play rogue-lites, haha.
- woleium 1y ago
  i suspect it will be grand theft auto for kids
  - JamesSwift 1y ago
    But thats 'Sneaky Sasquatch'. Which is a really good game.
eochaid 1y ago
It's really hard to say exactly how this will land with fans. The article mentions using kishōtenketsu in the game design of the Grand Prix mode, "now players have to drive to their next race, instead of being automatically transported", and the wiki page for kishōtenketsu mentions use of that concept in game design of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 3D World, both well received with 97 and 93 Metacritic scores respectively. I'm sure Nintendo has put a lot of thought and effort into this. But personally I feel like most open worlds feel empty and void to me after a few hours. I didn’t play it, but that seemed to be a major complaint with the latest Pokemon game.
- moepstar 1y ago
  Did you play Xenoblade Chronicles X on the WiiU? That was the open world game to me, it never felt boring (although the game itself had a lot of grind) and, if memory serves me right, about 400 square km to explore. I sunk about 300 hours in it… …and wish they already would release X 2.
  - mcphage 1y ago
    > and wish they already would release X 2 Wouldn't that be Xenoblade Chronicles 2 & 3? Or are they too different? (I only played Xenoblade Chronicles 1, so I'm asking honestly)
    - moepstar 1y ago
      No, X is a completely different story arc, setting etc... But yes, those mentioned are great in their own right - it is just that very different setting, the real open world, game play mechanics, skells (mechs) that can take you anywhere...
- soupfordummies 1y ago
  Sounds similar to Mario Wonder as well, where basically the world map is playable with stuff to do and find. I think I see what they're going for now. Probably some collectables, stunts, hidden levels, etc.
- 1y ago
xnx 1y ago
SSX was a semi-open world snowboarding game that was truly excellent, so it's very possible that Nintendo could pull it off. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a nearly perfect game. It lends itself to getting into a heightened flow state where you're working right at the edge of your reflexive and strategic abilities and having a ton of fun.

honkycat 1y ago

The Forza Horizon series are open world car games, and they are very fun and effective.

AlwaysRock 1y ago
Need For Speed: Underground 2 and I think a decent chunk of other NFS were open world and really fun. Driving your car around in a driving game should be fun.
walthamstow 1y ago
A gamer friend described the new Mario Kart to me, a non-gamer, as "Burnout Paradise, but Mario Kart"

badgersnake 1y ago

Burnout Paradise did this to Burnout and imho, it made that game worse. If you haven’t played Burnout, go find a PS2 emulator and a Burnout 3 iso and you’ll have an amazing afternoon.

jihadjihad 1y ago
Burnout 3: Takedown was awesome but oh man, in 2025 my eyeballs cannot deal with the lower-res graphics/textures and short draw distance. Especially with things flying toward you at high speed!
SirFatty 1y ago
I first saw Burnout 3 at a family member's house. On the way home I stopped at Gamestop and bought a (first gen) Xbox and that game. What a fantastic game, the kids and I played it for countless hours. Too bad it never carried forward (Paradise doesn't count). Still have all that gear in a plastic bin.. I think about firing it up, but maybe I should leave it alone and just enjoy my memories.
- jihadjihad 1y ago
  I don't have a DVD player at the house, so the trusty PS2 has been given new life with the kiddos. Sometimes it's nice to be able to fire up 007: Nightfire like old times!

wegfawefgawefg 1y ago

Both scarlet/violet sold 27million copies, comparable to all the other mainline games, and legends was the most popular sidegame by far at 15 million copies sold. I think the series is never going to not be open world going forward. It was a resounding success and most people like it.

DistractionRect 1y ago

Yeah, it doesn't really elaborate on why openworld might be more fun than standard tracks/cups. Sure, I can drive around in it and look at it, but what makes than fun? This article basically tells us large scale level design takes a lot of effort, but no more. Zelda makes sense to a degree, but IMO they lost the plot on what made Zelda games interesting. Old Zelda games were kinda open, but had (mostly) fixed sequence. The games were basically lock and key puzzles with a lot of back tracking. As you went you unlocked more items (keys), but having to key wasn't enough. You had to figure out how/where to use it. The way everything layered was elegant. You were excited to get to a dungeon, they always need a new gimmick(s)/mechanic(s), you got a new toy, and two boss fights. Once you were done, you got to see how this new thing unlocked more of world. New Zelda games have puddle deep dungeons and shrines to quickly get you back into the overworld, and you've already unlocked all the mechanics before the tutorial is over. So all that's left is exploring the overworld for the sake of exploration, which has a thousand seeds and a hundred shallow shrines to encourage you overturn every stone in it. I get I might not be the target demographic, open world games aren't inherently bad, and the new Zeldas enjoyed great commercial success. However I do feel this shift to open world misses and loses what made Mario Kart and Zelda beloved series to begin with.

bee_rider 1y ago
Actually, fwiw, I didn’t really play BotW. My non-gaming SO did, I just did the boss fights. They seemed to have fun exploring and hunting for ingredients. Although it was the pandemic so maybe standards were low. Nowadays, I find the stagnation of open world games a little boring. But, I also enjoy steeping in a world. So I play rogue-lites, haha.
woleium 1y ago
i suspect it will be grand theft auto for kids
- JamesSwift 1y ago
  But thats 'Sneaky Sasquatch'. Which is a really good game.

eochaid 1y ago

It's really hard to say exactly how this will land with fans. The article mentions using kishōtenketsu in the game design of the Grand Prix mode, "now players have to drive to their next race, instead of being automatically transported", and the wiki page for kishōtenketsu mentions use of that concept in game design of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 3D World, both well received with 97 and 93 Metacritic scores respectively. I'm sure Nintendo has put a lot of thought and effort into this. But personally I feel like most open worlds feel empty and void to me after a few hours. I didn’t play it, but that seemed to be a major complaint with the latest Pokemon game.

moepstar 1y ago
Did you play Xenoblade Chronicles X on the WiiU? That was the open world game to me, it never felt boring (although the game itself had a lot of grind) and, if memory serves me right, about 400 square km to explore. I sunk about 300 hours in it… …and wish they already would release X 2.
- mcphage 1y ago
  > and wish they already would release X 2 Wouldn't that be Xenoblade Chronicles 2 & 3? Or are they too different? (I only played Xenoblade Chronicles 1, so I'm asking honestly)
  - moepstar 1y ago
    No, X is a completely different story arc, setting etc... But yes, those mentioned are great in their own right - it is just that very different setting, the real open world, game play mechanics, skells (mechs) that can take you anywhere...
soupfordummies 1y ago
Sounds similar to Mario Wonder as well, where basically the world map is playable with stuff to do and find. I think I see what they're going for now. Probably some collectables, stunts, hidden levels, etc.
1y ago

xnx 1y ago

SSX was a semi-open world snowboarding game that was truly excellent, so it's very possible that Nintendo could pull it off. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a nearly perfect game. It lends itself to getting into a heightened flow state where you're working right at the edge of your reflexive and strategic abilities and having a ton of fun.