Of the many issues plaguing the game industry, one of the ones that gamers would love to see fixed sooner rather than later is how open worlds in video games are handled. Specifically, how game devs seem to think that “the only thing to do is make games bigger,” and then they don’t make the open world feel special. We can point to many games that have this problem, where they’ll tout the “freedom you have to go anywhere,” and then, as you go around, there isn’t much to do. GTA 6 is set to be the biggest game that Rockstar has ever made, but is that a good thing?
There are some, like those at Screen Rant, who feel that the game should be smaller in scope and map size, so that way things can be more about “urban life” than about roaming around the city looking for things to do.
On the surface, you can see why they would say that. Many gamers can think of titles that have “smaller worlds,” but love what’s within them because they feel “alive” and full of things to try out and have fun with.
The catch we must remember, though, is that this is Rockstar Games, and they’re no strangers to open-world maps. They know what gamers like and don’t like with them, and they’ve already crushed this kind of thing with their Western titles, both of which were open world and “Game of the Year” nominees and winners!
Just as important, though, is that Rockstar has been working on GTA 6 for possibly over a decade, or, at least, close to it, which means they’ve had plenty of time to plan things out so that the world is full of content both big and small for fans to check out. One of the biggest pieces of proof of this was in the first trailer, which showed off the modern version of Leonida, which is basically Florida, and detailed the various things that happen on the streets, including the key setting of Vice City.
That city alone will likely have plenty of stuff to do via both the main campaign and the side quests, and then, as you explore more of the state, things are likely to unlock.
Whether Rockstar Games will find the “right balance” of open world freedom and creative content for players to try remains to be seen, but we’d be fools to bet against them just because of what others have done.
