As a genre, ‘open world’ has come to mean far more than just a big, seamless map. It conjures images of vast, big budget games with a huge range of things to do, including combat, exploring, searching for collectibles, solving puzzles, traversal and more.
But I always find it really interesting when games buck that flirted with the idea of open-world survival horror, with its creepy town full of nightmares to sneak past. Or , which, despite its protagonist wielding a bow and arrow, eschewed violence in favor of finding joy in discovery.
