Sandbox and Openworld Games

Sandbox or openworld games give us the impression of choice and freewill (very Matrix-y) that we can do as we please in this world to get to where we need to be. This is often far from the truth, and we do have to complete objective A or speak with a certain character, or we have to execute a mission in a particular manner before the story will move on. Also, if we fail said mission then we simply fail it, and get reset back to a point in time able to try again. So therefore openworld games, aren’t very ‘open’ and there is often only one/a few choices to be a made to get us onto the next segment of the game so therefore there is lack of free choice or will to be exercised in games other than option A B or C (also very…Matrix-y with the illusion of freewill).

Games like the Grand Theft Auto franchise by Rockstar are the original inventors of an openworld, along with arguably Mario 64 from Nintendo. These 2 games gave us the chance to not simply sit on a invisible narrative rollercoaster that paused frequently to allow us to finish a level within a timer, or defeat a end of level boss character to give us a segment of story before moving on. Prior to these games, most videogames acted out this scenario from start to finish and that was what formed the basis of a game.

The annoying moment when you troll yourself!

Not entirely their fault as limitations of hardware at the time meant games often stuck to this as the basic framework of what made a videogame, as anything else would have been too complex. For comparison SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) cartridges of the day typically only had a round 117MB of space. Most peoples mobile phones today have standard 32GB of space which means it could hold roughly 270 SNES games, and I’m sure we can all see they are smaller than those cartridges were. Anything more complex would require more memory, as well as faster processing power. These big cartridges where also prohibitive of a how complex a game could be, as each could only hold so much data – after which it couldn’t so the games had to be designed to be able to fit comfortably within the hardware’s limitations. As consoles such as the N64 and Sony’s Playstation hit the market, the combination of larger storage as well as faster processing allowed games to become more complex, and deliver more visually, audially and narratively.

25 years later and still a firm fan favourite

Which brings us back to Grand Theft Auto (1997) on the Playstation (PSone) and Mario64 (1996) on the N64. Mario was an open world game in the truest sense of the time, once the game plonked you down on the grass outside Princess Peach’s castle you were free to do as you pleased. It was also one of the earliest games to give a proper 3D to interact in. Following the usual story of the Princess being kidnapped by Bowser, you where then required to find the 120 stars to rescue the Princess. By entering doorways and hopping into paintings in the castle, you’d be deposited into a world that required several challenges to be completed or bosses defeated to win back stars. The beauty of which, you could do in any order you liked, or some ignored and returned to once you felt better practised to win. This allowed you the freedom to choose how you progressed, with each increment of 10 stars gathered unlocking a new segment of the castle. Grand Theft Auto or GTA was on the other hand a different animal not a 3D world but instead a top down view game that was still quite 2D with a micromachines vibe to it. What made this game different (although similar to Mario 64) was the story was very loose, and all the player did was complete jobs they picked up by walking over to telephone boxes in game. The would be given a job to complete which gave a score, that when added up eventually unlocked other cities in the game. The player was free to do this in any order they liked and could accept missions from any phone at any time, they could also just drive around killing pedestrians and avoiding the police for as long as they liked. The 2nd GTA took this dynamic but pushed the open worldness more by including influence meters for gangs. Do too many jobs for one gang meant you were free from attack by them and had higher respect which unlocked hardier jobs. However, this meant a rival gang would have a lower respect for you, attack you on sight and wouldn’t allow you to do anything other than basic missions for them until you built their respect back up. The seeds of open world games can be seen here.

Fast forward almost 2 decades later, improvements in hardware and storage capabilities means there is a whole host of games which have attempted (to varying degrees of success) the sandbox genre. Assassins Creed, Far Cry, The Sims, Minecraft, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Just Cause, The Witcher, DayZ, Sony’s Spider-Man to name but a few.

Skyrim, the possibilities truly are endless….

The undisputed kings of developing these games is Rockstar Studio’s. Over the last 20 years they have produced the most games in this genre, the Grand Theft Auto franchise alone has now grown to include 11 stand alone titles, and has spawned the phrase GTA-clone used to describe any new game by a developer that has open world play. They also produced L.A. Noire, Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2, as well as lesser known titles like Bully, all of which again incorporate sandbox play at their core. The most recent release Red Dead Redemption 2 has set the bar insanely high for what people now expect from sandbox play, as well as graphics and storytelling. One minute you can be planning a heist on a train, to hunting a grizzly bear (to be skinned and sold to the local butcher no less), gently strolling through a lush meadow on your favourite horse you caught, tamed, and customised before coming across some old civil war veterans who are still bitter for losing and take pop shoots at you. The lush visuals are also insanely realistic, even right down to the smallest of details, and if it wasn’t for the health and radar on screen it could be mistaken for a movie or real life you are staring at. All of which encourage the notion that it’s a real living breathing world we are in. NPC’s (Non Playable Characters, basically everyone else in the game apart from you) are also heavily praised in this game, with some articles on google written by people who simply followed a NPC for a in game time day to see what they did. The game however is still story driven (an emotionally invested and well executed one it may be added, just ask anyone who’s played it what they think of Arthur as a main character), and to complete it and see what happens then we have to do things in an order and complete missions just like every other videogame.

Arthur Morgan and his NPC playland it should have been called

It’s with these last 2 points we come to my final point. Even after all this time, we still have to play the game ultimately in some fashion to what the developer wanted. Even with this hyper-real digital world to explore, which you can get lost in for days if you like, and spend weeks doing side quests without really touching the main story, you’ll still feel the itch to do that mission. If not you’ll forever be stuck in a virtually never ending groundhog day, and the main story will still be waiting there ideally on you coming back to it. Although NPC’s are incredibly lifelike in their mannerisms and routines (sadly a bit of art imitating real life there) they never truly give you the sense that you can influence their lives in any great manner, nor can they influence yours, other than become personal target practice that triggers the law after one to many is killed or harassed in front of other NPC’s. Side note one bizarre thing I loved to do in this game was sprint full speed into NPC’s and laugh at their verbal responses, and their physical reaction’s, don’t ask me why, maybe it was just because I could. However imagine a game in which all these interactions mattered, and not just to grant us a alternative ending, or to present choices that echo down the line and makes our character fall into the good or bad player stereotype??

Often this is as complex as choice can be in games…

Imagine a game where everything you do has an impact, kill a NPC you end up in jail and serve time, or choose to live your ‘life’ on the run in the game. Decide not to continue on with a story mission within an allocated time, then the story expires. If it involved rescuing someone then they are killed by their kidnappers, and their living relatives hunt you down for revenge (if you have a low connection or respect with them) or just turn their backs on you (if they still have a small amount of respect for you). Fall off a cliff or have a bad accident in the game, then your character can’t run or is hampered physically for a period of time till they recover. Fail a mission then that’s it, the mission can never be retaken and the story thread moves on without you or stops there. Now obviously certain aspects of which could be tedious or boring for some people, so a option to maybe select true story mode, or true openworld mode would help cater to individuals more who are looking for different things. There would also be some limit to what each game genre would be able to achieve, the next Formula1 game wouldn’t have any point in its career mode, to suddenly give you the option to not turn up for training and slide into the criminal underworld, using your skills to become a getaway driver (although this would be quite cool). Nor would it be sensible if the next Lara Croft game allowed you to not bother raiding tombs, and instead sat in her country manor rinsing her inheritance money on wild parties and materialistic items to fill the void in her life (again though I’m sure some people would enjoy this).

Lara couldn’t deal with another tomb to escape

Within games that label themselves as being openworld and sandbox this is what they should aim for, to take gaming into the next phase of being truly immersive. Let us be the story we want to be in that world, let our actions within that framework of that world determine what story unfolds. Ultimately it may be a very boring story, or it could be incredibly complex. It might go on for months, or be over in a night, but then it would be reflective of what we invest in it, and to some degree who we are as individuals. Games in the past have pushed this to some degree’s and attempted a level of complexity that emulated real life, such as in the Fable series which interestingly is set to return with a new instalment on next gen consoles. We also have Cyberpunk 2077 to look forward to, with its developers hinting at a truly openworld sandbox experience unlike what we’ve had before, and they have the experience of having produced The Witcher 3 to back up the claims.

However, the one thing that will limit or propel the scope of this vision, which has already been mentioned will be hardware. As we come to a time to migrate over to the next gen of consoles, and what will probably be the last physical consoles, it will be interesting to see what the next decade will bring for openworld games and games in general. Graphics will obviously be insanely more detailed, giving more immersion into the world of the game, which will (hopefully) be integrated more seriously (and cheaply) with VR headsets to really deepen the level of immersion (making it even more Matrix-y).

The future….possibly….

Though these new titles, and the promise of better hardware might push the bar of capabilities for these types of games, the likelihood is the real peak will be further down the road. The signs are promising, and it will be interesting when the day comes, to instead of simply playing the game the way the developers want, be able to be the authors of our own story. To exist in a world created by the developer and presented with the tools and a blank slate. To make the experience uniquely your own, who knows maybe by the time it arrives in its truest form, openworld games will feel less like games and be more where we live our lives, perhaps it will be like The Oasis shown in Ready Player One (definitely worth a watch). Whatever it will be, you’ll have the choice….

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