Now before I go too deep into this, I want to make it clear that in no way do I dislike linear games, some of my favourite games are linear. Linear games in my opinion are those that make you go in a specific direction and limit your exploration to some extent, games such as Tomb Raider, Uncharted and The Last of Us 1 & 2 (a lesser extent with 2, but it was still linear making you go in a specific direction). Open world games, you can go where you want and do what you want in what order you want, games such as Witcher 3 and the Assassins Creed (later) franchise.
I wonder if the world is moving on from the traditional linear game? Games these days are getting very expensive with the newer generation consoles, so a lot more people are expecting more bang for their buck, so using some examples from earlier:
Linear | | Open World | |
Game | Main story hours | Game | Main story hours |
Tomb Raider (2013) | 11.5 | Witcher 3 | 51 |
Ride of the Tomb Raider | 13.5 | RDR 2 | 50 |
Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 12.5 | GTA 5 | 31.5 |
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune | 8 | Skyrim | 34 |
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves | 10.5 | Metal Gear Solid 5 | 45.5 |
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception | 9 | Fallout 4 | 27 |
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End | 15 | Horizon Zero Dawn | 30 |
The Last of Us | 15.5 | Assassins Creed: Origins | 30 |
The Last of Us 2 | 24 | Assassins Creed: Odyssey | 44.5 |
Granted that some of these games are old. Still, you can see the pattern some, I wonder how long the linear format will continue when these big companies make bigger and bigger maps. I think the indie developers may stick to the linear as they can focus on story and graphics, a fantastic example I am playing at the moment and will be writing a review on at some point is “Stray” that game is magnificent and you get to play a cat… Thank. You!
Just so that no one thinks I am only an open-world fan, here are some other spectacular linear games that I highly recommend: The Wolf Among us, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Bioshock, Ryse: Son of Rome, Detroit become human, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Halo and (last one I promise), MASS EFFECT