Ghost of Yotei: what makes a good open-world game?

After being completely absorbed in the world of Ghost of Yotei (GoY) since its release, I can confidently say it is the perfect sequel to its predecessor, Ghost of Tsushima (GoT). The combat is more diverse, owing to the multitude of weapons the protagonist Atsu can use, as opposed to Jin’s singular katana in GoT.

Similarly, side missions are fun and engaging, with unique narratives and engaging characters that are sometimes as interesting as those of the main story. Even innocuous details from the first game have been revamped, where you can now expect to encounter easter eggs and fun details every time you take on what can be the repetitive task of completing bamboo strikes and shrines around the map.

However, the aspect of GoY I have been most fascinated with is the way in which its open world complements and enhances the game’s overarching plot. In other games, free roam serves as an opportunity for the player to neglect the main mission for a while, and pursue their own objectives separate to the goals set out for the protagonist by the writing team.

In this sense, the open world functions as a parallel incentive to continue playing. One could easily separate exploring the open world from the game’s core story as fundamentally distinct gaming experiences, and even forget that the main mission requires completing until the protagonist reminds them with a line of scripted dialogue.

The fundamental appeal of an open world is exploration

In Ghost of Yotei however, even the most inconsequential interactions Atsu has with the open world around her reinforce the game’s main narrative and immerse the player in its stakes. This fact is grounded in the very premise of Yotei’s story, as Atsu returns to her home of Ezo in search of the Yotei Six, but without any information on their whereabouts.

In this sense, exploration is the main story, as Atsu finds herself in need of direction from the island’s people, and slowly uncovers the locations of her enemies through her exploration of the open world: an excellent example of ludonarrative harmony.

Thus, potentially meaningless interactions with NPCs are transformed into the vital source of the game’s progression. Characters give the player tips on where to find leads and other characters that may aid them in defeating the men responsible for the murder of Atsu’s family. Whereas in other games the player might ignore a nameless NPC calling out for help on the side of the road, Yotei’s story transforms that potential interaction from a boring waste of 5 minutes into an opportunity to acquire new weapons and armour to make you more powerful, or progress the main story.

This is not to say that all of GoY’s side content is fascinating. There are definitely some boring missions, but it is the fact that the player does not know what they should be spending their time on that makes the game so addictive and enjoyable. The answer to not knowing what to do in an open-world video game is, naturally, to do everything.

The genius of this gameplay dynamic is enhanced by what I believe to be at the core of all great open-world games: the appeal of discovery. It may seem intuitive, but many modern open-world games forget that the fundamental appeal of an open world is exploration, and this is meaningless without the absence of external knowledge.

The potential for serendipity is lost after the player completes a region’s Tallneck

Take the game Horizon: Zero Dawn, for example. Initially, the game’s map is covered by clouds which bar the player from seeing beneath them, and these clouds are only lifted when they have explored the areas of the map in question. This is a common mechanic in open-world games, and indeed the same mechanism is employed in Ghost of Yotei, but with one important caveat. In Horizon: Zero Dawn, there exists the option to complete various “Tallnecks” around the map: large moving robots that, upon the player hacking them, reveal all points of interest in their corresponding area.

While this might be more convenient to the player, especially when it comes to farming robot parts for upgrades, it completely undermines the appeal of discovery in the open world, and thus the appeal of the genre. Instead of forcing the player to explore, the game exclusively incentivizes the use of fast-travel to move between objectives after completing the Tallneck, as opposed to traveling on-foot and entertaining the possibility of getting distracted by something interesting on the way. I suspect the developers of Horizon: Zero Dawn realized this, and decided to make fast-travel conditional on obtaining the resources to make fast-track packs, a constraint that does little to discourage players from skipping from one mission to another and avoiding the open world.

To prove my point, GoY also has a fast-travel mechanic, but it does not have the same effect on gameplay incentives as Horizon: Zero Dawn’s. The allure of finding something potentially interesting on the way to your objective is too strong in GoY, and thus fast-travel is disincentivized. In Horizon: Zero Dawn, the potential for serendipity is lost after the player completes a region’s Tallneck, and exploration is rendered meaningless. It is this potential for serendipity, therefore, that makes GoY’s open world enjoyable to explore.

I don’t mean to say here that Horizon: Zero Dawn is a bad game. In fact, the story and combat made playing it an enjoyable experience despite the subpar open world. Likewise, any other open-world game that features the same mechanics is not bad per se. It is simply that their open worlds are less immersive. However, given that, for many open-world games, the appeal of free-roam can be one of the main reasons people buy them, this often means that a bad open world makes the game disappointing as a whole.

It is truly only your own exploration which will unlock the possibilities of the world

It could be argued that it is Ghost of Yotei’s stunning graphics and breath-taking vistas which make its open world so attractive. Indeed, other popular open-world games like Red Dead Redemption 2 have also been praised for their realistic graphics, with RDR2 in particular engendering an endless supply of YouTube videos pointing out the developers’ almost obsessive attention to detail.

This argument breaks apart however, when one considers the most popular game, and indeed open-world game, of all time: Minecraft. The appeal of Minecraft’s open world does not lie in its base graphics or its realism, even if it seems Mojang is trying to make the game more realistic with every new update. The game’s immense popularity also cannot be derived from its main story, given that there is none (unless you count killing the Ender Dragon as a “main mission”.)

What makes Minecraft so brilliant, and the reason behind why it is the open-world game par excellence, is that it perfectly captures the essence of exploration. By definition, exploration necessitates the explorer’s ignorance of the area they are venturing into. Discovery, therefore, is the incentive that makes exploration worthwhile, and one cannot “discover” something if they are granted knowledge of it by an outside source. Minecraft understands this, which is why the game has no map available in the menu screen, and any maps the player does obtain, must be acquired by visiting and exploring that particular area. Everything the player does in Minecraft must be discovered through exploration first, and the fact that every game seed is completely different only enhances the feeling that it is truly only your own exploration which will unlock the possibilities of the world.

Ghost of Yotei follows in this direction, but to a lesser extent. It still allows the player to fast-travel, and if they get lost they can always consult the map in the menu to get back on course. Similarly, as opposed to Minecraft’s near-infinitely-large world, GoY’s gaming experience is ultimately constrained by a finite number of collectibles and missions that the developers decided to include.

Despite this, I argue that these are peripheral concerns, and do not detract from the core success of Yotei’s open world. Sucker Punch has proven that it has understood the fundamental source of an open world’s enjoyment, the feeling of venturing out into the unknown, and the excitement of not knowing what you will find.