I love the open world, but it does come with the caveat that I’m not the kind of person that replays games a lot. I adore games like Outer Wilds and A Highland Song where exploring is basically the entire point. I prefer having one or two really interesting playthroughs enjoying the exploration over a series of combat gauntlets. Don’t get me wrong, I like the gauntlets as well, I just crave exploration in games
That said, aren’t the most highly-regarded legacy dungeons the least linear ones? Everyone loves Leyndell and that place is a labyrinth
Stormveil is fantastic, yeah. I would say that the second half of it is a lot less linear too. Once you’ve beaten the grafted scion it gives you far more options. You can dodge the troll altogether and never meet Nepheli, and there’s at least three ways to approach the main gate from the inside
I’ve not heard of A Highland Song, but Outer Wilds is one of my all-time favourite games. I’m going to check it out; thanks for the recommendation
I realise that you weren’t actively making a recommendation, but that’s effectively what you’ve done. I love finding new stuff through organic conversations like this — we’re living in an era of endless slop content getting in our way, so I relish these small moments of connection with other people.
Regarding Elden Ring, I completely agree. The highlight of the game was the very beginning, when you first get into Limgrave. Fairly early on, I found the chest in the lake ruins that teleports you into Caelid, and it was such as awesome experience to feel so terrified. The world felt so huge
What apotheotic said is correct, it’s quite different to Outer Wilds. That said, I obviously think it’s still worth checking out. I am probably biased because I live in Scotland, like hillwalking, and like Scottish folk music, so it was hitting a lot of personal delights for me. I do recommend it all the same, as the art style is lovely and the frequent moments of “ooh, what’s that in the distance and how do I get there?” are a lot of fun
I think the closest experiences to OW I’ve had are:
Return of the Obra Dinn. I think everyone knows this one, but in case you haven’t played it it’s more focussed on story and detective work over the exploration of OW
Sable. Movement is really fun and the world is cool to explore, but the quests are a bit shallow. I recommend going into the graphics settings and choosing the high visibility colour option, it looks much nicer
Heaven’s Vault. Great story and a fascinating setting, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is much less fluid than OW
I think all three are great overall, of course, especially Obra Dinn
(also if you have your own OW-adjacent recommendations I would love to hear them)
I don’t have any recommendations of my own, but that’s sort of why I love Outer Wilds so much; it’s an experience quite unlike any other I’ve had. I mean, the same could be said for most media — it’s always wise to try not to project expectations from another game stop you from engaging with a new game on its terms, and that’s especially true for a game that is personally impactful.
It reminds me of the quote: “a man can never walk through the same river twice, because it is not the same river and he is not the same man”. There are so many games that I wish I could play for the first time again, but I wouldn’t really want that even if it were possible, because it would surely mean reverting back to the person I was before playing those games (given that they impacted me enough that I feel changed for the experience). Perhaps it’s a cheesy way to look at things, but I like being overly poetic in my old age (that is a joke — I am only 28.)
![[ER] Choose one](https://lemmy.zip/pictrs/image/3bbd7c59-f47f-4ffd-9d9e-17f688b292c9.webp){kind=link}
I love the open world, but it does come with the caveat that I’m not the kind of person that replays games a lot. I adore games like Outer Wilds and A Highland Song where exploring is basically the entire point. I prefer having one or two really interesting playthroughs enjoying the exploration over a series of combat gauntlets. Don’t get me wrong, I like the gauntlets as well, I just crave exploration in games
That said, aren’t the most highly-regarded legacy dungeons the least linear ones? Everyone loves Leyndell and that place is a labyrinth
deleted by creator
Stormveil is fantastic, yeah. I would say that the second half of it is a lot less linear too. Once you’ve beaten the grafted scion it gives you far more options. You can dodge the troll altogether and never meet Nepheli, and there’s at least three ways to approach the main gate from the inside
I’ve not heard of A Highland Song, but Outer Wilds is one of my all-time favourite games. I’m going to check it out; thanks for the recommendation
I realise that you weren’t actively making a recommendation, but that’s effectively what you’ve done. I love finding new stuff through organic conversations like this — we’re living in an era of endless slop content getting in our way, so I relish these small moments of connection with other people.
Regarding Elden Ring, I completely agree. The highlight of the game was the very beginning, when you first get into Limgrave. Fairly early on, I found the chest in the lake ruins that teleports you into Caelid, and it was such as awesome experience to feel so terrified. The world felt so huge
A highland song is excellent, but don’t expect it to be anything like outer wilds
What apotheotic said is correct, it’s quite different to Outer Wilds. That said, I obviously think it’s still worth checking out. I am probably biased because I live in Scotland, like hillwalking, and like Scottish folk music, so it was hitting a lot of personal delights for me. I do recommend it all the same, as the art style is lovely and the frequent moments of “ooh, what’s that in the distance and how do I get there?” are a lot of fun
I think the closest experiences to OW I’ve had are:
I think all three are great overall, of course, especially Obra Dinn
(also if you have your own OW-adjacent recommendations I would love to hear them)
I don’t have any recommendations of my own, but that’s sort of why I love Outer Wilds so much; it’s an experience quite unlike any other I’ve had. I mean, the same could be said for most media — it’s always wise to try not to project expectations from another game stop you from engaging with a new game on its terms, and that’s especially true for a game that is personally impactful.
It reminds me of the quote: “a man can never walk through the same river twice, because it is not the same river and he is not the same man”. There are so many games that I wish I could play for the first time again, but I wouldn’t really want that even if it were possible, because it would surely mean reverting back to the person I was before playing those games (given that they impacted me enough that I feel changed for the experience). Perhaps it’s a cheesy way to look at things, but I like being overly poetic in my old age (that is a joke — I am only 28.)