My Favorite Open World--RDR2

I've played an absolutely insane amount of Cyberpunk 2077 (and will continue my weird obsession with the game that the entire internet loves to hate on), but after four full playthroughs, I decided that it's time to give Night City a break.  Of course, then I was confronted with the age-old panicked feeling of trying to figure out what to play next.  Since I found the open-world aspects of Cyberpunk to be one of the weakest parts of the game (it's a beautiful world, but it just lacks depth), I got to thinking about my longstanding issues with many open-world games.  Nowadays, it feels like every major RPG is centered around a massive world.  The challenge for developers/game designers is to figure out how to effectively fill up that space and make it engaging for players.  I often find myself getting bored in open world games--since I'm a completionist, it's very easy to get caught up in what I like to call the "map marker elimination" task.  I just want to clear my map of all those obnoxious symbols!  However, focusing solely on those symbols becomes the definition of drudgery--there's not much fun in stabbing your 10,000th guard in Assassin's Creed or diving for another obnoxiously located set of treasure chests in The Witcher 3.  There's one game though that manages to have a massive, open-world and somehow avoid many of the other common missteps from other games--Red Dead Redemption 2.

RDR2 is a true masterpiece of the open world.
(*Not my pic--credit to the NY Times)

What works well in RDR2:

1.) They don't drown players in a jillion map symbols.  As a completionist, it can be very overwhelming to see all the myriad tasks just waiting to be completed.  By having players find and use maps for certain objectives (legendary animals/fish, treasure maps) it eliminates much of the clutter (although, I'm sure some would argue that having to access your inventory and look at those maps as opposed to simply punching the map button can get annoying).

2.) By using a "blank map" they encourage players to explore.  I've always enjoyed the fact that as you find animals, pick herbs, and explore unique locations new details are added to the map.  It's fun to see a blank square and then set out to discover exactly what's there.  Rockstar is good at rewarding exploration with unique encounters and strange events (my favorite random building in RDR2 is the scene of a bizarre 19th century suicide cult).  Plyers are also encouraged to explore by the fact that fast travel takes some time to unlock.

3.) A wide variety of tasks for players to choose to complete.  There are legendary animals to hunt, legendary fish to catch, several sets of hidden objects/locations to find, collectibles to find, gangs to track down, a variety of criminal activities to participate in (robbing homes, robbing stagecoaches), garment sets to assemble (requiring a number of various perfect pelts...so, even more hunting), items to track down for gang members....and I could go on!  I find this variety to be the biggest strength in RDR2.  In way too many open world games the same 3-4ish tasks get recycled in different locations (I'm looking at you random military bases in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey).

4.) Random encounters.  Every time you set out, there's always the chance to come across something unexpected.  It could be a stranger asking for help, an ambush by enemy gang members, or simply a drunk person who has become lost (or many more--there are definitely opportunities for events that range more on the bandit side of the morality spectrum which I usually avoid).  These random encounters help maintain interest...even if you are frequently doing many of the same activities.

5.) The game mechanics give you a good reason to return to camp periodically.  Camp supply levels are dependent on purchases or donations made by the player.  This gives you a good reason to periodically return to your camp--many games give you a camp/base and then no reason to ever return to it.

6.) Throughout the story, the gang camp moves around the map.  This allows for players to focus on a particular area and not get too consumed with trying to venture to every far flung corner from a single location.  It also provides variety, which is nice.

7.) Somehow, the side content/open world activities don't distract from the main story.  I'm not sure exactly how they did it--if it's the pacing of the missions, the strength of the main story and characters, the freedom of choice players have (in the open-world activities they can pursue).  I've found that in many large, open-world games the main story can get pushed completely into the background as players focus on eliminating map markers.

I think Rockstar makes some of the best open-world games and they've really come up with a fantastic formula.  While other games can't exactly copy this formula, I think they can and should try to come up with a greater variety of engaging tasks for players to choose to complete (Cyberpunk's open world could greatly benefit from variety--I think part of the challenge lies in having a mostly urban environment--gotta come up with some "city" types of tasks).