Climbing Towers for intel. Enemy Bases to raid. Sidequests that fill every inch of a map. The prevalent model for AAA open world games is often concerned with making sure that the player is never wanting for activities to do in it’s open spaces. As hard drive sizes get larger and allow for bigger games and more space, many AAA developers have taken a “more is better” approach to filling that space.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3aze7y/playing-an-open-world-game-from-2002-in-2020-is-really-eye-opening
