[h2zizzle]

You have to make the world big and uncharted enough that it can't be picked over quickly. I have some hope that Light No Fire might pull it off.

Probably an uncommon experience, but I felt something similar playing Final Fantasy XV. The semi-realistic scale and emptiness of the world map that people complained about actually contributed to the consistent feeling of being out in the wilderness, stumbling on dungeons and whanot. Most open-world games feel like theme parks, Eos felt like a national park. I'm told RDR2 and Death Stranding carry similar vibes.

I'd like devs to get a bit more bold about real-world scaling environments. Let a long-ass walk between towns be a long-ass walk between towns. And no mini-maps.

[Cthulhu_]

XV was very much "on rails" IMO, especially at first when the car could only go on pre-programmed roads; there's very little content outside of what the developers intended, and exploring isn't really rewarded. Same with XVI, which was better, but still a mostly empty overworld, little incentives to go exploring or hunting because while there is a crafting system, it's shallow and a very linear progression from one weapon to the next, usually involving taking down a hunt mark.

RDR2 is very enjoyable to go out and just explore, you definitely feel out in the wilderness sometimes there. Another one would be Kingdom Come 1 / 2, especially 2 (it's a bit 'fuller') where you can just decide to go for a hike in the forest and go hunt or find some bandits or an easter egg. It's got long-ass walks (or horse rides) between towns; when I played the first one I barely used fast travel.

Death Stranding, again not so much; the only interesting things there are the actual destinations you have to go to / from. Great scenery and experience though, and the long-ass walk is core gameplay.

[h2zizzle]

The whole idea is that exploring is its own reward, and points-of-interest need to be few and far between in order to kindle the feeling described above. "You see that mountain? You can climb it," is inferior to, "I heard there's a mountain beyond the horizon; we should find it and try to climb it." And then you spend an in-game day or two working your way there. If you're constantly being bombarded with "things to do", 1) It deadens you to their novelty, and 2) The game can't make them TOO difficult. Sometimes the player should just be walking; sometimes they should be physically lost; sometimes they should happen upon something that is of zero use to them.

I'm not sure how far you got into XV, but it's completely different from XVI. XVI is XIII-style hallways, but with no battle wipe, so areas are designed to be large enough for combat. XV is a Ubisoft-style open-world, but with a lot less of the dopamine hacking cruft of AC et al. Using the car feels very roadtrip-like, but you certainly can and should get out and hoof it through the wild areas.

[shostack]

Unfortunately as an early NMS player with hundreds of hours, I have seen nothing that gives me hope that LNF will have the depth that is needed for the world to feel like that. Mile wide, inch deep.

What made EQ an experience was those areas were static and took real skill to uncover how to do things.

[tacocataco]

There sure isn't much information on Light No Fire online. Hello Games must be keeping the cards close to the chest with this one.

[throaway955]

what someone needs to do is create an mmo based around treasure seeking or dungeon-crawling. It writes itself!