Standing knee-deep in a virtual swamp, I glanced around at the twisting trees and then at my map, feeling overwhelmed by the 50+ icons littered throughout. Should I press on to confront the vile Crones of Crookback Bog? Or should I clear some of the nearby points of interest before moving onward in my journey? The completionist itch inside me pushes me toward the latter. Three hours later, I’m finally speaking to the old hags in the heart of the bog. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is truly a masterpiece. But undoubtedly, there are many fans who felt like I did at times, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of opportunities the vast open world had to offer. It’s in these moments you realize that inside you, there are two wolves. Yep, here we go with the old inner wolves adage. One of the beasts is inflicting the sting of FOMO on you, ensuring that you have the desire to experience every sight and sound in the game. The other wolf beckons you to just enjoy the ride and not sacrifice your peace at the altar of precious time. This inner tussle often makes the linear experience appealing, at least on occasion.
While video games have evolved with sprawling open worlds, rich simulations, massive online elements, and more, the classic story-driven or linear experience actually hasn’t gone very far. It still exists, and many modern games that satisfy the requirements of a focused title often prove that the grandiosity of massive games isn’t necessarily required to have a grand ol’ time in a virtual experience. Let’s take a look at some of the best games in recent years that fit that mold.
Dead Space introduced the world of gaming fans to the horrifying mutations known as necromorphs. Isaac Clarke will forever need therapy after his trek through the USG Ishimura, a planet-mining ship obliterated by a mysterious signal that caused its crew to descend into madness while changing into twisted, horrifying monstrosities. Dead Space left a legacy that ultimately prompted EA to remake the original title. With a fresh coat of paint over the dark and isolating hallways of the Ishimura, not much else needed to change for the game to remain a critical hit among fans.
Dead Space follows Isaac, an engineer burdened with bad luck, as he progresses through the massive ship, carving up necromorphs, solving environmental puzzles, and unlocking pathways forward. In fact, Dead Space wouldn’t be the claustrophobic and frightening horror that it is with an open world. It’s a series that requires players to hunker down and move forward reluctantly, actively being funneled into the horrors that make the game so incredibly haunting and memorable.
Corridor shooters have long been a mainstay in gaming since the days of Wolfenstein 3D and the original Doom. Doom: The Dark Ages continues that legacy. While some areas in the game contain a non-linear map with multiple objective points, the bulk of Doom: The Dark Ages follows a straightforward trajectory as the famous Doom Slayer makes his way through facilities, spilling the guts of countless demons. The Doom franchise is not one that relies heavily upon story and exposition. I mean, let’s be honest. No one buys a Doom game for the deep story. Ripping and tearing is, indeed, the modus operandi for all players, and it is pure fun.
The series wouldn’t even know what to do with an open world if it had one. Players don’t need that much room to get the visceral, brutal high of destroying demons with reckless abandon in true medieval fashion. Doom: The Dark Ages, along with its predecessors, understands that the challenge of the game, rooted in its frenetic shooting mechanics, is why players keep returning to the series. Being overwhelmed by a horde is all that it takes to make any Doom fan happy, as long as they have a double-barrel and maybe a BFG (or equivalent) in their arsenal.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice places players in the shoes of a shinobi named Wolf. It’s a game with a striking world and gnarly enemies and monsters to boot. Famed Souls developer FromSoftware puts its distinct touch on a ninja action-RPG. However, Sekiro relies more on players’ honed skills to successfully parry, block, and deflect than it does on the RPG elements of past Souls games. I’ll be honest, Sekiro is a brutally difficult game. But it’s also highly rewarding. The world is designed deliberately to be explored with proper story progression. While the game offers the “sensation” of open areas through interconnectivity and branching areas, Sekiro’s progression is a highly linear affair.
Stylistically, Sekiro is sleek and enduringly awesome in every sense of the word. Once you hit your stride and start to truly master the game’s mechanics, you begin to feel like a bit of a gaming ninja yourself through no small feat. Like any difficult Souls title, death is a mechanic inherent to the experience. Expect a lot of it. But like the tough arcade and NES side-scrollers of the 80s, you will come back wiser than before and eventually win the day with a bit of effort.
Remedy is a studio constantly pushing the boundaries of creativity and originality. Alan Wake 2 is the current evolution of the strategy. Interestingly, this sequel is a follow-up to a (then) 13-year-old game. The wait was long and arduous since the original Alan Wake left us with a mighty cliffhanger that subsequent DLC and Alan Wake’s American Nightmare never really resolved. Alan Wake 2 presents the game from two different angles: Alan’s and that of FBI agent Saga Anderson. While Alan is finding his way through the Dark Place, Saga is working the case in the real world, piecing together clues and combating the encroaching supernatural elements.
Alan Wake 2 contains several moments throughout, many of a musical nature, that will leave you in awe simply because of the game’s wild, creative edge. I’ll refrain from expounding further so that the game’s many surprises can be thoroughly enjoyed for those who haven’t yet experienced it. Alan Wake and its sequel heavily rely on storytelling and exposition. While the game mechanics are excellent, the strange story at the center of this franchise is ultimately what rockets the Alan Wake games into the upper echelon of must-see experiences.
The Mafia franchise has had an interesting progression over the years. The original Mafia and Mafia II were both technically linear games. They contained what some deemed “open worlds,” but Lost Heaven and Empire Bay were just backdrops. Sure, they could be explored, but the game progression was linear by default. There were no side stories or extras to get distracted by. Functionally, these games were not open-world according to the implied definition of that term among gaming fans. Mafia III changed that with an expansive open world in New Bordeaux. Lincoln Clay could gain control of different regions and become the ultimate crime boss. Clearly, however, Hangar 13 learned that fans of the series appreciated the linear story beats that the original games offered. This structure returned with Mafia: The Old Country.
This stellar entry in the franchise focuses its efforts on solid combat mechanics and storytelling. Again, the world can be explored in free-roam, but there are no diversions from the mainline story progression. Mafia: The Old Country is a linear title set before the events of the original game. The legacy is clear, and it’s easy to see that Mafia: The Old Country doesn’t need an open world to deliver the top-notch mafioso action and story that fans had grown accustomed to.
Sometimes, I feel like game makers forget why video games became so big to begin with. There are many experiences gaming can offer in the modern age, but nothing compares to a true-blue game with fun and engaging gameplay mechanics. Astro Bot does just that. It’s not a title that bludgeons you with difficulty, puzzles, or constant cinematics. The story is razor-thin, and that’s all that it needs to be. Take your little Astro Bot and navigate each world from point A to point B, jumping over dangers, pummeling enemies, and completing wild obstacle course-like challenges. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Astro Bot even introduces delightful and amusing new mechanics later that are unique to specific worlds.
Astro Bot is a game that will assuredly make you smile. Each world represents a piece of gaming’s legacy. Collectibles littered throughout highlight the best moments in PlayStation history and gaming at large. Astro Bot is so much fun that finding all the collectibles and completing all the challenges is something most fans will inherently want to do without any of it feeling like a checklist to simply get the platinum trophy. Astro Bot hearkens back to an era of gaming where levels/stages were the key metric of progression, and there was a purity and joy that came from beating each challenge. If you have yet to try out this deserving Game of the Year (2024), don’t sleep on it now.
