SMALL OPEN WORLD GAMES
"The city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the corners of the streets, the gratings of the windows, the banisters of the steps, the antennae of the lightning rods, the poles of the flags, every segment marked in turn with scratches, indentations, scrolls." - Calvino, Italo: Le città invisibili
fundamentally one of the worst pieces of "standardization" (of which its crimes are many, but i shall write about some other time) is the open world, and its habitual presence, it is not wrong to say that most games are BLOATED with it, and while i was contemplating my loathing for it, i have come up with criteria for what i dub instead the small open world games, that run counter to the worst aspects of the genre, and instead find what makes it actually effective.
although to begin with, what even is an open world? well, the shortest, simplest, and susinctest answer is, its a "mediated enviornment" (really getting a use out of my academic degree) which grants the player agency in how they choose to locomote and explore said enviornment. all signifiying, absoloutely nothing as the real answer with all genres, is VIBES. as certain games will obviously fit these criteria, and yet not actually feel accurate to be described as such.
so then? how do SMALL open world games set themselves appart? because surely its not a SIZE criteria, since if anything size comparison seems to be one of the worst drivers of bloat in the open world genre, instead i have based it on a few parameters, first and foremost, the LACK of forgettable spaces!, if one wishes to artificially upscale the size of an open world, one can fill it with forgettable space, being parts of the mediated enviornments that are made to be forgotten. repeat reoffenders of this is bethesda, and ubisoft. (disclaimer: a space can be empty, and unforgettable, and a space can be full, and utterly forgettable)
therefor, a criteria of SMALL open worlds, is that no space is made to be forgettable, that every inch of the mediated enviornment is made memorable and unforgettable, this of course, is impossible to achieve. but for comparison, how much of a AAA game's open world is made to be un-experienced, filler space between key points, whereas, one of the shining examples of small open worlds, the HITMAN franchise, where each level is an intricate puzzlebox wherein almost every little inch of space is uniquely memorable, and present interesting challenges.
this ultimately serves to create a space which you become intimately familiar with, the yakuza franchise for one is a great example, in how it uses the limited space of kamurocho, and has the player create an bond with the layout and streets, and through repeat reinforcement, creates an internal memory of the city's physical space. its often through repeat exposure to the same enviornment, as opposed to continually opening up the world, to new and unfamiliar enviornments, which is the standard of things in open world games, that distinguishes a small open world from its counterparts.
to provide a few case studies:
THE HOME - Gone Home - probably will be the most controversial, when i say its a small open world game, but fundamentally its a mediated enviornment which the player has agency in their exploration of, and it's fundamentally about the intimate exploration of our personal belongings and the histories and narratives one can gleam from the debris of an average household. the attention to detail in every object, makes an open world that not just has memorable space, but even memorable trash.
KAMUROCHO - Yakuza - oh, her sweet siren song, the ring of pachinko, buzzing of neon, the quiet murmur of crowds, no space is quite like Kamurocho, another classic in the small open world genre, the benifit to the familiarity factor is its apperance in almost every game in the franchise. reusing the same locations again and again, while slowly dripfeeding new ones. But by the end of your time with the series, the street map and iconic locals from stardust and serena on tenkaichi street, to the champion district off taihei boulevard, will be burned into your muscle memory. (that is with the exception of the few times they change up the physical space)
HAWK PEAK - A Short Hike - the hike to the peak in a short hike, is at first seemingly contrary to the title of the game, not short... which is the initial joke that you're told, however as you quickly find out, the hike is anything but short as you search high and low on the island for ways to make progress towards the summit. however once at the end its only been two or more hours at a leisurely pace, in fact the hike was relatively short and as the credits roll, you get to swoop down from the peak and take in all the places you've been, and if you're like me, you get to realize the intimate connection you've forged with each and every inch of the island. a seminal *small* open world.
EASTSHADE - Eastshade - oh, eastshade, how can one describe thee, a painting can only capture so much, but the fact that every inch of the island is designed to inspire you, and drive you onwards, and that wherever you look, is a gorgeous view to be put onto canvas. to really get at what eastshade does so well, a discussion one finds within the topic of "open world games" is the idea of "lived in cities" and many devs will make large open cities, with lots of building interiors, and background filler NPCs, but no place has felt as lived in, or even made me want to live in it, as much as the gorgeous city of Nava... it is with utmost sincerity an love, my favourite video-game city.
LORDRAN - Dark Souls - this is an instance that is slightly harder to argue, but that i feel holds true, during ones first experience the world of dark souls feels ever expanding, complex, bewildering, and almost impossible to navigate, but by the time you have forged ahead into the confusing wilderness, and have overcomed the worst challenges, the world becomes so small, helped by its interconnectedness, and repeat playthroughs on NG+, the world shrinks down to one of the most memorable contained worlds. though it pushes the boundary, especially with some of the nastier and more forgettable segments of blighttown, and lost izalith, though even then a case could be argued that none of it is *forgettable* space, due to the intense suffering they cause.