| (Image property of CD Projekt Red) As something of a memorial then, to the mountains of man-hours invested in Cyberpunk, I want to take the time to appreciate what CD Projekt have been able to create not only in Cyberpunk but also in their previous work with The Witcher 3. Particularly, I want to examine why it is that, in an industry full of samey, empty open worlds, CDPR's worlds continually manage to immerse, surprise and excite me in a way that very few others can. The onset of open world fatigue Usually, whenever people bring up the feeling of open world fatigue, the immediate instinct for many is to point the offending finger at Ubisoft. They have, by their own hand, become the bastion for all that is bland in open world gaming. It's not just that they continue to release very similar-feeling Assassins' Creed and Far Cry games on a semi-regular basis. Even when Ubisoft announces a new project like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, no matter what they say, it always turns out to be yet another open world game with a mini-map that's plastered with icons and collectables that serve more to dull your nerves than to stimulate them.  | | (Image property of Ubisoft) However, it feels reductive to place the blame for open world fatigue on the doorstep of a single company. While Ubisoft's approach to constantly releasing new open world games represents a minor plague upon the genre, pestilence is still only one of the horsemen of the apocalypse and, accordingly, cannot shoulder the blame alone. To my mind, the core problem facing open worlds as a genre is that they have become the default. It used to be the case that when a company wanted to fart out a quick tie-in game or spin-off from a popular franchise, they made a platformer. Then, with the advent of Gears of War and the greyish-brown generation, the third-person shooter became the default. Nowadays though, open worlds have to shoulder the cross. Whether it's Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, or one of the few IPs not owned by the Disney corporation, they all feel the need to release open worlds of one sort or another, regardless of whether they feel necessary or not. What's more, just like the platformers and shooters of old, corners end up getting cut to make good on the IP holder's investment, meaning these games spend more time reiterating ideas than reinventing them.  | | (Image property of Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft) There are exceptions, of course, as there always have been, but they are exceptions that prove the rule. For every genuinely exciting open world game, there are two or three that feel as though they're open world only because that's what executives say the kids are into nowadays. Open worlds are now driven by committee and moral obligation rather than enthusiasm or because it best fits the setting. This is why audiences and critics have been feeling fatigued by their open worlds and it is in this dull and drab environment, that CDPR start to shine. Make me feel small (please) I don't have a tremendously long history with CDPR's games. I never owned a PC powerful enough for the first two Witcher games, nor did I have an Xbox 360, which was the only console that could access The Witcher 2. As such, I began with The Witcher 3, which I powered through during the first COVID lock-down. At the time, a Polish wilderness full of monsters felt like a surprisingly inviting setting.  | | (Image property of CD Projekt Red) Having enjoyed my time with The Witcher immensely, I naturally took an interest in CDPR's newest release, Cyberpunk 2077. It was a shame then that the game's state at launch was sufficiently putrid to put myself and many others off. That was until only a few months ago when, with some protective clothing and while holding my nose, I decided to dive in for the first time. Thankfully, my precautions were unnecessary and what I found was a deeply immersive and exciting game that drew me in and engaged me on a mental and emotional level that I hadn't got out of an open world game since... well, probably since The Witcher 3 to be honest. So, what is it that makes CD Projekt's open worlds so special? Well, for me, it comes down to one simple factor; they aren't afraid to make the player feel small.  | | (Image property of CD Projekt Red) For so many open world games, it feels like the whole universe revolves around you. In the Far Cry series, for example, you are the only person who can do anything to topple a dictatorial regime and, when you aren't around, nothing ever seems to happen. This makes the entire world of the game feel static and dead without you and, by extension, makes it very hard to get immersed in. The best open worlds are the ones that are happy making the player feel like a small cog in a much larger machine. The worlds of both Cyberpunk and The Witcher are good examples of this. Their worlds contain enormous forces at play that the player is only tangentially involved in. Their stories create a feeling that the player is far too small to be a meaningful part of such an enormous power struggle. However, it also makes the player feel as though there is a lot more going on in the game's world than what they can see, much like how the real world works. Incidentally, this is something that Rockstar does very well with GTA and Red Dead Redemption. It is no coincidence that both of those games put you in the shoes of basic, every-man nobodies much to the same effect.  | | (Image property of CD Projekt Red) Beyond just the writing though, CDPR also understands how to make very good use of its side missions. Both Cyberpunk and The Witcher put you in the shoes of a gun-for-hire type character, a merc in Cyberpunk and a monster hunter in The Witcher. However, rather than simply using these elements as a vehicle for the main plot to happen, both games give you the chance to complete mundane, day-to-day jobs as part of your character's routine. They might be finding a missing person, dealing with a local pest or just finding an old woman's frying pan. This is both endearing for the player as they get to see the protagonist going about their daily life, but it also helps to humanise the world that they are inhabiting.  | | (Image property of CD Projekt Red) Returning again to games like Far Cry, most side missions will actively try to justify their own existence by tying back into the overarching plot. Side missions will be justified by saying things like, 'Help this person so that they will join our cause'. However, while the logic does make sense, it also makes the world feel small and hollow as though every person in the world revolves around your character's personal struggles and story. Almost as though the world doesn't exist when you aren't looking straight at it. By contrast, when CDPR shows your character on the job doing their day-to-day, no such justification is needed. It's your character's job, it makes sense that they do it. It also, however, gives the player an opportunity to explore the world outside of the main plot, making it feel real and three-dimensional. For an example, the whole issue in Cyberpunk of characters going insane from having too many implants, known as 'cyber-psychosis', is an important part of the game's world but does not factor into the main plot. Instead, it is entirely explored through your character's gigs and side-quests as a way of adding greater texture and detail to the world outside of your character's personal struggles.  | | (Image property of CD Projekt Red) The final piece of this puzzle that never ceases to amaze me is how much writing CDPR puts in their side missions. It's no secret that writing, voicing and programming unique missions is expensive and time-consuming. It's also no secret that a fair number of players will skip many side missions as they aren't interested in the 100% completion lifestyle. As such, it follows that many companies, when creating their open world games, avoid investing too much effort into side missions to avoid wasting resources. Not CDPR though. When playing Cyberpunk and The Witcher, you will come across countless side missions with unique characters, self-contained stories and multiple different solutions for how to end them. Most of these are completely optional. However, while this potential waste of resources is probably a managing executive's worst nightmare, it creates an amazing experience for players. Nothing makes an open world feel more alive than being accosted on your way from A to B by a fully voiced, unique character with a bespoke backstory and set of motivations . It doesn't matter whether the whole encounter is entirely scripted or not, the effect that it creates is highly engaging and deeply immersive by making the world feel like a real place with actual people.  | | (Image property of CD Projekt Red) Add this onto the effect created by their games' settings and CDPR's open worlds feel like some of the most lived-in, real spaces in all of gaming. In both Cyberpunk and The Witcher, I was afraid of fast-travelling too often for fear of missing out on some of these wonderfully organic opportunities for character and world-building. Conclusion In a landscape with so many dull, generic open worlds that feel more like to-do lists than real places, CDPR are one of very few developers that stand head and shoulders above the tripe. While there are plenty of subtleties to their work, I credit this predominantly to their ability to draw the player in and give them the impression of being in a real, living place.  | | (Image property of CD Projekt Red) If there is a lesson to be taken away from CDPR's work, it's that the best open worlds are not afraid that players might miss something. They are happy for you to feel like a small cog in a big machine if it means that the world feels like it has more going on outside of just your character's perspective. What's more, they make use of their side activities for the purpose of world-building with encounters that feel organic and well-written rather than simply offering generic busywork. With the end of development on Cyberpunk, I hope that CDPR continues this trend into the future and, in the meantime, now that both are functioning and up to the task, I highly recommend revisiting both The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 for some of the best open world experiences currently on the market. All images and properties referenced belong to their respective rights-holders and are utilised here for the purpose of criticism and review.
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