When evaluating an open-world game, the most critical factor for me is how "open" it truly is. However, openness can mean different things depending on the game's setting and design philosophy. Players can use U4GM to get buy 5 gta modded accounts and enjoy the game from a new perspective. Use coupon code "allen" to get 5% off at U4GM. This is a long-standing issue I had with the fake buildings in Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City, and I hope GTA 6 can set the record straight.
Urban vs. Rural Open-World Games
If an open-world game is primarily set in a rural environment, like Breath of the Wild or The Witcher 3, the emphasis is on exploration. Players have the freedom to venture into vast landscapes, uncover hidden quests, and engage with the environment in a way that feels organic and rewarding. The challenge for developers in these games is filling the expansive world with meaningful interactions.
In contrast, an urban open-world game presents a different challenge. The environment is no longer defined by mountains and rolling hills but by streets and towering buildings. While players naturally expect to walk or drive through city streets, the more significant question is: Can they enter the buildings? Increasingly, this has become a make-or-break issue for me.
The Evolution of Open Interiors in GTA
As the Grand Theft Auto series has evolved, Rockstar has made great strides in expanding accessible interiors. In GTA: Vice City, most buildings were locked, with only quest-related interiors open to the player. By the time GTA 5 arrived, players had access to far more interiors, including side-quest locations, restaurants, gyms, underground tunnels, and other discoverable buildings.
Rockstar’s true strength has always been in balancing breadth with density. GTA 5 offered a massive world teeming with secrets, and Red Dead Redemption 2 took this further, providing intricate, explorable interiors that enhanced immersion. Even in the Old West, where buildings were sparse compared to modern cities, Rockstar ensured that saloons, movie theaters, and other locations were interactive and detailed.
With GTA 6 set to launch this year, my biggest hope is that Rockstar will expand upon this legacy by making more buildings fully explorable.
The Rural Explorer vs. The Urban Wanderer
Urban open-world games are far less common than rural ones. Even games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Tears of the Kingdom, and Horizon Forbidden West feature towns, but their primary focus is on natural landscapes—plains, forests, mountains, and caves. While designing open natural environments comes with challenges, they don’t require the same intricate level design as a dense cityscape filled with interiors.
The way players engage with these spaces differs significantly. A vast field serves as a transition between points of interest, but in a city, buildings are expected to be part of the experience. If an urban open-world game fails to deliver accessible interiors, it damages the immersion far more than an empty field in a rural setting. This was my biggest frustration with Cyberpunk 2077 at launch. Despite Phantom Liberty improving many aspects of the game, the issue of inaccessible buildings remained. Eventually, I stopped exploring and focused solely on completing quests.
Will GTA 6 Deliver?
With GTA 6 on the horizon, I’m hoping Rockstar delivers where Cyberpunk 2077 fell short. The first trailer showcases Vice City as a sprawling, vibrant location packed with activity. If Rockstar continues its tradition of blending density with depth, GTA 6 could set a new standard for urban open-world games. It doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel—it just needs to hand players the key to the city.
