Soulslike - Discussion, News, Memes

Depends. For me soulslikes are mostly derivative of metroidvanias and I tend to enjoy these games more in an interconnected map with a somewhat spiral and branching structure. Telling a story through map design is also easier this way, and roaming constraints are usually a better method of guiding a player through environmental storytelling than letting them climb and swim in a straight line from point A to point B. Elden Ring's map is pretty cool, but it's also, to my taste, bloated for the sake of it's size. This is usually what happens with open world maps, the false notion that bigger is always better and in the end it's either mostly empty or sprinkled with whatever takes the least effort. Can't say not having an open world map has stopped From Software from doing some of this in their previous games though. 😅 I also feel happier playing on open world maps when the game has systemic design aspects for immersion and emergent gameplay. It's nice to run around aimlessly enjoying the view but it gets boring soon and you wish for an option to teleport from key locations unless there are linked systems in place that make this playground a sandbox and therefore worthwhile to run around, do something new and see what happens.

So, in short, if a future soulslike has mechanically more in common with RDR2, Prey, Hitman or Metal Gear Solid 3 I'll be less sceptical of an open world map being one of it's key selling points. In fact, I'll be so hyped I'll be in pain.