Both FromSoftware and Nintendo have crafted environments that completely redefine what players will expect when it comes to open-world game design.

Perhaps no two titles did more to advance your open-world game design than Elden Ring Runes and also the recently released The Legend of Zelda: Tears from the Kingdom. While the former showcased the way the density of open-world spaces was worth more than sheer size, Zelda: Tears from the Kingdom has now established that open-world games can embrace verticality and begin considering traversal inside a much more interpretive way. It's now tough to imagine a future where open-world games don't borrow heavily from all these titles in terms of the design and scope of the game spaces.

Between games like Genshin Impact and Sonic Frontiers, it's clear that Zelda: Breath from the Wild's lush green spaces influenced other open-world games that came after it, and today it follows that Zelda: Tears from the Kingdom is going to do the same within the wake of their release and stellar critical reception. Elden Ring will definitely influence lots of other open-world and role-playing games that aim to imitate its immersion and depth, but FromSoftware's open-world masterpiece has additionally arguably made an indelible mark around the latest Zelda title. Both games have pushed the envelope, setting a higher bar for future open-world experiences.

Elden Ring and Zelda: Tears from the Kingdom Trust the Player's Instincts

Despite an original novelty that grew on players, open-world games have grown to be somewhat formulaic and predictable within their design. What was originally presented as freedom for that player to understand more about an unrestricted game space gradually became a number of collect-a-thons and waypoint pursuits across ever-expanding maps. Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed and Far Cry series each have been accused of unnecessary bloat within their attempts at following a publisher's particular vision of open-world game design, which ironically restricts player freedom by shuttling them from map marker to map marker.

Part of the revelatory facet of Elden Ring and Zelda: Tears from the Kingdom's worlds is they trust the player's instincts to chart their very own course without anything further than subtle nudges in the right direction. Further, each game's worlds are extremely densely packed and alive with opportunities that invite repeated detours in the main quest hoping that the player only will explore the planet the developers have formulated. In this way, both games actually call to mind the first sense of adventure gamers felt in 1987's The Legend of Zelda, where players are dropped right into a map without any incentive or direction apart from exploring the surroundings and stumbling upon the critical path.

FromSoftware and Nintendo Created Worlds as Dense as They Are Spacious

Instead to be preoccupied with creating worlds that are simply bigger than other open-world games, Elden Ring focused more on making sure that virtually every square inch from the Lands Between is densely full of secrets to uncover, buildings or dungeons to understand more about, and enemies to come across. Zelda: Tears from the Kingdom's open world requires a similar approach for the reason that each traversal challenge becomes much like a mini-puzzle from the previous Zelda title's dungeon. Only now, they're scattered throughout each from the game's maps and therefore are punctuated by engaging combat encounters which have the cumulative effect of creating the moment-to-moment gameplay consistently rewarding.

Zelda: Tears from the Kingdom seems to also have taken some cues from Elden Ring in the use of above-ground and underground spaces that operate differently and change how a player must navigate spaces. Considering that each game could certainly be considered the gold standard of open-world game design, maybe other developers will require note of both buy elden ring runes and Zelda: Tears from the Kingdom's commercial and critical successes. The impetus of open worlds in games may be the twin feeling of freedom and pure potential, and FromSoftware and Nintendo have just rewritten the playbook to exhibit how it could (and really should) be achieved.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears from the Kingdom can be obtained now on Switch.