Re: What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2025?

On 06/05/2025 23:25, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

I got similar joys wandering around Skyrim too. The autumnal forests
around Riften were particular favorites. I got similar -but not as
intense- joy from the Grand Theft Auto games; GTA4 in particular had
lots of nifty nooks and crannies to discover, and I loved comparing
its representation of NYC with my memories of the real thing.

Skyrim, like FO:3/NV, is one of those games that does it well as you can pretty much ignore the main quest and wander off where you like, to see what little stories you can find and explore.

I don't get that experience from all open-world games; for instance,
Ubisoft games all feel to generic, seemingly made of cut-n-paste
locations and once you've seen a little bit of the map, you've pretty
much seen it all. (and seen it for the next five games to boot). But
the joy of wandering open worlds obviously isn't unique to me alone; a
lot of 'walking sims' are essentially nothing BUT that joy,
encapsulated in a single game.

Out of the walking sims I've played Firewatch I found does this the best. The map is compact enough that it's all walking, without been excessive, but it's nice to just take in the scenery and atmosphere.
Like you I find a lot of the current open world games the walking part is just a chore when I want to get to the shooting people in the face bit. Far Cry:2 with its ever respawning camps holds 'particular' memories.