Dead Space remake made me realize how awesome linear story telling is.

Submitted by LedFarmer_ t3_10py0u9 in gaming

It seems like everything has to be open world these days and I get it, it's a selling point. However 90% of open world games feel empty and just a bunch of shit to do but not much meaning behind it. As someone who never played Dead Space bc of strict parents I can say this game is absolutely fucking awesome and even tho it is linear and there is backtracking it is a joy to explore every single room and not have to worry about the main objective being 10km away. No stupid "cApTuRe ThIs OuTpOsT" missions, just pure, precisely crafted rooms that all have loot or lore that just adds so much to the experience. This is one of the reasons why I loved the Uncharted and Tomb Raider games and it's definitely one of the reasons why I'm loving Dead Space. I really hope we got more linear story games like these from triple A developers.

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ShallWeStartThen t1_j6mqvqj wrote

I've never had issues with linear- as long as the story is done right. I am currently playing Plague Tale Requiem and it is awesome. I love seeing where the game is taking me. Will have to investigate Dead Space.

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LedFarmer_ OP t1_j6n0y11 wrote

I've been told Plague tale is really good so I'll definitely check it out eventually and yes! Dead Space IMO is well worth your time and money, especially if you never played the Original.

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Exlibro t1_j6ncdtc wrote

My big recommendation. Especially mature story with fun and challenging stealth encounters.

But I highly recommend starting with Plague Tale Innocence and then going to Requiem.

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ShallWeStartThen t1_j6nnwc4 wrote

Absolutely! I replayed Innocence just before Requiem. Requiem is very much a sequel and one part of one long story

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Sedfghhds t1_j6nuccl wrote

It's something you never hear anymore but a major complaint of many gamers was the hidden wall.

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Manjorno316 t1_j6n4ogl wrote

I finished Requiem for the first time yesterday and it's probably one of my favorite games ever. Absolutely loved both Requiem and Innocence.

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Nameless_301 t1_j6nccjd wrote

Does the butt clenchyness of the game play go away? Because I'm about 2 hours into innocence and I just feel tense the whole damn time!

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mahelke t1_j6pa1oo wrote

I would say it does after you begin to unlock new ways to handle different situations. Having more options makes enemy sections less stressful since you don’t need to worry about running out of ammo so much.

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Rizenstrom t1_j6mvupo wrote

Quality > quantity. I will spend $60 for a well crafted linear experience that's only 15-20 hours long before I pay $60 for some 100+ hour open world game I will get burnt out on and never finish.

I think semi open 40-60 hour games are the sweet spot though.

Games like Witcher 3, Tomb Raider, and Metro Exodus where you have multiple smaller maps with only a handful of collectibles and side missions padding the run time.

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kirinmay t1_j6n2385 wrote

And you spend 90 hours just trying to travel to the next location in a boring empty world. Looking at you Breath Of The Wild...

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Rizenstrom t1_j6n2vsl wrote

As much as I loved BotW I definitely think it was too much. Not a lot to do besides the 900 korok seeds and 120 shrines which are both just way too much.

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Op3rat0rr t1_j6n4bn9 wrote

An empty Zelda world with mediocre ‘dungeons’ compared to past games. But the boss fights were cool. Exploring the world was cool but it felt like time wasting at the same time. Especially with the weapon degradation

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Rizenstrom t1_j6n9i76 wrote

"It encourages variety" - everyone on Reddit with an inventory of 30 lynel crushers/ bows/ shields.

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kirinmay t1_j6ngt00 wrote

yeah the world was just too big. Like I used to play ffxiv. ive spent over 14k hours playing it (you can see how long you play). but the worlds in that mmorpg are just too big and empty. both BotW and ffxiv can easily trim 20% of the world. it'd also save money.

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Dean_Snutz t1_j6n9jko wrote

Ugh haaaated that game.

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kirinmay t1_j6ngmxq wrote

yeah and Zelda fans are very passionate. Link To The Past is still my favorite one but yeah Breath Of The Wild....literally just running around and theres nothing to do. Y ou spend hours until you get to a place. How is that fun?

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asunamyag t1_j6nnv0y wrote

Because when you’re going to the place you see some weird looking tree and stop to inspect it. And then you see something strange in the distance and you start going towards that. And then you see a shrine so you detour over to collect that. And before you know it you’re halfway across the map from wherever you were originally planning to go.

In the six years since that game was released I have never found a game that successfully replicated this “keep getting distracted by things you see in the distance” gameplay loop. Closest was Elden Ring.

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HaggisTheCow t1_j6ogj7a wrote

The third (I think) tomb raider went too far to the open world stuff.

Witcher 3 got it perfect imo

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Rizenstrom t1_j6oha4g wrote

Shadow of the Tomb Raider definitely got a bit boring but I feel like that was more because of how little combat their was and completely ruining the more open stealth areas for just linear shooting sections. The world size felt fine.

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HaggisTheCow t1_j6ohfv6 wrote

Yeah that's probably fair. It felt a little rushed as well but that might just be me.

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RKD__ t1_j6p4dyo wrote

This is the issue I had with Elden Ring.

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human_not_reptile t1_j6mvbvv wrote

I've always loved linear storytelling when it's good. You don't need an open world and maybe replayability to have a good time worth your money.

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wekilledbambi03 t1_j6mttq5 wrote

This is why I liked TLoU 1/2. It gave the feel of a big open world, but almost nowhere to go except where they want you to.

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Steady-Nutty t1_j6on5at wrote

I loved the abandoned town area in Part II that was like a mini open world game in itself. Just Ellie, Dina and the horse, free to explore the buildings and caves as much as you wanted before continuing.

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GrimDoink t1_j6mrmf1 wrote

>Dead Space remake made me realize how awesome linear story telling is.

Haven't played it but I agree with the sentiment. Too many games are open world I miss actual levels tbh.

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AImXOo0o t1_j6mxqow wrote

That's why I really liked Half-Life 2. It was a linear game, but did feel like a little open world.

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hoodleft t1_j6n0usk wrote

Metro 2033 and metro last light also brilliant linear story telling games.

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LedFarmer_ OP t1_j6n1ojf wrote

Agreed! Played Last light and loved every minute of it

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Op3rat0rr t1_j6nbwi6 wrote

As is many others

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hoodleft t1_j6nhud2 wrote

yes obviously there are other great linear story telling games besides metro 2033 and metro last light...

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Turdsley t1_j6oyfas wrote

Agreed, but Metro Exodus was also great.

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bedlam90 t1_j6my130 wrote

I used to prefer open world games and spend weeks exploring but now I have less time to play them I feel overwhelmed by the size of some maps, I recently played far cry 6 which was awful but my first thought was shit ill never finish this map in the 3 hours a week I get to myself. I'm leaning more towards linear games now

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Exlibro t1_j6ncqyp wrote

I was doing all chests and question mars on a map in FC6 as well. I said "F IT" and once geared up, tarted doing only said quests and main story. It was fun as hell! And it had an ending. I love when games have ending and don't drag.

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reesejenks520 t1_j6nk2fp wrote

I was initially intimidated by that map size as well.

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bedlam90 t1_j6noqvk wrote

Like uhhh this is too much lol I spent months exploring red dead redemption 2 I just don't have that free time anymore 😔

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Fathoms77 t1_j6o31gt wrote

Uncharted has been proving this fact over and over again for years. I really hope it doesn't completely fall by the wayside with everything going open-world in some capacity, because it's such a unique storytelling experience.

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Masspoint t1_j6mvcy9 wrote

The thing is when you look at the history how (semi) open world games originated it has a couple of reasons but a very notable one is the hidden wall..

It's something you never hear anymore but a major complaint of many gamers was the hidden wall. A 2 feet fence you can't jump over, or just literally a hidden wall that you can't move anymore in that direction because the game doesn't allow you.

That breaks immersion and (semi) open world gameplay is a good way to counter that. With semi I'm talking about games like halo, big maps, but (hidden) walls of the maps are intertwined with the envirmonment, like cliffs or mountains.

Open world gameplay also became more popular because you could offer more content but a lot of developpers cheaped out in this regard by making missions dull with rehashed content and ubisoft is probably the worst in this (you mentioned captured this outpost and the first thing I had to think about was ubi's far cry series).

Maybe you should try the real successor of the first far cry, which is not far cry 2 but crysis. Allthough far cry 2 is one of the best far cry's imo, but that has a lot to do with the fact that ubisoft had to compete with crytek, who made the original far cry and also crysis.

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Dranzell t1_j6mzenc wrote

I agree. I can't get into any more Assassin's Creeds, Horizon games or anything of that sort because of the sheer amount of things that they "give you to do", of which most are repetitive.

The only reason I finished God of War was because of my love for the series.

At least in something like GTA, all the collectibles and side missions don't make you feel bad for not doing them, as they don't show up on map.

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winegum343 t1_j6ndmqk wrote

In fairness to God of War it kinda falls into that middle ground between Open World and Linear, it has open worldy elements and open stages but the vast majority of the game is spent moving linearly through areas, the same as Jedi:Fallen Order.

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Shack691 t1_j6nurcs wrote

>The only reason I finished God of War was because of my love for the series.

GoW is designed in such a way that you can exclusively do the story and you don't have to interact with the rest of the world as there's always a yigdrasil gate next to the end of a mission allowing you to go straight to the next one

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Manjorno316 t1_j6n53o7 wrote

I love me a good open world game but most of my favorite games are linear story driven games.

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reptaill t1_j6n060s wrote

While this is true and I agree with you, lots of folk care more about "hours per buck". It's also true and it's the reason most of developers and publishers go after OW these days. People don't want to play through story and be done with it despite how good it was. They want backtracking, side stuff, replayability, more things to explore, etc. Hence why I haven't seen any complaints about stuff like Elden Ring's length, only praise for how giant that game is and how you can never be done with it cause of million weapons and builds, and on the contrary tons of takes like people didn't feel that great about paying full price for FF7 remake for example, despite the fact that they liked the game. Simply because it's one 20 hours playthrough for 60$, while stuff like recent AC games is like 150 hours for 60$.

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Shigjetar t1_j6oh1wj wrote

The best part is buying an open world game with 200 hours of gameplay and then after thoroughly exploring the first few areas you get bored and bee-line the rest of the main story and end up done with the game after 17 hours.

Always seems to happen with me, only exception for that was, Assassin’s Creed, Borderlands, Elden Ring.

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2steppa156 t1_j6mpdrv wrote

Looks awesome, I will play it when the price comes down a bit.

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Roxswayze t1_j6nfq1b wrote

Linear story telling will always be king.

A funny example is always in open world games when you get a mission that’s like “meet me at the graveyard tonight and hurry up!!”

…proceeds to go to strip club, buy properties, do side missions, etc.. 5 in game days pass and then go to mission. “You barely made it here in time”

I saw someone on this subreddit once post that they believe they should get 1 hour of gameplay for every $ they spend. That is literally the dumbest thing and the reason we have this giant bloated games. Because somehow “collect 100 of these” and “repeat these 4 different mission structures” equals value??

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hawkeye224 t1_j6oqe0q wrote

To me it's like a negative value because it's boring af. I'd rather not play a game that play a padded game like that

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Lord0fHats t1_j6n06zi wrote

I feel like in the present age of so many plots trying to emphasize their own importance and artistic value, often to over the top and unachievable levels, people have indeed forgotten the joy to be found in a simple well-presented plot.

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Exlibro t1_j6nc6fm wrote

As much as I love my non linear games and stories, linear ones will always be my best. And my preference.

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Perennial_Millenials t1_j6nettf wrote

I don’t even mind open worlds. It makes the immersion into the game feel better. I hate when open world games force you into XP grinding to stand a chance at facing the next “main quest” mission. “I have this super important mission to complete to save humanity but I don’t have any of the capacity to do it. So ima go help this cook find some ingredients for dinner tonight.”

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justAMemeForFun t1_j6nxe99 wrote

Yhea cod modern warfare 2019 was a good example of how to do linear right in my opinion like “Clean house” was like my favourite part of the game and the sounds and graphics made it even better to be honest

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Shigjetar t1_j6og6fn wrote

I’ve been realizing this more and more lately too, everything has to be open world and it’s not special anymore. I recently played the RE2 remake and it was the most fun gaming experience I’ve had in a long time.

I still love the classic open worlds like Fallout, Assassin’s Creed, and other RPGs but not everything has to be open world.

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Flipperblack t1_j6oh0vh wrote

There must be a balance in my opinion,very good open world games(like rdr2,tw3 or Ghost of tushima) are ok but too much open worlds not of course...there also has to be enough good linear games to balance otherwise some people get tired of playing.

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hawkeye224 t1_j6opwst wrote

I never liked the fact that after a certain point so many games went open-world. In many cases that means boring and repetitive side missions you have to do over and over.. and not that much focus on interesting environments. Also the story lacks urgency and focus since you can just stroll at leisurely pace wherever and whenever you feel like.

There are games that do it well, but IMO there are not that many of them - e.g. Grand Theft Auto, Elden Ring, Witcher 3..

But if I look at most of my favourite games or series, they are not open world - Half Life 2, KOTOR, Uncharted, The Last of Us, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid (Phantom Pain went OW and although a great game gameplay wise, felt like it was missing something - maybe just because it was unfinished)

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Htravel t1_j6oqejn wrote

If you liked dead space you should try Resident Evil: 4 next.

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oliferro t1_j6ora3n wrote

HI-FI Rush has been scratching that linear game itch for me recently

It's also one of the most original game to come out in a very long time, can't recommend it enough

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Turdsley t1_j6oy7fe wrote

A lot of people do not realize game length does not equal value.

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feelin_fine_ t1_j6p3mkp wrote

Open world can be really bad. A dozen different things to collect means nothing if the world is boring, a hundred side quests is just filler to pad lack of any real depth to the campaign.

Genres are not objectively indicative of a games quality, I love mass effect and futuristic star trek games are not something I would otherwise normally play. The story is interesting and all content within it flows smoothly

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ChetDuchessManly t1_j6p97nu wrote

I've definitely gravited towards good, story-driven, linear games over the years.

Open-world used to be refreshing until every single one followed the same formula. I'm also one of those people that needs to hit every marker on the map, so that I don't miss out on some hidden upgrade or resources. Playing open-world games can be very time consuming for me. When I only have or want to play for an hour or two, I freeze up and can't decide what to do. So I end up just not playing the game. This is currently what I'm going through with Elden Ring (only past the 2nd boss).

It's much more manageable and enjoyable for me to play a game that has limited exploration and definitive story breaks (e.g. chapters).

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frontbuttt t1_j6pc6pz wrote

Linear storytelling is the only kind of storytelling. Time is linear, our lives are lived in time. Anything else is just “events that happen” or gameplay.

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jaselee t1_j6pgtpt wrote

To anyone who played this and the original: are they the same game with updated graphics or they have different maps or totally a different game?

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Dracidwastaken t1_j6o9vdf wrote

Linear can be good if the story can keep you invested among other things. Good example of a bad linear game is final fantasy 13. The story was bad. Gameplay was bad. The environment of each hallway was bland and boring. The characters are among the worst in the series.

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Adiwik t1_j6mpumk wrote

You mean Dead space. It's like a refitting of textures not a remake. So dead space made you remember an old game back when they used to do shit right

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Loccyskillz t1_j6mqrb8 wrote

You obviously never played the remake if you think they just updated the graphics only, they have side missions, different cutscenes, random encounters, new floorplans and a secret ending now, plus the characters are better now.

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Adiwik t1_j6n2nl4 wrote

It's the same game.

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Manjorno316 t1_j6n4w7q wrote

Except for all the new stuff and all the different stuff.

Edit: lmao he blocked me to get the last word.

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Adiwik t1_j6nmgpz wrote

It's still the same game.

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Loccyskillz t1_j6ncb2v wrote

Yea the same game with new content and a overhaul.

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Adiwik t1_j6nmdt1 wrote

So the same game.

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Shrouded_by_Fog t1_j6ohq1a wrote

What do you think a remake is? The demons souls remake was "the same game" and it was amazing. Perfectly done.

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itsmyfirsttimegoeasy t1_j6mqzdf wrote

Dialog was re-record, character models changed, the entire ship is one connected environment instead of a series of levels.

It has significantly improved lighting models, you can now move freely in zero-g areas instead of jumping from point to point.

The enemies now shed flesh to expose bone before dismemberment occurs.

It's no simple up-res.

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TheManWithThreePlans t1_j6mrgnt wrote

Oof.

Typical redditor. Just talking out their ass about shit they have 0 knowledge about.

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Adiwik t1_j6n2kv0 wrote

Oof 😅😅😅 play the first game when it came out what the fuck are you talking about

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TheManWithThreePlans t1_j6n3x8x wrote

You said "a refitting of textures and not a remake".

So you've clearly not played the remake.

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Adiwik t1_j6nmfcp wrote

I watched the game movie that somebody else played of it it's the same game have a good day

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slashgamer11 t1_j6nyrwf wrote

A 'remake' is meant to be the same game though, just remade for newer consoles, you're thinking of a reboot...

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Adiwik t1_j6pik88 wrote

did i say it was a reboot, in any comments i've made[check my profile] did i say a reboot. no. hmm..

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