14 DAY TRIAL // Bethesda, the developer of major franchises like Fallout or The Elder Scrolls, has talked a bit about the importance of open world games nowadays and how it manages to balance core mechanics and innovation with new entries in its different series.
Bethesda has established itself as a powerhouse in terms of open world role-playing games, delivering massive experiences in The Elder Scrolls series and picking up the Fallout franchise and delivering the great Fallout 3.
Nowadays, more and more titles are going open world, and certainly games with such a feature are enjoying more popularity and sales.
While talking with GameStar, Bethesda's Todd Howard has shared his thoughts about open world titles and how they're using the medium's interactive nature to give players more tools and let them decide what to do in that virtual environment.
"I don't have a good answer because that's what Bethesda has always done," he said when asked about the advantage of open world games. "I think I know what makes them great, as it allows the player to direct his own experience. If you give him enought tools, he can decide what he does, that's what's great about video games."
"I can decide when I want action, when I want downtime. I want to go talk to this woman, I want to crest this valley and watch the sunset. That's what video games do better than any other kind of entertainment. We're taking advantage of that and that's what others want to do."
Howard also mentioned that it's tricky to implement new things into established franchises, like The Elder Scrolls, but developers need to figure out the core experience and experiment in order to enrich it.
"We do try to make each game have its own tone and vibe but we generally don't make sequels where we're adding on top of the last one. We like to start over. Here's the ideal for Elder Scrolls: an open world fantasy epic," he added.
"What's the best way to present that? We have the history of the other titles, their worlds, their universes. If some of the new things don't work, we go back to what was successful in those other games."
Last but not least, Howard wants players to get the same vibe from all games in a certain series, so the studio definitely keeps that in mind when creating new things.
As of yet, however, Bethesda still isn't talking about its current project.