We are almost one year into the new generation systems of the X Box One and PS4. Within that time, we have had games like Thief, Infamous Second Son and finally Watchdogs to come to these systems (Assassins Creed Black Flag was omitted because it was designed for last gen platforms) with some promise of better sandbox gaming but in many ways, they still feel like games we have already played. While many of us are excited about the news that another big sandbox game GTA V which again, was designed for older gen consoles is coming for our new consoles, we really should be asking how can game programmers build a better and more realistic world that we want to play in? With a glimpse of the new Assassin’s Creed demo yesterday, there may be some insight on how much better some of our open world games can get.   Below will be a few examples, no matter how farfetched, open world games can improve.

Better ‘living and breathing’ AI

One of the hallmarks of open world games is believability. And in my opinion, it’s one of the things that even Watchdogs for all of its hype, still has a last gen feel to it. It would be nice to see games going forward with AI that not only react to what you do in the world but ‘not forget it’. That is one of the promises of the upcoming Shadows of Mordor is that you will affect the world around you and that includes an AI reacts to what you do and what you say.   We have seen rudimentary elements from time to time in games like Oblivion all the way through to the new Infamous games but there has to be some better way to script it so that AI will have more ways of reacting rather than one way if you are a good guy or another way if you are bad.   What about shades of gray? If I am in a police car chase that destroys a ½ mile of city, the moment I lose the cops, the AI should just forget about me completely. Assassins Creed had elements of this.   As you do things to affect the world, the AI hunts for you until you did things to call them off.

Even Watchdogs is a step closer where if you do certain actions, the cops will be called to handle certain issues.

I also would like to see more random-ness from AI and again going back to the new Assassins Creed Unity, that possibility looks like it’s coming. When you have an angry mob, they shouldn’t have one unified reaction, they should be doing different things not all waving their hands robotically.

If it’s broke, don’t fix it.

Only in certain games like Skyrim and a few other fantasy games if something is destroyed, it stays that way but that needs to happen more in other types of games. Sure, you may go thru a mission and if one particular objective is destroyed, that’s it but what about surrounding areas? I would like some games where there is a destruction factor to have things blow up, fall apart, or crumble, if it can’t stay that way at least make the illusion of being down for a while before immediately re-spawning it. Sometimes you blow something up to gain acces…what about blowing something up and causing you to LOSE access? Heck, even have some wear and tear on a structure you built is even a cool factor. As a matter of fact, what I would like to see more of especially in games where stealth is a factor is the ability to be able to take out light sources. Some games have it and some don’t but I would figure after Aliens vs Predator from waaaaaaaay back in 1998, that this would be a standard in most stealth games.

Better use of day night cycles

There was one game that really got it right before there were any of the Elder Scrolls games. Shenmue was that game. There were certain things you just could not do if it wasn’t the right time. The Elder Scrolls games did an excellent job with this as certain people that you needed to a complete a mission you had to wait until they were in certain places to talk to them…or just break into their home. More games should be like this. GTA to a degree does this where the city changes from day to night as far as people being outside. I would like to see this dynamic more in Assassins Creed especially for the time periods that they are in.   Day and night didn’t really seem like it mattered because there were just as many NPCs out and about at night and during the day. In games like this, when it gets dark, fewer people should be out and about. A good example of this is Red Dead Redemption and if I remember correctly, the Witcher had this dynamic. Also, weather should play a part in this also; a dark and dreary night should have a radically different experience than a pleasant evening. As a matter of fact, look at Assassins Creed Black Flag which did good with weather, how much more harrowing was it sailing at night in a thunderstorm? The only let down is that storms sometimes ended too fast.

These are just some of the things I would hope to see happen in new open world games. The biggest limitation of last gen games was the limit on memory and processing power but I am hoping we are at a point where games and their surrounding environments start to feel more immersive as we play in them. One thing I would like to see is more accessibility to some buildings in games. It kind of sucks to have a game with so many great buildings but they are just there as window dressing. But again, since we are at the dawn of a new console generation, maybe we will see these issues dealt with.