How would you feel if we told you that Gears 6 would be a full open-world game? Before you smash your phone a fit of rage, first take a moment to read the entire article, and then decide how you feel about the latest report in the upcoming installment of the Gears of War franchise.
During a recent episode of the XboxEra Podcast, host Nick “Shpeshal Nick” Baker revealed Gears 6 is “a little bit further along than some might think,” before stating that “there’s a strong possibility that it may be a full open-world game”. Almost immediately after this revelation, the comment section buzzed with opinions on the idea of a full open-world design, with a significant portion of the feedback being critical of this.
However, a short while later, Nick clarified that the upcoming third-person shooter would incorporate a more expansive environment compared to its predecessor, Gears 5, rather than a fully open-world setting.
Gears 5, which debuted in 2019, introduced a semi-open world setting in which some areas, such as the Valley and the Desert, along with an icy tundra region, were open to further exploration, breaking the linear and structured gameplay incorporated in previous installments. Unfortunately, most fans of the series detested this new approach, especially due to the fact that The Coalition didn’t do much to make the open-world experience more immersive.
Most of the time spent exploring the open-world areas consists of driving around in the skiff vehicle to find collectibles, and even the one big mission in the desert with the lightning storm doesn’t do much to create excitement for the game.
Now that The Coalition has shifted to Unreal Engine 5 for its future projects, developing a bigger open-world for Gears 6 is a more plausible option due to the open-world tools that will come in handy when creating and rendering large outdoor environments. If this rumor proves to be true, how the Canadian developer chooses to implement this idea remains to be seen, but there are a few good examples on how to go about this, case in point: God of War Ragnarök.
The acclaimed Sony adventure game integrates a semi-open world level that the game’s producer, Cory Barlog, termed a “wide linear” experience. While players are able to travel between realms at various points in the game and complete side quests, the game locks them back to linear levels, which they can only explore in a particular way.
This approach has been more accepted by gamers, especially if it includes compelling side quests as opposed to the full open-world settings that most developers seem to love nowadays, which ultimately force players to spend an incredible number of hours searching for useless collectibles.
With all sights set on the development of Gears 6, The Coalition will only have itself to blame if it chooses to replicate the mess in the open-style integration of Gears 5. It would be better to stick to a tried-and-proven formula than risk alienating its loyal fanbase.
