2022 has been a great year for video games, and the year’s only halfway done. Hitting the ground running in January,Pokemon Legends: Arceuspushed the franchise further than it’s ever gone, and in FebruaryHorizon Forbidden Westmanaged to deliver another stellar first-party PlayStation exclusive. And, of course, the end of February saw FromSoftware’s latest Souls masterpiece,Elden Ring, rear its head.
An immediate smash-hit,Elden Ringmanaged to break into the mainstream more than anySoulstitle has before, and it quickly took over the internet. And that success wasn’t just because of pre-release hype,Elden Ringactually managed to live up to its monumental expectations and was acclaimed for it. So, with plenty more AAA open-world adventures on the horizon, it would be wise for the industry to look toElden Ringas an example of how to do it right; in particular,CD Projekt Red’s upcomingThe Witcher 4should do just that.
RELATED:The Witcher 4 Should Explore the Rise and Fall of the Order of Witchers
What The Witcher 4 Should Take From Elden Ring
The Witcher 3is still widely considered to be one of the greatest games of all time, with many still keeping it as their favorite gaming experience ever. Looking back, it’s not hard to see where all the praise comes from. Releasing in 2015,The Witcher 3was fairly groundbreaking in terms of storytelling, character relationships, combat variety, and having an open world that feels truly lived in.
But it’s been seven years sinceThe Witcher 3was released, and quite a bit’s changed since then. By farthe biggest shake-up for the open-world genrewas the release ofThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildin 2017, a game that changed the very definition of what an open world could and should be. While plenty of straightforward, traditional open-world games still release today, there’s a definite shift towards more exploratory gameplay mechanics, where it’s up to the player where they go and when.
Though there has been plenty ofBreath of the Wildclones over the last five years, by far the most impressive game to have seemingly taken inspiration is FromSoftware’sElden Ring. It’s unfair to brandElden Ringwith the blanket term of “Breath of the Wild” clone, but the two games do share some key similarities, such as an emphasis on approaching objectives whenever the player feels like it and leaving it up to them to find points of interest on the map. But as opposed toBreath of the Wild’s strict “find it yourself” approach,Elden Ringgives players some general guidance, showing them a golden trail towards their next primary objective.
The Witcher 4should take a similar approach to its open-world design. In previous entries inThe Witcherseries,the player is just given an overworld map, a marker is placed on their next objective, and any points of interest are highlighted. Instead,The Witcher 4could really push its immersion by forcing players to pay attention to road signs to ensure they’re heading in the right direction and allow players to follow environmental clues to find a monster’s lair, as opposed to just having it pinned on the map from the moment the quest is accepted.
Another elementThe Witcher 4should borrow fromElden Ringis its quantity and variety of bosses. WhileElden Ringdoes reuse some assets to create multiple bosses, each one has a distinct variation that keeps it engaging and unique, andThe Witcher 4could do exactly the same thing. Dragons,Archgriffins, and Fiendscould all be presented to be big bosses, all of which could be found via hunting. This would go quite far in making the player feel more like an accomplished Witcher, who is actually capable of tracking and slaying a terrifying monster. More frequent and more varied bosses is certainly somethingThe Witcher 4should take fromElden Ring.
Elden Ringis out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
