Posted September 05, 2023
It's gotta be Cyberpunk.
*Massive disappointment for many who wanted a deep experience instead of a more casual-friendly one
*False illusion of freedom compared to what many players expected (see above)
*Seemingly made with Online (in Cyberpunk's case, a multiplayer mode which I believe I recall was scrapped) in mind over singleplayer
*Is overshadowed by past games by its same developer/publisher
If we are talking serious open-world games on GOG, Sleeping Dogs is a solid bet though it does have the issue of false choice too (I know ultimately, no game is "truly" non-linear, but I am referring to aspects of design where the player should be able to take a different branching path that is within the context of the story/game world, and simply isn't). That soured me a bit on it, but it is a serious and good quality game. If you did not know this, and if I am recalling correctly, Sleeping Dogs was the result of the "True Crime: Streets of [...]" series such that it was originally going to be True Crime: Streets of Hong Kong. I mention this because if you were familiar with this "GTA competitor" of 20 years ago, you may be most interested (or not) in this game as a DRM-free replacement for GTA.
I really liked Mafia II myself and think it holds a good amount of seriousness, comparable to Sleeping Dogs, once the story really picks up.
If you like the car aspect of GTA, the Carmageddon series are racing games, and maybe too wacky in the same way as Saint's Row series, but perhaps worth looking at..
In terms of an open world, granted with some spaces where nothing interesting is happening, Just Cause 2 is a great pick. However, it may be too silly. It is not over-the-top humor in the same way as Saint's Row (i.e., no adult toy weapons in this one), but the character is an over-the-top badass doing action movie sort of things (including a grappling hook type device that you basically use to zoom around everywhere like a superhero, so that may be off-putting for some folks alone).
What about the Yakuza series? They have content galore, including several minigames (which GTA 5 has minigames too). The games have much smaller but more densely packed worlds which one could argue makes the areas feel more alive (in contrast to GTA 5 which has a more sprawling world, but basically no interiors [some are even locked off after seeing them in a mission] and a lot of empty imo boring space.
EDIT: I didn't see some folks comments until reloading the page. So some of my recommendations are redundant and make redundant points. Sorry to those folks, not trying to drown you out or offend. I will leave my comment in case any nuance is different or catches OP's eye in a different way.
*Massive disappointment for many who wanted a deep experience instead of a more casual-friendly one
*False illusion of freedom compared to what many players expected (see above)
*Seemingly made with Online (in Cyberpunk's case, a multiplayer mode which I believe I recall was scrapped) in mind over singleplayer
*Is overshadowed by past games by its same developer/publisher
If we are talking serious open-world games on GOG, Sleeping Dogs is a solid bet though it does have the issue of false choice too (I know ultimately, no game is "truly" non-linear, but I am referring to aspects of design where the player should be able to take a different branching path that is within the context of the story/game world, and simply isn't). That soured me a bit on it, but it is a serious and good quality game. If you did not know this, and if I am recalling correctly, Sleeping Dogs was the result of the "True Crime: Streets of [...]" series such that it was originally going to be True Crime: Streets of Hong Kong. I mention this because if you were familiar with this "GTA competitor" of 20 years ago, you may be most interested (or not) in this game as a DRM-free replacement for GTA.
I really liked Mafia II myself and think it holds a good amount of seriousness, comparable to Sleeping Dogs, once the story really picks up.
If you like the car aspect of GTA, the Carmageddon series are racing games, and maybe too wacky in the same way as Saint's Row series, but perhaps worth looking at..
In terms of an open world, granted with some spaces where nothing interesting is happening, Just Cause 2 is a great pick. However, it may be too silly. It is not over-the-top humor in the same way as Saint's Row (i.e., no adult toy weapons in this one), but the character is an over-the-top badass doing action movie sort of things (including a grappling hook type device that you basically use to zoom around everywhere like a superhero, so that may be off-putting for some folks alone).
What about the Yakuza series? They have content galore, including several minigames (which GTA 5 has minigames too). The games have much smaller but more densely packed worlds which one could argue makes the areas feel more alive (in contrast to GTA 5 which has a more sprawling world, but basically no interiors [some are even locked off after seeing them in a mission] and a lot of empty imo boring space.
EDIT: I didn't see some folks comments until reloading the page. So some of my recommendations are redundant and make redundant points. Sorry to those folks, not trying to drown you out or offend. I will leave my comment in case any nuance is different or catches OP's eye in a different way.
Post edited September 05, 2023 by rjbuffchix
