Prior to the demo, I was hoping the rumors of an open world approach were going to be false. During the demo this morning, I was pretty disappointed when I saw that map come up on the screen. I’ve already posted on a few threads here why I am not supportive of this approach for a game like Halo - that’s a separate discussion.
After watching the demo again, I started to wonder. Is this really going to be true “open world” or maybe some kind of hybrid? See image link below:
Maybe I am just grasping at straws here for hope, but it looks like the map cuts off on the left hand side (watch the video as well to capture this as the viewer pans around the map). So it got me thinking - what if they are taking a hybrid approach? Campaign “levels” as we know them may be a mix of more open world environments as highlighted by the demo, but are completely distinct from one another. In other words, maybe this just one level and another may take us to an entirely different setting with its own disconnected map (i.e., the campaign environment in totality is not literally connected). Distinct level design, but with some being more open environments than others. If that’s the case, perhaps we will also see a mix of more linear-style levels and these open world environments? Obvious example here would be Gears 5, which unfortunately I can’t say did a good job with this.
Just a thought after cooling off from my initial poor reaction to this open world concept. I don’t think Halo is intended for full open world environment where you navigate through a continuous map to trigger missions/encounters (like GTA or RDR). Maybe that’s not what 343 is planning to do here. I for one saw the map and initially jumped to the conclusion that map = 100% open world for navigating through the campaign. Perhaps I was too quick to judge on that based on this small demo alone (there’s been no public confirmation of how campaign levels/map will work).