The release of God of War Ragnarök has been a big critical success, with the game’s developer even revealing that there are several things players still haven’t discovered. The title stands as proof of the effectiveness of the semi-open world genre, which features games where things are linear when the story calls for it but also contains large maps to explore.
These entries range from the latest titles like God of War Ragnarök to survival horror features along the lines of The Evil Within 2. With fans certainly interested in such games due to God of War Ragnarök’s success, some semi-open world games are available to check out.
Hitman (2016)
Hitman is considered one of the most replayable games made yet, thanks to the remarkable level design where hundreds of ways can be used to eliminate targets. The open world aspect is restricted to the maps where Agent 47 is dropped off, but there is hours’ worth of content in each area.
Players have also restricted entry in locations where 47 can’t enter without clearance, but these can be bypassed using stealthy disguises. Hitman stays true to its “World of Assassination” tagline, as indulging in each map is certainly rewarding even if they’re not fully open world offerings.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has the protagonist dropped in locations where he has to use stealth to infiltrate enemy strongholds. Although the game was hyped as an open world entry, it’s actually a semi-open world since a lot of the areas are restricted and can only periodically be accessed.
Nevertheless, this works to The Phantom Pain’s benefit because the challenge of navigating through the massive maps to enter the restricted environments successfully carries its own entertainment value. Players can choose the hostile approach of going guns blazing or access the many hidden routes to gain a stealthy entry.
Metro Exodus (2019)
Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter where players traverse a post-apocalyptic wasteland evading mutant creatures. The game is linear, and environments change as players progress, but this takes quite a while and the areas are accessible for a long time.
This ends up making it a semi-open world game, as players need to find the way out of these places by navigating the map. Metro Exodus is rich with details in its backdrop, with gamers encouraged to take their pick of which area they love the most as part of their playthroughs.
Super Mario Odyssey (2017)
Super Mario Odyssey has the titular character visit various kingdoms as part of his journey to save Princess Peach, which takes him to new and exciting locations. The game is open-ended rather than open world, meaning players can spend as much time as they want in each area, but they need to move on if they want to complete the story.
Still, Super Mario Odyssey has dense environments filled with things to do, which makes the semi-open world feel completely explorable. The title carries all the series' platforming fun, going well with players having the option to pick where they want to go.
Tomb Raider (2013)
This reboot turned out to be among the best Tomb Raider games ever released, taking a younger Lara Croft to a dangerous island where she needs to uncover an ancient conspiracy. The island itself can be traversed, but the main story has to be completed to open up various areas.
Tomb Raider also has role-playing elements where players can decide who to help, which is another way to access locations for Lara to explore. The game has a big focus on the action that incorporates the semi-open world aspect the further players get into the story.
Shadow Of The Colossus (2005)
Shadow of the Colossus is notable for being a story-driven game from the PS2 era, which has since been available on next-gen platforms. The game's semi-open world comes from the protagonist having to journey across the land to locate colossus enemies that have to be eliminated.
Interestingly, the environment doesn’t have much to do, but the sheer aesthetic quality and magnificent sites to behold along the way capture the attention. The colossi themselves are situated in specific locations, with players having the freedom to choose which one they want and if they would rather flee when things don’t go their way.
Dishonored 2 (2016)
Dishonored 2 is a first-person action-adventure game that can be played in nonlinear fashion. The story follows the protagonist’s attempts to overthrow supernatural enemies from positions of power, but can even be completed without taking a single life.
Dishonored 2’s mission areas can be completed anywhere between purely using stealth to killing everyone in sight. To this end, the environments come across as expansive, even though they do need to be completed to keep on progressing the game.
Control (2019)
Control has an interesting premise of an FBI agent exploring a paranormal headquarters known as the Oldest House, where she has to find information that will help her defeat a deadly enemy. As the implication goes, the Oldest House is large enough, but players do have to complete it.
Control has a lot of investigating and fighting along the way, which makes every area seem huge. The semi-open world aspect comes into play with the nonlinear mission style, where players can finish them in any order and visit new environments to complete them.
The Evil Within 2 (2017)
The Evil Within 2 is a survival horror feature where players control a detective who’s searching for his daughter. While it still requires fans to move forward to complete the game, the protagonist has to explore the mysterious town of Union to do so.
The Evil Within 2 holds both the importance of the map and the story close throughout its playthrough, offering players the opportunity to uncover all the secrets within any given area. This brings the semi-open world aspect into play, as fans can overcome all the tribulations of the protagonist in expansive environments.
God Of War Ragnarök (2018)
While there are quite a few games similar to God of War Ragnarök in terms of story, the game is unique for containing several maps that bring sandbox elements. Kratos and his son can traverse the Nordic realms, which are all distinct from one to the other.
The linear element is present when the story restricts players into using either only Kratos or Atreus based on where their arcs are, but God of War Ragnarök opens up the world fully by the end of its run. As a result, players can find quite a lot to do in this Norse mythology game.
Source:gamerant.com