Why Rockstar Games’ Open Worlds Are Essential for Immersive Gaming Experience

A note regarding Rockstar projects. In recent years, many commentators like to remind us that in Rock games there is no freedom and nonlinearity, and a step to the left, a step to the right is a restart, and they do not use their open worlds in any way. My answer, in short: you are wrong, go fuck yourself. In more detail: the worlds of Rockstar personally immerse me perfectly from the time of GTA 3 to this day. This is expressed in many things. For example, radio: in GTA 3 you can find in the game world itself, find the offices of radio stations that you hear, characters taking part in the plot call on the air, and ambulance paramedics, when they save the sick, sing songs from this very radio. Or purely technical techniques: all these hundreds of detailed animations, thousands of lines of random dialogue, a different filter for each region, time of day and weather (this approach has been used since the days of GTA: San Andreas) and so on. As a result, I am simply pleased to be in this piece of virtual America. I would happily take the metro to a mission point in GTA 4, admiring the panoramic views of the city and listening to the chatter of passers-by. Or, as part of a strictly linear mission, driving through some picturesque place in Red Dead Redemption, I’ll remember it and return there in freeplay to hunt or just set up camp by the fire and spend the night there. In short, maybe many tasks in Rockstar games (especially the latest ones) don’t need an open world, but I need it at least because of the level of immersion that no other games (except Gothic) provide.