In recent years, more and more open-world games are being released from 2018’s Sea Of Thieves and Red Dead Redemption 2 to this year’s Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West. Reception to these games has been mixed, with some criticizing their reliance on sheer map size and lack of real content.

For me? The biggest problem they have is making us fit in.

Finding Myself in a Different World

My earliest memory of playing an open-world game was in the mid-2000s with Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. However, it wasn’t until 2008 that I became aware of the open-world genre when Bethesda’s Fallout 3 was released. I lived for hundreds of hours in Fall Out 3’s post-apocalyptic world and did the same with 2010’s Fallout: New Vegas and 2011’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

There are definitely older games that showed the beauty and capabilities of the open-world genre, but I was just a kid playing whatever was on our shared computer that runs on Windows 7 and a CRT monitor. I knew nothing better.

I was exposed to more open-world games in the mid-2000s and early 2010s. Moreso, I believe this was the advent of the open-world genre. In the following years, we saw the release of games like Batman: Arkham City, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Minecraft. Games started to be sold and endorsed more for their massive maps and explorable locations and we can still see this with Death Stranding, Far Cry 6, and Horizon Forbidden West.

Who Am I?

So, what made me fall in love with open-world games? There are a million reasons, but the most valuable one for me is knowing who I am in the world I will soon join. I want to be a part of it, I want to live in it, I want to fit in.

I enjoy this because before I start any open-world game, I ask myself a bunch of questions.

Who Am I? Am I a mob or the main character? Am I myself or a character the developers made for me? Are my experiences going to be mine or my character’s? Am I going to change the world or am I just going to live in it?

This is my starting point and will fixate my mindset: my choices and perspective on everything in the game. Other aspects like game mechanics, freedom of choice, and amount of meaningful content are all going to be seen through this filter.

Somebody? Anybody? Nobody?

Open-world games often take two routes, you are either a Chosen One or an everyman who may have caught some stroke of luck. Personally, I like being the everyman.

however, many open-world games often fail or have a hard time characterizing their protagonist as one character type. More often than not, they try to play with this ambiguity and instead hit a dead-end. Some games with this problem are Risen 3: Titan Lords’ Nameless Hero, and Borderlands 3’s Vault Hunters.

Being Nothing is Everything

A nobody can be a somebody, but a somebody can’t be a nobody. If I am a somebody, I better act like a somebody. If I am a nobody, I better act like a nobody.

As Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s Henry, I am the son of a knight-turned-blacksmith. You are normal, ordinary, and always in danger. I can learn different skills, but I will never be superhuman. I am a nobody.

As The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s Dovahkiin, I am a traveler revealed to be the Last Dragonborn. I have a preset journey; a prophecy, but I can choose to be who I am as the Last Dragonborn. I am a nobody, turned into a somebody.

As Cyberpunk 2077’s V, I am a mercenary out of luck. I am not a chosen one, but I am also almost one because of Johnny. I am inexplicably resistant to cyberpsychosis and still capable of inhuman feats, but my humanity still shines through V’s guilt and conscience. My enemies and I are kind of superhuman, but are still mortals that can easily be killed. I can both be a nobody and a somebody.

As for Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey’s Kassandra or Alexios, I have no idea what I am. Am I a superhuman or a nobody with a supernatural artifact? Am I a demigod or just another misthios? Am I humble or am I arrogant? Am I an assassin, a mercenary, or a pirate? Am I serious, or am I goofy? I do not know.

Protagonists in Limbo

My prime example of a game with unfitting protagonists is Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and no, it’s not a bad game at all. However, its protagonists with respect to its story and setting are not meant for each other.

Two things come to mind why: the illusion of choice, and the inconsistent personalities.

Illusion of Choice

Most dialogue choices do not change the outcome, and even when they do, the consequences almost never bleed into your character.

In one mission, you are given a choice to try and save a couple from bandits. You can either stand your ground and lead the couple to their death, or choose to sacrifice one instead. Regardless of which you choose, all the bandits will be dead along with one or two members of the couple. You will utter a few cool lines about how the deaths will not be in vain, and simply go about your day.

In another mission, you are given a choice to save a sick family or have them handled by the local priest. Both choices lead to deaths either way; the former with just the family and the latter dragging all residents on the island. A guilty conscience remains regardless of the answer, but only for you and not for your chosen character.

In the grand scheme of things, do these stories matter? Maybe, but mostly no. In the end, do these stories change who Kassandra or Alexios is? Most definitely not.

Inconsistent Personalities

You can be crass, you can be flirty, you can be mean, you can be anything. Yet it’s only for you, not for the character. Picking a choice will not change you or the world around you.

The most egregious of it all? Your character never tires, can climb mountains, can almost never die from great falls, and yet somehow take a million slashes to kill a normal human enemy.

No matter how emphatic the voice acting is, how beautiful the surroundings are, or enjoyable the side missions can be, the characters and how they interact with the stories do not fit in. They are inconsistent, incomparable, and unrelatable in the bigger picture.

You are nothing but…

Not fitting in isn’t necessarily bad but knowing who you are and where you should be is important – in the real world and in video games.

“But humans are complex creatures!” Says one sophisticated gamer.

I know. My gripe is not about ambiguity or simplicity, especially since interpretation is important to any video game. My criticism is a character’s lack of direction. The protagonist becomes unchanging, unrelatable, and incomprehensible.

You will be stuck in a world you do not belong to, a world that outright rejects you.

You are nothing but a nobody in the world or somebody that will change it. Choose one and stick with it.

You are nothing but a nobody in the world or somebody that will change it. Choose one and stick with it.