Here’s a fun little metric I found while listening to the Triple Click Podcast (Link to the podcast if you are interested). In the discussion Kirk Hamilton (ex-Kotaku reviewer and writer) came up with an interesting way to profiling open-world games. Similar to the personality tests, there are sliding scale metrics by which open-world games can be categorised.
His theory is this, any open-world game can be ranked on three different metrics:
Emergent - Controlled (How dynamic/simulated is the open world)
Opaque - Transparent (How mysterious is the open world)
Aesthetic - Gamey (how involved is moving through the open world)
For each game, you then give the first letter of the side it will most likely be at.
For example; Elden Ring would be a COA (Controlled, Opaque, Aesthetic) game, while Minecraft is EOG (Emergent, Opaque, Gamey) and Assassin’s Creed is CTG (Controlled, Transparent, Gamey).
When you list a bunch of games like that, you tend to see what type of open-world game you like as well, and I was wondering what ope-world games you would classify as?