The game is tight enough that it’s really not necessary. There’s a fast travel system in the game, but I never really felt compelled to use it. But the more focused nature of the world means that it, and the over-the-top story, don’t outstay their welcome. It’s still ‘open’ in all the ways that matter you can (after a linear intro) go wherever you please, tackle side-quests and garrison posts in whichever order and whatever style you choose, and generally cause unchecked mayhem. To make a bit of a literary comparison, Blood Dragon has the open world equivalent of a short story or novella.
In part this is a consequence of the stand-alone game’s budget nature (it’s $15 USD rather than $50-60,) but it’s a design decision that works rather well. That’s exactly the route taken by Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, which reduces the original game’s island area to a more compact space that Sergeant Rex Power Colt’s cyber-legs can sprint across in a matter of minutes. At that point, maybe it would’ve been better just to make the world smaller?
The quicker the player begins to rely on a fast travel system to zip around the place, the more likely it is that the bits in between just aren’t worth seeing more than once or twice. There’s always a risk with these projects that huge swathes of the landscape actually turn out to be quite dull. If, that is, the developers have the time, creativity and/or processing power to add them in. The more of the world there is to tromp around in (the theory goes,) the greater the chance of finding multiple, interesting things to do and see. Players who gravitate to these titles love exploration, and open world titles cater to that desire. It’s no surprise that CD Projekt has been keen to run the “bigger than Skyrim, 30 times larger than The Witcher 2” line about upcoming, open world sequel The Witcher 3. Open worlds tend to be all about letting the player roam freely through whatever countryside, cityscape or weird planet the developers have put together, and in contemporary gaming that tends to mean vast, expansive spaces. It might take you back to some classics like Daggerfall or Grand Theft Auto III.Ĭhances are, the phrase will give you a sense of scale and scope. Your brain will probably do that thing brains do and make a connection to a different, recent game with the same descriptor. Much faster than spending an hr and a half running in circles like me.When a game is described as ‘open world,’ certain titles and expectations come to mind. One/usually both of the Dragons should be in their usual spawn areas, allowing you to kill one or both of them before relogging again and repeating the process until you have your kills. If you only need Dragon kills, check both garrisons and kill the Dragons if they're there. Another location to check out is the NW base which is probably the second most common to have a Dragon nearby, with the added bonus of having a rapidly respawning medpack pickup a few feet away from where you arrive when you fast travel there. A dragon will spawn immediately South of it about 75% of the time if you wait around 2-5 minutes between attempts. If you still need kills after completing the game, the easiest place to farm them is the first garrison you captured (x521.7,y466.5).