We’ve all played a game where you’re frequently forced to squeeze through cracks in a wall or boost your buddy up a ledge. This form of game design can be found in dozens of titles, but Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and God of War are particularly egregious examples. While the PlayStation 5’s uber-fast SSD will make load screens non-existent, it’s also worth considering how it will alter game design.
For example, when Kratos is forced to squeeze through a small enclosure, it’s actually a hidden loading screen. Rather than take you out of the game, Sony Santa Monica keeps you in control of the axe-wielding anti-hero, but it slows you down while it can stream in the next set of environmental data. With the PS5’s lightning fast data access, though, this kind of design will become a thing of the past.
It means that you’re going to see bigger and better worlds with less obstructions and bottle necks. Consider the sequel to Horizon: Zero Dawn, for example – rather than just ground-based mounts, you’ll hypothetically be able to commandeer flying robots, navigating the world at obscene speeds without any hitches or slowdown.
We already saw an example of this when Sony showed how Marvel’s Spider-Man’s swinging speed could be increased on PS5 because Manhattan’s open world could be streamed onto the screen quicker than with the PlayStation 4’s bog-standard hard drive setup. This is about more than load times: it’s going to fundamentally change the way games are designed.
Comments 23
This is interesting as it brings in a question about the existence of 'fast travel'.
Currently open world games are so huge that fast travel is there so the player has an option to get on with the next story segment or mission without having to ride their horse for 10 minutes across the open world map.
I always found the penalty for fast traveling was the actual load time of that map portion as you wait for it to load (eg Spider-Man sitting on the tube train).
If that real time penalty is taken away, and we can fast travel instantly, then due to human nature, won't people just fast travel all over the game and miss out on all the open world in between?
Witcher 3 has sign posts that you can only fast travel from, but I think Assassin's Creed Odyssey lets you fast travel from wherever you are.
Should be interesting to see how this is dealt with in game as open worlds will surely get bigger and more detailed.
Oh man. Now I really wanna be able to fly around in HZD2.
@Futureshark It's possible, but then its down to the game developers to make the journey more interesting. For example, flying in Horizon 2 could be an amazing and fast form of transportation.
This is what I loved about the presentation.
No more running around in a white screen in Assassin Creed. No more subway rides, Elevators, slow walks out a building, slow tight squeeze out a tunnel.
All the stuff that slows down the game and you know it is just to load the next zone.
@beavis64
Quite right about AC:O, been a while since I played it so my mistake there.
Quite like the flying idea that's been mentioned re HZD, that would be fast travel in game as something story related, rather then effectively teleporting around the map.
I still remember old pc game like black & white that let players zoom-in to see little worm on apple and zoom-out until the earth is visible on space. I hope we can see game design like that again 😃
I don't know if anyone still plays it (I do) warp screens in no man's sky and the star screen loading the game all hidden loading screens somole of which take a long time.
I kind of like the disguised load breaks - they are a good time to pause the game to get up, get some water, use bathroom, etc. Plus, they add a little personality to the game. Can't be all hack n' slash/pew pew pew all the time! It's just my two-cents.
Yes, Pausing the game does the same thing, but pausing mid-action breaks up the rhythm a bit.
I guess I am just old-school (maybe more middle-school?).
Instant fast travel is a nice perk, though!
It's interesting how we are kind of going back to the cartridge days of yore. I remember Nintendo's insistence that games load fast on cartridges - despite their expensive price and limited space compared to optical media. In fact, it was the reason why the Gamecube used the proprietary optical discs over DVD (Nintendo wanted that "cartridge-like" fast load).
Fast-forward and we are back to instant loading like on cartridge despite the expensive price (though much, much cheaper than the 90's).
One could say that cartridge-based consoles of yore were ahead of their time!
I could finally finish Pillars of Eternity without all the loading.
@futureshark @beavis64
I thought Watch Dogs 2 let you fast travel from anywhere as soon as you got past the Intro Mission. I only used it when they asked me to drive across the entire map for a mission because Fast Traveling everywhere is the best way to miss out on side missions and funny world events and dialogue.
In any case, hidden loading screens can be obvious (an unusually long hallway, an elevator ride, a door that takes 10 seconds to open when every other door takes 2, etc), but I never noticed it in God of War or Uncharted. In those games, squeezing through openings and boosting each other is natural given the themes and settings of the stories. Wouldn't the games make less sense if they were completely stripped out?
Um....I quite like those little interludes, where Joel would boost Ellie for example.
Funny because I love those hidden loading screens and since I grew up with the PS1 horrendous loading time a couple of seconds now don't really bother me at all, on the contrary it gives me a little break from the action
What a ridiculous notion, with a new system, comes new tech, and it's all bigger and better, but so are the games, they will be larger, and more complex, and now the system is going to have to load 3d sound and ray tracing. I'll believe it when I see it.
@ApostateMage Shame that games like Pillars of Eternity, likely won't be playable on PS5 for a very long time (if ever)...
@beavis64
Even with no Fast Travel (something Uncharted never had), an Uncharted game with no Boosting and no squeezing just because they don't need them to load anymore seems off. A crumbling, ancient civilization with nothing caved in and every ladder and staircase intact? This wouldn't ruin the game at all, obviously, but it would be a curious detail.
Also, Watch Dogs 2 is one of my favorite games. I wouldn't mind at all if that kind of Open World game has anytime Fast Travel.
**commandeer flying robots, navigating the world at obscene speeds without any hitches or slowdown.**
FINALLY TIME FOR A REAL SUPERMAN GAME??
I don't even understand why people like fast travel, I rarely use it. Since when was teleporting real. If you fast travel a lot then I don't see why you're bothering with open world games, when the world is designed for you to encounter all sorts of possibilities especially in R* worlds and then you decide to not experience it and skip it all. Those are the types that come back and say a game is boring when they've skipped 50% of the entire experience.
No more loading screens or really fast travels are just a "little" advantage we will get with the kind of custom SSDs of PS5 and Series X. Usage of system RAM and game design freedom are key, at least that's what I think ; ).
@TheArt Because most games aren’t RDR2? It’s designed to have less fast travel, but most open-worlds games have side-quests you can find anyway or don’t have a world that’s as beautiful and would get very monotonous going back and forth, back and forth. Even RDR2 has fast-travel that fits very well within the context of the game.
@Jaz007 True though, a lot of games' worlds aren't RDR2 OR GTAV but I don't know I don't really like fast travel. Well yes with something like AC Odyssey were special encounters don't happen it's ok to fast travel but even then I love sailing and listening to the sea shanties. Plus with a game like Fallout 4 or Skyrim, I can imagine the different companions, special outfits or weapons from random enemies I would've missed if I kept fast traveling.
It’ll be interesting to see whether the large open world shrinks. Sometimes I feel like they just put something a long way away to give it time to load. Without that need to load it could be a denser world.
@Futureshark fast-travel has always been a trash game design decision. Make traversal more fun, and this won't be a problem. Crazy idea eh? Make traversal more fun in a game with a lot of space to traverse?
Dense Open World >>>>> Big Open World
Too many games nowadays go open world because its the trend. Rather be dense and full of things to do (Spiderman) than huge and full of nothing (MGS5)
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