Open World - History

History

"I think one of those games that people can 'project' themselves on. It does so many things and allows so many play styles that people can easily imagine what type of person they'd like to be in game."

The space simulator Elite is often credited with pioneering the open world game concept in 1984, though other early 2D games such as Bosconian (1981), Time Pilot (1982), Dragon Slayer (1984), Ginga Hyoryu Vifam (1984), Brain Breaker (1985), Star Luster (1985), Metroid (1986), Dragon Quest (1986) and The Legend of Zelda (1986) also featured free-roaming nonlinear open worlds. Furthermore, there were several early games that offered players the ability to explore an open world while driving a variety of ground vehicles. Turbo Esprit provided a 3D free-roaming city environment in 1986 and has been cited as a major influence on Grand Theft Auto. TX-1 (1983), The Battle-Road (1984) and Out Run (1986) were non-linear driving games that allowed the player to drive through multiple different paths that lead to different possible routes and final destinations. River City Ransom (1989) was an early sandbox brawler reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto. Test Drive III (1990) was a racing game where the player did not have to drive on a preset course, but could go wherever they want, i.e. drive off the road and onto the grass, hills and farms. Hunter (1991) has been described as the first sandbox game to feature full 3D, third-person graphics.

Maps in Quarantine (1994) featured various locations where missions could be picked up and also popularized the drive-by shooting tactic by using the Uzi to shoot out from the side windows. Nintendo's Super Mario 64 (1996) was considered revolutionary for its 3D open-ended free-roaming worlds, which had rarely been seen in 3D games before, along with its analog stick controls and camera control. Other early 3D examples include the Legend of Zelda games Ocarina of Time (1998) and Majora's Mask (2000), the DMA Design (Rockstar North) game Body Harvest (1998), the Angel Studios (Rockstar San Diego) games Midtown Madness (1999) and Midnight Club: Street Racing (2000), and the Reflections Interactive (Ubisoft Reflections) game Driver (1999).