I want a corridor. It means they actually have to tell a story. Open worlds are too often mostly a large collection of lore for you to slowly read and tease out. But world building and lore doesn’t make a game. For many of us, it’s about the journey and story. I don’t need to make world changing decisions when I’m playing “hero.” I want to know heros story with all its cliches and tropes. Give me puzzles to solve, challenges to overcome, and entertaining gameplay instead “choose your own adventure.” It’s like the industry collectively decided that player agency, open worlds, and having options that changed how the story went somehow is what made a game good.

Yeah level design was clever, but constrained by the setting itself.