Rockstar's Forgotten Open-World Game Just Revealed What the Genre Is Missing

The piece uses Dan Houser’s praise of Bully to argue that Rockstar’s game stood apart from the usual open-world formula.

It says modern AAA open worlds have become too similar, leaning on familiar fantasy realms, wastelands, crime cities, and wilderness maps.

Bigger worlds, the article argues, have not produced more memorable or distinctive settings.

The broader critique is that today’s genre has lost a sense of place and originality in favor of scale.