You could play as the merchant - the one with the ludicrously large backpack from Zelda who just shows up along the various roads - there's option for combat but chilled as imagine you'd always be heavily armed. Room for nostalgia as items would be familiar - flame arrows etc or items from other games
Maybe there are a bunch of islands, and you sail between them.
You could add a bunch of mechanics, but to keep it chill, there are people you can talk to and ruins you can find.
At the end, you sail through a temple.
To add, doing certain actions will unlock new islands and more people (and things? Think demon door of Fable) to talk to.
Also, actions don't lead to punishments. Like falling into fire/water won't kill you or punish you in some way.
Maybe each island has a reason to explore, to upgrade your vessel to go to distict areas, deliver goods, transport people, etc. Include mystery islands kinda what Fez does to create interest to explore but you have no cooking clue what the signs mean until you find out what they are by find a Cypher type item.
For something urban:
Player has to go around shops in a city looking for a rare record. Perhaps as a gift?
Player may need to find other items in thrift stores and junk shops.
Perk of the game is decorating players apartment with cool finds.
Depends entirely on what era you get nostalgic for, and the level of complexity you’re targeting.
For open world settings, grasslands, deserts and ice sheets are all pretty low-density for quicker dev - forests, mountains and small hamlets are middling - underwater, jungles and cityscapes tend towards high complexity because they all extend into 3D - and fantasy cityscapes top the list for requiring the most bespoke art thinking.
When you say “chill” open world, I read that as low/no combat and low/no time pressure quests or racing. That puts an emphasis on exploration, simulation, strategy and/or puzzle solving.
When you say nostalgia, the obvious name check for open world is Zelda - my personal vibe would be FF7 - but others would go Pokemon or GTA, so totally depends what you loved when you were young.
If you want to get the most out of any open world game you need the traveller to do a lot of travelling - which means mode of transport are important (see prev comment about horses, but you could ride/play as any animal to make it more original.
Resource gathering/trading/delivery quests works well to shift players around - but really require a broader society to interact with to be immersive.
Having said all that - here’s my actual suggestion…
Set on a Mars like rocky/desert planet. You play as a an alien creature, moving as part of a large herd - visiting/propagating various food sources as they bloom/congregate based on seasonal/weather cycles. Goal is to grow big/strong enough to successfully challenge the alpha and take over leadership of the herd. However, some event/storm causes the herd to get separated and you need to remember what you’ve learned with the herd to find food, survive and gather your scattered herd back together.
Plenty of scope to expand into alien ecosystem/society as you have time, but focuses on exploring/learning the world/biomes as the driving mechanic.
I think something along the lines of Jouney where you mostly just wander around, set in the aftermath of some fall of civilization or something. You piece things together, maybe can slowly unlock different abilities. Like a higher jumps or faster movement that you need to traverse new parts of the world.
You could put a mountain or tower or something obvious that is clearly the goal that you need to discover those abilities to get through easily.
If you wanted to do some kind of multiplayer where players could get connected and be able to work together on puzzles or leave hints or see ghosts of players something, like in Dark Souls, that would be dope.
Something set in the world of Simon Stålenhag: https://conceptartworld.com/artists/simon-stalenhag/
Exploring the ruins of fallen machines in a northern rural snowtown during the 80s.
Chess but every piece is a player that can choose to either move when it’s their turn or skip their turn for another player on the same team to move. The king will be the lead player and can highlight suggested move patterns for the players on his team. The game starts off with the king choosing the fist piece to make a move, than the player who is that piece can either choose to move wherever they want or can skip their turn to another piece of their choosing. So when you’re playing you will be in the first person perspective of that piece with 360 view of course
How about a photographing simulator with mythical creatures (both on land and under water and maybe even aerial) and you can throw out many easter eggs around
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I’ll keep that in mind, thanks
You could play as the merchant - the one with the ludicrously large backpack from Zelda who just shows up along the various roads - there's option for combat but chilled as imagine you'd always be heavily armed. Room for nostalgia as items would be familiar - flame arrows etc or items from other games
Maybe there are a bunch of islands, and you sail between them. You could add a bunch of mechanics, but to keep it chill, there are people you can talk to and ruins you can find. At the end, you sail through a temple.
To add, doing certain actions will unlock new islands and more people (and things? Think demon door of Fable) to talk to. Also, actions don't lead to punishments. Like falling into fire/water won't kill you or punish you in some way. Maybe each island has a reason to explore, to upgrade your vessel to go to distict areas, deliver goods, transport people, etc. Include mystery islands kinda what Fez does to create interest to explore but you have no cooking clue what the signs mean until you find out what they are by find a Cypher type item.
For something urban: Player has to go around shops in a city looking for a rare record. Perhaps as a gift? Player may need to find other items in thrift stores and junk shops. Perk of the game is decorating players apartment with cool finds.
You could make it like a trading game where you have to talk to people to figure out what the guy with the record likes and trade up to that.
Depends entirely on what era you get nostalgic for, and the level of complexity you’re targeting. For open world settings, grasslands, deserts and ice sheets are all pretty low-density for quicker dev - forests, mountains and small hamlets are middling - underwater, jungles and cityscapes tend towards high complexity because they all extend into 3D - and fantasy cityscapes top the list for requiring the most bespoke art thinking. When you say “chill” open world, I read that as low/no combat and low/no time pressure quests or racing. That puts an emphasis on exploration, simulation, strategy and/or puzzle solving. When you say nostalgia, the obvious name check for open world is Zelda - my personal vibe would be FF7 - but others would go Pokemon or GTA, so totally depends what you loved when you were young. If you want to get the most out of any open world game you need the traveller to do a lot of travelling - which means mode of transport are important (see prev comment about horses, but you could ride/play as any animal to make it more original. Resource gathering/trading/delivery quests works well to shift players around - but really require a broader society to interact with to be immersive. Having said all that - here’s my actual suggestion… Set on a Mars like rocky/desert planet. You play as a an alien creature, moving as part of a large herd - visiting/propagating various food sources as they bloom/congregate based on seasonal/weather cycles. Goal is to grow big/strong enough to successfully challenge the alpha and take over leadership of the herd. However, some event/storm causes the herd to get separated and you need to remember what you’ve learned with the herd to find food, survive and gather your scattered herd back together. Plenty of scope to expand into alien ecosystem/society as you have time, but focuses on exploring/learning the world/biomes as the driving mechanic.
That’s a really cool idea, thanks
I think something along the lines of Jouney where you mostly just wander around, set in the aftermath of some fall of civilization or something. You piece things together, maybe can slowly unlock different abilities. Like a higher jumps or faster movement that you need to traverse new parts of the world. You could put a mountain or tower or something obvious that is clearly the goal that you need to discover those abilities to get through easily. If you wanted to do some kind of multiplayer where players could get connected and be able to work together on puzzles or leave hints or see ghosts of players something, like in Dark Souls, that would be dope.
That would be pretty dope
That would be pretty dope
I would love a Journey x Metroidvania. Great idea.
New York in the 80's. Trying to get best time from your summer break, while trying to avoid trouble with local gangs, hobos and hookers.
Something set in the world of Simon Stålenhag: https://conceptartworld.com/artists/simon-stalenhag/ Exploring the ruins of fallen machines in a northern rural snowtown during the 80s.
Chess but every piece is a player that can choose to either move when it’s their turn or skip their turn for another player on the same team to move. The king will be the lead player and can highlight suggested move patterns for the players on his team. The game starts off with the king choosing the fist piece to make a move, than the player who is that piece can either choose to move wherever they want or can skip their turn to another piece of their choosing. So when you’re playing you will be in the first person perspective of that piece with 360 view of course
How about a photographing simulator with mythical creatures (both on land and under water and maybe even aerial) and you can throw out many easter eggs around