In a few weeks, the new ARPG “No Rest for the Wicked” will be launched on Steam and consoles. Now the developers claim not only that it looks good but also that it will offer players a better open world than many other games.
What game are we talking about? No Rest for the Wicked is an upcoming action role-playing game from Moon Studios, the creators of successful titles like Ori. The game is set to be released on April 18, 2024 on Steam. A release on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S is expected to follow later.
At first glance, No Rest for the Wicked reminded many players of Diablo IV. However, after the developers revealed some details about the gameplay, it became clear that players can expect action more in the style of Dark Souls games.
If you haven’t heard of No Rest for the Wicked yet, you can check out the trailer here:
What is behind the developers’ statement? Thomas Mahler, director for No Rest for the Wicked, recently wrote in a post on X about what they want to do differently with this game compared to games with large open worlds. He begins by stating that players have been experiencing open-world fatigue for some time.
That’s exactly what the developers want to avoid with a smaller but better open world. It should not bore the players. At one point in his post, he writes: “We don’t need 10,000 planets.” A pretty clear jab at games like Starfield and others.
He believes that most players would agree with him on this point. And that instead, they would wish for a world in which developers have put in blood, sweat, and tears.
However, his post is not just a dig against games with large open worlds. Instead, Mahler explains why he believes these are difficult to design and thus quickly become boring:
Here he claims that procedurally generated worlds may seem simple at first glance, but this technology is not yet advanced enough to create good level design to this extent. As a result, large worlds are created, but the levels are later overlaid by designers.
While this may work in some way, it requires an army of level designers to fill these expanses, which is why many games only have a few very beautiful spots.
Mahler writes that he can now clearly see which parts of the games were later worked on by designers. The remaining parts of the worlds appear unfinished, unattractive, and empty next to them.
What does No Rest for the Wicked want to do differently? In the design of their open world, the developers primarily aimed to ensure that players never have to mindlessly push the analog stick forward for 2 minutes to get from A to B, says Mahler.
Everything was built and stitched together by hand here
For this, they approached the development differently than by working with procedurally generated levels. “Instead, we built every inch by hand and then stitched everything together, creating junctions and constantly repeating that at the moment-to-moment gameplay,” describes Mahler the work behind his game.
In a follow-up post, Mahler also explains how exactly the technology behind procedurally generated worlds works and attempts to provide more clarity. He especially wants to make clear why this technology still cannot design good levels on its own.
Nevertheless, Mahler says he can imagine that AI will eventually be advanced enough to master really good level designs on its own. At this point, however, it still requires teams of talented designers behind it.
What do you think of this topic? How do you wish for an open world when you start a game? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments.
In a showcase, the developers showed that No Rest for the Wicked will not only look beautiful: The probably most beautiful upcoming ARPG launches in April on Steam
