Open-world games have quickly risen in popularity in recent years and many of these games have been influenced by both Bethesda and Ubisoft. With gaming series like Elder Scrolls and Assassin’s Creed continuously expanding the sizes of their worlds, both Bethesda and Ubisoft have proven that they can make exciting open worlds with tons of content for players to experience. However, the two companies have very different outlooks when it comes to creating these open worlds, based on what they offer players, how players explore, and how the world can teach players about lore.

Bethesda and Ubisoft have been able to not only create but also improve their open worlds with each installment in a series. Both companies have become successful thanks to the worlds they create, and the opportunities provided to players, but fundamental differences within the open world design differentiate the games released from these companies. While Ubisoft strive to ensure that its worlds look great, Bethesda takes its time to give players a lot to do and the ability to organically find many items, weapons, and quest lines.

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Open World Design

Assassins Creed 4 Open World Gameplay Video

The open world design of Bethesda games and Ubisoft games differ tremendously, mainly due to the different ways the games are usually played. For Bethesda, there is more of a focus on expansive worlds with fewer settlements to give the world a bigger feel. For example, in Skyrim, players are given huge fields and mountains to explore with few settlements and cities, whereas in a game like Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, the world seems to have a larger population of settlements and camps that can easily be spotted.

This difference in open world design provides different ways for players to learn more about the locations they are in and provide a different approach to situations. For instance, in many of Ubisoft’s games, there are numerous hiding spots throughout the world for more stealth-focused gameplay; this is especially noticeable in the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry series. On the other hand, Bethesda’s games do not rely on the environment for stealth, but rather the skill level of the character, so the world focuses more on the diversity of terrain throughout the different locations of the map.

Character Traversal

Assassins Creed Rogue - Shay Climbing

One of the biggest factors that developers need to consider when creating an open world is how the player will be able to traverse the world they are playing in. In Bethesda’s case, the worlds found in Fallout and The Elder Scrolls are relatively similar, with players only having a simple form of traveling and few ways to improve their movement. Ubisoft has a different approach for each game but tries to provide players with different ways to travel through the world. Far Cry, for example, heavily focuses on vehicles and tools like gliders, whereas Assassin’s Creed gives players the chance to use parkour to move around the world.

While creating the open world design, the skillset of the player character is a significant element that developers need to keep in mind. As a result, games like Assassin’s Creed usually have large cities or mountainous regions to give the players more areas to climb, giving them more vertical movement. The absence of these parkour and climbing mechanics in Bethesda games means that the open world lacks the same level of vertical movement and must implement a road or path system that will help players reach higher places like mountain tops.

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Diversity and Variety

Skyrim Interface Mods Quality World Map

Open world games need to provide players with a lot to do and explore in order to ensure that players want to experience the entirety of the world. However, this level of world design takes a lot of time to implement, and this is an area where Bethesda and Ubisoft differ. Bethesda usually takes a long time to develop a game, often over five years, whereas Ubisoft’s games are usually annual releases. The extra time that Bethesda takes to develop a single game allows the developers to add a wider variety of content that makes world maps much more diverse with very few repetitive locations.

Ubisoft’s annual release outlook towards its games is what leads to the games feeling repetitive, with many of the locations in the games having a very similar feeling and appearance. Looking at Assassin’s Creed games, many of the titles have huge maps that offer very little in terms of diversity between locations. This lack of diversity within the open world makes the map grow stale very quickly and does not give players a lot of world activities that they can encounter. This is a direct result of developers not having enough time to truly give players a rich world to explore, and while Ubisoft has tried to shift focus to a more exploration-heavy style of gameplay, the lack of variety in the worlds tends to make games feel repetitive very quickly.

Bethesda and Ubisoft are giants in the gaming industry and are two of the biggest companies that focus on open world games. The two different approaches to creating these worlds, especially when it comes to time constraints, is what separates the two companies. While Ubisoft relies on having a world that looks good, its open world design is unable to carry the game and as a result leads to Ubisoft spending more time in ensuring the story is captivating. Bethesda takes its time to ensure that the world design can captivate players in a way that finding new quests is a more organic experience and requires a lot of exploration. This truly sets Bethesda’s open worlds apart from any others seen in gaming and is what helped build up its immense player base.

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