I love an open-world game as much as the next player, but there does come a time when things get a little too much. For all their magic of freedom and beauty, open-world games often tend to devolve into a checklist of quests and collectibles to be done with before you can go back to the main storyline.

Are some of the greatest single-player games ever also open-world? Yes, but having a huge map to explore at your will doesn't automatically translate to being a fantastic game. That aspect comes from stellar writing and deeply satisfying gameplay, neither of which exclusively need an open-world format to exist. With that said, I may still have my complaints about the current console generation, but a lack of phenomenal linear games isn't one of them.

God of War Ragnarök (2022)

A semi-open world design worked perfectly for the Norse Saga's finale

The term 'semi-open world' gets thrown around a lot, but nowhere is it truer than in God of War Ragnarök. One of the best decisions Sony Santa Monica made was to not cave in to the pressure of making every major IP open-world just for the heck of it, and even with the revival of the God of War IP for the PS4, they kept things linear, as works best for the Spartan's franchise.

Ragnarök, the finale, is inarguably one of the best single-player games ever made, thanks to its emotionally-resonant story, unforgettable characters and performances, and realms so intricately and lovingly built that passion oozes out of every frame of the game. Sure, the game gives you the freedom to travel to and from different realms, but they all remain large and linear — huge sandboxes that players are free to wonder at, but there's always a set path to go through.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II (2024)

An intimate, unforgettable experience that wields its linearity brilliantly

2017's Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice felt less like a game, and more like an experimental journey into psychosis. This was a third-person linear adventure like no other, and with Senua's Saga, Ninja Theory expanded on their vision. This 'expansion', however, didn't mean a bigger and more bloated map or endless distractions. Instead, it's a harrowing, laser-focused story about survival, trauma, and facing the horrors in Senua's own head.

Honestly, Senua's Saga wouldn't have benefited from open-world freedom, either. After all, the game delivers its thrills and discomfort through whispers and hallucinations, and those are elements and game mechanics that are best delivered when the timings are set by the developers, and they can make sure everything comes together perfectly. The presentation is downright photorealistic, but the intensity that makes this game unforgettable? That only comes with its linear storytelling, making the entire experience, from the splash screen to the credits, so much more intimate.

Alan Wake 2 (2023)

Open-world survival horror rarely ever works

I'm never going to pretend that the first Alan Wake game has aged well, but the 2023 sequel that came 13 years later? Nothing short of marvelous, and a stellar example of incredible writing, tension-filled gameplay, and survival-horror done right. After 25 years of gaming, I still found myself saying "I've never played something like this before" as I played Alan Wake 2, which was the biggest compliment I could give this game.

Every moment and level in Alan Wake 2's story is carefully tailored by the writers and devs to deliver dread, while still leaving you confused yet invested in the multiverse-spanning story. Is it open-world? Not at all, and it doesn't need to be, either. In a game as reliant on its story as Alan Wake 2, an open-world format would have taken away from the player's ability to witness everything Remedy wanted you to see and feel, and that's why Alan Wake 2, despite having been slow to break even, remains a fantastic example of modern linear storytelling.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023)

A Jedi Knight's story is best told linear

Cal Kestis may be a Jedi Knight now, but he's still not running around a galaxy-spanning open-world RPG. Both the fantastic Star Wars Jedi games have been semi-open world at best, and the latest, Survivor, took the Metroidvania-esque structure of the first game and expanded it. Only it didn't expand it into a huge open playground, but rather larger, contained maps that you can explore piece-by-piece, without affecting the game's pacing.

With both of these games, it's clear that Respawn Entertainment understands that a strong Jedi narrative thrives on its pacing, and not its scale. All its highest highs come in curated bursts, and I was never distracted with shiny collectibles and a hundred different icons to highlight, reach, and gather on the map. Jedi: Survivor was linear enough to stay focused, yet expansive enough to feel epic, and it landed right in that sweet spot that 2024's Star Wars Outlaws seemed to miss.

Astro Bot (2024)

An incredibly endearing linear platformer you'll keep smiling at

Nobody in the industry expected Astro Bot to be as good as it turned out to be. What started as a charming little PS5 tech demo in Astro's Playroom, turned into one of the most joyful linear platformers of the modern era. We've got plenty of photorealistic and over-the-top cinematic games, but Astro Bot feels refreshingly old-school. The kind of game that had you marveling as you played Mario 64 for the first time.

Astro Bot's linearity is definitely its greatest strength. Every level in this remarkably endearing game is a tightly-crafted playground designed to showcase both clever platforming and an endless sense of discovery. There are no giant maps or checklists here. Instead, what you get is a permanent smile on your face and pure, distilled fun in digestible chunks. This game proves that, when done right, linear games really make for far more enjoyable experiences because they always give us the devs' creativity firing on all cylinders.

Still Wakes the Deep (2024)

You have nowhere left to run

This fantastic indie horror game is about as far away from 'sandbox' as you can get. You're stuck on a claustrophobic oil rig in the middle of the sea when everything goes horribly, horribly wrong. The brilliance of Still Wakes the Deep really lies in its restraint. The devs don't hand you a map, a quest log, or even the chance to wander far away from the path. The game has a way of shoving you into crumbling hallways, flooding and tight compartments below deck, and pitch-black maintenance shafts while all you have to focus on is surviving.

A game like Still Wakes the Deep doesn't need freedom, either. It needs focus, because this sinking rig you're stuck on? It's as much a character in this game as you are, or the monsters stalking you. The only way the dread works is by keeping you trapped, terrifying you step-by-step along the way.

Doom: The Dark Ages (2025)

Rippin' and tearin' through fast-paced arenas

If you're the Doom Slayer, you're never going to have the time or desire to explore an open world and see what's what. You just want to rip and tear through demons, and that's exactly what the Slayer has always done. Not only is the revived Doom trilogy not open-world at all, but it's also an arena shooter — something of a lost genre in today's modern landscape.

In fact, The Dark Ages does have some of the biggest, most expansive levels in the whole modern trilogy, but they are few and far between. The rest of the game follows suit with the 2016 reboot and 2020's Doom Eternal, with its linear levels that never give you (or the demons) a moment to breathe from start to finish. In fact, the bigger levels this time around, as enjoyable as they were, did feel rather slow compared to the bar set by Eternal, even though The Dark Ages is a prequel about a younger Slayer. That said, very few linear games are able to deliver such incredible amounts of enjoyable gunplay with each level, never once stopping for a breath, and Doom: The Dark Ages, clearly stands supreme among them.

Silent Hill 2 (2023)

The gold standard for remakes and psychological horror

Silent Hill 2 came on the PS2 just a week before GTA III, and the latter revolutionized the industry with its open-world, 3D sandbox formula. Linear games were still very much the fashion, especially on sixth-gen hardware. In the past few years, we've seen a flurry of remakes of old classics, and among them, Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 remake stands as a definitive remake that truly does justice to the original, while making it far easier to play and enjoy on modern hardware for a brand-new audience.

From South Vale to the Brookhaven Hospital, Silent Hill 2 never opens up its locations for the player to explore at will, but what it does do is keep you feeling a sensation of dread down the back of your neck with carefully-tailored moments that keep the terror intact.

Mafia: The Old Country (2025)

No flaws an open-world format could've fixed

A $50 price tag and linear format is what Mafia: The Old Country promised players, and in 2025, both of those things are rarities for AAA titles. Now, the first two Mafia games were both linear, story-driven games that took you from level to level with great precision, never once letting an open-world format come in and ruin the fun.

Still, they did craft beautiful cities to explore later, without the story jutting in, and that's exactly what Hangar 13 did for Mafia: The Old Country. A prequel set in 1800s Sicily, The Old Country certainly is one of the most gorgeous games of this generation, and it continues the trend of staying linear throughout its 18-hour campaign while letting you explore their empty yet breathtaking open-world map later, at your own leisure, without having to bother with the story once you're done with it.

Does it work perfectly? Not at all, which is why I called it impressively mediocre in my review of the game. Still, a AAA game sticking to linear routes without relying on bigger hubs or sandboxes, and still managing to set itself apart with a $50 price tag is nothing short of impressive. If you're always up for a classic mafia movie with all the tropes that this genre has stood on for decades, this one just might be for you.

Dead Space (2023)

As perfect as a perfect remake can be

Remaking 2008's Dead Space was an unenviable task for EA Motive. First off, they'd be remaking a game that Visceral Studios made three generations ago, and that studio had shut down. Secondly, they had huge shoes to fill, because the original Dead Space game remains one of the landmark titles in modern survival-horror history.

Thankfully, the remake was nothing short of perfect. On board the USG Ishimura, every frame, every room, and every claustrophobic corridor filled you with as much dread as it did back in 2008. The graphics, especially with RTAO, were downright phenomenal, and the game wasn't an unoptimized mess, either.

Heck, they even made improvements to the game that the classic game just didn't have. Isaac was finally a protagonist with a voice, the janky zero-G jumps were replaced by full zero-gravity flying, and the story and pacing were significantly improved. This remake, despite not giving you the full expanse of the stranded, alien-infested ship to explore, still lets you backtrack a lot, making for a seamless linear game design that felt genuinely flawless.

Open-world games should be a plot device, not a crutch

Linear games deliver focus, pacing, and emotional weight that open worlds seldom nail.

For years, "linear" became a dirty word in gaming, as if a game had to be sprawling and endless to be worthwhile. Heck, even games Assassin's Creed, which have always been open-world games with beautifully hand-crafted maps, became needlessly massive to bloat their runtime and keep players engaged while they extended their development cycle for each game.

The truth of the matter, though, is that it's only structure that matters. The best stories don't always need a wide-open field, and I'm more than happy being led down a single road, so long as that road is well-developed and doesn't have any p(l)otholes.

Linear games give us focus, pacing, and emotional weight that open worlds don't always deliver on, and they shouldn't ever go out of style.