From this author's perspective, games like The Witcher 3 managed to build a world so rich that its main narrative almost felt seamless when hopping
between sidequests.
This is a vast improvement on the old system that made it difficult to switch
between the sidequests associated with each possible party member.
I know the difference
between a sidequest that starts with a cutscene and a three - minute race that's slightly too tricky to be enjoyable.
Not exact matches
Anytime I slowed down and did
sidequests, challenge missions and treasure hunts in
between story missions, I found I was having a much better time.
Still the open world can feel barren thanks to its lack of content and while there will be
sidequests to undertake, majority of the time is usually spend running from one location to the next with nothing interesting in
between to make the journey easier.
Between the environmental details,
sidequests, and the immersive sim genre's ubiquitous emails, notes, whiteboards, and audio recordings, Talos 1 emerges as a community that once hummed with life, drama, and relationships.
If I had to point out one consistent flaw in the game it's the difference in the polishing quality
between main NPCs and
sidequest NPCs.
The best
sidequests in PC gaming have historically, for me at least, been few and far
between.
There are one or two surprises in store in few of these
sidequests when The Bureau suddenly remembers to utilize its Cold War era setting but they are few and far
between.
The flaws are still there, with the aforementioned in -
between dungeon segments often dragging, and many of the long - going
sidequests having underwhelming rewards.