Gameranx has published a new video in which they attempt to discuss the history and evolution of open world games (across all genres). Happily, their view of history is a bit longer (I’m looking at you, Kotaku), and so they begin by stepping back in time a fair ways…all the way back to Ultima 1.

Their definition of open world gaming is probably worth noting here. For the purposes of this video, Gameranx defines an open world game as one which includes the following:

• A fairly large game world that doesn’t direct (or restrict) you to any specific area.
• No requirement to complete the story to explore; there may not even be a story.
• The player has to exist within the world, rather than control the world itself.

Anyhow, they begin with Ultima 1, and step through titles such as Elite and the first Legend of Zelda on their way to mentioning a game that was really a significant milestone in the annals of open world gaming: Ultima 6, which was one of the first games — if not the first game — to present the world in a monoscale format (that is: the game doesn’t have a world map with separate maps for its cities; everything is one one map at a uniform scale).

Now, curiously, the video skips past Ultima 7 and jumps all the way to Daggerfall after mentioning Ultima 6, which is a strange choice. But then again, I suppose it could be argued that Ultima 7’s open world is really just an evolution of Utima 6’s; it includes new interactivity features, and also puts the dungeons on the same map as the rest of the game. Still, it’s a curious omission.