Talking Point: How Do You Feel About Linear Vs. Open World Games On Xbox?

It’s been another busy week of gaming news, with publisher 2K going ham on fresh information for both GTA 6 and Mafia: The Old Country; two series’ that have long shared plenty of similarities. However, the two third-person action games are going in very different directions with their next entries — one huge open world and one linear story — and we wanted to gauge opinion on how you feel about the two styles here in 2025.

Last generation, open world games really seemed to come into their own – especially with Ubisoft doing its thing. The extra power afforded by Xbox One and PS4, along with changing trends that veered towards people spending more time with games, led to a bit of an explosion in the amount of open world titles we started to see. There were mixed results last-gen, but there were also some cracking open worlds that really took advantage of the new hardware on offer.

However, as we’ve moved into the current generation and the sheer abundance of new games to play feels off the scale, appetite for lots of huge open worlds does seem to have dampened somewhat. Of course, there’s still massive hype for something like GTA 6 — in part because Rockstar is the absolute master of that craft — but outside of rare exceptions like that… are folks as bothered these days? Would we rather see more tight, handcrafted experiences overall?

Well, that’s where you come in. Here in 2025, and looking ahead to some big upcoming titles in 2026 (no, we haven’t forgotten about you Fable), we want to know how you feel about open world vs. linear experiences on Xbox. Do you prefer to get stuck into a polished, linear, digestible game these days? Still think open world is the best way to go? Or, do you like a good mix? Variety is the spice of life, after all.

Vote in the poll up above and share more of your thoughts on this topic in the comments below.