For the most part, most open world games follow the Ubisoft formula.
People will deny that their favorite open world is different and try to come up with reason as to why it's "special". In reality said differences aren't special.
English
-
Would you consider Witcher 3 an "Ubisoft formula" game? How broad are we going here? I mean, games like Horizon Zero Dawn or Rise of the Tomb Raider I can see an easy connection, but to things like Witcher, Dark Souls, and even Bethesda games it's hard to make a connection.
-
Dark Souls games are pretty linear. :o
-
They're semi-linear. There's a good amount of Metrovania backtracking and stuff though, which unlocks new side areas from time to time. I think that it's close enough to be called open-world.
-
You could say Dark Souls I is semi-linear, but 2 & 3 are [i]definitely[/i] linear. Albeit, their linearity is presented in a way that feels like it's not. And even in the case of 1, I would still call it linear, but with backtracking, and different "branches".
-
None of those games fit the mode as far as I can tell.