If there's one thing the open world genre excels at, it's pure, "sorry, WHAT?!" surprise.

Yes, you can hoover up a few days' worth of side quests or embark on an 80 hour character grind with one hell of a payoff, but the question of "What's round that next corner?" only really lands with all-out open-air freedom.

With that in mind, we're currently seeing two definable approaches to open world game design. Either you go down the Ubisoft and Sony route; peppering landscapes with icons, signposted collectibles, quests etc., or you prefer the Nintendo, FromSoftware approach: Gargantuan worlds filled with things to see, do and interact with, where navigation is entirely on you.

No matter which you pick, both give developers plenty of opportunities to throw in the occasional creature-based curveball; a miniboss or "what the hell is that?!"-style reveal, that leaves you dealing with an encounter or scenario you REALLY didn't expect.