Finally bought this on the steam sale, playing on steamdeck. Im all about open world games where you can do whatever you want. I hate being locked into “missions”, escort quests, etc. I like a game having these as an option to do at my leisure however. Im several hours in and the environment looks amazing, would love to go explore it… Am I still in an extended tutorial and the game cuts me loose to do what I please at some point or is the game just a series of missions forever? Also is there some sort of open world mode outside of story mode. Thank you, i love each and every one of you.
While others have answered your question, I just wanted to go on a tangent and add to some of the same frustration that you felt.
I hate hand holding in this game. I feel like missions trap you into playing a certain way. You have to treat the missions like they are an interactive movie experience. But otherwise, the open world exploration is fun.
For future, If you really like freedom but also need some goals and story and not just a sandbox, I would recommend trying either legend of zelda botw or totk. I think you can emulate BOTW on steamdeck.
If you can take some punishment then Elden Ring is also a great choice.
I hope that you can enjoy this game though.
BOTW, TOTK, and Elden Ring are the perfect recommendations.
Over the years, I’ve grown to really dislike open world games and specifically these three games are damn near prefect games in my opinion.
I never realized how liberating the freedom of discovery in a game could really be.