Again, developers could also drop graphics settings along with resolution to better accomodate the Series S. But many 9th gen games will likely target 4K or dynamic 4K.

What about Gears 6? Will that be 4K/60 fps/ultra vs 1080p/30 fps God of War 2?

Also, why would GoW2 become BotW? GoW at its core is a linear action game. There are some fairly large areas to explore but its in separated areas, not a big map like Skyrim or BotW. That wasn't for specs reasons, that was a design choice.

GoW2 could be become an open world game right now on PS4 if that was a design choice. It could be like AC:Odyssey with Kratos.

Last, I really hope GoW2 is 1080p/30 fps on PS5. That sounds incredibly likely.

Eeeeerr there is no indication that if the specs were different like faster SSD the design choices would be the same.

I mean the core game. In the case of God of War, its open like a 3D Metroidvania game. That's the scope the game was aiming for. The game is really a linear experience with some larger areas that have side quests and things hidden.

If the developers wanted to make something large scale like AC:Odyssey, BotW or Skyrim, that totally changes what the game is at its core. I mean you can't fly a dragon over the entire world of God of War or take a boat everywhere because it wasn't built that way, its not really an open world to begin with.

Gears 5 did something very similar as God of War. You now have these fairly large open areas to explore where you do side quests and main quests, but much of the game is still a linear experience because that's how scope they were going for. If MS decided they wanted to make Gears 6 a real open world shooter, that's totally feasible even on the X1. I mean games like Far Cry, Crysis 1, RDR, Just Cause, Division, Fallout and other titles would suggest this could happen even on X1 specs.

I mean the core game. In the case of God of War, its open like a 3D Metroidvania game. That's the scope the game was aiming for. The game is really a linear experience with some larger areas that have side quests and things hidden.

If the developers wanted to make something large scale like AC:Odyssey, BotW or Skyrim, that totally changes what the game is at its core. I mean you can't fly a dragon over the entire world of God of War or take a boat everywhere because it wasn't built that way, its not really an open world to begin with.

Gears 5 did something very similar as God of War. You now have these fairly large open areas to explore where you do side quests and main quests, but much of the game is still a linear experience because that's how scope they were going for. If MS decided they wanted to make Gears 6 a real open world shooter, that's totally feasible even on the X1. I mean games like Far Cry, Crysis 1, RDR, Just Cause, Division, Fallout and other titles would suggest this could happen even on X1 specs.

I do agree with you.

My point is that if they had better specs on SSD, RAM, GPU, CPU they may have even changed the core because they may have limited several stuff on deciding the core exactly because they were aware of the limits.

A completely open world GOW was just an example. But yes, I do believe we'll see a ton of complex open world games with even better fidelity as we're currently seeing in games like GOW. You can't really compare that to the exploring parts in Gears 5 where you're just gliding through a barren wasteland with nothing to see or do.

BOTW is imo a good example of what an open world adventure game should be like. The graphics are obviously a bit simplistic, but sense of scale, the way you can travel through the world, the physics/ weather system and how they managed to make the world feel alive is pretty amazing. Hopefully we'll see a lot more games like that next gen. Of course, with much richer visuals, world simulations, physics and way more complex level design.

Imo something like that would get people a lot more excited (even if it's running in 1080p), than Gears 6 running in 4k/ 60fps.

That's the point, that's what open world games have a lot of. You explore barren lands and eventually reach your destinations. In the case of Gears 5, you skiff around an open area and eventually go to more linear areas of the game that progress the story or do small side quests.

God of War is mostly linear paths where you beat up monsters and berate your son. Then there are larger open areas with side stuff to do, sometimes traveling around in your boat. These games actually share a lot of similarities in game design.

BotW is something entirely different, that's a truly open world game. I haven't played it much but I got the impression that dungeons are more linear sections of the games. Which is common, open world games tend to have more linear sections as well. The thing is that game is just doing something entirely different than say GoW or Gears 5, completely different game design choices that weren't limited to specs.

Gears 6 could be a large scale open world game and still achieve 4K/60 fps. I think you're missing the point, making a game like BotW is more about design choices than specs. Skyrim had an impressive dynamic world, it used impressive physics, it had dynamic weather and it felt more alive than the average game, they did this with 7th gen specs as well. Meanwhile I own BotW on Wii U, specs that are fairly close to 7th gen.

But even on PS4, God of War could have been a larger scale game. Every area you go to could have been a massive environment with tons more to do and explore. However, that might get in the way of the core game they're trying to make. Essentially putting resources into side content that often just feels like boring filler.

I think GoW was exactly the game they were trying to make, more story and gameplay focused.

I think all design choices are dictated by hardware limits. The Gow games used to be super linear until they were able to do a more open level approach on ps4 and did the reboot. But going linear or open world always has its pros and cons. Uncharted 4 for example, wouldn't really work as a true open world game, sure they did a bit more open levels, but it's not like you can jump in a plane and parachute to anything you see in the far distance. Games like GTA have an amazing open world but they're also limited in what they can do with their indoor locations and why the missions tend to get boring after a while. What we'll hopefully see next gen is the best of both worlds with a huge leap in what we're used to seeing when it comes to level design. I also have no idea what to expect but Star Citizen is probably the only game that can give us a clue.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqXZhnrkBdo

PS2/PS3 era GoW games were linear by choice. They were story driven, Metroidvania games by design.

GoW on PS4 has the illusion of being a much more open game than it really is, but its only in sections. In comparison PS3 has many truly open world games.

Uncharted games don't work as an open world game for many reasons. The first being the levels are generally linear story driven experiences with lots of scripted events and puzzles. Many games are designed like that, which is why it doesn't make sense for everything to be open world.

A big reason GTA lacks indoor locations is because that isn't the scope the game is aiming for. There are indoor locations in the game, but walking into every building isn't crucial to that experience. It would be a waste of time and resources focusing on that as well.

Even a game like Spiderman puts its attention on a great looking city because that's where you're spending most of your time doing missions, exploring, etc. You don't need to walk into every building. While missions that take place in buildings are more carefully designed for a linear experience. Hence, I anticipate that to be the trend next gen as well for numerous reasons.