Systemic Solutions in Modern Open Worlds

Mechanics

I've been obsessing over how open worlds are built lately... everything looks incredible, but it feels like the systemic depth is evaporating. In those older immersive sims, the world was kind of like a chemistry set... you could combine mechanics in ways the devs probably didn't even anticipate to bypass a lock or clear a room. Now, it feels like we've traded that agency for high-fidelity polish... everything is a scripted sequence or a checkbox. You do the specific action the game wants, and the cinematic triggers... it's seamless, sure, but it's so controlled. It makes me wonder... if we keep prioritizing the curated experience over systemic interaction, does the actual act of problem solving just become a quest for the right trigger? I'm curious if you've had any recent moments where a game actually let you break its logic in a cool way... or if you've noticed a specific spot where a polished sequence killed a potential systemic solution.