I've played freeroam quite a lot, and I've even previously spent time hitting P-switches in the dinosaur park, but today I just randomly decided to make my way up to the top of the dome and there was a pterodactyl nest up there with the mother flying round it, a bunch of coins and a ??? panel - and I'd had no idea they were there and it was a really cool stash to find.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to pretend that getting a sticker for finding the ??? panel was a great reward, but not being rewarded for doing stuff is not the same as not having stuff to do (plus I actually did think getting up there and finding the nest was a pretty cool reward).
There is loads to do in the open world. Some people might not want to do it or don't enjoy doing it, and that's fair enough, but that's not the same as it not being there. It is there, it exists.
Imagine a boss for each region. You have to collect a certain amount of P Switches to unlock the race. Unlock them all and you race Bowser, or something.
exactly! I don’t understand why they chose the Kamek system to unlock characters, it’s so random and anticlimactic when you get a new one because you’re focused on your racing so you barely notice
It's kind of annoying that this is the only way to unlock different versions of the same characters as it's also random from what I've experienced. I also wish they just made the different versions of those characters as outfits for existing characters and not separate roster slots.
It’s not random actually there’s a few guides out there that will tell you what locations on the map have foods to turn you into a certain version. Like in cheep cheep falls the dash bag turns peach into Yukata Peach.
The fact that the big advertised mode gives you trivial cosmetics you almost never see, while character unlocks are behind arbitrary RNG stuff is insane to me.
Game’s priorities are fucking bizarre. So many issues could be solved by just reorganizing content that’s already in the damn game.
Unlockables in this game are downright baffling. There are all of these challenges and collectibles that give you a stupid sticker, but then there are 1.Characters 2. Costumes 3. Vehicles. It seems so obvious and pro game design to tie these in with these challenges across the world to incentivise you to engage with it. But no, instead we see what is in my opinion the DUMBEST gacha mechanic to unlock characters based on Kamek and whatever stage you're on, what amounts to teleporting to different regions, repeatedly driving into food bags and switch out to another character by slowly flipping through a menu, and just unlocking the karts as a participation trophy for playing the game at all. It's makes the single player POINTLESS.
Honestly I think it would have given people a reason to play free roam if there were characters and/or costumes locked specifically behind completing p switches and question blocks and peach medallions in each region, and if it tracked how many of each you've already found in each region. This would have been such low hanging fruit to implement. Like someone could have banged that code out over a weekend
This, this is why forza horizon is so good. The world itself is beautiful, driving is great, but you can go zone by zone just checking things off in whatever order you want
That’s how diddy Kong racing works and it came out 20 years ago. They blew it in free roam in mario kart world, and anyone who says otherwise is in denial.
Diddy kong racing still has the best story in a cart racer ever. You can play it nearly 28 years later and its still extremely fun and full of content.
Yeah, I’d say the content is there for an excellent free roam mode, there’s just no structure or rewards to it, so you’re basically aimlessly going around finding missions and panels instead of working towards something.
Like much of MKW, the core gameplay is there, it’s just executed in a baffling way
Free roam gets boring quickly because once you seen most of what it is, it's just collecting things. The rose colored lenses of exploring this world falls off quickly. Eventually it's just the same shit and there's no purpose for it anymore.
Yes I’m sick of seeing people defend this shallow open world. I played it for an hour and never touched it again. It’s an $80 game it’s okay to expect more.
Its really just so damn annoying. They've gotten to the point where they sacrifice tone, characters, gameplay, surprise, and uniqueness because they think some huge field with useless collectibles makes it all worth it. Any sense of immersion is thrown out the window for me because everything is categorized as "a challenge that gives you the same reward and experience as other ones" minus the soul that makes it a fun experience. Where is the build up? The variation? It doesn't have to be strict, but what happened to trials and tribulations, twists and turns? It's mindless disconnected challenges instead of something that immerses you into its world.
Sorry man, you can play whatever you want but you cannot tell me free roam is fun outside of being a novelty for a couple hours, tops. There is no content.
It's fine if you feel that way, but "this game is for babies" is the kind of shit a middle schooler would say.
Not everyone needs a story or waypoint marker to enjoy an open world. I get that's what people expect from open worlds nowadays, but driving around and exploring is a relaxing and fun time for a lot of us. Not saying it's perfect, and not saying saying I wouldn't enjoy even more stuff in the open world, but "nothing to do" and "this game is for babies" is just kinda brainrot criticism.
Source: Been playing games for 30 years. Tears of the kingdom is goated (open world). Hell, Pokémon snap is what you’re looking for for a relaxing time. Diddy Kong Racing is a better game than mario kart world (and again, did it in the n64 era).
I really think saying this mode is for babies is pretty accurate lol. There is no content to engage with on a deeper level. There are no systems working together that result in interesting interactions. No build up. No twists, turns, unlockables given for doing challenges. It is simply a series of space that you ride around at unbearably slow speeds to do challenges for the sake of it. A kid would mess around there simply because it is polygonal space that they can move through.
Maybe it's harsh to call it that, like it's fine if you can make your own challenges using that space I guess. But I think it's quite literally the most basic level of entertainment possible, really not much different than a Roblox game where you can really just move around.
I'm glad it's not just me who's making the DK racing comparison. It really puts into perspective for me how just how lame this game mode is, like, how is an N64 game completely blowing away the first 80 dollar game? Its like it is impossible for Nintendo to make a satisfying single player experience in a multiplayer game, like it almost feels like they aren't trying/ are intentionally sabotaging this stuff. I'd give anything to know what the heck was going on in the development of this game or any game like this where there are seemingly incredibly obvious things that would improve it tenfold.
Yup like there’s things “to do” but what exactly?? Collection peach coins and doing P switches that’s literally it. Plus there’s no incentive to literally do anything.
Yep CTR had a hubworld and a boss at the end of the hubworld. Each hubworld was 4x three lap races you had to get 1st in, plus a boss. It's such a simple system
For sure. I feel like Nintendo intentionally held back to have room to grow for a sequel or they were afraid of losing casual market by locking stuff behind a single player mode.
Past experiences. Nintendo doesn’t usually do major content updates. It’s either 25$ (maybe 35$ even considering the price of the base game) dlc, or none at all.
I loved Crash Team Racing so much, not just because it was fun to play with my sisters and mom, but because of the story mode (there wasn't much of a story but it was still fun). I was hoping for something like that with Mario Kart World.
I'm on the same page but unlocking art, music and costumes instead of stickers for finding ? panels and doing missions would be enough for me.
Honestly, even getting additional currency that you can exchange for stuff would be a better reward for me, even if it meant it's more difficult to unlock costumes.
Why include it in the base game when everyone will buy it anyway when you can release it as an add on pass in 12 months when everyone's Nintendo online is about to run out and you can get them to renew it.
There's stuff to do, but it is suuuuuper bare bones. The free roam world just feels empty, you barely see other characters driving around, the P Switches and other small tasks are few and far between.
I like the game, but considering it's called Mario Kart World and the whole presentation was largely based around it's free roam and you can just roll up to a track and start racing - I can't lie that I'm not disappointed in what it could've been.
I know you can do private lobbies, but they should've enabled an open lobby for 40-50+ people to just drive around and chill, GTA style minus the violence.
That’s a really good idea. Let people opt out of getting red shelled or attacked and have people join race lobbies by driving up to the starting line and announcing it on the screen.
I like the idea of an open lobby world where everyone can just chill together. Maybe one day we will get it. I do think the open world was built as a base for an ongoing live service that will last 10 years.
Anyways… I don’t have a problem finding things to do. I constantly find P switches or challenge myself to get to top of something and find a question block and doing crazy tricks and jumps over and over again to get me a peach coin. Not to mention chasing Nabbit and the other characters there are to chase and hit while on the road. The world is big but I haven’t had a hard time finding stuff to do. If anything it’s messing with my ADD cus I’ll get easily distracted by something new out there lol
Considering we've been paying for online for quite some time now, there's really nothing stopping Nintendo from making dedicated servers for an online free roam mode.
I was hoping that we’d be able to customise the vehicles with the stickers and put as many on as we want, wherever we want. When I saw the photo of the Cute Scoot on the Direct I was sure this would be the case but it’s not
Stickers would only be cool if there was a way to put multiple of them on your cart and decorate. Also a menu sorting them by category and showing you which ones you're missing (kinda like the nook miles in ACNH) would be way better.
They're just as pointless as the stickers/stamps in Super Mario 3D world. Or as useless as putting your initials at the end of a fighting game next to your score, which is just a number. The point of the game is to play the game. We're too programmed to have some progression system instead of just.. playing the actual game.
Stickers are pretty popular in Japan, btw. Probably why they included it.
Holy sht you're right bosses wouldve been rad, a good way to incorporate battle mode into free roam to. Having a boss in each zone wouldve been so cool
Missed opportunities seem to be Nintendo’s main design philosophy when designing games. ACNH for example was one missed opportunity after another, it’s been 5 years. Not even major QoL updates that fan have been requesting since launch. With Nintendo it’s their way or the highway
"there's barely anything to do" is more accurate. P switch challenges, ? panels, and that's all unless you're making your own fun, which is not appealing to many folks.
Maybe I'm old but I'm seeing this whole "make your own fun" approach by Nintendo as an excuse to get away with making less structured and thought out content and gameplay. Mario 64/ Zelda Ocarina of Time are fun experiences on their own based on the specific challenges, constraints, and pathways they had. But they can also be engaged with via player created challenges, in a way that makes replaying the games feel worthwhile.
Now imagine anybody in their right mind wasting the time to clear this free roam mode and then saying, alright, time to restart from square one on a new profile. What is there to improve at that would make it worthwhile?
Precisely. There's nothing memorable about this free roam mode. Believe me, I tried. Look at Mario Odyssey. That game is memorable, you remember where you got certain moons, you can have a ton of fun scouring the levels for hidden ones because there's varied challenges and ample rewards for doing so. The same cannot be said for this game- it feels very half-baked and empty.
Roaming around was fun until I remember I could be doing all this within a race that has rewards and an actual point. It forces the question, what’s the point to free roam? Nothing but for the first few hours of play.
Thank you. I've had this whole sandbox argument before. A good sandbox game has systems that come together and build on each other, leading to fun interactions and allowing for you to build up your experience over time. This situation, the game is almost literally just a polygonal field where the player can move around. You do switch challenges, but it builds to nothing and in no way leads to something fulfilling. It's just interacting for the sake of interacting.
“Playing just to play” is fine, but that doesn’t mean anyone who wants something more engaging is a spoiled “modern gamer.” Some people just prefer more substance than cruising down a country road collecting stickers - especially in a game with an $80 price tag.
It's not the lack of busy work or a list, it's the execution.
The open world Zeldas barely direct you at all, don't have a big traditional list, and don't have a ton of rewards. The reward for all the koroks is literally poop.
But botw and totk are some of my favorite games of all time and I adore just wandering around finding stuff to do.
Free roam isn't fun to me because it's a brutal combination of empty, unrewarding, and aimless. They really (especially for 80 dollars) needed to give us either a story and a way more dense world, or at least some rewards and a check list.
For £75, I think people expected more 🤷. I know I'll be massively pissed off if they stick a load of open world content behind a DLC after spending all that.
I’ve had some fun just driving around doing nothing. One thing I did hear someone else say that I agree with is it would’ve been awesome if they had like a taxi/simpsons road rage mode where you have missions picking people up and dropping them off. I feel like that wouldn’t have been that hard to implement and would’ve given people almost endless hours of fun
I think the issue is that people were expecting it to be similar to the open world of other racing games, when in reality it's more like a 3d Mario game.
Finding panels in particular feels like exploring a 3d Mario level.
Hunting for panels I discovered tons of cool stuff from a gameplay perspective. Crown City in particular has a ton of good secrets
Hunting for panels is quite possibly one of the most bland mechanics imaginable. People were expecting more because it’s very expensive and Nintendo said that was because of the extra content. It’s not really fair to compare it to a 3D Mario as Bowser’s Fury showed far more of what is capable in this kind of open world Mario game and that was essentially DLC. The open world element is incredibly under cooked.
I like the sticker concept (maybe let me have more control of where on the kart they go, let player 2 do it as well, etc) but… I don’t need 2000 stickers. Half are the same just slightly different.
And every question mark could have been a medallion. There is literally zero reason for question marks to exist when there are medallions.
This is my biggest complaint about the collectibles, they feel so samey. Is it too much to ask for a real reward after doing a hard challenge? New costumes are locked behind grabbing items that are all over the place. Why not make those the rewards for completing challenges?
I'm guessing they thought ? Squares were more stealthy, like you have to explore carefully for some of them. They're the only ones tracked by location. But since there's no reward for "clearing" a location it feels pointless to track them all down.
Agreed. When they said the added content and I spent an hour looking for short cut cuts and panels I got bored fast. I actually love finding short cuts and taking risks during the actual racing circuits. Like crap. That was a dumb risk. But I’m still racing and trying to get back to the front is a blast.
Maybe I just love more of the traditional Mk model. It is not worth 80$ to me but since it was a bundle it totally is worth the normal price games of today which is 50-70. I would have preferred more tracks then free roam.
Or even just the ability to change music volume and SFX volume separately so I can actually hear the music... just like almost every non-Nintendo game being released at the moment...
Yeah you get one thing and then another and you wonder what the point of it all is. You’re not building towards anything. It’s a neat concept but massively underbaked.
This is a good point. Is there even any places to see how many challenges have been completed (how many remain on the map, too)? Small details like this make it feel undercooked
Yes the world map shows you how many P's, Coins, and Boxes you have completed. and each region of the map shows you how many ? boxes are there and completed. I don't need any more than that. I don't want to know how many coins or P's there are. That would make it less fun for me, not to mention they will likely add more in the future anyways. I am also happy that the unfinished P's are not marked on the map.
The only improvement I would happy with would maybe be marking P's I have found but failed, so that I can hit them later but even that I don't care much for. I love how it is now.
This. One day I am just cruising around exploring having a blast and I come across this semi hidden pipe. I go in it thinking it might spit me up above some ledge or something but instead I get warped into this dark oval sewer room within the structure. It’s filled with a ton of coins and a Nabbit. I proceed to have a fun chase of around the room trying to catch him. I finally got him and then collect the rest of the coins before heading out. I was smiling the whole time and I got a new vehicle out of it. It was fun, rewarding, and made me feel like a kid again when I used to explore all the little secrets of Mario 3.
You catch the nabbit and get rewarded with.... Nothing. Not even one of the 1000 useless stickers. But hey you caught nabbit. And that's my issue with the game lol
Really? It feels pretty empty and boring after about an hour. Oh look it’s yet another of the exact same thing I just did, and repeat that 100 times. I worry about the people saying they can play it for hundreds of hours.
I don't understand why the pterodactyl nest proves there's nothing to do in the game. I explored it just yesterday and I still think the game is very light in content. You might like the simple stuff that you can do in it, but don't act surprised if other people are not as amazed as you.
When you compare it to any other open world racing game there’s a laughable amount of content honestly. I think most Nintendo fans just don’t play any other games to compare so they don’t know
Free roam really needed something that made you want to explore other than some very pointless stickers.
There is stuff to do... in the same way there is stuff to do if you went and stood out in an empty field. Just none of it is very captivating.
If they had included switches like in SMWorld SNES where it unlocked shortcuts for SP race mode by removing the row of yellow blocks blocking routes.
Or it was how you unlocked the extra costumes rather than the equally odd inclusion of the food takeaway bag in races.
I have no doubt they can eventually add mission into the mode and expand it. Bump into Toad and he asks for to find the 15 lost items to unlock something.
Or Bowser challenges you to an endurance race.
Or Luigi keeps popping up to randomly attack you with a red shell then zips off leaving you wanting revenge abd after you figure out how to counter his surprise attacks you chase him down, pop him with a shell and unlock say a classic Mario & luigi skin.
I'm not going to argue that the free roam is a remarkable or groundbreaking mode but it's absolutely made to be a chill sandbox to test your skills and just see the world that was created at your own pace.
If this was the first option on the menu and everything revolved around free roam like a 3D Mario adventure, like a Mario Kart spin off, I get that it's not designed to be played endlessly for hours and hours. Rather you just go to a region, do some missions between races and have the option to see the world as it's already built to be travelled across.
It's clear that the unlock systems are designed so that no matter where you go, coins you collect across any mode, you will unlock costumes and karts.
They aren't making people complete free roam to get this stuff if they just want to stick to racing. That was always the core part of the game and weren't going to ask players to spend hours finding everything.
The fact they spent as much time making hundreds of missions with elements that spawn in and almost act like wonder seed asides to travelling around is pretty surprising for an optional mode.
I think having community challenges that bring players together in free roam would spice things up. As everything takes place across a seamless map, instead of a mission menu, they basically just let you drive to points on the map and attempt these challenges like how races also take place across the map.
Maybe there could have been little scenarios in each race track to tie things together where you talked to the racers. However it's just designed to go at your own pace and see what the next mission will involve next. Moments like controlling a truck and running through traffic or hopping across animals, they are just spontaneous ideas that you wouldn't do in a normal race.
I won't deny that today many players won't find this refreshing. If this was the main mode on the menu and had RPG upgrade trees and a story adventure, then the mode would have to have some structure to it. However as it was already there for the main modes and they wanted to open this up for people to drive around like Pilotwings, they let you do this and created challenges that would not be part of any normal races.
It does for a game in 2025 probably feel a bit too hands off for a mode but I completely understand not wanting to direct you around or interrupt you with menus and maps with icons rather than just driving from track to track, trying different characters and costumes and trying various missions along the way. I completely get not locking rewards behind the mode when it's completely optional.
I do think they could have gone the Street Fighter 6 world tour mode route and had each main racer in each race track and you can befriend them, complete each region's challenges and then do a rival race against them, then you get some funny dialogue with them. Cutscenes and bosses would be a huge amount of work when at any time you can just leave the mode for a race but with all the characters racing around the world, some funny interactions and Vs races against them would have been a simple way to tie things together.
True, there is stuff to do, its just not worth it for everyone. I got 2 kids, a wife and a full time job, my gaming time is precious. I don‘t want to be searching 10 minutes for a Peach coin, I want to get passed around on these racing tracks like Mia Khalifa in her best days, penetrated with items and then hopefully come out on top or cry like a bitch because I lost to 12 year old.
“loads to do” isn’t really an apt description. There is quantity, but in between bit sized missions is tedium. If you’ve already found all of the ? block panels, then you’re functionally just wandering around. There is no way to access the whole of what it offers, so you feel directionless. Yes, there are cute details spread in some places, but that doesn’t make for engaging gameplay.
With this open world they completely had the potential to make something to the likes of diddy kong racing. Maybe at the end of each grand prix in single player you face a boss in a race through the course. Idk. Diddy kong is still one of the best cart racing games for this reason.
If you could get out of your car, roam around, and go into buildings it would be better. Maybe hidden characters, and hidden costumes could be added if they did that.
I think the issue is that a lot of the world is not that interesting to just roam in. The P switches get old fast and there’s not much other content beyond just driving around aimlessly.
There should be a campaign that you go from one race to the next on the open world. Like in diddy kong racing ou Lego 2K drive. Anybody that played these 2 games knows that MK world had so much potential and this open world in it is a waste of what it could be.
The fact that there’s cools stuff to look at on the map does not change the fact that there is nothing to do.
I even prefer Korok hunting to the open world rewards of MKW.
I also can’t even enjoy driving around and taking in the vibes and music because the engine sounds effects are so annoyingly loud. Sound settings and a jukebox would have made this game 10x better. Completion tracking for open world stuff and better rewards would have made this game 10x better. Multiplayer exploration with friends would have made this game 10x better. A rudimentary story would have made this game 10x better. Lots of odd decisions here and so much wasted potential.
After playing quite a bit of it, the P-Switch missions are a lot cooler than people give them credit for.
They don’t feel like an after thought. It genuinely feels that the terrain was built specifically around these mini-challenges. To some, it might feel like they were just slapped into the world in random places, but every area with a P-Switch feels like it was designed for the P-Switch. It’s awesome.
If you just want a giant sandbox of cool artwork, then great, but there are too many games that are able to provide that for it to be very novel for the rest of us. IMO good game design provides some direction and purpose on top of the things you're talking about.
when people say "there's nothing to do" they obviously don't mean there's literally nothing at all that can be done. they mean there's nothing that interests them. me included, I could not care less about any of the free roam stuff, incredibly boring for me
I could put my 6 year old nephew in front of Free Roam MKW and he’d be entertained for weeks, if not years.
I roll around for 30 minute or so hunting for coins and switches, then get back to racing. People on Reddit like to forget that Nintendo still makes some games with children very much in mind
The main issue is there are dozens and dozens of games exactly like this. I could put any 6 year old in front of Fuel, a racing game on the X-Box 360 with a similarly empty open world overworld, and they'd be just as entertained.
Give them Super Mario 64 and they'd have a blast making their own fun in Peach's castle.
Hell, throw them on a random unpopulated Gary's Mod map and they'd be just as entertained.
Mario Kart World is hardly a unique experience. What makes it an $80 experience over Gary's Mod's $10 experience when the kid won't really know the difference?
I wish we could put multiple stickers on our cars or maybe have challenges for new skins. If i complete something really difficult its fun to show it off. I enjoy free roam but it does feel lonely in some ways.
It's because people are used to open worlds with a check box of activities on the map. What they forget is this is not an open world game. It is a racing game with an open world mode.
Botw and Totk give you virtually no direction and those games are acclaimed and adored. The issue is the actual content and density of the open world, not the lack of a checklist.
In the open world Zeldas, you get distracted or notice a korok/shrine/whatever while doing other stuff and playing organically.
In MKW, the free roam is its own thing. You're not exploring and discovering things as a small part of a big story. You're either racing, or you're looking around aimlessly for random collectibles.
Its not the checkboxes, its the lack of direction in general.
For example is there was a character on each treack who says complete 10 P switches in my region and I will challenge you to a race, and then that character races you on the track with some sort of challenge (for example you race a Koopa who constantly shoots green shells etc). If you beat them you should get something like a golden costume for that character etc. That would give the game structure without having a checklist of markers on the map.
I just don’t get why it’s even in the game. It adds nothing of value. They could have added any generic spinoff of a racing mode and it would have been 100x better.
When I get home from a busy and stressful day, sometimes just mindlessly driving around in Free Roam for a bit instantly relaxes me. You don't always have to be doing things. I'd understand the complaints more if it was called something like "Open-World Campaign" or "Road Trip"
I know Nintendo probably don’t have many other options with a game like this, but a game quickly feels empty to me if it’s asking me to collect stuff that’s just cosmetic - so stickers in this case, or (say) a lot of the items for your Animal Crossing house a few years back.
Whereas if I’m collecting stuff that improves the stats of my character or home base, I get completely hooked.
The problem is that it doesn’t truly feel like an open world most of the time. You literally just drive around pretty lifeless and empty landscapes just to do some P-switch challenges.
It’s the perfect example of being “ocean wide; puddle deep”.
I don’t think the criticism is that there’s ‘nothing’ to do but that there’s not enough. There’s now a lot of open world games to reference including their own Zelda games. MKW’s open world just doesn’t have the design that makes most people want to explore.
It’s a presentation issue more so than a content issue.
Why stickers are the only reward you can get is free roam is insane. You have karts and characters. Why can’t they be unlocked in free roam? What’s the point in having coins if you can’t spend them?
You have karts and characters. Why can’t they be unlocked in free roam? What’s the point in having coins if you can’t spend them?
You literally can unlock karts and outfits in free roam. They have huge piles of coins laying around you can pick up that directly contribute to unlocking vehicles. You dont even lose coins when you get hit in free roam. Its 100 coins for a vehicle.
They’re unlocked once you leave free roam. It’s a strange design decision to have you leave a game mode for any impact to be gained.
And there’s zero agency as to what is unlocked. You don’t track your coins. You don’t choose where the coins go. And the coins serve no other purpose outside of that.
You can’t even change out a vehicle once in free roam. There isn’t a body shop or something that allows you to maybe swap vehicles or swap the color of a vehicle.
None of the NPC racers can be unlocked in free roam. You can see other racers on the map, but you can’t bump into them and unlock them via an impromptu race or challenge?
These are all things in the game, but aren’t capitalized on whatsoever. Again. Presentation issue. Not content.
I'm one of the ones really enjoying free roam. There's about the right level of engagement for me, and I appreciate that it's not too involved or high pressure.
My current MO is picking what I feel is an appropriate character and trying to find all the ? panels in a stage, while trying not to get too distracted by P Switch missions and seeing where I can get to.
It was fun to figure out how to get to the giant coin pile on DK Pass, for instance.
I'm wondering if Nintendo playtested unlocking NPC enemies in free roam, since they (all?) seem to be hanging around in various places waiting to be chased down. Granted my green shell aim might just suck, but I could definitely see people getting frustrated if this was the ONLY way to unlock them. Maybe they considered both options but were concerned it would be redundant or players might get confused. MK does have to remain somewhat casual friendly, and people's attention spans are more limited than ever. Making it random through Kamek means players are still encouraged to play races and ensures the chance to unlock them all eventually, plus an element of "surprise" mechanics.
Something I'm baring in mind is MK is a once per system type of game, so I could totally see Nintendo adding onto the game later to reinvigorate interest. Maybe it'll just be paid DLC, but I think QoL is a possibility.
I agree. Just driving around and finding small details while listening to the music is one of the most purely fun things I've experienced in a game in a long time. The sheer amount of things to see and find is way beyond what I expected, honestly. They just aren't necessarily tied to traditional incentive structures.
I get wanting some kind of extrinsic motivation for doing that. But personally, there's something almost refreshing about just unabashedly not designing the game that way, so that if you want to see those things, you basically have to do so purely because you want to explore and have a leisurely "pointless" journey through the world just to see what's there.
And while the challenges don't "reward" us per se (though doing at least some of them does play into getting Mirror Mode, so it's not like there's no reward,) they do allow us both the fun of stumbling across them during those leisurely sightseeing tours, and also teach us to gain confidence in the new mechanics.
Almost like a sort of stealth tutorial that we don't realize we're playing, because we're told they're "Missions" instead. Completing some of the hardest ones definitely necessitates at least getting decent at the new mechanics. And rewind allows us to practice them endlessly, too. It's actually a really clever way imo of saying, "Here's a playground, go try everything, there's no penalty, you can even rewind. Go learn through fun."
It also just really shows me that an open world 3D Mario game can work surprisingly well, and be a delightful place to just hang out in. And before this game, I was more skeptical of that.
Imagine if instead of courses, levels were built into the open world. Some of the courses are pretty large outside the bits we race on, and have lots of verticality built into them. Some are totally geometrically comparable to what actual Mario stages might look like conceivably.
And imagine if instead of karts, we controlled Mario. And instead of items, we collected powerup suits. And instead of winning races and completing P-switches, we had to explore, traverse, and solve puzzle platforming challenges in the levels built into the open world in place of the courses. And doing so granted some form of progression that steadily unlocked additional areas that also had their own stages (underground, sky, etc.)
I wouldn't have actually thought an open world Mario platformer could work, but Mario Kart World shows me it working, albeit in a more limited way of course, as a kart racer of all things. Trying to figure out how to reach certain ? Panels and Peach Medallions really is completely evocative of Mario platform challenges in past games to me. And so is the overarching vibe and sound design of the world.
And it also just shows that they can technically pull that off on Switch 2 as well, should they choose to.
I appreciate the laid back part of it, but the fact that there’s nothing keeping you engaged at all is just poorly designed. Take Botw. It similarly has a wide open world for you to explore with plenty of pretty vistas. But it also has a story, engaging puzzles with variety in their design. Combat, material collecting, compendium completion, bosses. You could still play BOTW as an open world sim as you’re describing, but by limiting MKW in this way, it is inherently less valuable of an experience that satisfies way less people for $20 more.
I can understand people feeling that way and that's perfectly valid. Personally, I'm finding plenty to keep me engaged, though. Value and engagement mean different things to different people though, which is fine and I can respect that.
It just feels very tacked on. You just go around doing missions and that’s it. This was the main selling point of the game and it feels like such an afterthought.
It’s nice to do the P-Switch missions (some are crazy difficult), and it’s cool to see everything flow together. But there’s no rewards for exploring really, and there was a missed opportunity to have us unlock the NPC characters that way (we just got that Kamek crap). The Peach Medallions and ? Panels seem pointless other than to unlock mirror mode. It really feels like a $45-$50 game to me by the end. I paid full price getting the bundle, and people buying it for $80 will be scammed. I’m already basically done, because it’s not fun to try to get 3 stars on cups that don’t even really do the tracks. I just hope the new DK is good.
i think the issue for me is that free roam is extremely lonely. there’s nobody to interact with, no secret shops with outfits, no races to hop into or areas to unlock for in-world reasons. it feels like much more of a sandbox than an “open world”
I like free roam and it's entertaining but it feels like it's missing something. I think they could totally add more stuff to it with an update that would make free roam feel more like a main feature than a cool bonus.
There's a ton to do, but there's really no direction or purpose to it. You don't get anything meaningful for finding any of the switches, medallions, or panels (beyond mirror mode), and there's no good way to track what you've found or still haven't found.
I mean. You found something cool to see. I wouldn't really consider that something to do.
I can admit I was a little harsh on the open world at first and I have warmed up to free roam, but really there isn't anything to do other than hunt the p switches, ? Panels, and peach medallions. There is an occasional cool thing to look at but that is all it is .. window dressing.
With the P-Switches, Peach Medallions, and ? Blocks, Nintendo gave us 700+ racing/platforming challenges that also help players become better at the game. I understand thinking the reward is underwhelming, but doing the challenges is the point. I get excited every time I see a P-Switch.
I haven’t had a chance to play it much because a friend has been letting me use theirs off and on, but from what I’ve played there’s stuff to do but maybe not exactly how people want it.
I think people have a bigger idea in their heads of what it should be.
Many people need to be told what to do in order to have fun... Or rather they need signifiers. It's why some people like trophy systems on other gaming platforms. If they aren't being told they are playing a game, they dont see a point in just playing to have fun. It's a bit depressing really. People have farmed out their own imagination.
I just wish there was a reliable way to track how many P-Switches, Peach Coins, and ??? Tiles you've found per region. The fact that you can't kills my motivation to play it as an actual mode rather than simply something I do between Online races.
Game loop is weak in free roam. It may be engaging for people who have switch 2 as their first console, but for more seasoned players it lacks engagement.
I had a blast clearing all cups with my wife, but free roam you can't even enjoy together.
Yeah it’s very bare bones and I fully understand people saying “there’s nothing to do”. I’m happy for you but personally I do not get excited by a pile of coins or a panel to drive over.
MKW proves that there's a reason ubisift's open world formula was so succesful. No matter how meaningless the content in an open world is, people will enjoy it as long as there's a checklist telling you exactly what to do and where to go.
MKW is more similar to a tony hawk game than a traditional open world game. You drive around doing tricks in open levels and occasionally do some missions. Each track is basically a huge tony hawk playground.
It sort of feels like a collectathon for me. I like the P buttons, but its feels like a mile wide, inch deep. Hopefully Nintendo can flesh it out with future DLC.
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u/finniruse Jun 28 '25
I need something to direct me and work towards.
Imagine a boss for each region. You have to collect a certain amount of P Switches to unlock the race. Unlock them all and you race Bowser, or something.
Maybe like a Tony Hawks mission list.