Is open-world a genre?
It may be quibbling, but do open-world games constitute an emerging genre? It doesn’t seem like they should, because all the term “open world” does is describe a lack of geographical linearity - it would make more sense for the genre to be “driving games” or “murder simulators.”
I joke.
I imagine this is an argument that was extensively hashed out years and years ago, probably around the time Mercenaries and Spiderman 2 came out, but I was too busy with college to pay attention at the time. And there is an explosion of GTA-esque games coming in the near-future (or further future) that use almost identical mechanics with vaguely altered settings (different cities, chucking in superpowers, etc.) Even that Viking game was essentially an open-world brawler!
So maybe it is a genre. If so, I suggest an addition. Take Mira or Canderous from the KOTOR games and give them their own action-adventure open-world game where they hijack droids and assassinate jedis. I don’t know. It sounds good to me.