Really interesting video, though sadly I never played the original.
It was pretty great, basically an open world THPS. You’d level up your skills but using them, get quests from people in the world, and join tournaments to progress to the next area. It was a lot of fun, and I really hope it gets a revisit.
Not exactly open world as there were distinct levels you would beat, and warp between.
American Wasteland was the first “open world” TH game. Followed by Proving Ground and Project 8. Although AW was basically the same as UG except the levels were separated by long ass hallways to give the effect that it was one world. No loading screens though!
Yeah, I guess “open world” is a bit misleading, but it certainly felt that way coming from the earlier games.