A Non-Linear Game World

RPG worlds are rarely linear, as opposed to the typical linear game worlds of first-person shooters and side-scrolling platform games. A linear game world is one where the player starts at point A and struggles to get to point B, where a new area is opened up and the player must now attempt to get from point B to point C, and so on. In a non-linear game world, such as RPGs boast, the player can and often will return to previously explored areas multiple times, discovering something new each time. In the game Planescape: Torment, from the now-defunct company Black Isle Studios, the town of Curst is destroyed while the player is away.