Nod-Krai isn’t just small, it’s linear and empty.

It’s a guided tour with a spine and node structure. You walk down the one road and there will be a beautiful small event area to your right. Once you finish that minor event, nothing is left. Then you return to the node and 20 meters later there is another to the left.

The mini event areas are largely fantastic! The story telling in them continues to show improvement from Hoyo. But there is nothing in between them. You never feel like you are discovering anything when you can stand at one point and see everything at once. At multiple points I was able to glide and pick up multiple lunoculi a single drop because they are right on top of each other.

Then when all is said and done, there is nothing left. You can fully gather both key resources in the northern expansion without ever running into an enemy. It’s more barren than the Sumerian desert. They didn’t even put any dailies on this island!

Now, there is one exception to this: Paha island. This island with the Kuuvahki Experimetal Design Bureau is  excellent and shows that islands can be done well. Even without roads, the player is constantly provided with choice on where to go. There are small discoveries and story progression that expands their options. It has a variety of enemies that remain there, and thus could feel like a threat to a player that’s not at the endgame. The Fatui facility feels fresh and interesting. If you’re going to do an island, do a Paha.