>>715722952I genuinely think that you have a good idea with the open-world approach.
Making Crash 5 in the same vein as all others were is in all essence a fruitless quest.
There's only so many ideas the platformer can hold that we didn't already see in the previous games and we've also seen how difficult it is to replicate the formula with Crash 4, even if some levels and aspects were enjoyable.
I think making a Crash Bandicoot in the vein of Odyssey would be a good call. Start on Wumpa Island, run around collecting things with new masks akin to Crash 4. Smaller regions could become the "levels" we are familiar with as you'd have to collect all boxes in that region to get a gem. Leaving the area would respawn the boxes in a short period. Multiple of these areas in one island, boss appearing once you get the minimum amount of boxes in each area on an island.
Get some sort of warp machine to travel between worlds, islands and whatnots and I think we have a solid but perhaps refreshing new start for the franchise.
Anything else would be the same thing and we could just replay all previous games for that.