What makes a game feel “dense”? Is it really the amount of content, the amount of visible things in a scene? The amount of enemies walking around on the screen? Or is it related to time and frequency?
I was just thinking about Rimworld and Project Zomboid. And I noticed a pattern, that in both of those games you always have something to stress about. And even when you have some peaceful time-period, you usually just stress about getting done as much as possible before the next stressful event happens.
You basically have to make use of every bit of time you have in order to prepare and advance. And I think this is what makes those games feel “dense”. You never have this wide open space of event-less emptiness where you can just relax and think. You always gotta focus and concentrate. And somehow this makes those games feel “big”, because “a lot is happening” and there is “a lot to be aware of”.