I think it may look more linear than it really is from that zoom because it is a long piece of land but it is also fairly large and has some randomized dynamic barriers so you don’t always run through it the same way. I mean, by that standard you could also say Florida is linear (not that this is quite on that scale).
On the other hand, however wide it is, it does progress in one direction toward Burrwitch Village. We didn’t want to immediately overwhelm players with a totally open landmass that stretched in all directions and that wouldn’t have been very suitable for this style of game where you are essentially progressing forward into increasingly higher level areas and wanting to encounter new enemies and environments. So the way we’ve retained some of that structure while allowing the player freedom to go in different directions is to have different areas that branch off from starting town that the player can open after meeting certain open-ended requirements - namely, gather the requisite materials to fix the bridges in whatever order they choose. Also, from Burrwitch Village, which is at the end of the alpha area, it will open up more, branching off in different directions. So as you play, you’ll have more and more options as to where you can go.