Non-Linear vs. Linear

I have been thinking about the overall structure of "Aldea Lenta" and have been running into some issues with scale. I want to portray this futuristic shipyard as a place of great scale, but with a more open, non-linear game this usually requires that a large world is built for the player to explore. However, I only have so much energy and time, and I need to consistently limit myself to cut down on the dangers that ambition brings. So, I have decided to change the game's structure from a more open, "Legend of Zelda" like experience to something more linear in the vein of what Valve has done with much of their single player products. This decision solves multiple problems; I have justification for controlling what parts of the game world the player can access, puzzles can be solved once and then the player moves on forever instead of me having to design more persistent systems, and the game can focus on what is important, solving puzzles, not tediously traversing an expanse environment.