It was partly that, and partly that someone had to keep Cobb from going off the rails any further than he already had. Something that Arthur only barely managed most of the time, but he tried.
This version of bare bones was the edge of a windswept moor, patches of rain in the middle distance, that while they did move, drifting with the wind, never actually got any closer. There was a footpath, and crags in the distance, as well as the uppermost roofs of a town visible from where they were.
It was a default setting, and while not a completely sterile one, as there was still a way for projections to approach them, it was empty enough for the time being, "Here we are."