Summary
Open-world games have been around for decades. The promise of a world that players can freely explore with little to no boundaries or blockages to prevent them from playing the gamehow they choose to. Oftentimes, the worlds themselves demand some form of transportation to experience them in all their glory, without ever feeling boring or a slog to traverse them.
Many games follow a similar basic route of fast-travel networks or standard vehicles and modes of transport to make the distances between locations just a bit smaller. But there are a few situations in which developers go above and beyond and make the movement within the world a core part of the experience, elevating it beyond just riding a horse and making players want to explore far more than they would without those systems.
Dying Light 2turns ahorrific zombie apocalypseinto a playground full of possibilities. The world might be dangerous and full of infected looking for their next meal, but thanks to the parkour systems and traversal possibilities, the game starts to feel far more like a movement shooter than a zombie survival game.
Players have access to an intuitive fast-travel system that lets them move between certain safe locations, but when they want to take things on foot, climbing up a giant skyscraper only to glide to another never gets old and combined with the brutal combat systems, and the game always has something fun just around the corner.
Subnauticatransports players into an underwater oasis full of wonder and mystery, along with a few scary fish that are less than happy about someone invading their home. Players have the basic swimming mechanic that helps them get around early on, but as they progress into the later stages of the game, more and more tools are unlocked, leading to wider varieties of aquatic adventuring.
Propulsion devices to small submarines to large mobile bases that can carry equipment over longer distances. In a game all about surviving in an oceanic world, there are so many helpful aids to make that task just a bit easier. Many games will have a boat or a single method of moving around below the surface, but here it’s all about water, and getting around it without hassle makes the whole experience more satisfying.
Tchiais an enchanting open-world game that sees players assume the role of a young girl with powerful abilities, in a land that is more interested in childhood wonder than it is in intense combat sequences. Gliding, sailing, and climbing make up some of the basic traversal possibilities, but being able to shapeshift into virtually any object opens the doors for even more.
Players can hop into a tire and roll down hills at high speeds, become a loveable boar and gallop across the landscape, and even take to the skies as a bird and soar high above the islands in search of adventure. Jumping between the forms feels fun and satisfying, and there are so many options for every situation, turning simplistic walks into breathtaking expeditions.
One of the most remarkable games released in the last decade,Death Strandingis a trippy, breathtaking adventure that sees players walking across gorgeous vistas in search of answers and in order to deliver a cargo more precious than life itself. Itrevolves around careful managementof meters and capacities, all while ensuring a steady path towards each goal.
Toward the start, getting from point A to B feels more like a walking simulator, but it can quickly turn into a wild ride thanks to the interconnected networks that players can share with one another, without ever stepping into the same world. The cooperation in this form makes every movement feel like a grand unison, and with such a beautiful setting to take in, even though the lines speed up the transport, sometimes taking a walk can be even more enjoyable.
Biomutantblends post-apocalyptic exploration with mutant-powered movement, offering a strikingly diverse range of transportation options. Players can traverse its vibrant, decaying world using customizable mounts, mechanical hand-shaped walkers, jet-skis, air balloons, and even a mech suit. Each mode is tied to specific biomes, meaning that every new area requires its own method to get by.
This variety in traversal not only supports environmental storytelling but also adds strategic depth to exploration. Unlike standard open-world travel,Biomutantdemands players adapt and outfit themselves for survival. The transportation mechanics reinforce the game’s hybrid nature, and its creative movement systems stand among its most praised features, giving players playful and purposeful ways to roam a world shaped by mutation and decay.
Just Cause 4is the very definition of open-world mobility. A sandbox full of shooting, explosions, and a boatload of flying around at 100 miles per hour, the game perfectly blends the intensity of a third-person shooter with the fun factor of a style-based mobility game, creating an experience unlike any other.
The perfection comes from the player’s ability to chain together every component of the game’s mobility. Grapples into glides, into dives that seamlessly transition the free-roam into combat. The sky is no longer the limit, and freedom doesn’t even begin to describe the capabilities and the options that the player has access to right from the start.
2Sunset Overdrive
Style In Both The Combat And The Movement
Sunset Overdrivetakes the concept of an open-world outbreak and flips any conventions on its head. Instead of carefully traversing the world, avoiding the infected, players are encouraged to run headfirst into the action, combining their attacks with every single rail grind and leap across the city.
Fighting enemies from the safety of the skyline is satisfying from start to end, and players gain access to plenty of new tools to keep the combos rising and the fun factor growing. Theenemies are no longerthe main focus, and the game is instead more about style points than slow, calculated play.
Tears of the Kingdomexpands on its predecessor’s open-world formula by giving players unprecedented freedom in how they traverse thegorgeous world of Hyrule, both horizontally and vertically. The game introduces the Ultrahand, a physics-based crafting system that allows players to build custom vehicles using a range of components, letting them invent entirely new forms of transport, from hovercrafts and hot-air balloons to flying platforms and land crawlers.
What makes the game’s transportation system so unique is its emphasis on player ingenuity. The game doesn’t hand out prebuilt solutions, but it encourages experimentation and rewards creativity. Whether soaring between sky islands, diving from great heights using the paraglider, or riding self-made gliders across massive chasms, every movement feels like a personal solution to a puzzle.
