There's nothing worse than cruising through an open-world game, completely in the flow of the moment, and suddenly, your character stops running. Maybe they slow to a trot, maybe they stop outright, hands on their knees and gasping for breath. Stamina meters have their place in gaming (just ask Soulslike fans), but sometimes they can get in the way of fun.
Best Open-World Games That Let You Run Fast
Running in other open-world titles after these feels like switching from a supercar to a family van.
These next games don't have that problem. Every single one has a dense open world for you to explore, but they never slow you down with a stamina meter or a limited sprint option. These games are designed to make you feel smooth, powerful, and most importantly, fast. It's up to you if you want to blaze a trail from one end of the map to the other, or simply get from point A to B without any delays in between.
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Prototype
Get Down With The Sickness
To be completely fair, there aren't many things that limit Alex Mercer's abilities. Other than Devastator attacks, pretty much every ability in the game is there for you to enjoy at will. That's what makes Prototype such a fantastic power fantasy game. It doesn't restrict you; it just turns you loose.
Whether you're sprinting, gliding, wallrunning, jumping, or turning your arm into a giant sword, there's no meter to tell you that you're doing it too much. The only thing you need to worry about is your health, and since Alex Mercer heals himself by eating people, there's a health pack around every corner in the middle of NYC.
Sunset Overdrive
Running Is Just The Beginning
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Insomniac Games
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Open-World
Before starting work on the Marvel's Spider-Man games, Insomniac released an underrated open-world action game called Sunset Overdrive. It has a lot of the developer's Ratchet & Clank DNA in it, with a slew of weird weapons and goofy characters, but given its open-world nature, it also has some wild traversal abilities.
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While there is no stamina to worry about in Sunset Overdrive, running is very slow. That's because the game wants you up in the air, not lounging around on the ground. Griding on rails and powerlines, bouncing off the roofs of cars or the heads of enemies, and wall running are all essential for maintaining speed, and maintaining speed is your main priority.
Sonic Frontiers
Why Would Sonic Slow Down?
For a character whose main thing is "going fast," there are a shocking number of Sonic games that make him go slow. Thankfully, Sonic Frontiers is not one of those games. It's an open-world clearly inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and in a space that vast, Sonic is going to need his speed to get around.
While no stamina meter holds Sonic back, for him to run his fastest, he needs to use up his Boost meter, which is restored with Ring Energy. Thankfully, this is nullified almost immediately. After you unlock the Cyloop very early in the game, by drawing an infinity symbol on the ground (or an 8 if you want to think of it that way), you're granted infinite Boost for a limited time. Even that time limit can be nullified: if you draw another infinity symbol while using Boost, it will reset the timer, allowing you to Boost forever, essentially. The only time you're slowed down is during boss battles.
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
Stamina-Free Smashing
- ESRB
- T // Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Radical Entertainment
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure, Open-World
No one should be surprised that The Hulk doesn't get tired. How lame would that be? In The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, you can leap, jump, run, throw, and smash as freely as the Green Meanie does, because anything else would be an affront to the character who is known most of all for being really angry and really strong. You have a health bar and a "Critical Mass" bar underneath it. When your health gets too low, or your Critical Mass gets too high, The Hulk gets even stronger. That's the only "limit" this game places on its lead character.
This is a pre-MCU Hulk game, so don't expect Disney levels of storytelling here, but what you will get is arguably the only power fantasy game to rival Prototype. Funny enough, both games were developed by Radical Entertainment, suggesting that this was the studio's niche (The Simpsons: Hit & Run further reinforces that idea). We don't get enough open-world games like Ultimate Destruction anymore, but it's nice to appreciate them when we can.
Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
Running Is The Whole Game
Much like Sonic, Faith from Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is all about running. She's literally called a "Runner," the name this world gives to couriers who will brave the rooftops of a city called Glass. She delivers anything from tools to information, all with the goal of overthrowing the city's dystopic authoritarian government.
Runners like Faith rely on parkour to escape from the city's security forces. Much like in the first Mirror's Edge, this is Faith's primary mode of transportation, alongside zip lines. Running, jumping, climbing, and sliding are a Runner's bread and butter, and Faith excels in all of them. Because of this, not only will Mirror's Edge: Catalyst never slow you down, it encourages you to keep running. The open world offers you multiple paths to run down, but it never wants to trip you up. Even combat is woven into the parkour. Where Faith could use guns in the first game, in Catalyst, combat and movement are one and the same, reinforcing the idea that speed is always your primary resource.
Halo Infinite
Nothing Slows Down Master Chief
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood, Mild Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- 343 Industries
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter
Much like Alex Mercer, The Hulk, and Sonic, is anyone going to tell Master Chief that he needs to slow down? In short: no, not even the developers at 343 Industries. Halo Infinite is the franchise's first foray into the open-world genre, and true to form, Master Chief is in the lead role in all his super-soldier glory.
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Funny enough, sprinting is the least effective way to get around the world. Between the new Grappleshot which grants near-instant vertical positioning, and the variety of vehicles at your disposal, sprinting is typically a last resort. That doesn't mean it isn't effective, though. You can sprint, slide, and shoot all at once or in succession, and controls for all three are responsive and satisfying, allowing you to sprint into combat, fire off a few shots, and then sprint away again to find a better position.
Donkey Kong Bananza
It's Hard To Get Tired With All These Bananas Around
In the same way that Sonic Frontiers was inspired by Breath of the Wild, Donkey Kong Bananza is an open-world game inspired by Nintendo's other runaway success: Super Mario Odyssey. However, in Bananza, there is a much greater focus on exploration and, more importantly, environmental destruction.
Through a series of interconnected zones, Donkey Kong and Pauline run, jump, climb, and destroy as much as they like. The challenge doesn't come from managing a stamina meter while climbing or rolling; it comes from fighting enemies, solving puzzles, and discovering secrets. This keeps DK feeling powerful while control of him is in your hands, but it doesn't make him so strong that everything beyond smashing the environment becomes meaningless.
Ghost Of Yotei
As Light As The Wind
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Language, Partial Nudity, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Sucker Punch
- Genre(s)
- Action, Adventure, Open-World
Yes, Atsu has a horse for transportation in Ghost of Yotei, but between the stunning visuals and the game's insistence on switching to a widescreen view when horseback riding in some areas, adventuring on foot is truly the best way to travel. It lets you take in the scenery in greater detail, it makes it much less likely that you'll gallop past a side activity, and you'll end up collecting a ton of crafting materials during your trek.
There is no limit to how far Atsu can sprint across the island of Ezo. In fact, there is no limit to how many times she can swing her katana at an enemy, either. Atsu's quest for revenge has the helpful side effect of making her a bottomless pit of energy. Sure, she can sleep for a night, and doing so restores her Spirit (used to perform special attacks or revive upon death), but she doesn't need to. As far as Ghost of Yotei is concerned, you could sprint from one end of the map to the other without ever taking a break. That's just how badass Atsu is.
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