Open-World Games With The Best Movement Mechanics

Open-world games have become all the rage in modern titles, with many major games trying their hardest to make the most of huge sandbox worlds that are brimming with content. It's easy for developers to fail while creating these games since the genre is moving at such a breakneck pace that some open-world titles may feel dated from the very moment they are released. This makes it important for games to perfect every gameplay loop and load them up with content to ensure that it grabs a player's attention.

Related

10 Best Open World Games On Other Planets, Ranked

From Starfield to The Outer Worlds, gaming has come a long way to allow gamers the chance to free roam alien planets.

Posts 5

By  Melody MacReady

One of the best ways open-world games can make themselves feel unique is by ensuring a greater focus on traversal, making the act of exploring the world more active than just pressing up on a keyboard or pushing the analog stick. With the right set of controls, movement in these games can feel like a core gameplay mechanic that players will love to master.

1 Forspoken

Despite Its Issues, Traversal Is A Blast In The Game

There's no denying that Forspoken has many issues that turned it into one of Square Enix's most dated games. The poor visuals and dated writing made this game an easy punching bag in the eyes of many, and it didn't help that the combat took way too long to open up. This caused many people to drop it instead of playing it to completion, which is a shame since a lot of players missed out on the amazing traversal mechanics that make the act of exploring Athia a blast.

Getting used to Flow, combining it with Rush, and slowly unlocking the other magical parkour abilities Frey can get her hands on makes for a great time. As players unlock this vast suite of movement abilities, the combat starts opening up too, meaning that players can enjoy exploring Athia more and more as they slowly warm up to this experience. Ziplining across the world, running up vertical surfaces, gliding across water bodies, and chaining speed boosts make for a parkour system that deserves a lot more credit.

2 Assassin's Creed Syndicate

The Last Assassin's Creed Game Without An RPG Focus Before The Series Changed Its Approach

It was a shame that Assassin's Creed Syndicate didn't live up to Ubisoft's sales expectations. The poor reception to Unity's technical state meant that a lot of people were iffy about checking out the next game in the series, which was unfair to Jacob and Evie's adventures as they formed their gang and slowly took over the boroughs of London. A huge part of what makes Syndicate such a satisfying game is its excellent traversal mechanics.

With dedicated buttons for free running up and down, players will avoid any untimely deaths that plagued the parkour systems of previous Assassin's Creed games. The grappling hook was looked down on by many fans, which is a shame since it added to the dynamic range of the player's traversal options and made it smoother to move from one place to the other without losing momentum or having to undo a lot of the climbing work players put into scaling large buildings.

3 Marvel's Spider-Man 2

The Best Swinging And Movement Mechanics In An Open-World Spider-Man Game

Spider-Man games are known for featuring some of the best traversal systems that players can mess around with, and these movement mechanics are perfected in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Both Miles and Peter may not be all that unique to control when zooming across New York, but players won't mind as long as they get to swing and glide across the city with great finesse. The excellent movement mechanics from the first game have been improved considerably to ensure that players don't find traversal to be stale at any moment.

Related

The 5 Best Open World Games Set in Future Timelines, Ranked

Smashmouth once said, “the years start coming and they don't stop coming” and that’s true. But in video games, you can skip ahead a few centuries.

Posts 1

By  Colin Tanner

The web wings are an excellent addition that lets players switch between swinging and gliding on the fly. Along with this, players can unlock two special rechargeable moves that help them enjoy a vertical or horizontal boost while exploring the world. Slingshotting, building momentum, and using wind tunnels are just a few of the many ways that players can build up speed in the game, and the PS5's ultra-powerful SSD ensures that Spider-Man moves through the city faster than ever before.

4 Infamous 2

Moving Cole Around In The Overworld Is A Blast

It's a shame that the Infamous series has seemingly been forgotten, even if the masses have hailed Sucker Punch's work on Ghost of Tsushima. Cole MacGrath is a gritty and engaging protagonist who serves as the heart of the first game in more ways than players might assume. With the threat of the Beast looming over America, it's up to Cole to get stronger to face this apocalyptic threat in the second game and save the world. His electrical powers play a huge role here, and players can also opt for fire or ice powers based on Cole's morality.

Related

Every Infamous Game, Ranked

Infamous is a beloved series where players can use superpowers for good or bad, but which title takes the top spot for Sucker Punch's best game?

Posts

By  Megan Smith

Regardless of which powers players opt for, the traversal of this game hinges on Cole's grasp over his electrical powers. Players can use power lines to zoom across the map, glide to reach elevated surfaces, and use an Assassin's Creed-esque parkour system to scale buildings. It's a simple yet refined movement system that feels great to this day, and fans would love a modern Infamous game that builds upon these movement mechanics to make something special.

5 Batman: Arkham Knight

Chaining Dives, Glides, And Grapples Along With The Batmobile Makes For A Great Time

Before Batman: Arkham Asylum, superhero games had attained somewhat of a poor reputation as cash grabs meant to capitalize on the release of movies and the like. This was dispelled with Rocksteady's incredible game featuring the Dark Knight, with Arkham City serving as the perfect sequel that improved on almost every mechanic from the first game. While some people found Arkham Knight to be less spectacular of an improvement in comparison, it succeeded in giving players more traversal options to experience.

Gliding and grappling around the city of Gotham feels better than ever, with Batman moving swiftly and efficiently. Along with this, the addition of the Batmobile lets players enjoy a vehicle that can destroy almost everything in its path and feels super satisfying to control. Drifting around corners before shooting out of the Batmobile to glide around the world of Gotham is immensely gratifying and shows why Arkham Knight is still a massive achievement despite some questionable design choices.

More

The 5 Best Open World Games Set in the Future, Ranked

The best open-world games set in the future provide players with a thought-provoking window through which they can learn humanity's fate.

Posts 14

By  Tom Bowen