And watching the wind paths and floating islands of Skies of Arcadia shake out over time is a marvel on its own. Also, they don't require a "Synchronization," a la Assassin's Creed, to see the goods. These are my favorite sorts of maps: the ones that aren't given to you in their entirety from the start, but become charted and sketched out with every step you take. At the start, the world map is empty, slowly filling out over time. More than any other JRPG, Skies of Arcadia is truly about exploration, and taking to the skies to do so. It is a simple map, just showing the overview of the continent, but it is iconic nonetheless. I'll never forget how many icons appeared when I pulled it up for the first time. It's perhaps one of the most immediately recognizable maps in the past decade of gaming. But when it comes to maps, Skyrim has them all beat. Morrowind is by all accounts the best open-world Bethesda's ever cooked up. Daggerfall remains, by most measures, the biggest open-world game ever made. The Elder Scrolls 5: SkyrimĮlder Scrolls is littered with interesting open-worlds. Skyrim's Survival Mode map is perhaps more of a looker, but the basic in-game map is worth recalling more.
It started with Ubisoft's Far Cry 2-even if the series later cast aside the heavy dose of realism that defined it. Far Cry as the series we know it today didn't start with Crytek's Far Cry. The more you progress, the more filled out the map becomes.
Set in central Africa, the map itself matches the very beige environments of the game. In 2008, it was an innovative interaction, like a lot of Far Cry 2's mechanics. A lot of it comes down to how its map is used: To figure out where to go, one pulls out a handheld GPS and a physical map at the same time. The open-world first-person shooter that plagued players with malaria, weapon degradation, and other nasty set-backs is also the most tactile feeling of all Far Cry games. Far Cry 2įar Cry 2 has had a resurgence in popularity and critical respect in recent years. Far Cry 2 is one of the earliest games I can remember that made the map actually tangible. I miss loitering at places that aren't my living room, so maybe that's why Dead Rising's mall map springs to mind so prominently. Dead Rising, of course, is anything but desolate-it's filled with zombies and goodies to cobble together for makeshift weapons. I remember going to malls less traveled too, and how desolate they looked walking around. I don't remember the last time I went to a mall, but I remember how I'd ogle at the expansive directory maps with dozens upon dozens of store names. It's the first Dead Rising, however, that has the best map. Dead Rising was doing zombie apocalypse parodies before they went out of fashion (and continued doing them when they went out of fashion). Only the scenario is much more ridiculous, with literally anything usable as a weapon. Much like Dawn of the Dead, Dead Rising is set in a mall. As Andreas Inderwildi wrote for Rock Paper Shotgun, Planescape: Torment's map "works as a metaphorical representation of the patchwork-like Planescape multiverse: its regions often appear both material and symbolic, and their positions relative to each other can be uncertain and tenuous-as if connected not by solid earth and stone, but aether and old string." Planescape: Torment's map is the opposite of useful, but that's precisely why it sticks out in the realm of video game maps.
The world map for Planescape: Torment directly reflects this morbid set-up: It's skin crudely stitched together, with locale icons visible as tattoos. There isn't a darker fantasy game than Planescape: Torment, wherein you play as a man covered in the tattoos and scars of lives you can't remember. | MobyGames, Black Isle Studios/Interplay Entertainment 19. Planescape: Torment's world map is unforgettable. The maps are clunky, and perfectly match the atmosphere of the game. To help navigate such perils and find side quests and other secrets, Artyom is equipped with a handy map. Set in post-apocalyptic Russia and Kazakhstan, the main character Artyom fights to survive mutated creatures amidst the biggest environments the series has seen yet. Metro Exodus may be seen as the weakest of the Metro trilogy by most fans, where it succeeds is in how it implements its map.