What's the most impressive map you've ever played?

TGO said:
Map?
Sound like Gen Z, anyway if you know you know
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metal gear 90s GIF
 
I actually find the GTA IV map to be the most impressive game world that has been hand crafted so far.

It's not the biggest but it has so much density and the level of detail is staggering. IMO, it's more impressive that GTA V because that one has a smaller city on a more spacious map with more open and less dense areas while the whole map in IV is a packed city where every block looks different.

Cyberpunk 2077 is close to beating that but it fails because you can't fly so the city is not made to be viewed at any angle. If you cheat or use a fly mod you can see all the unfinished and glitchy parts you weren't supposed to see.

Elden Ring's map looks great visually but it's only the actual landscapes and castles that are interesting. The open/empty lands between those aren't that great and you can actually see a lot of repeated design choices making them feel formulaic. Like every new landmass i was exploring i knew how the cliffs would look and how they would work as barriers and how the other areas around are probably connected via a specific area or cave, etc, and that's even more noticeable in the DLC map.
 
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In every thread about "Best ___ in gaming" Souls games always get mentioned, I could never get into these games, I feel like I'm missing, I have to give Dark Souls 3 another try.
 
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Diddy X said:
In every thread about "Best ___ in gaming" Souls games always get mentioned, I could never get into these games, I feel like I'm missing, I have to give Dark Souls 3 another try.
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Yeah, you're missing an ingame map. Thats why Elden Ring is the only one Ive finished lol.
 
Thief -Lord Bafford's Manor
Duke Nukem 3D - Hollywood Holocaust
Deus Ex - Vandenberg Air Force Base
Dishonored 2 - A Crack in the Slab (Stilton's Manor)
Titanfall 2 - Effect and Cause (Time Travel mission)
 
Diddy X said:
In every thread about "Best ___ in gaming" Souls games always get mentioned, I could never get into these games, I feel like I'm missing, I have to give Dark Souls 3 another try.
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They are greatly overrated. Many aspects are simply serviceable, but they do offer a lot of diverse content with some quality offerings mixed in.
My pick would be Tairon in Ninja Gaiden (2004). A city and all of its temples, sewers, caves, and military bases interconnected is quite a feat of ingenuity. The map below is only the city center:
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Guilty_AI said:
I've always wondered if the map was truly well made or if people just grew too used to it to let go. I know shit about MP map design.
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Back in the CS.16 people voted for the next map, and that means that the most played maps were the ones that were voted more often.
For Dust2 to become one of the most played maps, and being redone for every iteration of Counter Strike, it has to be a good one.
 
I love New Vegas and Hyrule from A Link to the Past. I have played these games so much that I can tell exactly where I am and what's up ahead, which comes in handy when you are about to walk into a Deathclaw nest.
 
Zelda 64… sure perhaps not from todays point of view, but thinking back nothing even came close to the wow effect of this world.
 
I take "map" to mean multiplayer level... OP seems to be more on the single-player side, and specified he's looking for player created levels (good luck!). I think "the entirety of muh Dark Souls" doesn't really qualify in this context

GOAT (somehow still the best BR map)
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This one I like even though they added several areas since the time I used to play.

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Metroid Prime 1 and/ or 2, pick your favorite.
I've played those games so many times and I'm still in awe at how everything is connected. MP2 just boggles the mind. Every time I play it, a new piece clicks in.
 
Metroid Fusion is my pick. The way the areas eventually open and get connected at the end is fantastic. The game builds a set of rules and you get used to them. So you navigate from a sector to another, eventually come back to a previous sector. But everything happens through the main hall with the elevators.

Then a some point, the story takes a turn and you end up going from one sector to another directly, seamlessly, and you are not expecting it. And at this very moment, the game breaks the rules it had set for you, and honestly, I found this to be excellent. You eventually realize that absolutely everything is connected, and several passageways are totally optional.

Legendary game. When you are used to such standards, shit like Dread is unacceptable.
 
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Was going to make a similar thread so I hope you don't mind the bumpin'. :goog_relieved:

Some of my favorites:

Zelda Ocarina of Time's Forest Temple: The atmosphere, the layout, fighting the Stalfos, getting the bow and that boss fight at the end. Shit's perfect and imo a masteclass in level design.

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Thief's The Sword map. What starts as a seemingly normal manor ends up being much more. Twisted corridors, upsidedown rooms and seeming non euclidean spaces made for an imo hard time, but also very tense, rewarding and specially fun to play through. Shit's neat as hell, basically.

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Baldur's Gate 2's Irenicus dungeon: Forget about lengthy introductions or boring tutorials. This is how you start a game: a gauntlet with enemies to beat, loot to collect, stuff to investigate that slowly but surely sheds light on what's going on and overall a very good time from start to finish.

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First thing that came to mind was the Halo map- cartographer or whatever.
Probably not my all time fav- but i loved it and this thread reminded me of it.
 
I'm going to throw bob-omb battlefield out there. For the time, it was an absolutely stunning piece of design and I could say it was instantly a kind of 3d game design bible all by itself.
 
Elden Ring for me. Just when I thought I'd seen the whole map, bam another piece showing me I was nowhere near the end. Absolutely incredible and an unforgettable experience for me.
 
Impressive? Not really, but I'll always have a special place in my heart for Blood Gulch.

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I think the name of it was ddust in counterstrike I remember people back in the days would only play that map and they would play it for like 10 hrs straight.
 
Q3DM17: The Longest Yard is one of my favourites. Some good ones from Tribes 2 as well but probably not as recognisable for most.

Edit - Going by the OP I assumed it meant like multiplayer maps but everyone else just linking maps for open world games
 
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Might be a case of recency bias but Abiotic Factor level is bonkers. I sadly don't have a neat 3D map as the game is still being developed, things change and I think they have much more in the pipeline, but the way the sectors intertwine together is pure genius.


Danjin44 said:
Xenoblade X
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Waiting for the Switch 2 patch

Interview Crying GIF
 
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Super Metroid, Bloodborne, Resident Evil 2 (remake)

maps that come with amazing exploration - they don't need handholding of any sort, because they are so tightly designed
 
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