These 20 In-Game Maps Do More Than Just Display The Next Goal

These 20 In-Game Maps: As someone who’s locked inside for the foreseeable future, I’ve been thinking a lot about traveling. Even when it’s not in the cards monetarily, it’s all I ever think about doing. However, virtual worlds allow me to see exotic locations without leaving the comfort of my own home.

And we certainly couldn’t have gotten this far without the use of in-game maps. For a long time now, gaming maps have served as our compass, offering a glimpse into a world beyond our present, restricted vantage point.

They shed light on the planet’s many ecosystems, illuminating the seemingly impassable mountains and other features. The roads they point out are either one we’ve been down before or ones with mysteries waiting to be uncovered. Maps aren’t only our guidance through a game, they’re our glance into the greater universe.

There has always been a beauty to the video game map. Sometimes maps feature gorgeous visuals, other times how they’re put into the game itself is neat on their own. Video game maps are simple to recall and hard to forget. At least the decent ones are. The following are the 20 finest video game maps.

These 20 In-Game Maps

Exodus From The Metro

Though many players consider Metro Exodus the poorest of the Metro games, its implementation of the series’ signature map is a big reason for the game’s success. Set in post-apocalyptic Russia and Kazakhstan, the main character Artyom strives to survive mutant animals among the greatest surroundings the genre has seen yet. To aid manage such risks and locate side tasks and other mysteries, Artyom is supplied with a useful map. The maps are clumsy, and nicely reflect the tone of the game.

Planescape: Torment

There isn’t a darker fantasy game than Planescape: Torment, wherein you play as a guy covered with the tattoos and scars of life you can’t recall. The global map for Planescape: Torment explicitly depicts this horrific set-up: Its skin is poorly sewn together, with geographical markers exposed as tattoos.

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 antithesis of helpful, yet that’s exactly why it stands out in the domain of video game maps. It is a pure atmosphere. Nothing less, and nothing more.

Dead Rising

Oh, the silliness of Dead Rising. Much to Dawn of the Dead, Dead Rising is set in a mall. Only the setting is far more ludicrous, with virtually everything suitable as a weapon. Dead Rising was performing zombie apocalypse parodies before they went out of vogue (and continued doing them after they went out of trend) (and continued doing them when they went out of fashion). It’s the original Dead Rising, though, that features the finest map. It’s simply just a mall map.

I don’t recall the last time I went to a mall, but I remember how I’d giggle at the big directory maps with dozens upon thousands of business names. Uniqlo. Hot Topic. Auntie Anne’s. I recall visiting malls less visited too, and how dreary they appeared wandering around. Dead Rising, of course, is everything but desolate—teeming it’s with zombies and stuff to cobble together for improvised weapons. I miss idling at locations that aren’t my living room, so maybe that’s why Dead Rising’s mall map leaps to mind so vividly.

Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2 has seen a comeback in popularity and critical appreciation in recent years. The open-world first-person shooter that afflicted players with malaria, weapon deterioration, and other horrible setbacks is also the most tactile sensation of all Far Cry titles. A lot of it comes down to how its map is used: To figure out where to travel, one takes out a portable GPS and a physical map at the same time.

In 2008, it was a unique interaction, like a lot of Far Cry 2’s elements. Set in central Africa, the map itself reflects the relatively bland settings of the game. The more you advance, the more fleshed out the map gets. There’s even a labeling system.

Far Cry as the series we know it today didn’t start with Crytek’s Far Cry. It began with Ubisoft’s Far Cry 2—even though the franchise subsequently set away the hefty dosage of realism that distinguished it.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

Elder Scrolls is packed with intriguing open worlds. Daggerfall remains, by most counts, the largest open-world game ever developed. Fans adore Oblivion for some reason. Morrowind is by all accounts the greatest open-world Bethesda’s ever conjured up. But when it comes to maps, Skyrim has them all beat.

It’s possibly one of the most instantly identifiable maps in the last decade of gaming. I’ll never forget how many icons showed when I brought it up for the first time. It is a basic map, merely giving the overview of the continent, but it is iconic nevertheless.

Skies Of Arcadia

More than any other JRPG, Sky of Arcadia is genuinely about exploring, and flying to the skies to do so. At the start, the global map is empty, steadily filling up over time. These are my favorite types of maps: the ones that aren’t provided to you in their entirety from the start but get mapped and drawn out with every step you take. Also, they don’t need a “Synchronization,” a la Assassin’s Creed, to view the goodies. And witnessing the wind pathways and floating islands of Skies of Arcadia shake out over time is a wonder on its own.

Dragon Quest 3

There is an atmosphere of mystery around Dragon Quest 3, or Dragon Warrior 3’s, global map. It’s hardly visible at the start, but later players learn that it’s an approximate assessment of Earth, right down to the big cities. (Renamed for Dragon Quest 3, of course.) Having this information makes the globe map neat in hindsight, as it folds genuine continents into something incomprehensible for its hypothetical medieval-ish time period. It doesn’t look like our home, and yet it is. Or at least, a weirder, Slime-ridden version of it.

Vice City

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City‘s map hung on my wall. I don’t recall how I received it—maybe it was a promo or in the case. It was pinned straight onto the wall of my family’s rental house for years, much to my parent’s dismay. I played GTA: Vice City like many youngsters. With its sleazy ’80s Miami flair, it’s the greatest GTA game.

Liberty City is more famous, and Los Santos and San Andreas are larger, but I recall Vice City’s water-divided layout best. It has the iconic green, black, and gray GTA color scheme. My favorite GTA map.

Elite Dangerous

Elite Dangerous is the scariest video game map ever. The space-flight simulator’s Milky Way Galaxy simulation is 1:1. It’s always developing and building its galaxy using astronomy. Players still find unknown things like aliens. Elite Dangerous scares.

Its galaxy map is quite scary. It’s like a crowded stadium with phone lights and lighters raised throughout a slow song. Bright dots in a gloomy room. Is this the solar system? Who knows whether the stars and planets are as bright? Hooray!

Persona

Persona 5’s map is thin yet full of individuality, like Planescape: Torments. Persona 5 is colorful, like the rest of the series. Persona 5 has styles from music to UI. This transfers to the game’s train-like overworld map, which shows Tokyo districts as black and white symbols on a red backdrop.

On top of the global map lies the Mementos map, which mimics Persona 3’s Tartarus tower. Unlike Tartarus, Mementos slopes downward. Persona 5 has not one, but two well-designed maps.

PUBG (PUBG)

It’s difficult to compile a list of the top video game maps without including battle royale. PUBG has the most iconic map. Early access only included the Erangel map. After 1.0, PUBG included maps like Miramar and Sanhok. Erangel morphed. Erangel’s original map structure is my favorite “battle royale map.”

Solo players or squads check the map before joining a battle royale. The plane’s path is visible (or bus). We know the “hot spots”—popular sites where people drop—then we decide. Then we descend.

Erangel’s vegetation and Eastern European surroundings are eclectic. Its absence of art direction stands out. This map has few biomes, unlike subsequent ones. PUBG’s debut map launched a genre. We knew the villages, houses, and tree-shrouded sniping cliffs. Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone exceeded it. In 2017, PUBG just required one map.

Pokemon

Any Metroid or Castlevania map may be included, although most seem uninteresting. Visually, they fall short. Metroid Prime helps. 3D maps change how we play Metroid. The 3D, vector-like framing of the maps is slicker and compliments Samus’ successful 3D push.

Metroid Prime

In theory, you might argue that every Metroid or Castlevania map belongs here, despite the fact that, at first glance, they all appear pretty much the same. When it comes to nuts and bolts, they deserve it, but they fall short when it comes to looks.

This is corrected in the sequel, Metroid Prime. Our understanding of how a Metroid game works has been challenged by the introduction of 3D maps. They function similarly, with exploration exposing new paths, but the maps’ 3D, vector-like frame is more polished and reflects Samus’s successful transition to the 3D format.

RDR2

Games include several graphical maps. Skyrim, Ni No Kuni’s painterly style. RDR2‘s map is unique. Red Dead Redemption 2’s map is drawn, unlike Arthur’s diary. Arthur’s camp uncovers more as they investigate.

I adore its map’s typeface. Italicize old-fashioned typeface along rivers. Cities are bold. The symbols are simply black circles that never obscure detail. It’s all appropriate. Red Dead Redemption 2’s map seems tame for its chaotic environment. But that’s what makes it a lovely map.

Lost

Diegetic video game maps are the greatest, as though your character is tracing their steps. Isaac Clarke’s 3D map in Dead Space is a hologram. It increases Dead Space’s intensity since we’re never removed from the imminent Necromorph peril aboard the USG Ishimura. The map’s excellent implementation sets it apart from most others. I can’t remember a better scary game map. Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill, sorry.

Ashes In The Firewatch

To most people’s surprise, Firewatch was one of the first titles mentioned when I raised the question on USgamer’s internal Slack about games with “excellent maps.” When I thought about the reasons why it deserved the award, they came flooding back to me: Indeed, the map itself constitutes the playing field.

Olly Moss, a well-known art director, has clearly used his signature minimalist style here. The feature is included right within the game: Game protagonist Henry uses it, along with a compass, to plot his course.

The dynamic nature of the landscape, though, is what really sets this game apart. Notes of all kinds will be scrawled into the map depending on the players’ decisions as Henry in terms of conversation options. Firewatch’s map has a lot of personalities since it reflects the player’s persona.

ActRaiser

ActRaiser’s continent is one of the most recognizable forms of a global map. When seen from a great distance, it resembles an Angelfish. Its blood pool, together with its arid south and frigid north, serves as a symbol of our efforts to restore civilization in its entirety. While the game’s SNES visuals aren’t up to pace with other titles for the system, a lot of atmospheres are conveyed via the use of a limited number of pixels.

The Etrian Adventure

You may put any game in the Etrian Odyssey series here. Of fact, Etrian Odyssey is essentially a map-making game. As you explore a dungeon, you leave behind marks and other clues as to your route. Simply said, the uniqueness of the Etrian Odyssey and its few offshoots lies in the fact that they turn their players become expert cartographers. While the map itself may not seem like much, it is unlike any other in the gaming world in terms of functionality. At last, the 2D functional maps are an original product of our own design.

Thirdly, Pokemon Red/Blue/Go! Let’s

The topic of which area is the greatest to catch Pokemon in is up for debate, but there’s no doubt that the original and most famous region, Kanto, is the most iconic. Mentioning the name alone triggers mental imagery of the map: Towns are indicated by simple dots, and Surfing opportunities abound in the abundant water.

While it lacks the Hawaiian flavor of Sun and Moon and the British flair of the latest Sword and Shield, Kanto makes up for it by being the prototype of a Pokemon region in our minds. The Kanto region’s map is unparalleled.

We Have Mario’s Second Adventure: Super Mario World

With the announcement of Super Mario Maker 2, everyone immediately began demanding one thing: a World Maker. It was delayed from the original release date until this year when it finally made it into the constructor. While playing about with the World Maker in Super Mario Maker 2, I was largely reminded of one thing: how wonderful Super Mario World is.

Super Mario World was a huge step forward for Mario, providing him with a road plan of sorts via which to explore Dinosaur Land. Secrets such as additional stages and detours were hidden all throughout the terrain. It was no more a simple matter of moving from one area to another on a screen; instead, the universe of Super Mario was stretched in exciting new directions, and the elaborate maps of Super Mario World reflected this. I

t still holds up in 2020, 30 years after its first release in 1990. It might be said that the overworld of Super Mario World is the most recognizable and unforgettable of all time. Well, there’s one…

A Link to the Past

I’ll never forget the relief I felt when, in A Link to the Past, I was finally able to choose between the game’s two worlds, the brightly lighted Hyrule and the game’s darker Dark World. Normal Hyrule and the underworld of the Dark World merged into one.

As Link, I alternated between the two halves, entering regions that were previously off-limits to me. This was a fascinating and educational aspect of A Link to the Past. The two maps included were not only aesthetically pleasing but also enjoyable to navigate.

Every game in the Legend of Zelda franchise has a unique and iconic landscape. Hyrule is seen in Twilight Princess as a more sinister place. Just as in Etrian Odyssey, I found myself playing the role of a cartographer in Breath of the Wild. I would carelessly drop marks at shrines I discovered or at mysteries I had not yet solved.

While Breath of the Wild’s presentation of Hyrule was perhaps the most interesting we’ve seen yet, when it comes to the simple map, A Link to the Past still reigns supreme, since it is the most fundamental to the experience of playing that game.

A Link to the Past’s reputation as the series’ pinnacle is well-deserved. Everything about its worldbuilding is spot on. It has the ideal mix of narrative, action, and riddles. A Link to the Past is the closest thing we’ve come to the mythical “perfect” video game. In particular, the game’s map works well because of how well it integrates with our usual methods of play. That’s why it has the most impressive video game map.

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