Open world games where fast travel ruins the experience

Fast travel is a core mechanic of open world games. When you have these massive, sprawling worlds, it can be pretty annoying to backtrack long distances while searching, even in a vehicle or on horseback. That said, fast travel also defeats the purpose of an open world environment. It encourages you to stick to the big hubs and quests you've already engaged in instead of exploring the world organically. It also just breaks the immersion, and we've seen it time and time again with games that rely heavily on discovering secrets and locations in the wild while appreciating environments like Red Dead Redemption 2, The Witcher 3and Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

Some games have started applying fast travel costs or even specific penalties to get you out of the game with the mechanic entirely. Others, however, will reward you for sticking around by revealing incredible side quests and activities, huge hidden dungeons, and unexpected random encounters. Let's take a look at some open world games where fast travel will feel bad.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

You'll miss out on some juicy side activities

Although The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's the main story is a treat and a half in itself, if you're diving into its universe for the first time, you'll definitely spoil the experience if you rely on fast travel right out of the gates. Velen, Skellige, Novigrad and more are fantastic places to explore for a piece of world lore, treasure hunts and witchcraft contracts. Plus, some of the best content in the game is hidden in its side quests, so why leave them out on purpose? And Gwent, of course.

The world is also a visual pasture unlike anything else, and if you care at all about crafting materials (and you should), you should just organically ride around with Roach instead of using in-game fast travel points. This is really the main problem, as it is necessary to always reach a quick point in order to do this, a lore that was later added to Cyberpunk 2077 traveling by car is also much more enjoyable as you encounter random events in the world.

Dragons, Bandits, Dungeons, Oh My!

Bethesda games are quite famous for featuring random encounters and over the top environmental storytelling, but all of that can be easily skipped if you choose to fast travel. IN Skyrimwandering through beautiful wilderness is part of the core experience. Anything can happen. Maybe you get ambushed by a bandit or someone tries to sell you some skooma. You may also run into a group of Thalmor stragglers and get an opportunity to dish out some much needed justice.

Even if you go off the beaten path Skyrim it has countless unmarked locations, hidden dungeons, caves, and other secrets that you would probably never discover if you were still fast-traveling. If you still feel like jogging is too slow and you lose stamina too quickly, it might be time to invest in a horse. One of the easiest ways to get a good one is to play through the Dark Brotherhood quest line. This way you have a fast mode of transportation but still enjoy everything the world has to offer. Plus, it's much more immersive than jumping from one main location to another.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Might be safer to skip fast travel

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a bit of a hardcore game when it comes to its systems. I always like to describe it as a medieval knight simulator, with how deep some elements are from having to learn to read and manage fatigue and so on. Fast travel and travel in general have the same kind of depth. Just as you would expect the road to be unsafe, the game will make you feel that way even if you are driving fast.

That is true; you can still encounter random events if you travel fast, and some of them are quite dangerous. You can try to escape or ignore them, but success is not always guaranteed. It can be so damaging in the early hours of the game that you may even choose not to fast travel to the next location. In that sense, it's actually a great system that incurs the real cost of using a gameplay mechanic that would otherwise break your immersion. And even if you do use it, the game forces you to deal with the consequences of traveling in a dangerous world where you're nobody like Henry to begin with.

Dragon's Dogma Games

Expensive and limited in scope

As with all the other games already mentioned, Dragon Dogma games also favor your adventure on foot rather than skipping your way. You'll miss out on many of the world's dynamic joys, from stumbling into an ambush to how your pawns react to something on the road. These are the small but meaningful details that are the juice of the game. So, that's one thing, but another is the very real cost of actual fast travel in games. Like KCD, Dragon's Dogma games don't just let you jump without consequence.

While there are no random events involved, you have to manage two limiting factors: Ferrystones, which primarily allow you to fast travel and are a limited resource, and Portcrystals, which primarily allow you to open fast travel points. It is true that you get the Eternal Ferry Stone in Gran Soren Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisenbut Dragon's Dogma 2for example, it does not list any. With Portcrystals, some main locations already have one set, but you can also place them in your own desired locations around the world. This makes you consider fast travel a strategic move, something you only do when you really need to in order to conserve your resources.

Red Dead Redemption 2

The real meat is in the exploration

Nothing sounds more counterintuitive than fast travel Red Dead Redemption 2a game that essentially prides itself on focusing on the journey rather than the destination. Rockstar Games put a lot of thought into the world and some of the details in the game are so stunning that you have to wonder if we'll ever see a game of this scale again. The storytelling is slow, deep and emotional, and its weight is best felt if you ignore fast travel, which is something you actually have to unlock for the camp anyway.

Before that, all your options are pretty immersive, like trains or buses, so at least Rockstar has come up with a solution that doesn't completely take you out of the game. However, my real recommendation and reigning opinion among fans is the world RDR2 is one to be savored slowly and thoroughly. Take your time, and especially when you get to Chapter 2, where a lot of the meat of the game and its world should be fully explored, just take the time to drive through the wilderness and see what's out there. All of this will matter more as you progress through the story.

Star field

Dogfights and random encounters make it special

Star field it had a lukewarm reception, but it's a game that still does a lot of things right, and spaceflight is one of them. As you sit in the cockpit “manually” between systems, you may run into random encounters in space. It could be pirates attacking you at first sight, or even something related to the character or story. For example, if you have the Wanted trait, you will be regularly chased by bounty hunters. There are also fun interactions and tasks that start when you jump into a new system, such as distress signals or a passenger asking for directions.

With the upcoming Free Lanes update and Terran Armada DLC, these random encounters will expand as you'll be able to walk around your ship and travel faster than light. Bethesda will have a unique set of new interactions during this time, so that's another reason not to just use the map to fast travel from one planetary location to another. In addition, there are also many interesting places in space, from abandoned ships with scary stories to hidden treasure. Go in with the mindset of an explorer and you'll have a great time.