Open worlds involve wandering a huge sandbox. Players spend hours wandering around a massive area, taking quests and interacting with their surroundings. They can sometimes speed things up with a horse, car, or other ride. However, these choices are far too terrestrial.
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That’s why some open-world titles opt for flying. They each have a different explanation for airborne travel, but they all elevate experience, both literally and figuratively. With these abilities, players can get to their destinations more quickly. More importantly, they can view the open world from an exhilarating new angle.
7 Harry Potter
The Wizarding World has numerous means of travel, and flight is one of them. The obvious vehicles for this are brooms, which players can use in a few Harry Potter titles. The Chamber of Secrets game and Hogwarts Legacy are the most prominent examples. Broomsticks aren’t the only mounts available, though.
This realm has countless magical creatures who make their home in the sky. Most iconic are hippogriffs: temperamental animals which look like eagles crossed with horses. Fans can ride these avian equestrians in the Prisoner of Azkaban game and the aforementioned Hogwarts Legacy. While not as smooth as the brooms, they’re a far more majestic mount. Not to mention, they can still take players all over Hogwarts and the surrounding countryside. What more could a Potterhead ask for?
6 Lego Games
With the sheer number of franchises under the Lego belt, it figures that many tie-in games would enable flight. Most involve calling in vehicles from designated spawn points. Lego City Undercover lets fans fly a helicopter while the Lego Star Wars series takes players into space with various starfighters. Not all playsets need these toys, though.
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The Lego DC and Lego Marvel games supplement the vehicles with superheroes, many of whom have the power to fly. Comic aficionados can soar through Gotham City as Superman or Wonder Woman. Alternatively, they might zip around New York as Iron Man or Thor. Air travel is practically a given in these games. It’s just a question of how they do it.
5 Superman Returns
The Man of Steel’s solo games are notoriously bad, but this movie tie-in has a perk over its abysmal peers. Namely, it lets fans wield Superman’s godlike powers in an open world format. Players control the Kryptonian hero amid a vast Metropolis sandbox. They can fly in, around, and above the city at their leisure. What’s more is that they’re faster than a speeding bullet while doing so.
They can even maintain that speed while carrying objects. It doesn’t matter how big they are. Superman can pick up whole chunks of buildings and chuck them through the atmosphere. He has the complete freedom of movement that he should. This creates an undeniably exciting rush. Too bad the game never does anything with it.
4 Grand Theft Auto
The Grand Theft Auto games mainly subsist on stealing cars. It’s in the name, after all. Players use these to drive around the various cities that the developers build. As the series continues, though, it’s natural to up the ante.
That’s why later GTA entries include airborne vehicles for would-be criminals. Grand Theft Auto 4, for instance, lets players call in a chopper. GTA 5 includes the same options while taking them one step further. One of the three protagonists–Trevor Phillips–specializes in flights. His drug and weapons business involves testing his piloting skills for transports and other operations. As such, he has a few planes stashed around the mountainous desert. He’s even crazy enough to jump between said planes in midair. Apparently, profit comes before self-preservation.
3 Immortals: Fenyx Rising
Greek mythology is a perfect inspiration for gaming. Not only does it have a menagerie of mythical monsters, but its various artifacts can grant godlike powers to whomever holds them. Players discover this in Immortals through the eyes of Fenyx, who gains several such tools throughout the adventure.
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Most valuable are the wings. Designed by Daedalus, these attachments let Fenyx fly for a short time. Players can gain more wings (and air time) by defeating servants of Typhon the Titan. Soon, they can fly well enough to put Icarus to shame. Granted, Daedalus was known as an architect rather than an inventor, but even mythical sticklers will have too much fun with Fenyx Rising to complain.
2 Jak 2
While the first Jak & Daxter occupies a friendly fantasy world with quaint villages, the sequels fling the heroes into an oppressive future. A major setting in Jak 2 and 3 is the merciless Haven City–a metal metropolis straight out of a cyberpunk nightmare. Of course, it does have one saving grace.
Standard in any futuristic setting are flying cars. Jak’s main means of transportation are zoomers. These are hovercrafts which come in all different makes and models. However, the totalitarian laws limit how citizens use these tools. Players can only travel between two heights: street level and one story up. Both settings are off the ground, so they’re technically flying. Ironically, though, Jak 3 provides more fun with its terrestrial Wasteland cars. At least those have built-in guns.
1 Horizon: Forbidden West
The post-apocalyptic Horizon world is teeming with machines. Most of these fashion themselves on dinosaurs, which menace the surviving human tribes. Luckily, protagonist Aloy has a staff to override their programming and bend them to her will. Some serve as mounts to carry her across the hostile landscape. The sequel then expands on this idea.
In Horizon: Forbidden West, Aloy can override a Pterosaur-esque machine called a “Sunwing.” Riding this creature gives her a bird’s eye view of the primitive world. Even the biggest T-rex bot looks insignificant from so high up.
More: Open World Games With Unique Exploration Mechanics
While some open-world games have players walking or riding horses, other games allow players to simply fly to get around. Read More