The Best Designed Map in Gaming

[TechnologicalMF]

I have a big passion for map design in video games. Now, the thing is though, I have always preferred the smaller but very well designed maps compared to the open world ones. I barely ever become attached/remember the open ones too well.

These are my top best designed maps in gaming:
1. Shadow Moses (MGS1)
2. Kingdom of Lordran (Dark Souls 1)
3. Black Mesa (Half-Life 1)
4. Entire Map of RE4
5. Tokyo (SMT IV)

 

[DunkeyKong]

I love Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 map design

 

[TechnologicalMF]

One gripe I kind of have with modern games is I feel like a lot of companies have abandoned a lot of this tight, carefully crafted design of maps that you would see when the specs were more limited.
It made the games breathe so much identity with the map also being a kind of character. I feel like FromSoft still does it really well

 

[Yousef's iconYousef]

Hmmm
Oh we’re including ALL maps? Well this is a toughie.. I’ll go with my open works answer cuz that’s easier.

1. Bullsworth town
2. Vice city
3. Liberty city (3D & HD and Chinatown wars)
4. Los Santos (3D & HD)
5. The Warriors’ map
6. Firelink shrine
7. Station square

 

[moonbits]

Blackout in Halo 3
Facing Worlds in Unreal Tournament
2Fort in Team Fortress 2
Gridlock in Gears of War

As for single player games...
Thief : The Dark Project
System Shock 2

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 4:24 PM

One gripe I kind of have with modern games is I feel like a lot of companies have abandoned a lot of this tight, carefully crafted design of maps that you would see when the specs were more limited.
It made the games breathe so much identity with the map also being a kind of character. I feel like FromSoft still does it really well

you'd be surprised how much the average player gets lost even in simple maps.

 

[RustySK]

One gripe I kind of have with modern games is I feel like a lot of companies have abandoned a lot of this tight, carefully crafted design of maps that you would see when the specs were more limited.
It made the games breathe so much identity with the map also being a kind of character. I feel like FromSoft still does it really well

Agreed - though I felt Elden Ring kinda veered away from that strength of theirs.

When I look back on that game and move past the general sense of awe at the sheer scale of it, I mostly remember Stormveil Castle, or the sewers under the capital, as those parts are the ones that most stuck to this tight, careful sense of design and atmosphere their prior games were built on.

I loved my time with ER, but I really do hope they return to the more focused style in their next project. Sekiro is still the pinnacle of tight, concise modern world design to me.

Which is also my first pick for the thread! Sekiro. All killer, no filler.

Another pick would be The Black Parade - a fan campaign for Thief Gold.
Every single map in that game is absolute stealth and ImSim perfection. Almost overwhelmingly so.
Seriously, that fan project for a game that is several decades old by now puts every single big budget stealth game out there to utter shame - and that's not hyperbole either.

 

[Bomberman]

File City- Digimon World
Village- Resident Evil 4
Mt. Infinity (or whatever that last dungeon was called- Digimon World
Clock Town - Majoras Mask
Diablo 2- the city in act IV
World of Warcraft- so many zones and cities. Ironforge, Undercity, Stormwind, Winterspring, etc. (can I just say Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms since they are technically one map each?). Hellfire peninsula, Nagrand, Zangarmarsh, etc
Final boss room- Bomberman 64 (I guess both final boss fights including the fake one),
The first city in FFIX (with Vivi)
Chrono Cross arni village

sooooo many glorious maps.

 

[diapered]

So many memories ;_;

 

[TechnologicalMF]

Agreed - though I felt Elden Ring kinda veered away from that strength of theirs.

When I look back on that game and move past the general sense of awe at the sheer scale of it, I mostly remember Stormveil Castle, or the sewers under the capital, as those parts are the ones that most stuck to this tight, careful sense of design and atmosphere their prior games were built on.

I loved my time with ER, but I really do hope they return to the more focused style in their next project. Sekiro is still the pinnacle of tight, concise modern world design to me.

Which is also my first pick for the thread! Sekiro. All killer, no filler.

Yeah, the Sekiro map completely blew me away as I did not really expect it to have that strength at all for some reason and to have it remind me of DS1 with how well it was made blew me away.

I think I'll like the Deux Ex map a lot too but I have yet to play them properly, they look really amazing though

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 4:42 PM

File City- Digimon World
Village- Resident Evil 4
Mt. Infinity (or whatever that last dungeon was called- Digimon World
Clock Town - Majoras Mask
Diablo 2- the city in act IV
World of Warcraft- so many zones and cities. Ironforge, Undercity, Stormwind, Winterspring, etc. (can I just say Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms since they are technically one map each?). Hellfire peninsula, Nagrand, Zangarmarsh, etc
Final boss room- Bomberman 64 (I guess both final boss fights including the fake one),
The first city in FFIX (with Vivi)
Chrono Cross arni village

sooooo many glorious maps.

Great picks. Majora's Mask is my favorite Zelda game and the world feels so alive in it and especially the way they designed the map.

Though from FF IX I actually prefer the latter half of the map design

 

[Bakuma1997]

The best tutorial ever

 

[Bonkers225]

Midgar in FFVII
First level of MGS4

 

[PhrawzT]

Blackout in Halo 3
Facing Worlds in Unreal Tournament
2Fort in Team Fortress 2
Gridlock in Gears of War

As for single player games...
Thief : The Dark Project
System Shock 2

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 4:24 PM

you'd be surprised how much the average player gets lost even in simple maps.

Lava Giant was always my #1, with Facing Worlds being a close #2.

It bothers me that Fourside doesn't line up, and Deep Darkness is missing, but I love the Earthbound world.

 

[ATenderLad]

Ohhhhhh I thought this was a thread about the actual "Maps", like cartography. I still have my map of Hyrule for Link to the Past folded up in the closet somewhere, the one that came in the SNES box.

I mean, this is fine too, I guess.

 

[TotzOnGaming]

2D
- PoP Lost Crown
- Ender Lilies
- Strider(2014)
- Biomorph
- Sakuna
- Shovel Knight

3D and Open-World
- Jedi Fallen Order
- Okami
- Sunset Overdrive
- Shadow of Mordor
- Sand Land
- Arkham Asylum, City and Knight
- Shadow of Mordor
- Ys VIII
- RGG/Yakuza Series

 

[Gorse]

Look at this sexy beast. Could there ever be a better map for competitive multiplayer gameplay? Two fully-detailed, highly-fleshed-out buildings staring each other dead in the face. Loads of rooms and tunnels and corridors within, winding down to the deep colon of the intel room. Ample room for sniper battles right at the top – where, of course, a sneaky Spy or Pyro can also make their claim. (Or, if you're really daring, a particularly-active engie [especially if he uses mini-sentries to troll the fuck out of people coming down the bridge].)

And that's just above-ground! The delectable sewer system provides countless moments for traps and tricks, and easy kills for Pyros, Engineers, and Heavies. (Though Heavies should focus on storming the front of each building head-on with a fully-charged Medic – that's a tip from the top from your old pal Gorse.) Rocket-jumping Soldiers and pesky Scouts have loads and loads of opportunities to bounce all over the place, but they'll have to pass through corridors of eager Demomen who've lined every surface with sticky bombs.

Yes, sir, I can't think of a single map better than our lord, our saviour, our hero from on high: 2FORT!!!!!!!!

Except maybe Turbine. BUT STILL

 

[RanmyakuIchi's iconRanmyakuIchi]

Castlevania Symphony of the Night. May not be the best, but it's for sure very iconic.

 

[Blamhammer]

Hmm, I thought we were on about in-game navigation maps. Ahhhh i'll just say Metroid Prime.

 

[Megalodonix]

The entirety of MGS3, especially Grozniy Grad

 

[Mr. Daddy]

Look at this sexy beast. Could there ever be a better map for competitive multiplayer gameplay? Two fully-detailed, highly-fleshed-out buildings staring each other dead in the face. Loads of rooms and tunnels and corridors within, winding down to the deep colon of the intel room. Ample room for sniper battles right at the top – where, of course, a sneaky Spy or Pyro can also make their claim. (Or, if you're really daring, a particularly-active engie [especially if he uses mini-sentries to troll the fuck out of people coming down the bridge].)

And that's just above-ground! The delectable sewer system provides countless moments for traps and tricks, and easy kills for Pyros, Engineers, and Heavies. (Though Heavies should focus on storming the front of each building head-on with a fully-charged Medic – that's a tip from the top from your old pal Gorse.) Rocket-jumping Soldiers and pesky Scouts have loads and loads of opportunities to bounce all over the place, but they'll have to pass through corridors of eager Demomen who've lined every surface with sticky bombs.

Yes, sir, I can't think of a single map better than our lord, our saviour, our hero from on high: 2FORT!!!!!!!!

Except maybe Turbine. BUT STILL

Clearly, as good as 2Fort is, this is the true, objective best map in tf2:

ALL WEEP BEFORE THE MIGHT THAT IS PLR_HIGHERTOWER

No, in all seriousness though, I do think there is one map that has my personal vote for the best map from TF2

Upward, my beloved.

 

[WarpKaiser]

de_dust2 - Counter-Strike 1.6

 

[E0N]

Firelink Shrine (DS1) and Shadow of the Erdtree map (Elden Ring)

 

[Jeff]

 

[Lweo4]

Dark Souls 1 map design and how things connected made my 15-year-old mind explode in 2016.

And even though it mostly consists of "broken door. broken door. broken door. broken door. locked door. broken door", I love the maps of Silent Hill 1-2-3 (and the "dungeons", if you would call them that).

 

[diapered]

Look at this sexy beast. Could there ever be a better map for competitive multiplayer gameplay? Two fully-detailed, highly-fleshed-out buildings staring each other dead in the face. Loads of rooms and tunnels and corridors within, winding down to the deep colon of the intel room. Ample room for sniper battles right at the top – where, of course, a sneaky Spy or Pyro can also make their claim. (Or, if you're really daring, a particularly-active engie [especially if he uses mini-sentries to troll the fuck out of people coming down the bridge].)

And that's just above-ground! The delectable sewer system provides countless moments for traps and tricks, and easy kills for Pyros, Engineers, and Heavies. (Though Heavies should focus on storming the front of each building head-on with a fully-charged Medic – that's a tip from the top from your old pal Gorse.) Rocket-jumping Soldiers and pesky Scouts have loads and loads of opportunities to bounce all over the place, but they'll have to pass through corridors of eager Demomen who've lined every surface with sticky bombs.

Yes, sir, I can't think of a single map better than our lord, our saviour, our hero from on high: 2FORT!!!!!!!!

Except maybe Turbine. BUT STILL

Yea, that one comes to my mind too. I thought of CS first, so went with dust, and I guess it is natural to think of fps maps because you replay them over and over so many times... Lots of memories, no friends to play online fps games with now ;_;

 

[solnK!]

The Antilia space colony of Zone of the Enders