The best fast travel systems in gaming are ones that make the player feel like it is something they earned, is in line with the mechanics of the game and its lore is overall more interesting than opening up a map and selecting an icon. As gamers, we want to feel like even the simplest mechanics of the game have been thought out and are interesting enough for us to give a second glance. Here are some of the fast travel systems that are among the best in gaming.
Horizon Zero Dawn
The fast travel system in Horizon Zero Dawn isn’t wholly different from other RPG’s. You open the world map, select an icon and watch a loading screen before appearing. Except, the player needs to expend fast travel packs in order to use this system. By hunting a handful of animals, Aloy can gather enough resources to craft one or two fast travel packs at a time, meaning that if the player wants to bounce around the map to save time, they will have to earn it first. Forcing the player to explore their immediate surroundings and perhaps discover things they would have otherwise missed.
Eventually, though, the player can obtain a Golden Fast Travel Pack, allowing them to fast travel an unlimited number of times, but requires a much greater amount of resources to obtain than just one pack. To obtain one means the player sets their own goal of hunting and gathering fatty meat and shards until they have earned it, and instead of feeling guilty or lazy for fast traveling, they can feel rewarded for their efforts, which is much more satisfying than the expectation of fast travel being just another time saver.
Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight boasts a number of fast travel systems each with their own pros and cons. The stagways, however, is the player’s most used form of travel, and one of the game’s more in depth systems. As you progress through the world of Hallownest, the player unlocks stagways that allow them to backtrack to previously explored sections of the map. The stag the Knight rides on is a character of its own and has a deep connection to the lore of the world. Eventually, the stag takes the player to its home and we discover its tragic past, which turns this simple game mechanic into something the player can have an emotional connection with.
Every stagway sign is a sigh of relief for every player fighting off the horde of bugs, as well as the tramway signs. Unlike the stagways, the tram takes the player to new areas of the game, as well as connecting the entire map once all the stops have been unlocked. Like the stag, the tram itself is connected to the world of Hallownest. Seeing the sections of track long abandoned and inaccessible by tram takes advantage of the player’s curiosity and adds to the environmental storytelling, bouncing off the player’s relationship to the tramway mechanic.
Finally, the Dreamgate allows the player to choose a single location that they can teleport to, at any point, after a short delay. This creates an interesting relationship between the player and the world map, in that they are now able to generate efficient routes of travel they can use to farm Geo, avoid dangerous routes and return to previously inaccessible locations. Overall saving time by avoiding stag and tramways, while also both adding to, and deepening the lore of Hallownest with how both the player obtains and upgrades it.
Satisfactory
Far from your traditional fast travel methods, Satisfactory allows the player to build their own. Using everything they have resourced, the player can build highways and railroad tracks between their factories and dig sites. As the name implies, it’s a very satisfying feeling to finally take an effortless stroll on your new train after hoofing it for hours between drills and across conveyor belts. Though probably the slowest form of “fast” travel among games on this list, it relies on the player’s specific organization of their facilities which personalizes it and feels like it was something built by their own two animated hands. It’s one of the most well-earned fast travel systems, and it requires the most thought.
Pokémon
One of the earliest games to introduce fast travel, Pokémon adopted a unique way to blend the mechanics of the game with the setting that made for an excellent example for future games. Giving the players the strategic choice of which of their Pokémon to teach Fly or Surf to, and which moves to replace, is unique for the series, while giving the player a new way to explore the map without confusing or overwhelming them.
As well as being used for fast travel, these moves open up previously inaccessible areas of the map, are strong attacks on their own and also work with some puzzle solving mechanics within the explorable areas. Which makes the player more closely connected to their little pocket monsters and realize their potential outside of obtaining gym badges, and contributed to the franchise becoming one of the most recognizable across the globe. Even just the animation of your little sprite holding up a Pokéball and a black shadow swooping down to pick them up is more than what games tend to do today.
God of War (2018)
In God of War, the player accesses fast travel by opening doorways between realms that lead to previously opened doorways, becoming more useful as the player discovers more and more doorways. Every time the player opens one of these gates, they travel along the branches of the world tree which allows for opportunities for Mimir and Atreus to discuss the previous events of the game, relationships between the gods and offer useful insights on what to do next. The banter between these characters, Kratos included, is one of the best parts of God of War and what gives life to each character. Having the players take a stroll across the world tree’s branches as an excuse to include it is well worth it, even if it takes slightly longer to reach your destination. The player can also ignore the advice of a helpful dwarf and take Atreus on a ride, leaping off the edge of the Yggdrasil to their deaths. Disguising itself as a “don’t push the red button” moment while cleverly foreshadowing an important story moment.
Also, the placement of doorways in the world can give players clues as to what to expect ahead, as well as become reminders when the player suddenly obtains a new tool or rune that they can use to unlock doors or open chests. Overall being less of a sigh of relief when stumbling across these doorways and more of an opportunity to engage with the optional content within the game, with plenty of excuses to do so.
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Matthew has been a lifelong lover of video games since he could first hold a controller, and among his favorites are narrative-heavy, singleplayer games like; Divinity: Original Sin 2, Elden Ring, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Hollow Knight. Matthew also plays tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder and Call of Cthulu. He graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s in Sociology and minored in English.
