I have always liked open world games as a concept, but I have a very bad sense of direction. So whenever I play open world games I keep getting lost and frustrated. Eventually getting bored and dropping the game. I am curious how other people with bad sense of direction cope with this problem.
Yes as long as the game has a good map system. I hate it when some games don’t have an option to rotate the map to where you are currently facing.
I’m we’ve opposite I want my map fixed north. It’s the only way I get around lol
This would be the worst tool for someone with poor sense of direction. The best would be a map fixed north to the top, so you don’t have to keep track of your direction at all. Spinning maps make even us peeps with a decent sense of direction a bad time
Open world games usually give me a killer map that shows my exact location and heading. I can navigate the real world, too, when handed Google Maps. But I remember playing Minecraft back before the maps update and it was mostly just an exercise in nomadic survival. I’d leave my home for a 20 minute mining run and then never ever find the mfer ever again. Eventually I started a habit of creating a huge pillar of cobble near my home that stretched up to the map height limit and dumping lava buckets around it to make a literal glowing waypoint that I could follow back home.
Maps. Compasses, mini-maps, world maps, map pins, GPS systems.
I have a poor sense of direction in real life, but games are workable with the same crutches that make real life workable, for the most part.
I used to make maps by hand. Over time I got better and better at holding on to where I was. I’ve read studies that playing 3d games increases spacial awareness, so it might get better over time.
Other options I do when I’m too meh to bother is mods to add maps and quest tracking if the game doesn’t already have it
The two are surprisingly unrelated. I have an excellent natural sense of direction in real life, and I easily get lost in open world games if I don’t have a map.
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I can navigate game worlds more effectively than I can the real world. I can struggle to visualise a local route but could probably walk you through several zones of a Souls game.
I’m the same way! My partner was surprised when we played a game together and I always knew where to go and they kept getting lost.
I think it’s because video games do a lot more useful sign posting than real life. Plus a mini map (in some games).
I enjoy the opportunity to try to navigate by landmarks, roadsigns, and other natural means of finding your way. Games like Skyrim are great for this, games like Mass Effect are understandably not. Unfortunately I am more of a sci-fi guy so I’m used to being railroaded through steel corridors anyway.
Good question. I’m like you, I get turned around so easily, I just keep using the map systems and making markers to make my life easier. Markers being the most critical component. I start going in a direction and then I check again to make sure it’s the right way (often it’s not)
Especially when the map doesn’t orientate to the direction you’re facing, so I end up turning 90 degrees, checking map, turning another 90, checking again. I really enjoy when a game uses the Oblivion-style nav bar at the top that shows your markers at a glance as you turn around.
I get super lost in them. Honestly even if it isn’t open world, if it’s still a 3d overworld, I will get lost. I think what saves me is helpful accessibility features like in Xenoblade 3 for example, with the glowing red line on the ground leading you toward your destination. It won’t clear your obstacles for you but it will help you orient yourself and not get super lost. I would never get through a game like that without that feature. Anything less is honestly not sufficient for me to not get lost, unfortunately. I do try to play other games but I will absolutely be lost for ages in them.
I have a terrible sense of direction, so this is an important issue for me. Open world games usually do a decent job of providing a usable map, so they aren’t typically a problem. What I can’t stand is a where you reach a challenge or mission that consists entirely of figuring out where to go next, or finding some items while a timer counts down. They usually disable the map for these, and it makes me want to rage quit every time.
On the other hand, I love it when a game has some sort of option to show you where to go next, like in Hogwarts Legacy or Final Fantasy XVI.
Yes. For reference, in my day to day, when I try to look into my mind for a map, it’s just a black space with a spinning compass and shifting points of reference. In open world games, there’s usually waypoints and I can open the map constantly. In games without these crutches, I do get your frustration, but I’ll find a YouTube guide or something to find my way. Subnautica was probably the toughest so far.
I have a pretty horrible sense of direction, and I find that looking for important (clearly visible) landmarks helps reorient me, as well as relying on a minimap wherever available. Also if there’s any way to place markers or waypoints to show you a route then that helps too. Navigating still sucks but it’s a bit less painful with those!
Usually with a mini map I’m good but all bets are off with Deep Rock Galactic and it’s 3D version. My friends can dig through a wall and pop out up in the right place were as I’m hopelessly lost as soon as I go in…
I have an incredible sense of direction in real life. In games, I can’t find my way out of a paper bag. I’m not sure how that works.
I hate games that don’t have good maps. Especially in caves or big buildings. Like, why!?!?!?
