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Ready for your next quest within this zombie survival title? Catch you across the way of the landscape in roughly… Ten minutes of travel? Fifteen? Honestly, however long it takes to reach it by running or vehicle, because the new release clearly dislikes ease and aims for the main character to endure beyond his current hardships.

The absence of instant travel in Dying Light: The Beast, the latest entry in a popular lineup of first-person zombie-killing adventures, is undoubtedly intended to encourage exploration, but all it does from my perspective is encourage frustration. Even after thoughtfully evaluating the justifications for which this expansive undead adventure ought not to include quick transport, every one fails — similar to Kyle Crane, if I leap him from an edifice hurriedly.

Why the Absence of Quick Transport Falls Short

As an instance, you might argue that this game’s free-running is fantastic, and I completely support that, however, that is not to say I wish to sprint, leap, and scale constantly. Certainly, Dying Light: The Beast offers cars I can use, yet cars, route access, and fuel supplies are restricted. And I concur that stumbling upon unseen places is what defines an expansive game compelling, however, once you’ve traversed a zone repeatedly, there are few things to explore.

Subsequent to my initial trip to the urban Old Town area, I sensed that this game was purposely lengthening my journey duration by spreading out mission spots within the same quests.

Once an optional task led me to a dark zone in Old Town, I viewed my map, looked for the closest vehicle, located it, traveled to the historic section, used up my fuel, opened my map again, ran the rest of the way, and, finally, had a lovely time with the undead in the hazardous area — merely to realize that the subsequent mission goal directed me back to the place I originated, on the other side of the map.

The Case supporting Instant Movement

I must acknowledge that this game does not feature the most expansive landscape ever created in an open-world game, but that’s all the more reason to advocate for instant movement; if the lack of it irritates me in a more compact world, it would surely irritate me in a more vast one.

Naturally, it would help to organize task targets in a specific sequence, but is it truly about about “encouraging exploration” when I feel forced to minimize my transit? It seems more that I would be “reducing hassle” as far as I can. Moreover, if I feel invested in a narrative and wish to discover the subsequent events (which is a good thing, developers!), I don’t wish to accomplish further task targets beforehand.

Possible Fixes regarding Instant Movement

There is a single point I can imagine advocating for excluding quick transport: You don’t get an easy exit route. And I have to admit, I wouldn’t want to miss out on the brief panic I experience whenever night falls – but undoubtedly there are alternatives regarding that. As an instance, instant movement from unsafe zones might be banned, or fast travel points could be positioned outside safe zones, obliging you to do a quick dash through the night before reaching safety. Maybe even more effectively, this title could permit quick transport among quick transport spots only, thus you reduce travel time without the chance of immediate transport.

• Fast travel could be confined to vehicle spawn points, for example,
• require virtual currency,
• or be halted by random encounters (the possibility to face aggression by surprise enemies).

Of course, it is only logical to enable new instant movement locations after discovering their vicinity.

The Strongest Argument supporting Quick Transport

Maybe the most convincing point supporting quick transport, though, is freedom: Although with a quick transport mechanism available, gamers who like to travel solely on foot and by car would still have that choice, whereas players with less time to enjoy, or with less desire for automobiles and climbing, could spend that period on additional virtual pursuits. That, in my view, is the real sense of independence players should anticipate from an open-world game.