Best Open-World game with infinite stamina

There is nothing worse than cruising through one open world game, completely in the flow of the moment, and suddenly your character stops running. Maybe they slow to a trot, maybe they stop dead, hands on knees gasping for breath. Endurance meters have their place in games (just ask Soulslike fans), but sometimes they can get in the way of fun.

These upcoming games don't have that problem. Every single one has a dense open world for you to explore, but they never slow down with a stamina meter or limited sprint option. These games are designed to make you feel agile, powerful and most importantly, fast. It's up to you if you want to blaze a trail from one end of the map to the other, or simply get from point A to B without any delays in between.

Prototype

Get rid of the disease

To be perfectly fair, there aren't many things that limit Alex Mercer's abilities. Aside from Devastator attacks, pretty much every ability in the game is there for you to enjoy whenever you want. That's what makes it Prototype such an amazing power fantasy game. It doesn't limit you; it just loosens you up.

Whether you're sprinting, sliding, wall running, jumping, or turning your arm into a giant sword, there's no meter to tell you you're doing it too much. The only thing you have to worry about is your health, and since Alex Mercer heals himself by eating people, there's a health pack around every corner in the middle of NYC.

Sunset Overdrive

Running is just the beginning

Before you start working on Marvel's Spider-Man game, Insomniac released an underrated open world action game called Sunset Overdrive. It has many of the developers' Ratchet & Clank DNA in it, with a bunch of weird weapons and goofy characters, but given its open world nature, it also has some wild traversal abilities.

Although there is no stamina to worry about Sunset Overdrive, running is very slow. That's because the game wants you up in the air, not lounging around on the ground. Grabbing onto rails and power lines, bouncing off the roofs of cars or enemy heads, and wall driving are all essential to maintaining speed, and maintaining speed is your number one priority.

Sonic Frontiers

Why would Sonic slow down?

For a character whose main thing is to “go fast”, there is a shocking number Sonic games that make him walk slowly. thankfully, Sonic Frontiers is not one of those games. It's an open world clearly inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and in such a large space Sonic will need his speed to get around.

Although no stamina meter holds Sonic back, in order for him to run his fastest, he must use his Boost meter, which is reset with Ring Energy. Thankfully, this is canceled almost immediately. After you unlock Cyloop very early in the game, by drawing an infinity symbol on the ground (or an 8 if you want to think of it that way), you get infinite Boost for a limited time. Even that time limit can be nullified: if you draw another infinity symbol while using Boost, it will reset the timer, so you can basically Boost forever. The only time you're slowed down is during boss fights.

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction

Stamina-free smashing

No one should be surprised that the Hulk doesn't tire. How boring would that be? IN The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destructionyou can jump, jump, run, throw and smash as freely as the Green Meanie does, because anything else would be an affront to the character known most of all for being really angry and really strong. You have a health bar and a “Critical Mass” bar below it. When your health gets too low, or your critical mass gets too high, the Hulk becomes even stronger. That's the only “limit” this game puts on its main character.

This is a pre-MCU Hulk game, so don't expect Disney levels of storytelling here, but what you will get is arguably the only power fantasy game to rival Prototype. Funnily enough, both games were developed by Radical Entertainment, suggesting that this was the studio's niche (The Simpsons: Hit & Run further reinforces that idea). We don't get enough open world games like The ultimate destruction longer, but it's nice to appreciate them when we can.

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst

Running is the whole game

Kind of like Sonic, Faith from Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is about running. She is literally called a “Runner”, the name this world gives to couriers who will brave the rooftops of a town called Glass. She delivers everything from tools to information, all with the goal of overthrowing the city's dystopian authoritarian government.

Runners like Faith rely on parkour to escape the city's security forces. Much like in the first one mirror's edge, this is Faith's primary mode of transportation, along with zip lines. Running, jumping, climbing and sliding are a runner's bread and butter, and Faith excels at them all. Because of this, not only will Mirror's Edge: Catalyst never slow down, it encourages you to keep running. The open world offers you multiple paths to run down, but it never wants to trip you up. Combat is also woven into parkour. Where Faith could use weapons in the first game, i Catalyst, combat and movement are one and the same, reinforcing the idea that speed is always your primary resource.

Halo infinite

Nothing slows Master Chief down

Much like Alex Mercer, The Hulk and Sonic, will someone tell Master Chief he needs to slow down? In short: no, not even the developers at 343 Industries. Halo infinite is the franchise's first foray into the open-world genre, and true to form, the Master Chief stars in all his super soldier glory.

Funnily enough, sprinting is the least efficient way to get around the world. Between the new Grappleshot that provides near-instant vertical positioning, and the variety of vehicles at your disposal, sprinting is usually a last resort. However, that doesn't mean it isn't effective. You can sprint, slide and shoot all at once or sequentially, and the controls for all three are responsive and satisfying, allowing you to sprint into battle, fire off a few shots, then sprint away again to find a better position.

Donkey Kong Banana

It's hard to get tired of all those bananas

In the same way as Sonic Frontiers was inspired by Breath of the Wild, Donkey Kong Banana is an open-world game inspired by Nintendo's other runaway success: Super Mario Odyssey. However in banana, there is a much greater focus on exploration and, more importantly, environmental destruction.

Through a series of interconnected zones, Donkey Kong and Pauline run, jump, climb and destroy as much as they want. The challenge doesn't come from managing a stamina meter while climbing or rolling; it comes from fighting enemies, solving puzzles and discovering secrets. This makes DK feel powerful while the control of him is in your hands, but it doesn't make him so strong that anything beyond smashing the environment becomes pointless.

Ghost of Yotei

As Light as the Wind

Yes, Atsu has a horse to transport in Ghost of Yotei, but between the stunning visuals and the game's insistence on switching to widescreen view when riding in certain areas, adventuring on foot really is the best way to travel. It allows you to take in the scenery in more detail, it makes it much less likely that you'll gallop past a side activity, and you'll collect tons of crafting materials along your trek.

There is no limit to how far Atsu can sprint across the island of Ezo. There's actually no limit to how many times she can swing her katana at an enemy either. Atsu's quest for revenge has the helpful side effect of turning her into a bottomless pit of energy. Sure, she can sleep for a night, and doing so restores her Spirit (used to perform special attacks or revive upon death), but she doesn't have to. As far as Ghost of Yotei is worried, you can sprint from one end of the map to the other without ever taking a break. That's just how bad Atsu is.