The more popular Open World Games Become, the more diverse their traversal methods become. It simply started by going from place to place, which then got help from horses and eventually by vehicles such as cars and motorcycles. One of the coolest innovations was to be able to fly or slip into games that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildWhich also took in the idea to climb.
The mechanic who has not been so widespread is surfing. Some open world games have hoverboards or other things that players can use to surf around environments as they are at sea. This is something that should be picked up more, but at the moment players should check out these examples if they want to surf over an expansive open world map.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
More than one shield
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild brought many new things to open world games. Link's paraglids made it fun to dive off high mountains and slide around Hyrule, while the ability to climb almost everything made adventures more fun.
An often forgotten mechanic allowed players to use their shield as a surfboard. This damaged them in the process, and they only worked with slopes, but the idea later became a little more useful in The Legend of Zelda: Tears from the Kingdom If players tipped with machines.
Donkey Kong Bananza
Peat surfing
Donkey Kong Bananza Is another Nintendo game with surfing games, but it makes it much easier to get up from the ground, literally. Players can use almost any material collected from the ground, from a stone to the earth themselves and ride them as a surfboard.
Players can upgrade this ability in Donkey Kong Bananza's Skill trees to let DK also surf on water. It is a great way to get around all different biomas in the game or to avoid hazards as nailed terrain.
Death Standing 2: On the beach
Coffin flop
Death Standing 2: On the beach introduced surfing in the latter half of the game. Players will meet a survival called the mechanic under the story, which will give them a retrofitted coffin with Thrusters when they have completed a delivery for him.
This coffin board can be used to surf around land, water and most importantly, tar. It is an easy way to speed through difficult terrain that is difficult to navigate on foot or with a truck or other vehicle, plus it makes the Sam, the main character, looks cool when he delivers packages.
Gripen
Parkour like the wind
Gripen Do not have a world that is milding with life and goals like many other open world games. However, it certainly has one of the funniest traverse systems in the latest memory. The hero, Frey, can skip his fantasy world as a parkour athlete showing tricks on Youtube.
The additional players get into the game, the more abilities and magic formulas, Frey will acquire, like a water -based surfboard. Especially the surfing is very fun to control, just like the spell -based battle in the game.
Genshin influence
See, the water master
Genshin influence is one of the many games that apparently inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildBecause it also has climbing abilities and sliding. It is still one of the most supported games from 2020 and gets a constant stream of updates and characters. In 2024, the game Mualani dedicated, a talented surfers whose abilities were also aquatic in battle.
Mualani is equipped with a surfboard, which is how the surf mechanic was introduced to the game. Past fans of Genshin influence Maybe not even know that surfing was added to the game, but it is here to stop, and there is no better way to get around the lush, cel-shaded environments.
Star Overdrive
Space race
Star Overdrive Is a smaller game, but surfing is still a core mechanic. Players will explore a huge, sandy planet in search of resources to improve their hoverboard. Players can adapt it to their taste by adding things like speed grass or defensive maneuvers that allow them to stay on a penny.
It is one of the few surf -based open world games that include customization options for surfboards, which makes Star Overdrive More unique than some other items on this list. There is some battle in the game as well, but the real tension builds up inertia and then does cool tricks on a foreign planet.
The Sea sword
More than one weapon
The Sea sword Is more like a sandbox game rather than a real open world experience, but the environments that players can explore are huge, wonderful and very fun to surf around in.
Players will wake up from a stoned sleep and get a floating sword that can then be used as the game's core transition method. The goal is to solve puzzles in the sand dunes and then awaken sea life. Each time a new aquatic biome is unlocked it is a vision of beauty. There are even literal half tubes to make tricks in, which are bizaries in a cool world like this, but cool the same.
The knight
A tool shield
The knight is in the same way as a small scale Zelda adventure, one who took the shield surfing ideas from The spirit of the spirit, Specifically and expanded them. As a budding knight, players can explore their kingdom, take on assignments and fight evil with their shield.
The shield can be upgraded for battle purposes, and new traversal capabilities will also be unlocked. For example, it can be blasted to become a parachute or used as a surfboard, so it's like the shields' tool knife.
