Best cartography (map making) in games?

[Lightning Count]

There's nothing better for aiding explanation, than a great map, in modern gaming we are so used to objective markers, telling us exactly where to go.
but to me personally I love a cool map of the game world to look at, either to genuinely see where to go next or just to appreciate the work that went into it. it really helps sell the idea of exploration so much more than a compass telling me exactly which way to go.

Also the best ones are often bundled with the game either in paper or in some rare cases cloth form, so you can pin them up on a wall making for amazing decorations as well game aids. So with no further ado, time to post a few favourites, some of which only exist in game, some of which are available in paper form.

Here is the map from Resident Evil 3, this map is available with one of the guides for the game.

Another favourite of mine is the overall map from Silent Hill Downpour, also the blueprints. Like this here for the 1st of St Maria's Monastery.

OK now it's your turn ERA, I expect classics like the GTA maps, Morrowind and more, but get in here and get posting them.

 

[CannonFodder52]

For modern stuff I really love how Hollow Knight handles the game's map and acquiring info for it.

Love holding a physical map like in Firewatch or Farcry 2 as well.

 

[Z-Beat]

I thought you meant player-made, in which case I was gonna say Halo 3, Reach, or Timesplitters 2

 

[Tuorom]

Minecraft?

 

[QuixoticNeutral]

For modern stuff I really love how Hollow Knight handles the games map and unlocking info.

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I agree. As a big cartography enthusiast, the mapmaking experiences in games that stand out for me don't just come down to the visual design of the in-game artwork, but actively involve the player as a surveyor and cartographer, making sense of the lay of the land. And the two recent games that do that best are BotW and Hollow Knight.

There is something to be said for unique visual designs that contextualize the geography, though. I'm quite fond of Super Mario Odyssey's tourist brochures.

 

[Deleted member 49319]

RDR
GTA V
RDR2
for their bundled maps.

 

[collige]

GTAIV's bundled map was the first thing that came to mind. I also really enjoyed Far Cry 2's map since your character has to physically bring it up in the game

Also, this doesn't really count, but the entire game of Mini Metro is a map!

 

[Hellfire]

Seeing the maps you draw yourself change with the state of the game world in the Etrian Odyssey games is a wonderful thing. Even little things like the bridge icons you placed going up or down based on the levers you pull as you try to trap monsters, whose icons you also placed and move around to track them, is a great use of a player made game map.

 

[Neutra]

recently played Dishonored 2 and was impressed by the map design. my only complaint, from a UX perspective, is that you had to drill down into like 3 menu screens just to get to your maps. i don't think there is a map hotkey either.

 

[Odeko]

For modern stuff I really love how Hollow Knight handles the game's map and acquiring info for it.

Love holding a physical map like in Firewatch or Farcry 2 as well.

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Hollow Knight definitely came to mind as well. I love how in-depth and customizable the mapping system is, while still not hurting the sense of being lost when entering a new area.

 

[60fps]

The old Thief (The Dark Project) games do this perfectly.

 

[ClickyCal']

Days gone's map actually is awesome.

The motion blur affect makes it cool.
Hint-this is the non spoiler map.

 

[BeaconofTruth]

Metroid Prime. Turn the hint shit off. It's divine.

 

[Klobrille]

Forza Horizon 4 Lego Speed Champions

 

[signal]

 

[LCGeek]

I hope this counts. Been a whlie since I touched the game, but its the first thing that popped in to my head reading the thread title.

 

[Kain-Nosgoth]

creating your own maps in etrian odyssey :

same in brandish :

 

[Deleted member 31817]

Skyrim's in-game 3D map is still so cool to me

 

[Acorn]

I used to spend ages looking at GTA maps when I was younger.

 

[WhatATimeToBeAlive]

Witcher 3 has the best physical map that I know of (also one of the best game maps overall). I really like its historic style.

GTA's and RDR's physical maps are also really nice since they are so detailed. It's fun to look at the map and see if there are some small places that you haven't noticed when you played the game.

 

[Lightning Count]

Keep them coming, please.

 

[Deleted member 17402]

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Am I missing something? I thought that map was poor as hell in FFXII.

 

[calder]

I thought you meant games were you actually make the map in game. My first thought was The Long Dark, a survival game with a cartography mechanic. If you gather charcoal from old fires you can sketch out rough maps of your surroundings. This is limited by visibility, so you can't update your map at night or in a blizzard etc.

So, if you have the charcoal you can make a map that gives you the layout, but to actually fill in the whole map would take a tremendous amount of time and lots of charcoal.

Me, I just do it enough to see the main landmarks, like this:

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[Tunahead]

Ultima VII originally came with this rad cloth map:

 

[Meadbeard]

I really love the world map in Greedfall.

 

[ket]

Monkey Island 2

 

[Deleted member 5621]

Took way too long for Etrian to be mentioned.

 

[KhandoleezzaRice]

I thought this was going to be about the player making maps as well, was going to give a shout out to The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The game had some issues but I loved walking around, coming up with my own system to denote switches, chests, and other points of interest.

 

[Tedmilk]

Minecraft lets you create maps, zoom in and out, mark points of interest on them using named banners in the world, copy them and display them on surfaces using item frames. It's the most comprehensive mapping system I've seen.

 

[Catsygreen]

Kingdom Come Deliverance.
I like the way they illustrated their map with a historical style.

 

[Dark_Castle]

I hope this counts. Been a whlie since I touched the game, but its the first thing that popped in to my head reading the thread title.

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I love PoE, but the atlas is getting a little too crowded these days, and I still don't like the shaper and elder influence spreading mechanic that much. Being able to shape and elder maps to customize your mapping strategy for endgame farming is awesome though.

 

[LCGeek]

I love PoE, but the atlas is getting a little too crowded these days, and I still don't like the shaper and elder influence spreading mechanic that much. Being able to shape and elder maps to customize your mapping strategy for endgame farming is awesome though.

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Last time I played it was like 157 maps on the atlas.

I don't like the consistency of the shaper/elder influence mechanic. They have nerfed it so that really good players can't do what they use as I really liked making elder squares. You can get good at spawning shaper strongholds, or using them to shape the map as you want.

I agree with the last bit, customizing your farm strategy end game is incredibly good. Makes aiming for certain div cards much more viable.