3 big ones recently, this year was God of War Ragnarok, FF7 Rebirth and Jedi Survivor
Back when 3d games were new, tomb raider, prince of persia etc the traversal was the challenge, the gameplay.
Eventually they got watered down and simplified, now they are cleverly disguised choke points while the open world or boss ahead loads.
You’ll notice the squeezing between narrow walls to separate 2 areas or a simple climb against a flat wall just before a boss. I think Uncharted was the first to do this as they moved away from climbing and focused more on combat and puzzles.
There is no reason to actually have the characters climb anything if it’s not fun or there are better ways of traversal, GoW being the biggest offender here
Jedi Survivor embraces traversal more but still locks you out with invisible walls and floors that kill you
I think I might prefer the elevator loading screens from Elden Ring, at least you get to stretch out your fingers when waiting
Might be an unpopular opinion but I feel like complaining about loading screens being hidden in gameplay is pretty much just looking for something to complain about. The game has to load assets. That’s a fact. Is it not better that it’s done in the background than giving you a generic loading screen every time?
People gave Starfield shit for all of the loading screens during travel. Now OP is complaining about them finding ways to make it more immersive. The gaming community is ridiculous.
I say this alot when referring to the Minecraft community, but it’s really a blanket statement.
You can’t please those who have no desire to be satisfied.