Flying/hovering
Sustained aerial movement — gliding, jetpack hovering, true flight — that lets the player traverse vertically and over obstacles that ground movement can't cross. Just Cause 3's wingsuit-and-parachute traversal and Marvel's Spider-Man's web-swinging (functionally airborne movement) both make aerial mobility a signature, expressive traversal identity rather than an occasional utility. Designers use flying/hovering to open up verticality as a core exploration and combat axis, to create a distinct movement-mastery skill ceiling (chaining aerial maneuvers fluidly), and to fundamentally change how a world is designed and navigated once ground-based obstacles no longer constrain the player. Key decisions: resource limits (fuel, stamina, or unlimited flight — unlimited flight can trivialize level design built around ground obstacles), control scheme complexity (full 3D flight control is notoriously hard to make feel good), combat integration (can players fight effectively while airborne?), and how flight changes exploration pacing (does it make the ground world feel irrelevant?). Pitfall: granting unrestricted flight too early can collapse carefully-designed traversal puzzles and pacing — most games gate full flight behind a late unlock, or constrain it with stamina/fuel to preserve ground-based exploration's relevance.
- Dev effort: Large
- Timing: Real-time
- Common in: open-world, action
Seen in
- Just Cause 3
- Marvel's Spider-Man