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
I’ve been playing God Of War Ragnarok and haven’t felt the need really to use the map much at all.
I do find the armor system to be annoying and basically decided to ignore all the gear I pick up, sell it, and upgrade the base items all the way instead because of the buffs the beginning gear gets if you upgrade all the way. All that to say I wish they just had a more robust leveling system instead.
Otherwise minus my deaths (playing on God Of War difficulty ) I’ve been feeling pretty immersed in it.