Location, Location, Location
All that running and jumping doesn’t mean a single thing if the city you’re in isn’t best suited to it. Thankfully, these guys have some pretty great environments to run around in. Sunset City is absolutely designed with movement in mind to an almost freaky degree, from bouncing to grinding to wall running. The Employee absolutely thrives in this environment. Likewise with Cole and Empire City and New Marais; these are cities perfectly tailor made for him. Assassins are trained to climb pretty much anything, but with that said, London is a delight to go through, be it by good old fashioned handwork or pulling out your grappling hook and zipping around.
Nathan Drake travels all around the world, so it’s safe to say that the environments are suited with him in mind. Even though the countries he go to tend to break down (or blow up) when he shows up, he still knows the lay of the land somewhat. Neo-Paris has better structure for Nilin to go through, thankfully, and likewise with Harran, even if it’s filled to the brim with zombies that want to bite his face off. Dunwall is, generally speaking, more suited to Corvo’s stealth skills than his climbing prowess, but he still gets his work in.
Winner: Sunset City (Sunset Overdrive)
There’s just no getting around it: Sunset City is 100% absolutely created with the movement of the player into consideration. Everything you do in the city is meant to make you go faster or keep in motion so much that you’d think Insomniac had Newton’s First Law seared into their brains. Stopping simply isn’t an option until the game calls for it, and even then, it’s usually just a quick breather before it smacks you awake to keep your feet moving.
