Backtracking is one of those methods developers use to have players explore the entirety of maps, be able to reuse assets, and try to add a layer of complexity where there might have otherwise been none.
Unfortunately, that means that some of the time backtracking feels forced and is more annoying than not. Those that do it right make it feel like the backtracking is part of the story and keeps up the feeling of progression. Those that do it badly make it such a slog players just want to fast travel right past the explorative points.
10 Interesting: Metroid Dread Keeps Up The Franchise's Storied History Of Well-Done Backtracking
The Metroid series has often gotten a lot of praise for its clever backtracking and enjoyable little bits that can only be gotten to after certain powerups have been obtained. It goes well, doesn't feel like a chore, and opens up new things and new areas that were previously inaccessible.
Even the parts where the game forces the player to go back to old places it isn't a grind or obnoxious, even if it sometimes forgets to tell the player where to backtrack to. The recently released Metroid Dread keeps that tradition alive with backtracking that typically feels satisfying rather than tedious.
9 Boring: God Of War Made Backtracking A Snooze Fest
The God of War games are excellent in almost every sense of the word. Their biggest flaw is how much backtracking has to happen. They love to force the player to go back and forth for what feels like a dozen times before fast travel is unlocked, and by that point, the player is so sick of seeing the old locations it's no wonder Kratos is so angry all the time.
Any game that has players begging for a quicker method of fast travel is doing it wrong, no matter how gorgeous the game itself is. It probably wouldn't be so bad if things weren't so stale and stagnant and instead changed along with Kratos.
8 Interesting: Zelda Skyward Sword Did Well At Not Making The Backtracking Feel Identical Every Time
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword really didn't feel like it was all that big when it came down to brass tacks. It was like three separate areas that the player had to go through multiple times. That sounds awful, but Skyward Sword actually handled it pretty well.
The game used each area to its full potential, having Link interact with each area differently every time so it didn't feel like so much of a grind. What was extra fun about it was that it actually got exciting to start going back to those areas just to see what was different now.
7 Boring: Suikoden III Makes Backtracking Mandatory While Disguising It As Different Characters
The first half of Suikoden III has players with the option to go through the lives of the three main protagonists, plus Thomas who probably should have been more important than he was. The second half has the player with just one of them.
The problem is that means that many of the areas have to be gone through a dozen times, each with multiple different characters. When teleportation is finally allowed, it all goes to and from a singular location, needing players to blink back to the base and then teleport out to places they've already been to. It was a nightmare to say the least.
6 Interesting: Chrono Trigger Cleverly Integrated Backtracking Into Its Time Travel Story
Chrono Trigger is absolutely covered in backtracking, yet very little of it actually feels that way. So much of the story involves going through different parts of space and time, so while there might be a time or two that the player has to go back to the exact same place, there's always something fresh.
That is of course unless they're purposefully backtracking to grind out some more levels. Outside of that though it's one game where backtracking is really done right.
5 Boring: Hollow Knight Desperately Needed More Fast Travel
Hollow Knight rose to much acclaim extremely quickly due to its cute style, complex story, and generally masterful gameplay. The thing that really hurt it however was the awful and overdone backtracking.
The worst part about it all was that there are fast travel points, but so few and so far out of the way that they might as well not exist in most places. If only there were a few more of those, it might not have hurt quite so much.
4 Interesting: Undertale Had Entire Characters That Only Showed Up If Players Backtracked
Undertale is the game that hid so much throughout its game that it has players constantly picking it up again to try a different route or to look for different things. There's even a character that can't be found unless the players mess with their game files, and then they aren't exactly thrilled to be there.
It's one of those games that trains players to always go back and check for that missing item, NPC, or last little piece of the narrative. It's not always going to hand it to the player, they need to go looking for it.
3 Boring: Assassin's Creed Odyssey Has Players Just Wanting To Use The Fast Travel Viewpoints
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is a gorgeous open world game set in ancient Greece. After a certain point, the only limit to where the player can go is how brave they feel and how good they are at sneaking past enemies. Despite this, the game forces a ton of backtracking, especially when it's time to hunt down the members of the cult.
It becomes such a slog to keep needing to go back and forth across the map that even some of the most immersive players opt to use the numerous fast travel points to just get it done and over with. At least there's the option to make enemies scale with the player, otherwise constantly going back to places would be a complete nightmare.
2 Interesting: Resident Evil 4 Kept The Flow Going While It Backtracked
The fact Resident Evil 4 had interesting backtracking is good because seriously Ashley was a terrible character. Bad backtracking with her around would have made it completely unbearable.
It excels in keeping the backtracking logical and part of the flow of the game, not to mention some areas become nearly impossible to recognize as the thing progresses. If only Ashley could be lost sooner on the route it would have been perfect.
1 Boring: Final Fantasy X-2 Keeps The Encounters Exactly The Same
Backtracking is such a boring slog in Final Fantasy X-2 that there is basically no point in doing it. Monsters don't scale, things don't change, and there's rarely anything new to find. The exception is when grinding for rare drops, but that just makes it all worse.
So when the game forces Yuna and company. to backtrack, it's awful. Even mega fans of X and X-2 shudder at the thought of going back to Boris to try and get that one useful drop over and over and over again.