Traversal can be one of the best, but also most hindering things about a video game. Going up to a mountain but then being barricaded by it is never fun. Oppositely, it’s great when games allow players to go anywhere. Games without much in regard to borders, like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, help inspire the adventurous side in everyone.
Equipment can help with exploring. One of the best tools video games introduced to gaming was the grappling hook. This tool can come in many varieties from the classic hook on a rope set up to a gun that launches a grappling hook. These eight games are great examples of how developers have done grappling hooks right.
8 Bionic Commando
Bionic Commando is the old-school representation of grappling hooks. It’s a bionic arm in this game. It acts as a swing mechanic along with being the only way for players to jump. This can make the gameplay feel a bit stiff at times. It takes practice to master the arts of cybernetics.
This was fixed in the HD remake which made things a bit more fluid even without jumping. Both the remake and the NES original are fun in their ways.
7 Praey For The Gods
Praey for the Gods is the newest game to get the honor of the grappling hook. It pays homage heavily to Shadow of the Colossus as it is focused on taking bosses down. There are things to do in-between these giant fights m such as gathering materials for upgrading gear.
There are smaller enemies to fight too. The grappling hook is rather limited in the game as there aren’t a lot of grapple points from areas in the world to the bosses themselves. It was still a nice inclusion to see from the original Shadow of the Colossus formula.
6 Halo Infinite
Halo Infinite’s inclusion of a grappling hook seemingly came out of nowhere. This was not a tool Master Chief had before. The game doesn’t even set up the grappling hook that well. It’s just suddenly there which is great from a gameplay perspective. It doesn’t make total sense in terms of the lore though.
Story aside, it’s great being able to grapple towards an enemy to then knock them out with a well-timed melee kill. Traversing the world with a blast of the grappling hook, which is now open, has its merits too.
5 Batman: Arkham City
Batman is one of the most iconic comic book characters that uses a grappling hook, or in this case, a grappling gun. From the comics to the cartoons to the movies, it always looked like dazzling magic.
Batman games before the Arkham series failed to capture that sense of speed as seen in other media. The first game is great, Arkham Asylum, but Arkham City used the grappling shot better. Being able to grapple onto a roof to increase wing speed made traversal a lot of fun.
4 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
By this point in the Souls franchise, everything started to feel the same. Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne had their unique flavors but something was missing in terms of variety. Enter Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It’s not just a ninja version of a Souls game. It’s much more than that.
The grappling hook changed how players could approach combat. Turns out verticality can change games completely. Escape was always one of the biggest problems in the other games. Flexibility is great but Sekiro is still as challenging as the others. It may be the hardest even with the grappling hook and revive tools.
3 Just Cause 2
Just Cause 2 is pure chaos if it were made into a video game. It’s a bit broken as an open-world game and the story isn’t that exciting. People loved it because it allowed players the opportunity to freely explore and take down enemies through a myriad of ways using grappling hooks.
For example, players could attach one grappling hook to an enemy and then set that anchor to a truck. The results should be obvious. It is pure fun and the sequels never really captured that magic again.
2 Attack On Titan
Attack on Titan is a close second to number one because it too creates an intense sense of inertia for players. There aren’t many areas where players can’t zip around these massive invading Titans. It captures the anime perfectly and builds up that tension while in battle.
This first game is the best in the series since it follows the first season and a half closely. The other games have players create a silent character which dilutes the narrative a bit. They are still fun from a gameplay perspective though.
1 Marvel’s Spider-Man
Spider-Man is another well-known superhero that uses a grapple-like device. Putting Marvel’s Spider-Man on here may seem like a cheat because he uses webbing Which is not a tool at all. It’s not a traditional-looking grappling hook but it still counts.
It’s also the best game that allows players to freely zip around an open world without much hindrance. There are tall buildings seemingly everywhere to hook onto. It's never been a better time to don the mask and become the web-slinging hero.