u/Folivao

I'm looking for games where orienting yourself is an actual skill you perform, not something the UI does for you.

What I mean specifically:

• No player dot on the map, no minimap, no floating waypoint
• A real map you have to orient and read (terrain, contour lines, grid references)
• A compass you use to shoot and follow bearings / azimuths
• Fixing your position by resecting off visual landmarks like radio masts, water towers, church spires, river bends, ridgelines, road junctions
• Dead reckoning: heading + speed + time, pace counting, plotting a route and actually following it

Basically I want the "where the hell am I" moment, followed by the satisfaction of working it out from the terrain instead of being told.

I enjoy doing that when hiking (rather than following a GPS) but I don't always have the time to take weekends to hike.

What already scratches this itch for me:

• Microsoft Flight Simulator : flying pure VFR with the GPS off, following roads, rivers and towns, timing legs
• Arma Reforger : map, compass and protractor, calling grids, navigating at night off a bearing and a pace count
• Iron Nest : even though I'm not actually going somewhere, there's still the whole "figure out where the target is using triangulations and azimuths etc)

I'll take anything: sim, survival, adventure, milsim, indie, sailing, aviation, walking sim, even something abstract. Doesn't need to be realistic.

Thanks!