How close are we to games with open worlds that have no loading screens? I just imagine how seamless and great it would feel if you could enter a shrine in TOTK with no loading.
Jak and Daxter, 2001, also developed by Naughty Dog! Carefully placed "hallways" that connect larger level geometry allow them to load and deload areas while you seemlessly move your character through the hallway. And abusing this system is now a key component in Jak 1 speedruns.
If I'm not mistaken even uncharted 1 did this back in 2007.
Jak and Daxter, 2001, also developed by Naughty Dog! Carefully placed "hallways" that connect larger level geometry allow them to load and deload areas while you seemlessly move your character through the hallway. And abusing this system is now a key component in Jak 1 speedruns.