Fun fact: the ending of the 343 Guilty Spark level in halo is hundreds of feet lower than the beginning of the level, despite nearly overlapping, because there is a surprise elevator that goes down instead of up halfway through and the level never makes up the altitude.
This is the kind of fun jank and efficiency I love that you can’t get in whole open world maps. This is they made the map match the game they want the player to experience and not the game that fits on that specific open map.