Best level designs in video games?

Sonygamer455

Sonygamer455

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United States
The US of A
In gaming, theirs a lot of interesting level designs in various games. Everything from platformers, shooter games, racing games and whatever else you can think of, theirs a lot of neat designs in each of them. Everything from race tracks, battlefields or just levels in general.

That said, what are some of the best you’ve seen and why?
 
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Dark Souls. The single most immersive and variable world design ever made in a game. Nothing has surpassed it.

Elden Ring is a good second as is bloodborne, but Dark Souls remains the best.
 
The section in Portal 2 when Glados is complaining about being a potato as you fall into the old labs to the point where you re-emerge with the lemon rant still in memory.

Half Life 2 Ravenholm, the section where you get the jalopy, and the end with the ultra-powered gravity gun.

Grim Fandango, The Rubalcava (Casablanca-inspired) chapter.

Special Stage Rt 11 in GT3. It may not seem as impressive now, but when I first played it, I was amazed.
 
Hard to look past Mario Galaxy 2 or Mario Odyssey for me.

Racing games - the original Sega Rally.
 
The Gare d’Europa track in WipE’out” 2097/XL. Maybe not the best designed racetrack ever, but the scenery captured the vibe the WipE’out” games were going for so perfectly, especially coupled with that soundtrack. Maybe not much to look at these days, but it was breathtaking in its day.

I actually used to quite often put a cheat in to disable the time limit, and fly around it slowly just looking at everything. Ah misspent youth, good times!
 
The Spy Academy level in Sniper Elite 5 is excellent, it's up there with MGS 2's tanker chapter and Deus Ex's Liberty Island in terms of showing off what the game can be like. It's a fictionalised Mont Saint Michel with lots of verticality, lots of early opportunities for 300+ metre shots, there's a mined beach, a little town, a huge cathedral and a wooded section on the far side, secret routes throughout. All it lacks are tanks and Jager units, really.
 
In mil shooters - Escape from Tarkov. Last CoD BR/extraction is close, but there is room for improvement. Few BFHardline original maps in its unique modes were pinnacle of series level design.

Racing games level design is stuck in 2006(TDU/Midnight Club3). Pathetic.

Latest Zelda games were really good in that regard and improve open world design standards.

First Watch Dogs level design is really good, not sure if there something better in gta-clone genre.
 

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