6 Games With the Best Level Designs

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Level design is the foundation of video game immersion, seamlessly merging aesthetics, gameplay, and narrative. It’s the difference between a good game and an unforgettable one. And yet, it’s so hard to pinpoint what truly makes a great-level design, it’s all usually by feel, it’s an art!

So let’s go and explore 6 games with what I think has some of the best-level designs! And hopefully, we’ll get a gist of what a well-designed game is as well as why it’s important!

Dark Souls Series

When anyone talks about rage-inducing single-player games, I immediately think about the Dark Souls series and other Soulsbornefrom FromSoftware. But why do lots of gamers love the Dark Souls series despite its difficulty?

Well, to no surprise, the games in the Dark Souls franchise are some of the best-designed games out there!

Here’s the surprising thing about Souls games, most of them don’t even have maps and yet, it’s not that hard to find your way around and even memorize and have a mental image of the whole map in your head, despite most DS maps being maze-like with its interconnectivity.

Plus, most DS games are non-linear! Well, I’d actually call it semi-linear, since in most games you are nudged by the game design to take a certain path. But if you know a thing or two coming into the game like in DS1, (or if you’re just incredibly ballsy) you are free to discover ways to skip a ton of things for later! Plus there aren’t any mission objectives you need to take in DS games, it’s just usually you exploring and discovering things you need to do!

It’s not just the maze-like map and freedom that makes Dark Souls good, it’s also the secrets that hide behind the beautiful scenery. See, Dark Souls isn’t your usual game with cutscenes to spoon-feed the story to you. Its stories are told within the environment, items, and your interaction with NPCs. 

The combat system, while difficult and unforgiving for button mashers, is also extremely satisfying and rewarding once you get the hang of it. It also requires a lot of patience and persistence, which in turn makes slaying bosses and enemies much more gratifying once you got through them, so much so that a ton of players credit DS for saving them from depression and suicidal thoughts.

So, if you’re sick of games that tell you exactly what to do, playing any Soulsborne game from FromSoftware is sure to be a refreshing and exciting experience.

If you want to start playing, I recommend starting with the remaster of Dark Souls 1 since besides being the first DS game, it’s also one of the best! It’s available for PC, PS4, Xbox, and even on Switch!

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Portal 2

Puzzle games were often boring, or have a steep learning curve before it gets fun (like Tetris or Puyo Puyo). That is until the Portal series broke through and provided a very exciting puzzle game that you play in a 3D and third-person perspective.

But let’s break it down, why are Portal games good?

First off, it captures you from the start, you wake up in strange rooms where you soon discover that you are trapped in a testing facility. And in Portal 2’s case, it was engaging, exciting, and full of mystery! 

Another thing that makes these games good is the fact that it has a good learning curve. You’re not just thrown into the first level with a puzzle to solve! The game eases you in: you explore around and learn how to move, and eventually, you get and learn how the Portal gun works. 

And while it’s all about portals from start to finish, eventually other elements are added to keep things interesting like the repulsion and propulsion gels which make you jump higher and run faster respectively. 

And while it’s a puzzle game that’s supposed to get harder and harder, the puzzles aren’t just made super random and impossible to solve for the sake of being hard, instead, the puzzles are clever and tricky but it’s still understandable enough that you get a satisfying Eureka effect once you solve it!

Like DS, Portal 2 also brings out some top-notch environment storytelling. Sure, the story progression is linear and most of the lore is delivered through voice records, but it still leaves out enough for you to discover through exploring the ruins of the testing facility you’re in where you can find hidden rooms and lore! 

It may be a puzzle game, but it’s one of the most well-discussed games out there in terms of hidden lore! 

Needless to say, the game boasts impeccable graphical design! The ruins of Aperture labs are extremely detailed not just for visual appeal but to accommodate those hidden details I keep talking about!

When it all comes down together, Portal 1 and 2 are some of the best-designed games out there, but without a doubt, I think Portal 2 is the best as it also has a ton of narrative to make it more interesting. 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Zelda series was always well-designed with its puzzle-filled dungeons, it usually has a linear progression, and it has great lore and environmental storytelling to go together with everything. 

But Breath of the Wild broke through and took a step forward and revolutionized the Zelda series with its open-world design! But would you believe me that the series actually took a lot of inspiration from the first Zelda game?

Yes, you heard me right! The first Zelda game is a mostly non-linear game which means you can go anywhere from the start, although I’m sure you wouldn’t get too far ahead without dying and needing some items first.

While it can get infuriating at times especially if you’re used to getting mission objectives, it does deliver some sense of freedom!

Guess what? That’s exactly what BotW brought back!

Sure once you wake up in the game, you have to explore the Great Plateau to get the ruins that powers the Sheikah Slate, but right after that, you’re free to do whatever you want and go wherever you want! Again, you might not progress too well tempting you to do the missions. 

But hey, if you’re hardcore enough, you can go straight to Hyrule Castle and defeat Ganon right away. This made speedrunning the game a much more desirable thing to pursue. 

The storytelling in this game is primarily delivered through cutscenes, but then again, the environment will tell you a ton of stories if you pay enough attention to them! It even delivers stories from past Zelda games which are tens of thousands of years worth in the game!

While the BotW sequel Tears of the Kingdom released and basically every single element of the game, I think BotW is still the must-play in the series! Of course, TotK is a must-play too, but after BotW!

Wrapping things up, BotW is regarded as one of the best-designed open-world games in our times, offering a massive map, a lively world, a unique art and music design, and a great sense of adventure for the players!

Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one if not the best open-world game so far, and undisputedly the best cowboy/wild west game ever, well, until Rockstar ever came out with a part 3 of course!

So why is it one of the best-designed games to come out? 

First, despite having a very huge map (around 29 in-game square miles to be exact), the whole world is sprouting with life! There are tons of animals in the wilderness, and the towns and settlements are always filled with events and missions. 

It’s not just in settlements that you can find stuff, even at night you might encounter a vampire in Saint-Denis, a group of mute zombie-like killers in the swamps, and even the Ku Klux Klan in the middle of the forest. Sounds scary I know but it’s a more interesting opportunity to kill bad guys! And just to remind you again, these are just extremely random encounters!

You can also be on the other side of things and be a full-time d-bag. You can kill or rob whomever you fancy. 

Aside from the beautifully designed world, you also have a ton of NPCs to interact with, great music that comes in on action-packed events, and hyper-realistic designs (even the horse testicles were realistic). Now, I’ve been talking about the sense of freedom and realism you get with the games I mentioned so far, but if RDR2 can’t give you those, then I don’t know what will!

Super Mario Odyssey

Between the dark and gloomy worlds of Dark Souls, being trapped in the post-apocalyptic testing chambers of Aperture labs, and traversing the Western frontier, there’s not a whole lot of space for happiness and fun there does it? Well, as a change of pace, Super Mario Odyssey is one heck of a well-designed game as well as being fun and happy! 

Super Mario Odyssey is the amalgamation of all Mario games so far! It has a ton of movements that came from previous Mario games for you to use to traverse across all kingdoms. The game has several areas where you play as 2D Mario, there’s also a Donkey Kong level, and the very memorable Mushroom Kingdom from SM64 is also present here, complete with the paintings and everything!

But then again SMO has some new tricks up its sleeve! In this game, our main companion is Cappy, which helps Mario with mobility and gives Mario the ability to control certain enemies or objects.

Being a Nintendo game, you can also count on SMO to have some of the best level design that anyone can enjoy on top of being visually and musically appealing. And whether you are a Mario newbie or a veteran, I’m sure that you can enjoy what SMO has to offer!

The Last of Us Part 1

Last but certainly not least is The Last of Us Part 1, a masterpiece developed by Naughty Dog in 2013, and it boasts some of the best video game design through its intricate narrative, immersive world, seamless gameplay mechanics, and impeccable sound and art design.

Being a linear game, the narrative forms the backbone of the game, delivering a compelling and emotional story that explores complex themes such as relationships and morality, primarily between the two protagonists, Joel and Ellie.

The story is told through cutscenes and well-timed dialogues, and of course through the environment, as it beautifully combines dilapidated urban areas with overgrown natural landscapes while also giving clues as to what happened at the time of the outbreak and how you can survive each area. 

The game also has a seamless integration of stealth, combat, and puzzle-solving, with each mechanic serving to increase player immersion, simulating the characters’ desperate struggle for survival in a post-apocalyptic world like no other game could. 

Don’t believe me? Play the game. When you run out of bullets or get attacked while healing or crafting, believe me, the panic is real! Everything you do in the game happens in real-time; loading bullets and healing are slow, and going through your inventory doesn’t pause the game.

The sound design in TLOU is another noteworthy component. The use of ambient sounds and Gustavo Santaolalla’s impactful musical score heightens the emotional intensity making the game more immersive right from the very beginning of the game. 

Besides that, sound is also used as a very important mechanic to help you detect things you couldn’t currently see. Oh, and of course, you also have extremely silent and sneaky enemies to keep you on edge!

Bringing all of these aspects together made The Last of Us Part 1 extremely immersive and realistic. It’s certainly one of the best-designed linear games out there!

Conclusion

Realistically portraying what it’s like to live and survive in a medieval fantasy world, Wild West or a post-apocalyptic America, are just some of the things that a well-designed game can do. But I think a good level design will also leave you deeply immersed and left with a great sense of freedom or purpose in the game. 

Do you agree? Or does it have a lot more elements to it? Do you know games that you think have the best level design? Let us know in the comments below!