10 Confusing Video Game Levels Everyone Got Lost In

2. Death Mountain - Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link

final fantasy 10 bevelle cloister of trials
Nintendo

Most would turn to the Water Temple for a list like this, but at least the Water Temple mostly leaves you alone while rendering you hopelessly lost. The same courtesy is not extended by Death Mountain in Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link.

Zelda 2, unlike the other Zelda games, is an RPG first and foremost, with experience gained through combat. So there is a wisdom to having one of the dungeons be a marathon of combat encounters for exp. But the problem is that Death Mountain comes WAY too early in the game for a dungeon this long and this hard, and also it's a confusing, winding maze of absolute PAIN.

You will constantly be wondering where to go next, and even when you aren't lost, you'll be hounded by the toughest enemies of the first half of the game at every turn.

When you leave Death Mountain, you are truly ready to take on the rest of the game. Because it cannot be harder than that. And then it turns out the other dungeons are even tougher, but at least you'll know where you're going in those, so small blessings.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?