10 More Levels That Almost Made You Quit Video Games

6. YHVH's Universe - Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse

YHVH's Universe - Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse
Atlus

Dungeon design is one of the trickiest forms of level design. You want a sprawling area with challenging yet surmountable enemies and environmental puzzles all housed in an aesthetically interesting area. So, it’s no great surprise that often games don’t get it right.

Enter YHVH’s Universe in Shin Megami Tensei IV, a confusing labyrinth that drowns you in an uninteresting, tedious maze before hitting you with an amazing boss battle.

While that might seem like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow it’s really more like a pot of gold at the end of a needlessly huge and obtuse dungeon replete with confusing teleportation, terminals, dull ambient music, and way too many grindy encounters. It’s initially aesthetically wild and interesting but the novelty wears off and the relentless pounding and shrieking of the soundtrack puts you in a sensory overload where you fall into that “if everything is intense nothing is intense” mode.

Cool game, great final fight, terrible level.

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Contributor

Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.