10 Video Games That Never Bettered Their Opening Levels

2. Resident Evil 4

Resi 4 is easily one of the greatest games of all time, with a consistently high bar of quality across all its levels, but rather like Hitman 2016 making it onto this list, there's something about the village opening that edges it in terms of memorability and general impact.

It mostly comes down to the industry around the time of 2004, and how we'd seldom seen over-shoulder shooters in any state, let alone the proficient, accurate and enjoyable form that RE4 emerged as. Alongside this stellar sense of immediately confident control (something the isometric Resi games always lacked), was an atmosphere of pure dread.

We crept slowly through the village, taking in the Wicker Man-esque environmental cues, pushing forward and eventually triggering the full-on horde sequence where Leon must defend himself against endless waves of attackers.

When all was said and done, the horde backed off and we were left to breathe again - just as the title card popped up: "Resident Evil 4".

Brilliant.