10 Video Games With Genuinely Impressive Level Design

Santa Monica Studios' God Of War (2018) could go on pretty much any "best" list for the foreseeable future. And its sequel, God Of War: Ragnarok, improves upon it in almost every way. But level design is one place where the 2018 game really shines, especially in its primary hub area, the Lake Of The Nine.

Relatively speaking, few games do as much with as little as God Of War. You spend a lot of time in the Lake Of The Nine. It has a lot in common with Hyrule Field from The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time in how it connects to the game's other areas. As such, it's a place you return to repeatedly.

But while Hyrule Field is largely empty and static, the Lake Of The Nine consistently changes and evolves throughout the game. It's an amazingly efficient use of space in a game full of great levels, which are designed like a fusion between Metroidvania-style exploration and Dark Souls-like cyclical linearity. The levels sort of fold over on themselves as you unlock shortcuts, ensuring you always feel a sense of progression even when backtracking.