10 Video Games With Genuinely Impressive Level Design

Clearly inspired by director Harvey Smith's previous work on games like Deus Ex and Thief: Dark Shadows, Dishonored 2 improved on the original game's already incredible level design in just about every way. Like all three previous games, Dishonored 2's levels consist of large, open areas that host any number of objectives. How you go about achieving those objects affects the levels in turn.

The purest distillation of this concept is in the level titled A Crack In The Slab. Set in the dilapidated mansion of the Howard Hughes-like Aramis Stilton, you're given the ability to travel between past and present to discover how Stilton lost his mind. It's only by thoroughly exploring the level through both time periods that you're able to uncover that story.

Much like real life, the ephemera of the man's home tells his story. And it's only through understanding that story that you can alter it. Not by making a choice that the game lays out for you, but rather through the choices of your actions.

Stealth games compel the player to be observant by design and Dishonored is no different. But A Crack In The Slab pushes that idea beyond stealth and into the consequences of action or inaction.