9 Amazing Levels Trapped In Terrible Video Games

4. Ancient Cistern - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

I’ll level with you here, this is the most divisive entry on this list where you’d be excused for saying I can’t really call Skyward Sword a terrible game, but I think we can all agree it’s an arguably great game that was buried under some atrociously unreliable controls when it first released. So let’s take this one with a big grain of salt depending on whether you’re a Skyward Sword fan or not while we talk about one of the game’s levels which we can all agree is amazing no matter which side of the Skyward Sword hate fence you land on.

Is including Skyward Sword just an excuse to talk about the phenomenal game design feat that is Ancient Cistern? Look, maybe. But it’s really worth it.

The Whip is one of the items that works really well with the Wiimote control scheme, the final boss battle with Koloktos is fantastic, and it’s just a gorgeous dungeon to explore. Ancient Cistern also manages to pull off what many gamers assumed was impossible, it makes a water level actually enjoyable. Despite being extraordinarily pretty and fun to play through, it’s worth noting the backstory of the level is based upon a children’s fable written to describe some of the principles of Buddhism which illustrate the concept of karma. A lot of things in the level mirror specific instances called out in the fable.

This doesn’t necessarily make it more fun to play, it’s just really cool.