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[faraany3k]

The most recent ones, Half Life Alyx starting city scape. Its like nostalgia and amazement hits you in the gut and you start giggling like a little baby.

 

[Come On Tars]

Sapienza

I love Sap but the underground virus requirment gets old on replays.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

MHW ancient forest

It has so many hidden spots and vertical exploration and ways to get around.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Not the best ever but the new world from fenyx rising is pretty good.

 

[MacReady13]

The entirety of Resident Evil 4 is masterful. It was scary. Tense. Beautiful to look at and perfect to play. A real game changer on the Gamecube and I loved every minute of it. Every area is memorable. The opening area is amazingly well designed and paced perfectly. The castle ramps up the difficulty and complexity of the design. In particular there is an area of the castle where you have a massive room flanked by enemies on the ground and enemies shooting you with cross bows from the balcony. You have stairs that lead to an underground room and then upstairs you need to get Ashley to crank the levers so as to raise the ground to get over the water whilst enemies are trying to not only kill her but also you as well! Brilliant and tense all the way through.
It all ends on an island with fantastic outside areas and well designed inside areas with you surrounded by enemies, especially scary with Regenerators around many corners!

Take your pick of basically ANY level in Super Mario World. Game is, in my opinion, the best designed 2D platformer of all time. And I do love Super Mario Bros 3 but World beats it.

Recently replaying the 3D Mario games on Switch reminded me how brilliant Mario Galaxy is. Almost perfect 3D design for a platformer.

1st and 2nd level of Goldeneye are seared into my brain.

Mega Man 3 was always my fav Mega Man game, so it's really hard to choose a particular level, but I'd say maybe Snake Man's level, which had incredible music as well, as my stand out.

Doom is brilliant. Best 1st person shooter ever made. Best designed levels as well. Perfect.

Doom 64 is underrated and has amazing level design as well. Plus that fucking music!!!!!

Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night. Pick ANY area of the castle you like. Even the inverted castle. All of it is masterfully designed.

Metroid Prime and Super Metroid. Perfection. So hard to pick a particular area in both of these games...

The mansion in Resident Evil.

The school in Silent Hill.

I'm sure there are MANY I've forgotten but I'll leave it at that for now!

 

[Con-Z-epT]

Doom 64 is underrated and has amazing level design as well. Plus that fucking music!!!!!

Just played it over christmas. The version that came with Doom Eternal.

For such an old game i had alot of fun with it.

 

[GymWolf]

Mechanical mansion in dishonored 2.

but i didn't played the old deus ex games.

 

[MacReady13]

Just played it over christmas. The version that came with Doom Eternal.

For such an old game i had alot of fun with it.

It is so well designed. The levels are a marvel to behold and considering it was on an N64 cart, it's amazing what they squeezed out of those things!

 

[Quasicat]

Probably nostalgia but I loved this level, simple but memorable.

I remember seeing an island off in the distance on the Dam in Goldeneye 64 and tried like crazy to figure out how to get there. Apparently, it’s content was cut and they left the island there. Now you can go there, but only if you cheat.

 

[fart town usa]

And this is a close second.

A man of my own heart. I grew up in that house! Visit it multiple times a year.

Water Temple is great too. The key is to actually utilize the dungeon map and remember where the water level rooms are, it's really not that bad once you do that.

 

[Werewolfgrandma]

I'm playing through the original DOOM (again) and it reminded me, how well designed some of the maps are.

The second map (e1m2 - Nuclear Plant) and third (e1m3 - Toxic Refinery) are so good, i never get tired going through them. Even though i enjoy e1m3 a bit more because of the music, i'm going to give it to e1m2 because of the big yard and the optional labyrinthine area inside the plant. I remember back in the day looking through the windows and wondering if i can ever get to explore outside. When i finally did it it was an amazing feeling, i felt like i broke the code or something. Though Toxic Refinery also has a secret exit. Man, it's hard to pick.

Such good level design... Many games like this had great designs that were a joy to explore and solve. Duke Nukem 3D and Quake 1 also had many great levels.

I miss this kind of gameplay/design. DOOM 2016 and Eternal tried a bit to emulate this but i don't think they come close.

De_dust2

 

[Rex_DX]

Came here to post E1:M1 nkarafo - well done. I didn't expect it to basically be the OP.

Really the whole of Knee Deep In The Dead.

Dark Souls from the start to about Sen's Fortress is worth a mention. Bloodborne's first couple areas, too.

OG Luigi's Mansion mansion if that counts as a "level."

Deepnest from Hollow Knight is nicely designed.

But yeah OG DOOM is my vote easily.

 

[Kruza]

I may be showing my age with my choices, but oh well.

There are two games that still stand out to me when it comes to recognizing outstanding level design.

The last stage in the original arcade version of Strider. Wow... this level still blows my mind when I see it after all these years. In fact, the overall level designs for this game is still magnificent in my opinion.

Also, the level in Shinobi 3 where you're jumping on falling rocks is amazing to me. The oil refinery stage in this game also deserves mention.

 

[Lemonade by Beyonce]

It’s hard to beat SMB 1-1 as a tutorial, but my personal favorite would be 1-3 in Demons Souls. I just love the way it wraps around such a small area.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Vertigo Plaza

(Come on brothers, there's like three of us here that understand the profundity of the mighty VP)

 

[darth.shrimp]

The second year in Grim Fandango.
Yes, all of it. It's just one huge set of interconnected areas where every person, every place, everything is important in the overall puzzle, this entire part is a master class in point and click.

 

[Gp1]

The most perfect tutorial level of all time

 

[TheMay30thMan]

A Crack in the Slab - Dishonored 2

 

[ButchCat]

Fort Frolic - Bioshock

One of the few memorable video game levels that stand out for me.

 

[BadBurger]

I'll go with the major car chase scene in Uncharted 4. I didn't have any issue following it, and it felt like I was controlling an action movie. Cool as hell.

 

[Sub_Level]

School 2 in THPS2 comes to mind.

I remember freeskating that level for hours in middle school with the realism cheat turned on. Back then it was the equivalent of playing Skate.

Can the Spencer Mansion of the original RE be considered a level? I frigging love the layout of that game. Same with the police station in RE2. Peak game design as far as I'm concerned.

Edit-

Some of the dungeons in Skyward Sword are magnificent. The Lanayru Mine dungeon is so insanely good.

 

[wecantrepeat]

God of War 2 Return from Hades, where you go flying with Pegasus

 

[zaanan]

 

[Hitmonchan107]

 

[Ikutachi]

SMB 1-1. It teaches you everything about the game in a few short screens.

Nah. Later on there's swimming, trampoline use, and the area looping if you take a wrong path in a castle level. Running is optional to do in 1-1 that will be important to do later. Then there are surprises not found in 1-1 like a beanstalk taking you to a coin heaven or warp zone.

 

[Josemayuste]

PREY (2017) All of Talos I space station

Outer Wilds All of it

Such a shame that these two games never got the commercial succes and public acclaim that they deserved..

Both of them are the pinnacle of game design, go play them now if you haven't already.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

Halo 1 - Library

 

[PontiusFeeb]

The mission in Titanfall 2 where you switch between two time periods.

That one is great, and so is the wall factory.

 

[Skelterz]

The level in Donkey Kong tropical freeze with that amazing African music, I used to turn that game on play that level all the once I completed the game.

 

[Omnipunctual Godot]

I must've played through the original MGS1 demo at least 30 times.

 

[CitizenZ]

No dev has made me replay sections more than Arkane just to see what if i do this? I said in my Dishonored review The Royal Physician level should be taught as a master class in design. No one does it better, no one and this was before D2 and Prey.

 

[Gunslinger]

While some areas are incomplete i would still say dark souls 1. The entire game is one long level. Masterpiece of level design.

 

[HundredThousandTrillion]

Tomb Raider 1, St Francis Folly.

Great answer. What a blast from the past.

 

[D.Final]

The most recent ones, Half Life Alyx starting city scape. Its like nostalgia and amazement hits you in the gut and you start giggling like a little baby.

Hard to choose

There too much variety

 

[BigLee74]

Tomb Raider 1, St Francis Folly.

This will always be the correct answer!

 

[Topher]

Half-life 2: We don't go to Ravenholm

 

[JimmyRustler]

I'd say the Town and Castle Section of RE4 are near bloody perfect in terms of design and pacing. Every room feels different and throws something new at you.

 

[D.Final]

I'd say the Town and Castle Section of RE4 are near bloody perfect in terms of design and pacing. Every room feels different and throws something new at you.

I still remember these rooms

 

[uncleslappy]

Great second world that intos a lot of new concepts and locks the controls and tricks into the minds of the player.

 

[captainraincoat]

i would say the level on Titanfall 2 but i honestly think the best level of all time would be the map de_dust on the original counterstrike
this map was balanced and timed perfectly for attackers and defenders

 

[FireFly]

 

[King_Mandu]

Tower of Latria
Dead Space's ship

 

[rofif]

Tower of Latria
Dead Space's ship

latria ?! REALLY ?!
I just finished demons souls yesterday.
1st level of latria is one of the worst levels I've ever played. Corridors after corridors and corridors... the 2nd level with spires and platforms is much better though.

 

[crozier]

Crushbone

 

[Moonjt9]

I think the cathedral of the deep in dark souls 3 is the absolute pinnacle of modern level design, especially for soulslikes. The way everything wraps back around is pure bliss.

 

[Smasher89]

The absolute final unlockable level in mario galaxy 2, its a peak of the mario series to end on such a high note!

 

[Stefan.North]

The level after Ceres Research Station in Super Metroid (that is actually 99.9% of the game).

 

[phil_t98]

Perfect for me

 

[driqe]

Every level in psychonauts

 

[D.Final]

The level after Ceres Research Station in Super Metroid (that is actually 99.9% of the game).

That is a standard choice I think