It’s Falcon, 10 Confusing yet amazing levels in video games

12.01.2023 0 By admin

Sometimes a confusing level in a video game leads to nothing.

But sometimes the disorientation yields something big.

It’s Falcon, 10 Confusing yet amazing levels in video games.

Starting off at number 10,

it is the Ashtray Maze from Control.

Considered by many to be one
of if not the best moment

in the entire game.

The ashtray maze is this
consistently shifting

dimensional corridor,

meant to protect the
dimensional research wing.

Basically, people that go into this thing

almost never come out.

Near the end of the game,
the janitor, long story,

gives you an object of power

that lets you traverse this maze.

It’s not safe, but it’s at least possible.

What follows is this bizarre,
insane combat sequence,

where you’re constantly moving

through this always-shifting location,

where layouts are consistently changing

in completely impossible ways.

Thankfully, it’s mostly linear,

like, you can’t really get lost in it,

so you’re free to rush through the area

blowing away the many enemies
that stand in your way.

The whole time this is happening,

this song, Take Control, is blasting.

Which is just awesome

and really makes you feel like a badass

leading up to the final
stretch of the game.

It’s kinda like the part in the movie

where they say the title of the movie.

It’s cool for that exact same reason.

‘Cause none of this

really actually makes any rational sense.

It is Control we’re talking
about, that’s sort of the point.

But it’s easily the standout
moment of the whole game.

At number nine is Rock in
A Box From 2006’s Prey,

the original Prey.

I could easily say the
entire game for this point,

because the Sphere Ship
that Prey takes place on

is both incredibly confusing
and mostly amazing.

The developers really
pulled out all their tricks

on this one.

There’s portals, crazy
gravity, impossible geometry,

and so much more just
sprinkled all over this place.

Any given area can have
multiple weird things going on,

like enemies standing in the ceiling,

portals that warp you all over the place,

room layouts that morph
at the press of a button.

All that comes together

with the ship’s grotesque
techno-organic appearance.

And it makes navigating
some of these areas

pretty confusing, but not,
I guess, as bad as it looks.

It helps that the level design

is mostly self-contained and linear.

Otherwise this place
would be a real nightmare

to try to navigate.

(guns fire)

(alien roars)

(electronic machinery trills)

One of the most amazing
parts of the entire game

happens in level three,

where you enter this room that
looks like a rock or a meteor

is floating in the middle of a box.

Then you go through a portal

and you find yourself on
that rock, somehow tiny now,

and fighting against tiny little enemies.

Just to make it obvious what’s going on,

a standard enemy is standing
over the whole thing.

Normally they’re the same height as you,

but this one’s obviously enormous.

It’s a short sequence,
but one of the many ways

that the original Prey from 2006

really likes to mess with the player.

And number eight is the Hunter’s
Nightmare from Bloodborne.

At first, the world of
Bloodborne seems logical enough,

but the further you go, that
logic starts to break down

and things start to make
less and less sense.

No other area exemplifies
that breakdown of logic

more than the Hunter’s Nightmare,

the location of The Old Hunters DLC.

Just getting to this place
doesn’t make a lotta sense.

You have to let yourself get caught

by one of those many-armed monstrosities

that were previously invisible.

The main area of the Hunter’s Nightmares

is this twisted and apocalyptic version

of the Cathedral Ward, where
brutally difficult Hunters

patrol the streets and rivers
of blood flow through the area

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instead of water.

(stone crumbles)

(swords clash)

(Hunters scream)

(Hunters yell)

The dead far outnumber the living,

even if some of them still
seem to be pretty alive,

like this pathetic husk
crawling at an exit.

Go through here and eventually

you make it to the research hall,

which makes more sense visually,
but is not less horrific.

The transition to the final
area is the most bizarre.

After defeating the Guardian
of the Celestial Clock

you have to walk through the clock face

and somehow you come out
at a fishing village.

It’s called the Hunter’s Nightmare.

So it only makes sense

that the whole place is
made up of dream logic.

It’s bizarre, and The Old Hunters DLC

is probably the pinnacle of Bloodborne,

which is saying a lot.

And number seven is the Clockwork Mansion

from Dishonored 2.

What makes the Clockwork
Mansion from Dishonored 2

so different from pretty much
every other level in this list

is that while this place is very confusing

and undeniably amazing, it’s not a dream,

and there’s nothing magical
about it in any way.

This mansion, which is the home

of the Duke’s Grand
Inventor Kirin Jindosh,

the main claim to fame here
is its transforming rooms.

With just the flip of a switch,

entire rooms reconfigure themselves,

walls become passages,
sections of room rise, fall,

hallways disappear, or appear,

depending on the
configuration of the house.

And that’s what makes
navigating this place

so dang confusing.

All these transformations

are done with very little cheating,

like making wall panels
appear out of nowhere,

there’s actually an extensive

behind the scenes area of the
house that can be explored.

Sometimes you’ll just get stuck,

but sometimes you can access
different areas early,

or completely avoid the guards.

This level also introduces

the difficult to avoid Clockwork Soldiers,

who literally have eyes
in the back of their head.

So you have to take advantage
of whatever you can.

(tense ambient music)

(clockwork clangs)

– Rear lens array active.

Entering combat state.

Switching to alternative tactical mode.

– It’s also visually stunning,

and it’s so much fun to explore.

It can get very confusing at times,

especially when you’re
looking for little secrets

or hidden passages.

But it’s so good

that it really doesn’t
hurt the experience at all.

And number six is Antichamber.

The game Antichamber.

Like you can’t really separate

sections of this game into levels, so,

we’re just gonna cheat here
and say the entire thing.

It’s a puzzle game.

And instead of drawing lines on boards,

or thinking with portals

this game’s all about exploring
impossible environments

and figuring where to go.

Compared to Prey, this
is on another level,

there’s no shooting.

But there is a whole lot of
non-Euclidean environments

to explore.

(wind howls)
(metallic clanging)

(birds sing)
(water rushes)

Areas connect in totally impossible ways.

Certain passages are
endless from one direction,

and become something completely different

if you just turn around.

Places that should connect don’t,

and areas that seem totally disconnected

are actually right next to each other.

That’s not even talkin’ about

some of the crazy visual
tricks this game throws at you,

just to be cool.

(wind whistles)

You’d think with that kinda description

the game would be incredibly
frustrating to play,

or that you can easily get lost.

And I guess it’s confusing, yes,

but they did somehow make it work.

And number five is the Milkman
Conspiracy from Psychonauts,

the iconic level from the first
game, and for good reason.

This is a game all about exploring

the fractured minds of various characters

and either solving their problems

or just figuring out
what’s goin’ on, I guess.

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And one of the most messed up minds

belongs to this guy, Boyd Cooper.

The inside of his head
is a paranoid thriller,

set up in a twisted version of suburbia

infested with G-Men trying
to find the milkman.

These guys all have some
pretty hilarious dialogue

where they try to blend
in as normal people,

and it’s way funnier than it sounds.

Like, trust me on that one.

As you explore the place,

the gravity shifts around pretty randomly.

Which pulls you in different directions,

takes you to new areas.

And while all that’s goin’ on

you gotta find different
tools to fool the G-Men

into letting you get past them.

There’s a lot going on,
to say the very least.

But it’s safe to say
The Milkman Conspiracy

is an absolutely brilliant level,

that is both a little
disturbing and very, very funny.

(foreboding theremin music)
(unearthly twinkling)

– I am on the road crew,
this is my stop sign.

(electronic beeping)
– That’s nice, creep.

– And number four is Mission
18 from Devil May Cry 3.

In previous Devil May Cry games,

Hell mostly came from the
Doom School of level design.

Darkness, walls of meat,
that sort of thing.

It was creepy, but it was
basically what you would expect.

DMC3, however, changed things
up pretty dramatically.

When you go to Hell, or the Demon World,

or whatever it’s called in
this game in Mission 18,

instead of finding yourself
in a meat forest or whatever,

you appear in this spooky,
monochromatic world

filled with floating platforms,

portals, and bizarre architecture.

It’s a surreal and mysterious place

that looks like some kind
of unholy combination

of a Salvador Dali and MC Escher painting.

Bonus points if you have
any idea what I just said.

To be clear, I get no
bonus points (laughs).

No, I know what I’m talking
about, to at least some extent.

Anyway, for some reason,

you have to fight the entire chess set

on a chess board in this level.

‘Cause why not?

Why not?

Why wouldn’t ya?

(demons roar)
(Dante yells)

(electronic pulsing)
(dramatic electronic music)

And number three is the Outer Keep

from Super Castlevania IV.

Let’s get a little 16 bit
representation on this list,

with an absolute classic.

Super Castlevania IV
came out a month or so

after the Super Nintendo
hit American store shelves.

And because of that,

the developers really wanted to show off

a lot of new features that
were possible for the system.

So, there’s a lotta Mode
7, to say the very least.

And while it makes not
really a whole lotta sense,

it does make for a really
cool-looking level.

I don’t really know what the
Outer Keep is supposed to be.

It’s just another castle

before you get to the real Dracula castle.

But this place is filled
little weird tricks and traps.

The first area is the most basic,

with simple rotating platforms

and a mini boss ghost skeleton

that I guess tries to lick you.

Seems to be it.

Next room, though, that’s
where stuff gets really weird.

You go into a room lined with spikes,

which starts to rotate in place somehow.

Probably the most annoying part
of this level is right here,

when the game throws a bunch
of Medusa heads at you.

Because the wrong move

means instant death on the spikes below.

And after that, it’s onto
the famous cylinder room.

The background’s a big spinning texture,

and you’re walkin’ on these wooden blocks

that fall over once they
hit the edge of the screen.

No idea what this place is,
what it’s supposed to be,

or what’s supposed to be happening.

But look at those Mode 7 graphics!

Is what you would say

if you were incredibly old, like myself.

(electronic bleeping)
(tense 8-bit music)

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(thudding)

And number two is the Silent
Hill Historical Society

from Silent Hill 2

In terms of pure weirdness and confusion,

this is a much more understated level

than most of the other
entries on this list.

What makes it so amazing

is how utterly impossible
and creepy it is,

while still being a pretty
recognizable location

for the most part.

Starts off as a sensible place.

A small house made into
a historical museum

for the town of Silent Hill.

Other than a few really creepy paintings,

looks like a real place until
you enter the back room,

and you find this burnt-out wall

that inexplicably has a
stone staircase behind it.

The passage goes on
just a little too long,

before exiting out into an area

that kinda looks like a
prison, for whatever reason.

That leads to a room containing nothing

but a hole they have to
jump into to proceed,

which takes you to the bottom of the well,

that seems to be completely walled up.

But you can knock down a section
of bricks to reveal a door.

You keep going, eventually
you get to a door

that opens up to an
impossible vertical hallway

that you have to fall into.

And everything up until
this moment of Silent Hill 2

makes some degree of
sense, spatially at least.

This, it’s the moment

where everything completely breaks down,

and it becomes actually very unsettling

when you first experience it.

– Killing a person ain’t no big deal!

Just put the gun to their head.

Pow!

– And finally, at number one,
the Escher Labs from DUSK.

For most people that play
DUSK for the first time,

they expected some cool
Quake-inspired levels,

but I don’t think anybody expected this.

Most of the game through the first act

is pretty much what you would expect,

a fun, sorta creepy throwback FPS

with some cool levels,
but second act, woof,

stuff changes up pretty dramatically.

First with the incredibly creepy,

mostly combat-free The Infernal Machine,

and then with this level, The Escher Labs.

It’s a normal enough level at first,

kind of a standard lab setting.

But things start to
break down pretty quick

with these doors showing up
that weren’t there before,

rooms getting mirrored for some reason,

things that completely break
down and go full MC Escher.

Aha!

Remember I said that before?

I said it again.

The way this level uses backtracking

is actually pretty brilliant.

‘Cause it constantly
subverts your expectations

and messes with your spatial
awareness in a way that’s fun,

but not so frustrating and confusing

that it makes you not
want to do it anymore.

It’s like just the right level
of frustrating and confusing.

Pretty short, actually, all told.

But it’s such a fun surprise of a level

that it really stuck with
anyone who played the game.

It’s one of these many
levels that showed DUSK

was a game that wasn’t just copying

the greats of yesteryear.

It was a great game in its own right.

(gunshots)

And that’s all for today,
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