Dishonored 2 - Levels

PCGamesN thinks levels are still fun:

Dishonored shows that developers should still be building levels and not just worlds

For a long time, levels were the standard delivery format for videogames - discrete chunks of action, exploration, and storytelling that together formed a whole. Look at the best-selling games of 2017, though, and you will discover that is no longer the norm. Destiny 2 spreads its events throughout sprawling planetary hubs. Ghost Recon: Wildlands dots its missions across 11 biomes and 656 kilometres of continuous road.

PC gaming has been transformed by the rise of open-world streaming technology and its accessibility in the form of contemporary platforms like Unreal Engine 4. In tandem, triple-A developers have perfected a design methodology that emphasises quick, repeatable gameplay loops and percentage completion trackers - in other words, stuff that keeps you hooked in both the short and long-term. This is what devs refer to as ‘player retention’, and it is not hard to see the appeal in a market undercut by trade-in sales.

Nothing is fundamentally wrong with any of that. Most of us are in favour of triple-A games continuing to exist, and nobody who has played The Witcher 3 or Watch Dogs 2 would argue against the value of open worlds. But there is still something special about the level, isn’t there?

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Thanks Farflame!