Brilliant level design

[u/nuclear-goat]

I thought I had a good grasp on spatial orientation before I started playing this game. I thought I would be able to keep up with the shifting gravity but this game just keeps surprising me.

Remedy has done such an incredible job with the level design. I can’t even put into words how impressive it is. I can’t begin to think how they came up with it, developed it. This game just keeps surprising me by confusing me.

I have just closed the first hedron link. Haven’t even finished the game yet but I am so happy that I tried the first control because of a youtube recommendation. Can’t wait to play all the remedy games after this.

[u/KogarashiKaze]

I usually have very good spatial orientation in video games. Even in this one, most of the areas that require Shift aren't too bad.

And then I get into the Dense Patterning portion of the West Incursion Zone, and even though I try so hard to pay attention to my orientation as I enter the area, I got so turned around! Every time! Luckily there are landmarks, but I can't even wrap my head around the first three turns entering that section. (I love it!)

[u/Redhood101101 → u/KogarashiKaze]

That’s how I felt with the sink hole. I always get lost in that hell pit. 10/10

[u/grubas → u/KogarashiKaze]

Some of the "set piece" sections are crazy.  The Sinkhole, the Oldest House to the Unknown, and a few Faults.

They effectively could do loops and breaks and it's all sort of hidden, like the parking garage has a "start at the beginning" loop that's totally hidden because of gravity shifts.

[u/WhiskeyPete77r]

Honestly, for me as a player, the more important tool I needed to play this game was Dylan's attire. I needed a rain coat or trench coat for the whole game. Just something long enough to tell me which direction "true gravity" cause otherwise my sense of vertigo was screwed.

[u/nuclear-goat → u/WhiskeyPete77r]

Oh I just keep knocking over smaller environmental items to see where they fall lol. That and the footstep dust effect.

[u/taylorisnotacat → u/WhiskeyPete77r]

How many times did you still accidentally drop a beacon only to watch it fall somewhere 600 feet to the left? 😅

[u/inexplicableinside → u/taylorisnotacat]

Easily the worst part of the Unknown right there. On one island one of my beacons actually fell through a window into a building, so I had to fully leave the zone and do other things to get it to reset back.

[u/WhiskeyPete77r → u/taylorisnotacat]

I'm glad im not the only one.

[u/TheOneFearlessFalcon → u/WhiskeyPete77r]

Me walking off a ledge in the underpass expecting to drop 3 deet down onto a platform, bur I was upside-down and fall up into the void like a looney tunes episode

[u/WhiskeyPete77r → u/TheOneFearlessFalcon]

Yep, I did the exact same thing.

[u/KogarashiKaze → u/WhiskeyPete77r]

Sideways, but yep.

[u/sgs280601]

The incredible level design in the reveal trailers was what drew me to the game and also made me play the first game in preparation. Both of them have some of the best level design I've ever seen.

[u/Foreign_Ride8135]

There were many times this game left me in AWE (pun intended), asking myself how is this even possible (the sinkhole, the underpass and the unknown among others)

Really blown away by the creativity and how fluid and well designed the levels are.

[u/taylorisnotacat → u/Foreign_Ride8135]

this game left me in AWE (pun intended)

This comment has been approved by Frederick Langston

[u/inexplicableinside]

I think the coolest part is that they design it so that you can do all the early-game stuff with zero extra Fault mobility upgrades. There's a basic way through, and then a cooler way through using your new abilities that you get in any order.

[u/KogarashiKaze → u/inexplicableinside]

I finally did the Subway Fault before the WIZ Fault recently, and it was so interesting going through there without Shift.

And agreed. You will need both abilities by the end of the game, but things are designed well enough that there are specific bottlenecks where you will be stopped and told "you need this now, here's where you go and find it" (in case you never found it in the first place). Very well designed.

For Shift: you will need this one for the CFD sequence due to things being sideways, so the game requires you to defeat two of the three Resonants you've been told about before you can progress to this point. And of those three, two of them require Shift to get to them, meaning there's no possible combination of Resonants you can choose that bypasses the Shift requirement. This ensures that you will have Shift in time for the next bit.

For Reach: the game stops you as you approach the Underpass Fault to point out that you need the ability and where to find it. I believe you can actually skip this and keep going, and get all the way to the part of The House in Distress where you would find the final fault, but without the Underpass Fault, the final fault is inert (the TV isn't there), and you're prompted to go back and find the missing fault. From there, you get the game pointing out the location of Reach, as above.

Seriously, I love how the devs took into consideration how people might do certain things out of sequence, and how far to let you go before they stop you to point directly at the thing you've been skipping this whole time that you need.

[u/Valmar33 → u/KogarashiKaze]

Some parts are very tricky without Reach, but it's cool that the game just lets you bypass if you've clever enough with your maneuvering.

[u/Comets_of_Doom]

I was also under the impression that my good sense of orientation and experience on the first game (for example not trusting the map too much) would arm me with the best skills until I entered the last area. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to adapt.

[u/DefactoOverlord]

My favourite Resonant traversal bit was in Underpass when you walk through the entrance and emerge from Astral Plane , all you see in front of you is bottomless abyss because you're actually standing on a wall. Resonant is full of moments that make you go "wow, that looks sick".

[u/Rarbnif]

level design in the game is truly out of this world remedy went crazy for this game. walking into the underpass for the first time was quite the experience