Hi. My name’s Mark, and this is Game Maker’s
Toolkit. So, each December I like to wrap up the year
by talking about some stand-out bits of game design from that year’s games. In the past I talked about Metal Gear Solid
V’s Fulton extraction and Ori and the Blind Forest’s player-set checkpoints. I’ve chatted about Overwatch’s Play of
the Game highlight, and Oxenfree’s naturalistic conversation system. And, so, I was thinking about what I could
talk about for 2017. Maybe Prey’s multi-purpose Gloo gun. Or Nier Automata’s chip system. Or the plane, from Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds. But I realised that what really stood out
to me this year, was an abundance of great levels. Or missions. Chapters. Sequences. Areas. Maps. However a game slices up its content. Whatever the case, I’ve played some truly
terrific levels in the past 12 months. And that’s what I’m going to talk about
in this episode. I will naturally be spoiling these segments,
so if you see a game pop up that you desperately want to play but haven’t had a chance to
get around to yet, please pause the video, open up the description panel, and find the
time stamp for the next game. Okay, we good? Good. Let’s crack on. The Dishonored series is no stranger to memorable
levels. From Lady Boyle’s Last Party in the first
game, to the time-travelling nonsense of Dishonored 2, Arkane has a knack for putting together
great immersive sim sandboxes. And that’s carried over into the spin-off
game, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, which has another excellent mission in Chapter 3,
The Bank Job. As the name suggests, this mission is a bank
heist as Billie Lurk needs to retrieve some magical dagger from the complex elevator vault
found inside the Delores Michaels bank. The mission will see you breaking into the
bank, looting the vault, and making your escape. Now, just like everything else in Dishonored,
the bank job offers the player a huge array of options. Starting with the fact that there are three
different ways to break into the bank. You could find a painter’s lift, juice it
up with whale oil, and ride it up to the roof of the bank. Or you could track down the bank custodian’s
key, unlock this door, and ride a dumpster into the bank’s sanitation area. Or you could pinch this wrench from an maintenance
area, open some valves, and swim through the bank’s sewers. BILLIE LURK: Why is it always sewers? Before any of that, though, you might want
to find some sleep inducing compound, and pump that into the bank’s ventilation system. This stuff can be found at an auction, where
you can either use Death of the Outsider’s face-tugging disguise power to win the compound
for yourself, or you could just sneak in and pinch it. Or if you’re rich and lazy, you could just
buy some from the black market. Once you’re inside the bank, your path is
a bit more constrained. You’ve got to open the door to the inner
atrium, go past these arc-pylons (which are a bit annoying - it’s hard to know where
it’s safe to stand with these things), and either disable or reconfigure this electrified
gate to get access to the stairwell. Once you’ve done that, though, you’re
given more options. You could find the security codes needed to
move the vault into the bank manager’s office, or you could sneak up into the attic and wrench
the vault off its tracks to make it crash down into the archive. With you on top. Either way, once you’ve cracked open the
vault it’s time for a retreat, as you must escape back to the very beginning of the level. Do you sneak out, throw on a disguise and
walk out, or bust out in a cloud of violence? This is a thrilling stage, which calls back
to the sort of intricate heist design of Dishonored’s ancestor, Thief. Plus, it exemplifies everything that Dishonored
does well. The huge number of choices stops the mission
from feeling like a scripted sequence, and lets you switch up your plans on the fly. Plus, the bank is an interconnected building
that doesn’t immediately feel like a video game level. But, it’s carefully constructed for the
game’s strengths, with loads of verticality so you can perch above the guards and plan
your next attack - and plenty of options for systems-driven mischief. And there are also loads of rewards for players
who explore and pay attention. There are extra vaults and lockboxes you can
break into if you can find the codes. Another jindosh lock, like in Dishonored 2,
for any mathematicians out there. And hey, even a little reference to Arkane’s
other game, Prey. Oh, and don’t forget the contracts. These are bonus missions you can take on,
which not only give you extra objectives but can also change how you approach the main
mission. This one, Quiet as a Mouse, will reward you
if you do the entire mission without being spotted and without killing a single guard. Maybe this will encourage you to play the
game in an interesting fashion. In last year’s Uncharted 4, Naughty Dog
experimented with a sort of “wide-linear” level design, for a chapter set in Madagascar
that allowed for a small amount of exploration and discovery. That concept was brought back, and expanded
upon, in this year’s standalone expansion, Uncharted: Lost Legacy which suddenly opens
up for the fourth chapter: The Western Ghats. So, Chloe and Nadine get to bomb around in
a jeep as they explore this open-ended area. Their goal is to climb to the top of three
towers, solve a simple puzzle on each one, and create a path to the next zone. The towers are, of course, weenies. As we discussed in the episode on guiding
players through environmental design, Naughty Dog loves using big tall structures as navigational
landmarks - and they come very handy in a chapter where the player is expected to find
their own way around. Oh, but if you get lost, you’ve also got
a map which is one of those physical in-world maps that I just can’t get enough of. Anyway, each tower is like a tiny slice of
Uncharted gameplay with a mix of combat, climbing, and puzzle solving. Though, one tower is more about puzzles with
this grid-based conundrum that reminds me of Lara Croft GO, while another might focus
more on fighting dozens of goons. Also, the towers are carefully designed so
you don’t have to simply backtrack down the exact same way you climbed up. By using one-way paths and gates, the towers
become loops where you follow an unbroken path from bottom to top to bottom again. Smart. Now, you can tackle the three towers in any
order you like. But Naughty Dog pulls a really clever trick
to stop the difficulty curve or the storytelling from falling apart. Because, the puzzle you do at the top of the
tower will always ramp up in complexity, no matter which order you climb the towers, because
the puzzle is dynamically made easier or harder, depending on whether this is the first, second… CHLOE FRAZER: This one’s a bit trickier …or third tower you’ve climbed. CHLOE FRAZER: Aww, what the hell? That’s not fair! Similarly, the conversations between Chloe
and Nadine will always happen in the same order, regardless of which tower you climb
first. The cutscenes are the same, but the background
is swapped out - allowing for a natural story arc to play out between these two women - no
matter how you play. NADINE ROSS: Heard you and those Drake brothers
are close. All of which proves that non-linear gameplay
doesn’t have to screw with story, or the way puzzles and combat ramps up. Level design doesn’t have to be set in stone
- it can dynamically shift and alter to account for the player’s actions. I gotta give credit to The Gaming Brit for
pointing this out in his video on Naughty Dog and non-linearity. I had a hunch, but Charlie confirmed it with
his video. Anyway! Alongside the three towers, you can also solve
a bunch of optional puzzles to get treasures. This might be a climbing challenge like reaching
checkpoints within a timer, an environmental puzzle like ringing bells, or a combat challenge
like clearing out a small camp. If you get the lot of these tokens, you’ll
unlock a cool - and genuinely useful - treasure which... I won’t spoil for you. But the cool thing is - you don’t have to
do any of this if you don’t want to. if you don’t care, you can blow straight
past it and just focus on the critical path content. Up to you. Personally, I loved this section and spent
a couple hours just exploring, listening to Chloe and Nadine get to know each other, finding
all the nicknacks, and having a bit of a breather between the game’s more fast-paced, linear,
and bombastic chapters. Man, it’s hard to pick a single standout
kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey. Do I go with Steam Gardens, with its groovy
music, the uproots, and the deep woods? Or the Luncheon Kingdom, which is a low-poly
volcano kitchen, with lava bubbles and Koopa chefs? Or maybe even The Darker Side, which tests
you on everything you’ve learned about the game in a punishing gauntlet of platforming
challenges. But okay. Let’s be real. It’s gotta be the Metro Kingdom. Home of New Donk City. This is unlike anything we’ve seen in a
Mario game before. I guess accurately proportioned 1950s businessperson
is a species like Toad, Snail, and Talking Fork? But, hold on, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The level begins in darkness and rain, and
you must storm the city by capturing, blasting, and avoiding Sherm tanks to get through the
streets. Your goal is the Mechawiggler at the top of
the town hall tower, which sees you climbing stairs, jumping between girders, and bouncing
through the inside of town hall. Then there’s the boss. Okay, not the best boss in the game I’ll
give you. But completing this task completely changes
the city. It’s now day time, there are sunny skies,
and the level has opened up into a sprawling playground. There’s no longer any ramparts stopping
you from exploring side alleys, and new power lines give you easy access to the rooftops. And up here, is where Mario’s advanced moveset
really comes into play as you can jump between pretty much any two buildings with the right
combination of jumps, dives, and cap throws. If this game’s twist on New York City brings
to mind other virtual Manhattans, like Grand Theft Auto, then the way you get around - bouncing
on taxis, swinging on street signs, and jumping between buildings - is completely different. Though, you can still ride a scooter. Eventually you start to realise that there’s
no enemies on the streets of New Donk City. There’s a few monsters in the spin off rooms
and the power station, but not on the streets which means that just looking for moons, jumping
around, and exploring is so much fun that the Metro Kingdom can entirely ditch combat. Which, is always a plus in my book. Finally, once you’ve done a few extra tasks
for Mayor Pauline, you start the festival - which is a celebration of Mario’s triumph
over Donkey Kong back in the 80s and is just a lovely bit of fan service for Mario nerds like me. This really highlights how
Mario games can be completely new and unexpected - but also nostalgic to his past. And maybe that’s colouring my opinion, somewhat. A better level would perhaps focus squarely
around a single mechanic and expand and vary it over time. But I dunno, there’s something about New
Donk City which really gets the heart of Mario Odyssey. It's a weird, creative, densely packed sandbox
city which is just joyously fun to climb and explore. This year, walking simulators found new ways
to tell stories. Tacoma, from Gone Home developer Fullbright,
reinvented the tired old audio diary as an interactive cutscene, with augmented reality
ghosts who walk and talk their way around a spaceship. But the standout game was actually What Remains
of Edith Finch - a touching story about family and loss, which uses the controller to create
a bond between you and the unlucky characters in the Finch family. It starts with simple actions like pushing
on the analogue stick, or mouse, to open doors, peer through letterboxes, and twist can openers. But in the vignettes you’ll find yourself
acting as different animals, swinging back and forth, and flying a kite in ways that
connect you directly to the story at hand. The best one, though, unquestionably, is the
vignette for Lewis Finch. DR NUTH: Dear Mrs. Finch. As Lewis’s psychiatrist I can understand
your desire for an explanation. As I see it, the trouble began in January,
shortly after we convinced your son to seek treatment for substance abuse. This one takes place in a fish cannery, where
you pick up fish from the left side of the screen, swing them over to the guillotine
on the right, and push them onto the conveyer belt up top. Over and over and over again. It’s a monotonous job, which inevitably
leads Lewis’ mind to wander - and this manifests itself as a second game over on the left. It starts as a simple maze game, but grows
progressively more interesting and imaginative. You realise that you have to do both games
at once - not just because the fish get in the way of the day dream, but various locks
in the imaginary world, won’t open until you chop off a fish’s head in the real world. However, there’s no predictable rhythm to
the fish, so you can’t completely switch off your brain and rely on rote muscle memory. Over time, the day dream becomes bigger, taking
up more and more of the screen as it takes more and more of Lewis’ attention - with
just faint echoes of his boring job appearing in his imaginary world. The secondary game starts to introduce choices,
get bigger and louder, and then envelops the whole screen as it shifts from a top-down
perspective to a full on first-person viewpoint - until the real world of the cannery merges
into the fake world of his imagination which leads to, well, I’ll let you play the game
yourself for that. This is a pretty incredible bit of empathetic
storytelling - because it uses the interactivity of the game to clearly express how it feels
to daydream while working. Your hands are doing two things, which reflects
how Lewis’s mind is split - and it shows how one side starts to dominate the other,
clearly expressing how Lewis retreats into his own thoughts and imagination. This is a real benefit of video game storytelling,
using the interactivity of the medium to draw us into the game and make us think and feel
like the character in the story. Finally, it might be a surprise to see a level
from a Call of Duty campaign, on a list like this. These missions are often painfully linear,
with tight corridors, repetitive set pieces, and - in the older games, at least, enemies
who infinitely respawn until you advance further. But there have been some standouts, too, like
the much-loved sniper mission from Call of Duty 4. And, today, I want to propose a new great
COD stage from this this year’s entry: World War 2. The level is called Liberation. CROWLEY: Who sent you? ROUSSEAU: Herr Spiegel
CROWLEY: Good. CROWLEY: Whatever happens, once you make the trade
you must maintain possession of the briefcase at all times. ROUSSEAU: I’ve come this far. ROUSSEAU: I’ll be damned sure I’m going to finish
it. The mission is about taking down a Nazi garrison
- and it unfolds in four major sections. Now the level opens in a very unconventional
style. You’re french resistance spy Rousseau - in
disguise as a Nazi, and you can walk freely around the garrison. You’ll only be stopped by officers looking
to check your papers. And here, you’ll be asked to answer questions
about your background so you better have memorised your cover story - which you can check at
any time. This isn’t exactly the most in-depth mechanic,
I’ll admit - it’s a simple question with two choices, and getting it wrong either leads
to an instant game over, or an insignificant change in the story. But it’s something different, and it adds
to the roleplaying feel of the mission. It feels good to know your cover story, and
answer the questions correctly. It really sells the spy drama. Anyway, you’re supposed to be looking for
your contact, Fisher, and there’s a few different ways to do it. You can explore and find him yourself, or
you can ask people if they’ve seen him. You might pinch this guy’s key and unlock
a route to the basement, or pick this lock and sneak up to the second floor. It’s not exactly Hitman or Dishonored in
its size and scope, but it works. You can also find and release captured French
citizens, who will help out later in the mission if you take the time to rescue them. After finding Fisher, exchanging briefcases,
and getting back to your buddy Crowley - the game changes. It’s now a stealth mission, as you drop
into the courtyard with a silenced pistol and a task to plant explosives on the north
and south gates. There are lots of different routes to take. You can duck back into the garrison, climb
up high onto balconies, or sneak along the ground. If you get spotted, the game rolls with it,
shifting into a traditional firefight - which goes to show that we still need to figure
out how to do better fail states with non-traditional gameplay. This is where those French citizens you saved
earlier come into play, though. They’ll join in the fight and help you out,
which is a nice nod to your heroic actions from before. Plant the two explosives and the mission swaps
to Private Daniels - the actual protagonist of the game. His squad is waiting for the garrison’s
doors to blow and, on that signal, storm along the streets of Paris to bust in. This is a more traditional firefight, the
bread and butter of Call of Duty, but it works really well. You want to help Rousseau - you’ve built
a connection there having played as her for a spell - and you also know exactly where
you need to go: the Nazi garrison, covered in swastikas and lit up with lights, is the
perfect weenie to draw you down the street and over the bridge. The fight to the garrison is all long-range
shooting down a bridge, but when busting in Crowley gives you a shotgun and it’s now
close range combat for a few minutes. Up top, the game shifts again - this time
from push-forward offence to hold-your-ground defence, as you grab a sniper rifle and a
handful of Molotov cocktails and hold back waves and waves of Nazis who are trying to
take back the garrison. You know the geography of the place, because
you were just on that bridge yourself five minutes ago, so it’s easy to understand
where the enemy is coming from, and how they will get to the garrison. Take them all out, and you’ll get a classic
slow-motion, ears-ringing cinematic moment to blow up a half-track and finish the mission. The garrison is yours, and Paris has been
liberated. CROWLEY: There’s no turning back. France has reclaimed Paris. The mission’s great for lots of reasons. It’s trying a new style of gameplay, and
by reusing the same areas from earlier in the mission it helps you to understand the
space. But the real star is the pacing. It shifts from espionage, to stealth, to fire
fights, to clearing out rooms, to defending your position. Every beat is mechanically different, with
their own speeds and directions, but they build in intensity throughout the mission
from a slow and quiet beginning through to a loud and bombastic finale. This sort of pace and rhythm can be found
in the best cinematic games - so, ultimately, if you’re gonna do one of these heavily
scripted, linear, set piece stages - it better be as good as this one. So, there we have it. Five great levels which will stick with me
for some time. But, of course, there have been plenty more
I could mention. The Baker house from Resident Evil 7, a bunch
of worlds from A Hat in Time, and various shrines and dungeons from The Legend of Zelda:
Breath of the Wild. Don’t worry, I’ll be coming back to them. But, please leave your favourite levels from
this year’s games in the comments below. And I’ll be back before the year is done
with my usual look at the single most interesting and innovative game of the past 12 months. Thanks for watching. Game Maker’s Toolkit is funded on Patreon
and these are my top tier supporters. This time, I want to plug our Discord channel. It’s just for backers and it’s a lovely,
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For those curious, here are the games and levels he mentions:
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider - The Bank Job
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - The Western Ghats
Super Mario Odyssey - New Donk City
What Remains of Edith Finch - Lewis Finch
Call of Duty: WWII - Liberation
I agree with all of his choices (never played Uncharted, though).
But Damn if that Call of Duty mission wasn't an instant standout in the series. Probably, and sadly, made even better by the fact that the rest of the campaign was so dour and bland.
I would have mentioned one of the areas from Prey (GUTS, The Lobby, Arboretum). I especially thought the lobby was one of the better "hubs" I've experienced.
Great year for games, regardless.
I really appreciate that he used a fake set of top 5 levels in the video, so that those who wanted to watch the whole thing weren't spoiled by the list. And there were some real standouts on that list as well
The 5 "top levels" were:
Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back - Cabin in the Woods
Star Wars Battlefront 2 - Loot Crate store
Cuphead - Tutorial
1-2 Switch - Milk
Sonic Forces - Green Hill Zone again
The Western Ghats felt like Naughty Dog experimenting with open level design. I wouldn't be surprised if they brought that into The Last of Us 2.
That Edith Finch level was just phenomenal. Reminds me of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons which used the similar concept.
The "What Remains Of Edith Finch" is sooo good. You do the monotonous job so much that it becomes mechanical to you, and you start to understand what Lewis was feeling.
Honestly, the whole game was amazing. If you've yet to play it, you definitely have to give it a shot. It's a walking simulator, but it's such an interactive and well designed one, it's fascinating.
I have a shitty monotonous go nowhere job currently so Lewis finch's level hit me like a ton of bricks. Made me think about how in that moment I was doing what he was doing to occupy my mind and slowly spiraling into depression. God that level is so good
Is New Donk City the most popular pick for the best level in the game? I liked it a lot, but I've also heard a lot of praise for Wooded Kingdom.
Oh yeah. The bank job was thrilling! What a great a experience, finishing this mission without killing or being noticed