The 10 WORST Levels in GREAT Video Games

“God of War Ragnarok” (2022)

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Sometimes a level isn’t necessarily bad, but it drags on for so long it sours your entire experience with that part of the game. Such is the case with Jotunheim in God of War Ragnarok in which Atreus is transported to the realm of the Giants and is introduced to one of the only remaining giants in the realm Angrboda. It’s full of overly long exposition and forced exploration sections that move at a snail's pace. There are a few shining moments such as some interesting new mechanics and exciting combat encounters, especially the boss fight against Angrboda’s grandmother Gryla, as well as some important story revelations. The entire section slows the pace of the story to a crawl and leaves such a sour taste that many didn’t even bother returning to the realm, even when the pathway was opened at the end of the game.

“Dark Souls” (2011)

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The stuff of legend in the Souls community, the entirety of Blighttown seems designed to cause the player misery in a game already trying to kill them at every turn. A labyrinthian maze of wooden walkways, this poison swamp is draped in near pitch-black darkness with new enemy types hiding around every corner waiting to inflict poison damage on the player before cutting them down to size just for good measure. Players can find special items that make their exploration of this sewer dungeon a bit easier, but these helpful hints are naturally so well hidden away that many players were completely unaware of their existence. This level originally used to be much worse before the Remastered update with the frame rate slowing to a crawl in a game and area that demands precision movements.

“Halo: Combat Evolved” (2001)

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With Halo: Combat Evolved, Bungie managed to create one of the definitive first-person shooter experiences on console and launched a franchise that still dominates today. However, that doesn’t mean the game was perfect. After exploring the Ring and its wide-open environments, the player is stuck in a seemingly unending loop of identical hallways and relentlessly pursued by the Flood, a parasitic organism that reanimates the bodies it consumes. The Flood lives up its title as no matter how many of them the Chief takes out, dozens more continue to flood into the hallways as Chief simply tries to make his way up the many levels. It’s ridiculously easy to get turned around with the repeating hallways patterns and watching your ammo counter endlessly tick away as more and more enemies keep on coming. It’s the antithesis of the rest of the game and becomes more of a frustrating slog in an otherwise engaging experience.

“Final Fantasy VII Remake” (2020)

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Final Fantasy 7 Remake mostly did a great job at updating the beloved classic with new areas to explore, a more fleshed out opening, and updated combat mechanics. Unfortunately, not every mechanic has been updated and Hojo’s Lab late in the game manages to be worse than in the original 1997 game. With the party split up, players will need to constantly switch back and forth between the teams hitting switches while navigating some of the most boring and uninteresting level designs in the entire game. With so much of the level focused solely on navigating the maze of walkways, not even the random battles are enough to engage players enough to slog through this absolute snoozefest of level design. Many accused Square of padding out the game to extend the opening hours and this level doesn’t do much to dissuade that argument.

“Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” (2007)

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Naughty Dog has come a long way since their Crash Bandicoot games, and their Uncharted series was the developer’s first steps into more mature storytelling and gameplay. That doesn't mean they were able to leave all their old platformer bad habits behind right away though. Out of the 3 PS3 games, Drake’s Fortune has by far aged the worst, especially due to the terrible jet ski sections. Driving the jet ski as Nate, against the current in some instances no less, and then switching to Elena to clumsily shoot at enemies and obstacles drags down the rest of the Indiana Jones inspired adventure and makes revising where the series began more of a chore than it needs to be. Thankfully these sections are over fairly quickly, and Naughty Dog learned what worked and what didn’t for the rest of the series’ superb entries.

Otacon quickly became a series regular all the way up to the end with Solid Snake after his debut in the original Metal Gear Solid, and while he never really took to the battlefield with Snake, he was still capable of handling himself and getting around. That’s not the case however with his younger sister who Raiden must literally lead her by hand through numerous sections in which the computer wizard seems to encounter each and every one of her phobias. Terrified of bugs and water, Raiden will need to clear the way of the pests before Emma will even attempt to follow his lead and even then, Raiden needs to guide Emma and her pathetic oxygen bar through an underwater maze with her clinging to his back. And at the end of this ridiculously long section, Emma is unceremoniously killed, further undermining all the players’ effort.

Valve’s Half-Life revolutionized first person shooters and influenced countless titles we enjoy today but even with all their innovation and much deserved praise; the game’s final level is by far the worst thing the series has ever produced. With much of the level’s early focus being on precision first person platforming which even today barely works most of the time, the rest of the level makes the player yearn for the drab interiors of the Black Mesa facility with its ugly textures and vomit shaded color palette. The recent Half-Life remake Black Mesa did make some noticeable quality of life improvements that make the level much less frustrating to play and navigate, but it’s still disappointing that one of the best FPS in history ends with one of the worst levels the developers could have possibly designed.

“Max Payne” (2001)

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Max Payne has stood the test of time with its gritty noir detective story and innovative use of bullet time that was way ahead of its time. However, even given the tormented protagonist’s psyche after the events leading up to the game, there had to be a better way to convey this to the player than these nightmare sequences. Players must guide Max through the halls of his home following the cries of his infant child before the walls fall away and he’s forced to follow a thin line of blood through a pitch-black maze in which one wrong move will send Max plummeting and the player back to the very beginning. While this is a visually interesting way to represent Max’s torment of being unable to save his wife and child, from a gameplay standpoint there had to be something less tormenting for the player.

“Marvel’s Spider-Man” (2018)

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Insomniac’s 2018 Spider-Man was the closest players ever felt to living out their fantasies of web zipping around the New York skyline and taking on Spidey’s rogues gallery. It’s widely regarded as one of the best Spider-Man games ever made thanks to its engaging narrative, slick combat and traversal and wealth of upgrades and gadgets. So why then, did Insomniac think that players would want to have all this momentum grind to a halt by forcing players to endure MULTIPLE linear insta-fail stealth sections? Guiding Miles and MJ as they painstakingly creep their way past enemies that Pete would instantly lay out completely derails the superhero fantasy players were so invested in and the fact that this happens more than once is enough to set off a groan every time control is wrestled away from the webhead. Thankfully, Miles got superpowers and MJ got a stun gun in the sequels so that’s at least something.

“Red Dead Redemption 2” (2018)

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Red Dead Redemption 2 is without a doubt one of the greatest games Rockstar has ever created and while Arthur’s journey of redemption through the west is consistently engaging and entertaining throughout, like the other entries on our list, there’s one section that completely derails a new perfect experience. In a game that can already take hundreds of hours to complete, the unexpected trip to Guarma after Arthur and company are shipwrecked just feels like needless padding. Besides the beautiful scenery, there’s very little that feels especially necessary to the overall story in this detour that couldn’t have fit nicely elsewhere. And considering Guarma is never mentioned or visited again throughout the rest of the game, it feels like this entire section could have been left on the cutting room floor and nothing of substance would have been lost. What level do you dread replaying in your favorite video games? Let us know down in the comments.