Raccoon City Streets [Resident Evil 3]
The opening hours of Resident Evil 3 can’t be topped. After your first blistering (and totally scripted) encounter with Nemesis in Resident Evil 3, you’re off to explore the apocalyptic streets of Raccoon City. The map is bigger than anything you’ve experienced in RE2, with intricate detail and multiple levels of buildings to check out. Things really heat up when Nemesis starts chasing you — this behemoth is a true hunter, and you’ll have to rely on new mechanics to avoid his killer attacks. Nemesis is more dangerous than he’s ever been before, able to sprint or swing to navigate anywhere you might run. That makes this hub area the most memorable in the game.
Fall Mountain [Fall Guys]
The most diabolical final level in Fall Guys is the eponymous Fall Mountain. We had to pick this level solely for it’s big Takeshi’s Castle / Most Extreme Elimination Challenge energy. Fall Guys is the silliest Battle Royale on the market. As little bean-shaped men, 100~ players must navigate an obstacle course of physics objects, team-challenges, and other randomized stages. Fall Mountain isn’t complicated. It’s simple and elemental. The last remaining Fall Guys must climb a slippery mountain to the top — all while big balls randomly roll down. You’ll never know which direction the balls will fall. Those big yellow balls are the great equalizer. There is no strategy to avoid them. Just don’t get hit.
Casa DeWitt [Desperados 3]
The intricate Doll House-like levels in Desperados 3 reach their apex in Casa DeWitt. Desperados 3 is a top-down stealth game that really works more like a ridiculously complex puzzle — to sneak through the levels, you need to use the limited capabilities of your five controllable characters to their utmost. This level sends your gang of gunslingers into a vast mansion estate during a high-society party. Some of your characters are free to explore the grounds, while others are immediately spotted if they schmooze with the muckity-mucks. Some areas are off-limits. Guards on the ground are watched by guards on the rooftops — and you’ll have to pull off your heist without alerting the party-goers that something’s gone wrong. Plotting to pull off the big kidnapping at the heart of the stage requires patience, timing, and coordination, but it’s just so satisfying.
Delve into the greatest levels of 2020. The list continues on the next page.
