I don't know why but when a game makes me trek into a sewer I groan. I'm over sewers and rarely find them fun. FF7 Remake is a good example of sewers sections which drag a game down. Any thoughts? Honorable mentions: Docks.

37 Comments

  1. Sylvurphlame

    Lava levels are my personal eye roll trigger

  2. Big-Dick-Oriole

    Not as bad as FromSoftware poison swamp levels.

  3. Smartbutt420

    Don’t really care about the level, but if you yank me back forth across it seventeen times…

  4. meepmeepmeep34

    Water and sewer levels are the worst. They all look the same, have the same enemy and the same repetitive riddles. Oh, there is a rat in the sewers, who would have thought?

    Oh my, a slime monster, how original. Someone got kidnapped or has to escape through the sewers.

    The only way into the castle is through the secret way which are the sewers. Very clever…

  5. MrTophatDev

    I like (or at least don’t mind) the sewer sections in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Though to be fair, the game seldom forces you to go into them.

  6. Temporary_Finish_242

    Dishonored is a good example of a good one. After you escape the prison you go into the sewers and that’s where they introduce you to how the rats work. You see the 2 guards get mauled by rats which is really cool and shows how bad the rat plague is in Dunwall. It only lasts for a small amount of time and shows a big problem in dunwall.

  7. Badgergoose4

    Clankers Cavern in Banjo Kazooie gave me PTSD

  8. EnigmaticIsle

    The worst one I’ve played is “Sewers” from *Redneck Rampage*. There’s this part where you need to shoot a switch through a narrow crack in order to unlock a door (that area might even be underwater too). I gave up on my first playthrough because I didn’t know about the switch, and then I needed to consult a walkthrough the next time I revisited the game. I couldn’t even believe that was the solution.

  9. FajenThygia

    Completely depends on the game. Path of Exile has some quite decent ones. The one in Fez made me stop playing the game.

  10. cyclingnick

    RE2 sewers were peak tension which is how sewers should be

  11. profbozo

    I don’t mind the Crash 2 water levels, but Crash 3 and WoC water levels are not fun imo. I rarely enjoy vehicle levels in those games.

  12. Poopoodoodoobaby

    Ratchet and Clank Relgar sewers were the bane of my 8 year old existence. The anxiety from the water rising still sends a shiver down my spine 20 years later

  13. NCC-72381

    Does Subterranean Shunning-Grounds count as a sewer?

  14. slur-muh-wurds

    I am a sewer level, and I find this post extremely offensive. We are not all the same, you know. There are good ones and bad ones, just like any other group of levels. The sewerism on this board is sickening.

  15. Equivalent_Room6919

    Sewer levels? Oh, the stench of adventure! Dodging rats, solving puzzles, and finding hidden treasures.

  16. spehizle

    There’s nothing inherently wrong about sewers, the issue is how they’re made.  

    First, their design is often homogeneous and boring; the same tile set of bricks and pipes, flat lighting, a maze of straight lines and right angles largely impossible to navigate or differentiate. No fun to look at or explore, easily to get lost, lots of backtracking through the same boring shit.  

    Speaking of shit, let’s talk status effects. Call it poison, toxicity, stamina, or whatever. You’re disincentivized from exploring the area or taking your time. A ticking clock which drains resources almost as much as it drains patience or goodwill.  

    Finally, narrative position. Nothing interesting with regard to story or character goes down in sewer levels; you’re always infiltrating a place or bypassing something else. It’s liminal, both spatially and plot wise. Everything grinds to a halt to wander around in some samey visually boring corridors without anything interesting and on a timer. All bad.   

    Now, a sewer level that intentionally writes around these problems will be far more palatable. I seem to remember Second Sight (back in the ps2 days) had a sewer level that I actually liked. 

  17. The sewer level in Arkham (forgot which one) was pretty cool

  18. Games: Lets you experience and explore fantastical world full of excitement and wonder.

    Also games: SHIT TUBES! GET IN THEM!

  19. Obsessivegamer32

    Aesthetically I love them, gameplay-wise… I guess it depends, if it has elements of a water level then it sucks by default.

  20. BeamMoose

    I just dont play them, only time was the well in ocarina of time, and i didnt even play it my sister did

  21. TheGrimTickler

    Every knuckles level in SA2:B is goated for the soundtrack alone, including Aquatic Mines

  22. mythicreign

    Generally terrible. But sometimes they’re inoffensive.

  23. meambhatti

    Remember the one in price of persia the two thrones ? Where the prince turns dark for the first time?

  24. Gamefighter3000

    I LOVED the one in Crash 2

    Left 4 Dead 2 also had a pretty cool sewer segment.

    Generally speaking i can’t remember too many but usually find them fun.

  25. Would water temples in Zelda games count as sewer levels?

  26. GRIMM_LV

    Same as any desert location anywhere. I don’t like it.

  27. EatTacosGetMoney

    Star Wars Shadows of the Empire sewer left a mark on how not to do sewer levels.

  28. Sewer level on star wars shadows of the empire on n64 was insane

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