Right in the beginning of the game the player can easily follow a clear path. A huge chinese portal, red flags and NPCs guide the player in the right direction. The NPCs themselves look over paths that lead to the garden, where there isn't anything to do before going for the main objective.

It's interesting that the game begins with a clear indication of the path, but after that the whole game suffers from lights guiding the player to dead ends.

The level Artus Mine is one of the best, with an intelligent design. It shows that the level design doesn't always have to make paths clear and obvious. Sometimes finding your way out or in is the challenge itself. After going through the mine's entrace the player encountered many enemies, passed through corridors and control rooms. However, after fighting his way through the first part the player reaches a dead end. There are doors in the mine's first area that won't open and corridors with nothing more left to explore. Where to go?

If the player pays attention to some details there are many clues left to guide the player. When the player first sees the installation from the outside, there is a flying cargo to the left of the canyon. Going in and checking out the cargo more closely and the player can see that they have flat tops and they are that way because the player is going to board one. If the player take a closer look at the path that the cargo follows inside the mine, they'll notice that there is a spot with a light that seems to lead somewhere. The same light is used in this level to guide the player. For example: in the first area of the mine the lights are placed in a straight line, guiding the player to go forwards. When the player passes through the last control room there are surveillance cameras pointing at where the cargo goes inside the mine. If the player looks closely there are vapors coming out a ventilation shaft. When the player reaches what seems to be a dead end there are two small white lights in a spot that is seemingly a fall to death. It isn't. The grate on the floor is there to draw the player's attention to look downwards. If the player waits some time they'll notice that, at regular intervals, a beam comes out of the ventilation shaft and that the player can use it to go down. That ventilation shaft is the way to go. The ventilation shaft does fit the theme as the player is about to go inside a chamber where the cargo undergoes a radiative process that heats it up.

Cairn Reactor has one of the best level's atmospheres made. The player journeys through a mega structure that is well made, with environmental hazards such as deadly laser beams that feel natural in there. Notice that the corridors' walls have a texture with lines of metal that are parallel to the corridor. There is also a straight line of lights on the ceiling. The same lights highlight a hole in the ceiling where the player has to go. When the player reaches the core's axle the same straight lines of lights are found, all parallel to the axle. The player intuitively understands that the path to follow is straight ahead. There are some narrow corridors in between some sections of the axle that have lines of pipes. The pipes are aligned to the corridor and by not being placed vertically or perpendicularly the player knows that there is nothing up or down in those corridors. When the player reaches the last section of the area the lines of lights change direction, being placed perpendicularly to the axle. That was made to tell the player that the next room's entrance is either to the left or right sides, not straight ahead. Some enemies fire through windows places to the left and right of the axle, which further helps guide the player to either side of that section.

In Alan Wake the game revolves around light. Everywhere in the game light is what guides the player. The player can easly see light poles telling where to go. Light also has the role of marking safe heavens where the player's health regenerates more quickly. When a player reaches a safe heaven all enemies disappear. Following the light has some creative freedom on how its applied in this game. In some parts the player has to follow a character that is carrying a flash light, making it a moving light source. In many places in the game there is a special paint that glows when the player directs its flash light to it, behaving exactly like road's cat's eye. That idea is very clever. In another chapter, Alan Wake is running away from light, because there are cops chasing him with flashlights. It doesn't mean that the game has broken its own rule or that it has lost coherence. On the contrary, the developers were very creative in this aspect.

It's important to note how Alan Wake does have care with light throughout the game. The moon's light is very weak and its only purpose is to make the environment visible so that the player can see it. In a pitch black darkness the player would be unable to see obstacles, trees, cars, rocks. The moon's light is weak to not highlight things that aren't important. To highlight important things the game has bright lights and signs, but they are also not super bright to avoid misdirecting the player. The game never has super bright lights on non important objects and if there are multiple lights on the same environment, care was taken to have brighter lights where it matters more. For example: some statues have plaques that the player can read to know more about the city's background and they have light at night, but the light is much less bright than a light that highlights the next building that the player has to go in. The game takes place during a festival period and some of the lights in the city reflect that.

Take note that a game like Alan Wake relies on technology. It wouldn't have been possible to make this game without enough processing power to calculate real-time lights as required by this game's atmosphere and theme.

The trees and rocks weren't placed without care. Notice how the position of the rocks and trees create a frame that draws the player's eyes. After the player gets the glimpse of a ghost and walks a bit there are no trees to the right. The trees were removed to allow the player to see the distant light on the next's checkpoint.

In the chapter "Police Brutality", Max is chasing the character Vinnie Gognitti. The path is to follow Vinnie, who leaves a blood trail behind. During Max Payne's nightmares there is a labyrinth and nothing guides the player, except for the sound of a crying baby (Max's son). When Max moves away from the right path the cry becomes quieter and when Max moves closer to the right path the cry becomes louder.

Audio clues work in the same way as visual ones.

In the chapter "The one million dollars question", Mona Sax guides the player with radio calls. If not for Mona the player would have to try each apartment's door one by one. Another element used throughout the game are characters that open doors or enemies that show up in a corridor. This way the player knows which way to go. Also, the level design is pretty linear, there are no alternate paths because they would be behind locked doors.

When the player reaches the streets of the ruined city, after a nuclear explosion, the high contrast guides the player. Right in the beginning a light pole highlights the way to go. Around the light the piles of debris aren't too high and the there could be a way, but there isn't. There is a fire going on a building on the background but the player can clearly see that there is no way to reach it. The environment's light isn't strong and is just about bright to allow the player to read the environment. Turning to the left the player can easly spot a red door and garbage burning on fire. The door could have been painted with a different color, but the red makes it clear that the path is that way. The fire is there to help the player see the way to go but had the door lacked high contrast the player wouldn't have noticed the path.

In terms of real world locations a building wouldn't have a red door unless it was an emergency exit. In games it's more important to make the environment easy to read than to be real or good looking. It doesn't mean environments can't be real or good looking though. It means that there are some aspects that have priority over others.

In this part of the ruined city the player walks up a staircase and sees a blocked door. To the right there is another door, unblocked. It could have been a mistake but both doors have windows and the player can easily see from a distance that the first door is blocked. In this game the windows help the player see which doors are blocked and which aren't.

The colors yellow and blue were used to guide the player. Notice that the level is linear and intuition would say that the player wouldn't get lost if the way is to always go forward. However, if you take out all the blue and yellow objects, players would have more trouble than what would otherwise be expected. Without the blue and yellow highlighting the path the player would spend more time looking around for paths that don't exist. For example: by looking for a way inside a building that has a void inside. The bright blue and yellow objects can look out of place and even ugly at times, but that's the idea, to catch the player's attention. When you need the player to notice something it has to stand out and, if required, sacrifice beauty. By having the player follow bright blue and yellow objects the player is subconsciously following a pattern and if you break that you cause the player to get lost. When the player reaches a blue wall with a clear arch to go under, the player is more likely to follow the blue wall and go up because the player has already followed many blue objects since the beginning of the level. In case the player goes the other way some enemies show up and prevent the player from progressing any further.

The whole level was designed around a carefully chosen sunlight's angle. Notice that the sunlight highlights the red carpet creating a straight path for the player to follow.

In this part the character that is running away goes through a gate and locks it. Nathan turns left, following the blue and yellow objects. Notice that the line of lights also helps guide the player to the window where Nathan is going to jump in.

More than one technique was used to guide the player and all of them are working together, with no conflicts between each one. There isn't one thing telling the player to go in one direction while another thing tells the player to go to the other way.

The crossed wooden planks are telling the player that "X marks the spot". It may sound silly, but small details such as these helps the player to known where to go and save time by preventing the player from wasting time looking around where there isn't anything important.

Ramsees Hed mission. This hidden door could be seen as a mistake and I did think that it was one. But if you take a look at the bigger picture, it's a shortcut, not a mistake. There is a yellow key and a lift that requires the yellow key to be activated. If the player follows the longer path, he or she is going to take more time but also find some secrets that are skipped if the player chooses to take this hidden shortcut. In between calling this example a bad one or a good one, I'll take the second.