I had a somewhat similar experience when I played Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within.
I remember it being very pretty, engaging, with wide open spaces and interesting combat... and then you would get to a dead end. You would look around a corner and find the way forward. It might sometimes take a while, but there was always exactly one path through the level (and game!) on reflection.
I would contrast this with some of my favorite moments in Portal: you can either get yourself accidentally utterly stuck (and the game has to detect that and let you out), or you can find clever ways with a risky approach to bypass an entire level.
I guess I'm saying that as a general principle, every level should have at least four paths: one is risky and difficult and unconventional but will lead you to the end result a little bit quicker; one is the longer, slower way; and one looks like the longer, slower way but in fact goes nowhere or leads to a trap; and one leads you to a secret which might help.
(I also appreciate situations like Zelda where you don't tell me what order to complete the dungeons in -- maybe dungeon A has an item which is important for solving dungeon C; if so then consider building the risky-difficult pathways through C to not require this item.)
I remember it being very pretty, engaging, with wide open spaces and interesting combat... and then you would get to a dead end. You would look around a corner and find the way forward. It might sometimes take a while, but there was always exactly one path through the level (and game!) on reflection.
I would contrast this with some of my favorite moments in Portal: you can either get yourself accidentally utterly stuck (and the game has to detect that and let you out), or you can find clever ways with a risky approach to bypass an entire level.
I guess I'm saying that as a general principle, every level should have at least four paths: one is risky and difficult and unconventional but will lead you to the end result a little bit quicker; one is the longer, slower way; and one looks like the longer, slower way but in fact goes nowhere or leads to a trap; and one leads you to a secret which might help.
(I also appreciate situations like Zelda where you don't tell me what order to complete the dungeons in -- maybe dungeon A has an item which is important for solving dungeon C; if so then consider building the risky-difficult pathways through C to not require this item.)