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Morrowind's dungeon design actually makes you feel lost on purpose

EbonyWarrior

New Member
I've been replaying Morrowind after years in Skyrim and I just realized something. When I walk into a dungeon and there's no compass arrow pointing me at the objective, I'm not frustrated because the game is broken—I'm frustrated because the dungeon is actually designed that way. Like, the layout is intentionally confusing. Multiple dead ends, weird vertical spaces, doors that loop back on themselves.

Skyrim's dungeons are basically linear tubes with maybe one or two side branches. You can't get lost even if you try. But Morrowind makes you actually explore and sometimes backtrack and figure out where you are. And yeah, it sucks when you're trying to find one specific NPC in a three-level ruin, but there's something kind of brilliant about it? You feel like you're actually in a place instead of following a designed path.

Has anyone else noticed this or am I just overthinking it? Does it actually make the dungeons better or is it just annoying design that we've learned to tolerate because "that's Morrowind"?
 
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