The reason Half-Life 2 set the bar for later games, however, was its internal consistency, an achievement even rarer than its superlative environmental fiction, which induced a state of deep immersion and emotional investment.
Thief: Deadly Shadows’ Shalebridge Cradle would pip Ravenholm to the Russian doll horror-game-within-a-game level. It wasn’t simply the first: System Shock’s SHODAN is the archetypal villain who harries you verbally while their minions do so physically.
