Chokepoints
Narrow passages — doorways, corridors, bridges — that funnel movement and become natural sites of concentrated conflict, where controlling the space is disproportionately valuable. Rainbow Six Siege's entire round structure revolves around defenders fortifying chokepoints and attackers breaching them; Total War battles are frequently won or lost at bridge crossings. Designers use chokepoints to create focal points for tactical decision-making (funnel the enemy, or avoid the funnel), to reward defensive setup and area denial, and to give level and map design deliberate strategic texture rather than open, undifferentiated space. Key decisions: chokepoint width and flanking alternatives (a chokepoint with no counter-route becomes a stalemate), destructibility (can walls be breached to bypass it?), sightlines through the point, and how strongly defenders are advantaged versus attackers. Pitfall: a chokepoint with no viable flank or breach option produces unwinnable camping stand-offs — every chokepoint needs at least one costly but real alternative route.
- Dev effort: Small
- Timing: Real-time or turn-based
- Common in: shooter, strategy