Gloomhaven has level scaling, and it's better than most of the Codex favorites.
Dungeons & motherfucking Dragons has level scaling as a core mechanic, that's what Challenge Ratings are for, the issue is scope and application. If you've got a large, open game world that the player can explore in a nonlinear fashion, coupled with a wide progression range, it makes sense that you'll tailor encounters to their level lest all challenge evaporate after a certain point. But repetition and linearity are key aspects. Say the party passes an abandoned grain mill and they encounter and defeat three goblins. If they come back to the area later, after a few more levels, they should find something like
a) another three goblins, or
b) two goblins and a bugbear, or
c) nothing at all if you don't plan on using respawns. What they
shouldn't ever find is three dragons! Not even if they've gained twenty levels since.
And this
is a concept that's not lost on videogame designers, it's
partial scaling. NWN, for instance, uses dynamic encounters that are typically configured within a certain range exactly as I've described above. Bethesda, having gotten tons of stick for their Daedric-totic bandits back in Oblivion, eventually applied a reasonable partial scaling mechanic in Fallout 4 -
areas will scale their encounters to the player's level, but only upon the first visit, following which they remain locked.
The problem that CDPR will face with level scaling in Night City is that it's both highly non-linear and very repetitive - you can roam around wherever you please
and you'll be going through the same areas again and again and again. And its fifty levels constitute a very wide progression range too, another issue with modern videogame design.
If CDPR just let things scale freely, it's quite possible the game will quickly undermine the player's sense of achievement as literally every shithead ganger across Night City is leveling up with them. Might as well throw in some Oblivion Gates.
