It’s impossible to pinpoint exactly when big-budget games started assuming that players were irredeemably stupid, but throughout the late 00s and 2010s it became more and more common to see obvious GPS trails showing you where to go, and for characters to talk to themselves to remind you what to do.
The ‘Guardian’ games critic has issues with the newest triple A Marvel game, ‘Wolverine’ not for the gratuitous violence, but because it’s too easy.
Disclaimer, I haven’t played this and have no desire to, not that I’m averse to violent games where you stab and slash people to death at all, but I prefer not to do it face to face, some element of stealth is required for me. And that’s only if there’s no option to long-distance snipe from concealment!
I am not a game designer, but as a critic who loves challenging games and has thought a lot about them, for me there is a difference between a game’s difficulty and its friction. A game might be difficult for all kinds of reasons, intentional or otherwise: perhaps the controls or camera aren’t great; perhaps there’s a mid-game boss with a bafflingly massive health bar and one devastating unblockable attack; perhaps the balancing is off.
Oh, we’ve all played those - games with no auto save, where one wrong move sends you right back to the beginning to start over again. They are what the term ‘rage quit’ was invented for.
Games with perfect friction are clear about showing you what to do, but not overbearing about helping you do it: there is intentional distance, distance that you must broach with agency, strategy and skill. Friction leaves space for frustration and learning, and a sense of achievement.
A lot of modern blockbuster game design seems hellbent on removing this friction. Not sure where to go? Here – follow this brightly coloured trail of fart gas. Not sure how to climb that building? We’ve helpfully painted the ledges yellow. Have you stood still for 30 seconds? We’ll have another character talk in your ear and tell you exactly what you need to do.
Sounds odd, but it’s merely the attempt to help players finish the game, and a lot of helpful hints can be turned off in settings if you don’t need them. Did this critic even try that?
At its best, game design like this helps players avoid becoming irrevocably stuck. At its worst, it totally removes agency and challenge – you know, the reasons that many of us play games in the first place. Fundamentally, a game is only fun if you have to do something. I don’t play games for passive entertainment. That’s what binge-watching Netflix is for.
Oh well, some people undoubtedly do play games for that, and it’s nice they have the choice…
I guess the games critic has escaped the stifling clutches of the ‘Guardian’s HR department’s in-house training, or he wouldn’t be criticising anything that made it easier for people with disabilities to enjoy something!

