The Batman Arkham games kinda do that right? Except it was more of a toggle when you had it on or not?
That’s different. The detective mode is actually useful for when you have to clear a room. It’s so good that some of the last and hardest enemies in the game are not visible while using it.
Idk halo odst did this and I thought it was pretty cool. Assassin’s creed also did it pretty well (I’ve only played 1, 2, brotherhood, and 3)
It’s cool if it’s done right imo
The only game where I ever found this to be cool, is the one where you literally do that to see because you’re playing as something that has no eyes and has to use echolocation.
That actually sounds pretty interesting. Do you remember the name of it?
Perception.
I believe one of the Arkham games had a sonar mapping feature that did something like that.
I like the way Ghost of Tsushima handled open world navigation with their wind system. Instead of a big GPS line or whatever that takes away from the game, the wind blows in the direction of where you’re going. Very subtle and works narratively while still being able to find where you’re going easily by just observing the world around you.
It did that in a myriad of ways too, not even just the wind. Foxes take you to shrines, there are flocks of birds that indicate haiku spots, and golden parrots that lead you to pretty much any of the POIs you have not yet found. There is even an outfit that comes with a firefly that glows when you’re nearby certain rare items.
I absolutely love it.
What about Satisfactory? It has that feature, but it also has alot more pros than cons?
The big differences for me in Satisfactory is that you are not pinging resources all the time, it’s a small fractional of the gameplay loop. Also, it doesn’t have a super obnoxious screen effect, so it’s more palatable to me
What I never wanna see again is a game having me hold a button instead of pressing it, for literally anything
Topical example would be apace marine 2
God yes. It makes everything feel unresponsive and less snappy.
My god no man’s sky before they finally added the option was a nightmare.
Omg I had no idea you could disable it thank you!
Glad I could be of help lol.
Holding it is better than pressing it 10,000x as fast as you can. That shit is fun when you’re 12. Not so much when you’re twice that age.
I’m positive I couldnt beat Metal Gear Solid 4 again 16 years later. One of the final sequences involves what felt like a 15 minute button mashing section that took extremely in shape 20 somthing to my limit. My fucking forearms cramped like a really bad period
Most games these days have a setting in the accessibility settings section to change tapping to holding, and that’s always one of the first things I check.
This is about normal things like picking up an item, not a QTE. It feels horrible and a pretty big time waster.
They said “for literally anything” but yes, holding a button to pick something up gets annoying.
Toggle sprint, hold zoom, please and thank you
Duck Hunt!
Just make it a toggle to highlight shit. On and off.
I used to play games that permanently highlighted interactive objects. I am playing a game, I don’t need realism.
I remember the first time I sent out a ping in the voxel-based action-adventure game Outcast (1999). I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen.
There are good and bad implementations, but going to have to disagree with op on the whole.
Unpopular opinion maybe, but I LOVE that shit!
I think No Man’s Sky was my first brush with it. In that game the feature is entirely necessary, especially when starting out on survival, but that was ground zero for me.
Looking at you Horizon ZD/FW.
Like in Hogwarts Legacy? Or your Witcher senses in TW3? Oddly I’ve only noticed it really with AAA games
That’s because it’s the easy way out for those studios. Can’t design the macguffins so they’re interesting to find no sir. They’ve got to be well hidden, but that makes it too difficult for the player and we can’t have that! Better implement the Macguffin Highlighter Pulse™ to lead them right to it!
If you don’t like it, don’t press that button
As I’m getting older, I’m definitely starting to appreciate that I just can’t see shit. If the game’s going for an ultra-realistic environment, then there’s just so much more visual clutter that I need help picking things out.
In my opinion, it’s just an accessibility feature. Those are always nicer to have than to not. But if you’re a purist, or you don’t have any problem finding things, then I’d also hope you’d be able to disable it.
💯 Playing through Red Dead Redemption 2 and there is so much detail and it’s beautiful.
…but then when I’m trying to pick out herbs and plants and it’s all so beautifully rendered I don’t know what plants and flowers can be harvested and which are just there to be pretty. Dead Eye is a lifesaver for that.
That desaturated-with-highlighted-items vision is a design choice that does solve a problem even in realistic worlds – even if it’s just to show players something the character can see but is hard for the player to spot.
The problem is that games are designed for it to be used. I hated using Witcher senses in Dying Light 2, but good look finding lootables without it. It’s a cop out solution.
It really depends on the game, you can’t put all games under an umbrella and say it’s all bad. I love the ones in Starfield, warframe, No Man’s Sky, Assassin Creed Origins and Odyssey and many more. As long as it has actual uses more than just highlighting stuff and/or is well designed it’s always welcome IMO. Haven’t played DL2 yet but I really can’t think of any game where it felt like a cop out for otherwise bad design.
If you look at old games, the reason they didn’t need this was because they couldn’t have nearly as many props in a scene. I like to use classic WoW as an example. It didn’t have any kind of highlighting for objects to interact with, but you didn’t need it because there just weren’t that many objects period.
Highlighting interactables, whether it be through a pulse like the meme, or just based on proximity, is a compromise in modern games to make things playable while also having dense, prop-filled environments. The infamous white or yellow paint for climbing surfaces is another example.
I doubt many designers love these solutions, but they’re currently the best we’ve got. It’s not an easy problem to solve, but I hope a more immersive solution comes along someday. In the meantime, having it is better than not, I totally agree with you.
You actively choose not to use it but if you didn’t know about such a mechanic, sometimes you might end up like this.
Recently started a replay of the PS5 BioShock collection (1&2). In 1 the items shimmer to let you know they’re there to interact with, in 2 that setting is off/disabled by default and you don’t realize it until you go digging through the settings after wondering where all the stuff is/went because you sit 15ft/3m from your TV. Utterly frustrating dev choice on normal mode play defaults.
When one guy is playing Morrowind and the other is playing Skyrim.
The first game I remember doing this is The Witcher 2. Not sure if that’s the first game to come up with the idea, but it’s the earliest example I can remember.
I hate picking up items. Oh I always stacked the pull in ability in kingdom hearts.
I see a lot of people saying that this is an accessibility thing, while also allowing you to not miss anything important
But a well designed, uncluttered environment can do both of these things while giving you a more immersive experience
But we can’t do that, because we’re in an endless chase to get the most realistic graphics, and how else are we going to show that off than overly detailing each pixel of stationary on a worker’s desk?
I also see a lot of people saying “just don’t use the feature if you don’t like it”
There’s a famous quote I like. “Given the opportunity, players will optimise the fun out of a game”. And you can bet your ass I do that. In any game with this “scan” feature, I’ll be tapping that like a relapsing porn addict, looking for any new quest npcs, missed collectables or just to see if I’m on the right path. I have a similar issue with minimaps, as they have a comparable effect on gameplay
