I’ve seen video essays about metroidvanias that talk about “getting lost”. The real point is to follow clues, feel immersed in a world, learn to find your way, and make interesting decisions.
In Hollow Knight, it’s no problem to use the compass if you find that aspect too burdensome. I really enjoyed my time with Axiom Verge, and I seem to recall it came with a compass as standard? Perhaps that’s wrong, it’s been a few years since I picked that one up.
More to the point, which metroidvanias did you like and what did they do differently?
I’ll probably get it if I hear Obsidian took any creative risks, but so far I’m hearing that it’s a mass appeal oversimplified ARPG with looter shooter vibes. Not really the kind of thing I crave from Obsidian.
Counter-example: I badly suck at Sekiro, but it might be one of the best games I’ve ever played. It’s too stressful to play it unless I’m in the right headspace. Like trying to listen to Dark Side of the Moon during Thanksgiving dinner with your funny uncle, it doesn’t hit.
If you judge any art purely based on its entertainment value or the mere pleasure it gives you, the only value in art will be its market value. That’s just empty to me.
The difference is that I judge games on how I view the meaning and execution behind creative choices I noticed during play. Some will call that pompous or elitist, but it’s really just that I need to be seeking meaning in life. Otherwise why live?
Not joking. Meaninglessness feels worse than just being dead to me, sorry to the anti-intellectuals who are going to laugh at me or call this a new copypasta.
Zombie Kidz is quick, cooperative, and has plenty of achievements (with a sticker book to record them) as well as unlockables through gameplay. You get to use teamwork and planning, and turns occur in quick succession.
It’s great though. Every time I figure something out in that game I feel like the greatest MFer in the universe, and the rest of the time there are cute animals. And it was made by a single unhinged man. Top shelf, game of the decade.
The context only increases the granularity of my distaste. We live in a society of conspiracism and forgetful unthinking chaos. I don’t want to read entrails for clues about the future, I want to wait patiently for a good game and not become schizophrenic trying to connect meaningless dots.
I have a hard time accepting the way social media works. The whole chain of logic you just spelled out makes me want to vomit. I don’t want to have my strings pulled, my chain yanked, or my goose got. I want to be talked to like I’m a person, and I know it’s just going to keep happening less and less and one day it’s going to do my head in.