Shadow of the Colossus - 10 Video Games That Punish You For Exploring
Intro
One of the greatest things about article games is the freedom that they grant you over other visual media to let the story play out however you want and to explore gorgeous, teeming worlds lovingly brought to life by a committed team of artists. But in these 10 games, exploration was less a fun exercise in discovery than it was a chore of frustration, and even an active detriment to the central gameplay loop, so let's take a look at them.
I'm Julie this is what culture does, com, and these are 10 article games that punish you for exploring.
Star wars jedi: fallen order
number 10. Star Wars: Jedi Fall Order Given that Star Wars: Jedi Fall Order offered up eight gorgeously rendered worlds for players to visit, it was a fair assumption that the game would incentivize exploration and discovery in a major way.
The gameplay is heavily inspired, what with players being encouraged to revisit planets once they've acquired more force powers, in turn allowing them to reach new areas. As awesome as that sounds, though. Fallen Order is a mess of contradictions, starting to seem to encourage players to go off-piste but presenting itself in such a frustrating and confusing fashion as to actually discourage it for starters.
The horrible holographic menus are a real chore to make sense of, which, given the aforementioned labyrinth-like nature of the game's worlds, makes even the most basic navigation a real headache. Then there's the game's irksome checkpoint system, whereby resting at a meditation point to restore your health will also cause every enemy in the level to respawn, meaning that it's often impossible to quickly run to a path that you want to check out.
The lack of fast travel makes exploration a chore as well, as there's no way to bypass the mundanity and just get to where you want to go without a bunch of hassle. Anyone hoping to hoover up the game's many collectibles is in an especially dire straight and is aided by the fact that when you die, which you will often have to sit through some disappointingly long loading times even on newer hardware, it adds up to a game that just doesn't respect the player's time and in turn makes the prospect of exploration bafflingly unappealing .
Alien: isolation
9, Alien Isolation The Alien Isolation was rightly praised upon release for the impressively dynamic AI programming for the xenomorph that stalks players throughout the game. However, given how gorgeously reminiscent of the original film's ship, the Nostromo, the space station Sevastopol is, players couldn't be blamed for wanting to stop and smell the roses while traipsing around its halls, even with a terrifying alien creature on the loose while the game absolutely This presents itself as encouraging exploration of the station.
This is in constant conflict with the game's ai design, because the longer you spend walking around aimlessly, the more opportunities the ai has to fling a xenomorph attack your way. If you keep moving, it becomes tougher for the game's adaptive ai to adjust to your tactics, but if you take it slow and explore every nook and cranny, it's just a matter of time before you get waylaid by the xenomorph.
Enough players have complained about this that a mod was eventually created to allow you to freely explore the station without the threat of the xenomorph, which is rather genius.
Final fantasy ii
8, Final Fantasy 2 Final Fantasy 2 is generally accepted to be one of the worst games in the series, and that's in large part due to a maddening gameplay loop that basically begs you to use a guide. The rpg's dungeon design is some of the most infuriating that you'll ever encounter in the genre, with pathways seemingly encouraging exploration, only for them to turn up dead ends full of nothing but utter tedium.
Further compounding the frustration is the higher encounter rate and the many, many trapdoors that will throw you into a room full of tough enemies. The refinements made in the recent pixel remaster reduced the irritation factor somewhat, but this is still some of the most listless and torturously dull dungeon design in the genre's history. For real, unless you are a tireless purist who has to get the job done without any outside help, use a guide or a map to navigate these dungeons for the love of God , Number 7, and mafia.
Mafia
While the original release of Mafia was dismissed by many as yet another me too Grand Theft Auto clone with a period skin job, it really wasn't that at all.
This is perhaps best exemplified by the game's insistence that the player conduct themselves in an orderly fashion outside of missions, to the extent that exceeding the speed limit while driving around the city will actually get you in trouble with the cops. Hell, even running a red light will put you massively at odds with the police, ensuring a greater sense of air quote realism.
When compared to GTA, where the cops don't bat an eye until you've creamed at least a couple of people with your car, though Mafia's recent definitive edition included more granular options to control the cop's aggressiveness, the original game's traffic flow was so aggressively governed by speed limits that there was even an option to activate a speed limiter, ensuring that players couldn't accidentally and repeatedly violate them. Exceed the speed limit: it's all very novel in theory and great for those who love to idly cruise, but it also makes getting around lost heaven an absolutely sluggish chore, in turn making it far less appealing to actually soak in the city's sights, number 6.
Metro exodus
The Metro franchise is first and foremost centered around survival, but considering how impressively detailed the post-apocalyptic world that you're presented with is, the desire to explore is completely undeniable, and yet Metro Exodus, in particular, feels like it's primed to punish those who take detours from the main story path, largely because these subsequent encounters will often put you at a greater disadvantage moving forward.
Atmo and general supplies are incredibly scarce throughout the game, and often the cost-benefit balance of exploring the wider world just simply isn't worth it. It's highly likely that you'll end up with less loot than before, so why even bother? In a game where resource management is key and a single mistake can get you killed, there's very little incentive to go anywhere that you don't need to.
No matter how lovingly crafted the entire game world is, the trade-off for most players just simply isn't worth it.
Deus ex: human revolution
Number five deus ex human revolution, In the case of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, this applies to one specific part of the game's opening level. Back in the saddle, you're tasked with leaving Sarah Industries HQ in order to take on a tense hostage situation, but the game first allows you to explore the office's lobby area if you so wish.
