I actually love this in videogames. It’s a really cool way to interact with the environment and literally see the world through a different lense with a level of control that no other medium of storytelling can achieve.
Maybe this dude should go watch a movie if he doesn’t want to interact with things.
Like most things, there are good and bad implementations and seeing it too frequently can make it become annoying. I love it for things like Alien/Predator style games that are using something from the movies, or maybe a Batman game if used in moderation.
It does get to be tedious when you can only interact with certain objects by using it first and that kind of game play can be annoying. No, I can’t think of an example off the top of my head but I’m certain I’ve run into that kind of thing before.
Unpopular opinion maybe, but I LOVE that shit!
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
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 me 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.
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.
God yes. It makes everything feel unresponsive and less snappy.
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.
Does holding Alt in Baldur’s Gate 3 fall under this? It doesn’t have any kind of visual effect, but I do often find myself needing to use it to see what can be picked up or interacted with in the area.
It’s because in older games, you could clearly differentiate between the background and the gameplay relevant sprites or models drawn over it. It was a technical necessity but it doubled as communicating to the player what’s important. When technology advanced past that being technically necessary, something needed to take its place. The pulse is just one of many ways to do that and the easiest one to integrate into a realistic artstyle. When you get more stylized, your options open up considerably.
Honestly I would prefer it to just be a highlight, like in CRPGs where either itll highlight the outline of the object or the object itself.
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.
Honestly if I could do this in real life for an object I’m looking for, and have the object ping and light up and flash and shit, I would love it.
I use Tile trackers for this. They’re pretty good.
What about Satisfactory? It has that feature, but it also has alot more pros than cons?
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
I was trying to think on the history of this feature, since i wouldn’t necessarily count something like AvP’s heatvision mode. That’s meant to simulate a real thing, even if it works a bit gamey, by highlighting active objects.
Assassin’s Creed is the game that, for me, codified the mechanic into it’s current form. Hawk Vision or whatever they called it specifically highlighted game objects. I think they even mention that the animus machine is projecting that view to help Desmond see the world how his ancestors would have understood it.
But… I’m going to call the origin as being way farther back. In flight sims, your targeting hud can highlight enemies and targets by drawing little boxes around them. That is the very first instance I can think of where a game highlighted objects of interest for the player’s benefit. Most flight sims (or adjacent genres like mech sims) would also label the box with the name of the thing, sometimes with health, ammo, weapon, or weakpoint indicators as well.
It was big in Dragon Age.
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.
Looking at you Horizon ZD/FW.
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
I’m thinking Splinter Cell had this kind of feature.
