4. Hand Holding
As used in: Bioshock Infinite and most modern games Games used to be hard. And by that I mean, they made you use a least a fraction of brainpower. Nowadays, the experience seems to have been watered down and put on rails. Take Bioshock Infinite. A stellar (not to mention beautiful) game set in the flying city of Columbia. You are Booker Dewitt, a man who is tasked with finding a girl and getting her safely out of the city. As you enter Columbia, you have no real leads and you slowly find out that it's going to be harder than you thought, as Booker is mistaken for some kind of 'False Shepard'. It's a very immersive experience, with the city of Columbia being extremely colourful and detailed. People are pottering around going shopping, there is a parade cutting through the city, a barbershop quartet is singing the Beach Boys. All that is broken however, when you realise that once you press a specific button, a giant light up arrow appears on the ground and tells you where to go. Screw the Beach Boys. I'm outta here. It's an incredibly jarring feature and a decision that is nonsensical. You feel pushed along a path and Columbia just becomes a theme park ride. Yes, you can stop for as long as you want, but you feel as though it is not intended. And yes, I concede that the argument would be that if you don't like the big arrow, don't use it. But if you know it's there, and you're stuck for even a second, I would defy anyone not to resort to it. Now, it must be said that in Bioshock's 1999 mode the arrow's disabled, and it's better for it, but the whole concept was just wrong. Developers nowadays seem to hold your hand as though you are toddler crossing the street. Go this way, there's a thing here to pick up, shoot him. Gone are the days where you are told to find a key and the only clue you are given is 'It's somewhere in Silent Hill'. Silent Hill's a big place. And we're all grown up. So I think we need to get back to a proper challenge. Not just for your Dark Souls, but for all games. You're going to have to let go of our hand, Developers. Because even toddlers go off to school.