Can you remember, and humanize
One of the best and most enduring traits of the gaming medium is the way in which it has the potential to be just about anything to anyone through the sheer variety of genres, sub-genres, and new genre titles that some developers try to coin despite the fact their game neatly fits into genres that already exist. (>Cough< The Wayward Realms is just a sandbox RPG >Cough<) And with each of these divisions and sub-divisions we get new and interesting quirks and facets which stand out and make that sort of game special to it's fans. Whether it's the all-encompassing immersion of a role playing game, the social atmosphere of an MMO or the undying, break-neck, competition of a Battle Royale. They all glitter with appeal to someone out there, and sometimes even overlap with their little features and boons. Which got me to wondering... what types of features and shades to people's favourite game type do they sit around wish were more widely used across the wider spectrum of games? What would make you seek out a further selection of games if only this one bulletpoint was on the back of more boxes? And what does that say about your favourite dream game out there?
Through merit of simply writing this blog, it's likely that you can predict a few of my own already, but maybe there's a few surprises sprinkled in here that'll throw you off my scent. That being said, my first example is no great surprise to anyone, least of all myself, in that it's what I call 'Freeform Stealth', or to be more specific: objectives that have multiple stealthy approaches to them, including the option to just go in guns blazing if you want to. Typically seen in bigger immersive Sim games like Bioshock, Deus Ex and Dishonored; it's an emphasis on player freedom that leaves a feeling that you are almost never out of options or completely stuck. Perhaps the enemy of truly tough feeling games, then, because by it's very design you'll never be forced to morph yourself in order to approach this encounter in the 'right' way, but by another side of that coin, you are left with so much replay value in which you make each mission as hard or as easy as you want it to. It's by no means an easy approach to game design, requiring each level to be meticulously crafted with 3D awareness to everything you're doing, but when done right and consistently (>Cough< Cyberpunk >Cough<) I find it elevates the material around it and typically creates incredibly special games.
But that's more the lofty side of a topic like this, how about the more weird ones? Like the way I wish more games, regardless of their genre, found ways to wind in companions to the story? I know that sounds a little 'out-there' and/or 'non-sensical' but bare with me here; game narratives where you focus on the story of one person going through the world like a man-on-fire feel so limiting. Some of my favourite games features Companions, or Followers, or Confidants; just anyone else who can offer their own perspective and has their own goal. Perhaps I just like the formula of someone on their specific journey to self discovery that cannot cross the final finish-line without the player's intervention; it makes me feel valued. Were more games able to find companions in them, the fleshed out kind, I think it would really open up the potential to fall head over heels with more stories and enrich the overall play experience. Or maybe I'm just lonely. Probably the latter.
Oh, here's one I don't see so often: Safehouses. Coined as such because of their appearance in GTA III, Safehouses are places for the player to go to between missions, whether that be to save the game, change clothes or simply to relax; and not enough games have them. I feel like if you have any sort of explorable world, unless we're talking about a hyper-focused linear journey game, you need that base of operations merely to offset the feeling of adventure. I don't think this is so much a functional ask, as the role I'm expecting such places to fill is almost spiritual. A home to unwind within means so much in the art of contrast, and it's the reason why when we have games that half-ass safehouses it feels like there's a chunk missing from the formula of the game itself. (Like with Far Cry or Cyberpunk) I'm not sure if this reads even remotely logical to you, but trust me when I say that I'm deeply passionate about this one.
On the side of more recent features I've grown to love, this entry almost comes as an indignant demand; why aren't there more consistent creeping power levels between whole series? What I'm talking about is essentially the thing which the Baldur's Gate series did which made me love it so much, whereupon you reached the endgame of the first title and moved onto the next game at the exact same power level, so that the threat of the world increased with each entry. Baldur's Gate made their finales entire worlds away from each other, so that someone who completed 1 could feasibly find themselves utterly beside themselves in attempting to finish Throne of Baal. It made the series feel like one continuous story, much more than how most games do it by continuing the story but resetting the gameplay back to square-one again. I don't know how I'm going to go back to the way things used to be, and Pillars of Eternity II is already starting to grate because I've seen how good it could have been! This might be a case of 'you'd understand if you played it', but more games need to follow the example of this old master.
And talking of 'following the masters' how about more people getting aboard and really following the examples laid out for us by Dark Souls? And by that I mean proper environmental storytelling. I'm not just talking about 'Skeleton on the floor next to loaded gun equals murder and/or suicide maybe' (thanks Fallout) no, I'm talking narratives wherein the very world itself weeps the story. Games where a simple empty plinth next to a pantheon of statues can tell you wonders about who was meant to stand there and can spark speculation as to why they're not doing so anymore. Where the warping of the world is loosely stated, but explicitly shown. Where the visual medium of games remembers that it can just as easily show, instead of always telling. Leave it to the world a bit more, trust in your audience to figure it out. Or heck, let them debate endlessly about definition until they're blue in the face; either way when handled right it gives your narrative more tangibility.
But the last spot I have for this little list must go to perhaps the most conceited of these 'features' that I wish were in more games. In fact, this might not so much be a 'feature' and just a request that more games were exactly like this subgenre. I'm talking about Social simulation. (Persona, baby!) Stepping into the mundane and extraordinary at the same time is what defines Persona and makes it a game that is so instantly identifiable for so many out there. You could load up Persona 4 and fall for it's innocent, sleepy charm in no time flat, and the social simulation world is the engine that fuels that charm. So many game types could make use of just some simple social simulation elements. Imagine a Persona-Pokemon game; it just fits, doesn't it? If real friends are too hard to maintain, let us make virtual one's I say!
So that is just a few of the ideas I had off the top of my head, but when it comes to a topic like this there are obviously so much more that any and everyone can say for their own reasons. So I challenge you to ponder your favourite games and what it is that makes you resonate with them so; can that be transposed to other games types and would that ultimately make them better? Next time I want to try and devise an existing game and how it could neatly fit in some of my own suggestions up here, but I recommend you to share some your own ideas in the comments; get some creative juices flowing. Maybe somewhere along the line we'll end up coming up with the blueprints to the ever-elusive perfect game. (Or just a unique mess; either way it'll be fun.)
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