In the early days of Halo I was shocked at how fleshed out the universe was. The games seemed to rush through the story without a ton of background and when playing them I always felt like I was missing some key information. I read some of the books and a Halo encyclopedia and it’s really easy to get lost in the lore!
Young me found that game so confusing! I remember getting stuck in Moria and abandoning it (after also spending ages in the barrow downs)
Wooooo may be worth trying out!!
It certainly works better in some games than others! Usually a HUD element would need to be replaced with a different on-screen visual indicator…how well it works can vary a lot between games and genres.
There are a lot of design choices I love about that game! I’m one of those people however that found the PvP frustrating.
Battlefield 1 just drips with atmosphere, it’s amazing!
I tried that game once, got stuck at one point and put it down. I really need to give it a fair chance!
Holy crap I’ve played so much AC and never thought to try those without the HUD! I feel like unity and syndicate in particular would be great to wander around with no screen clutter!
That sounds glorious! I haven’t played that one yet but it really interests me!
I much prefer a compass to a mini-map, for me the mini-map is the worst offender in terms of pulling my attention constantly into one corner of the screen. Halo’s motion sensor was good in that sense too, I’d check it but not constantly.
That sounds amazing and part of why I loved fallout 4’s survival mode! Does every game in the series have ranger mode?
I think you hit the nail on the head, give me what I need to know when I need it, and make it more environmental when possible. Halo for example had the assault rifle show the ammo count on the gun itself and other games have as well, there are countless other ways to give information organically to the player.
This is a great answer and I learned a new word today! I’m okay with diegetic elements, as it feels organic and as long as it’s not distracting I’m okay with that! I forgot about mirrors edge, the minimal(ish) design of that game is great.
I suppose saying “no HUD” was a bit narrow, the spirit of my question was more about games that don’t have displays and elements pulling too much attention from the game itself. I appreciate the response!
Immersion is one aspect, but I also find that artists put so much work into creating great visuals, it almost feels like I’m ignoring the great things to look at by chasing dots on a map. I really just want experiences that help me focus more on the world in front of me.
As long as it’s not distracting I’m okay with that!
Yessss I feel like developers really have room to get creative with visual elements like that for fighting games. For first person games even just the redness on the edges of the screen is good enough in most cases!
I did the GTA story heists with no HUD but not online, I found those tricky enough already!
I played that aaaages ago and I remember that really stuck out to me at the time!
Oooo I forgot about dead space, that’s a good one! Cyberpunk and prey are on my list!
Oh god are you sending me down a YouTube rabbit hole?!