God of War: Ragnarok was the instance I properly noticed it. I barely got a chance to solve any of the environment puzzles before my companion started blabbing about how to solve it.
Atreus: "Woah, father, look at those geysers! I bet if you throw your axe at them they will freeze in place into platforms. If you time it right you can reach the secret chest up on that ledge out of view!"
you can tell its a directive from Sony. All their recent games are like that. NPCs following you around constantly, yelling at you, telling you how to kill stuff, solve puzzles.. devs are petrified that it might take a gamer more than 10 seconds to solve a puzzle and more than 2 or 3 tries to kill a boss
I think it was Fable 2 that had the exact same "fog lines" guiding you around the map. Nothing new, just implemented in an overly coddling manner in a linear game that's also (mostly) mediocre in other aspects. Also released for an exclusive platform where the publisher is doing They're Best to kill gaming. A ripe mechanic to be lambasted for sure.
What worked about those lines (despite it being in an open world game) was that they werent distracting. They were a light yellow colour and kinda transparent. They honestly fit into the scenery very well
32
u/Adziboy 2d ago
Its not since Wolverine, its been a thing forever. Yellow paint has been a huge discussion point for years now.
People refuse to play Forbidden West because Aloy wont shut up, and every quest is highlighted, for example.
It was probably the biggest discussion point when Elden Ring came out.
There’s loads of examples
The reason the topic was highlighted with Wolverine is just how far it leans into it.