This article was essentially inspired by… quirks in game design you can observe here and there. None of the games were intentionally badly designed, but having played them these days I had some problems leading me to weird, and yet fun conclusions. About what? Maze games!
I just got a flashback from playing the first Doom where I managed to get lost more times than I could count 🥲
Also, another example that comes to mind is hiding the objective markers off the map until you visibly reach it. E.g. Diablo 2 managed to do it spectacularly. You don't have any markers on the map showing you where to go until you are almost at that spot. I've spent hours upon hours on some locations trying to track down four relics of Khalim, a way to the next section of the desert or any of these cursed waypoints scattered around the map. But it's so satisfying to finally find them.
I think some of the old Doom levels have a maze-like quality, especially when you navigated a bunch of twisting corridors, find a button and press it to hear a door open somewhere. Part of the fun was retracing your steps to figure out what had changed, because sometimes the doors were hidden as part of the walls.
And who can forget the Monkey Island woods on Melee island that you couldn't navigate without the cryptic dance moves map?
I just got a flashback from playing the first Doom where I managed to get lost more times than I could count 🥲
Also, another example that comes to mind is hiding the objective markers off the map until you visibly reach it. E.g. Diablo 2 managed to do it spectacularly. You don't have any markers on the map showing you where to go until you are almost at that spot. I've spent hours upon hours on some locations trying to track down four relics of Khalim, a way to the next section of the desert or any of these cursed waypoints scattered around the map. But it's so satisfying to finally find them.
I think some of the old Doom levels have a maze-like quality, especially when you navigated a bunch of twisting corridors, find a button and press it to hear a door open somewhere. Part of the fun was retracing your steps to figure out what had changed, because sometimes the doors were hidden as part of the walls.
And who can forget the Monkey Island woods on Melee island that you couldn't navigate without the cryptic dance moves map?