Top 5 Video Game Features Seem to Have Evolved Backwards!

Today, gaming is better than it’s ever been! With the constant evolution in technology, gaming culture, range, and eSports, there is no better time to be a gamer than now. There’s so much more players can expect from the developers, and there are possibilities that one could ever think of. But has the phenomenal-looking evolution of video games only progressed for good? Well, apparently not for a few of the aspects. 

Over the years, there have been a lot of video game features that came under community scrutiny for moving in the wrong direction. In fact, a lot of the gaming features have been debated to go downhill, contrary to the progress of the technology as a whole. Here’s a list of the top five features that easily make it to the discussion.

1. Video Game Unlockables 

What used to be a bunch of bonus materials, extra weapons, new costumes, or any other stuff that rewards players for completion has been replaced with microtransactions and In-game stores. Basically, all that stuff that used to be free back in the day is now price-tagged for a sales pitch. The biggest example can be given by the latest Assassin’s Creed games. The last few outings of the Ubisoft action RPG have featured a lot of paid additions and unlocked essentials that were initially offered as rewards to earn through playing the game. Other games include fighting epics like Dead or Alive, Call of Duty, and Fortnite cosmetics. 

There are counter-examples as well that have not let the reward unlocking go down as a feature yet. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is one that ideally does the job for the same. 

2. Multiplayer modes in single-player titles 

Multiplayer modes in single-player games were quite a popular trend a while back. Of course, not every video game could bank on the multiplayer factor but there were some pretty fun multiplayer game modes that existed. However, that trend has witnessed a strong decline lately. There are some factors that have led to the separation of multiplayer modes in single-player games. The biggest factor is the debates around multiplayer as an aspect. Although industry giants like Fortnite, and Call of Duty have kept their popularity alive, single-player titles have mostly refrained from experimenting with the modes. 

The Last of Us Factions is one significant chapter that resonates with the story of the multiplayer modes ‘fall’. 

3. In-game level editor support

As the PC gaming culture grew, one thing developers did to build community was to include mods or to give players access to a level editor. Of course, some of the biggest games have it even today including the highly celebrated Fortnite creator mod. We are not saying the In-game level editor mods are dead but they certainly are not what they once were. 

Games like Crysis, Fat Cry 2, Far Cry 5, the list goes on. These games had some amusing tools to help creative gamers go wild with their imaginations. Most of the devs stepped back from adding the access to avoid cheating cases in the game while some just thought the community was past the creator phase. 

4. Interfaces/Menus 

This is one of the most common complaints that has been reported around so many games that are released in recent times. You’d think at this point menus would be a solved problem, but it’s not even close. The latest innovation would look aesthetically pleasing but for a lot of players, these are awkward, crowded, and slow in terms of use. Menu navigation and interface interaction an important aspects for RPG games. In fact, Bethesda’s giant adventures mostly emphasize inventory management. 

It was only after a creator added a game mod to improve Starfield inventory that the players realized what they had been missing out on.  

5. Graphic Settings 

For a lot of PC gamers, graphics performance has been a point of concern. You’d think modern tech tools and high frame generation should be overall improving the experience, but that hasn’t been the case. To reach out to a wider spectrum and smoother functionality, there have been some evident compromises developers have made to their titles lately. Moreover, it feels like frame rate graphic settings and ray tracing technology have gotten complicated and yet so limited. 

Well, it looks like a lot of big games have not been optimized decently. You may call out the DLSS technology for the poor run but there’s a lot in perspective to the graphical porting on PC.

Bonus: Enemy AI

Early stealth games put a lot of emphasis on enemy AI. These aren’t just dummies for your main guy to brutalize. Each enemy was meant to be a challenging puzzle the player had to overcome. A lot of attributes were integrated with the gameplay enemies that added to the realism and immersion of the title. Remember when in Metal Gear Solid, guards could notice your footsteps on snow and hunt you down? It’s one classic example of how the enemy detailing worked. Unfortunately, that specific aspect of video games seems to have regressed to a lot of brain-dead enemies. 

Certainly, there are a lot of exceptions in the category but overall the evolution of enemy AI that once looked so intriguing looks like a part of dust now. 

Which other video game features do you think deserve to be on the list? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

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