If a system becomes so tactically useful to a game that a player is essentially forced to use it constantly, yet that system diminishes the aesthetics or experience of the game as a whole, then it is broken. If this high-utility game system detracts from the experience of the game, then finding some other way to provide similar utility without the problems is important. Or, alternatively, accept the reduced utility. Or even limit it. # Crouch-Walking People do not really do this in real life. They belly crawl, crawl on hands and knees, walk, or run. But real life is no limitation. The problem with it is that in games with stealth, is has become the default movement mechanic. And either it is miserably slow or indistinguishable from regular walking. In either case, you are highly likely to spend the whole game doing it because the player is swiftly punished when they do not. [[Hitman]] does a lot of interesting things here, even though it *does* have a form of crouch walking. - Crouching is actually *suspicious* so you don't want to be doing it unless absolutely necessary - Stealth is more about being in the right disguise (unless you are playing a suit-only challenge) - Line of sight is the most important stealth mechanic and moving quickly is usually more important, so crouch walking just doesn't have the same benefits as some other games These choices make crouch-walking still useful, but make it part of a tactical arsenal rather than something essentially forced upon the player. # Detective Vision A perfect example of this is the Batman Arkham games or really any game with "detective vision" with the notable exceptions of [[FEAR]]/[[Condemned]] and weirdly [[Cyberpunk 2077]]. The reason why detective vision isn't distracting [[FEAR]] and [[Condemned]] is because it is used in extremely specific situations and the developers either didn't allow it at all or didn't provide any benefits outside of those situations even if you could. In [[Aliens vs Predator 2 (video game)|AvP2]], another [[Monolith Productions]] game, you can freely switch between multiple vision modes. There are no limitations. Yet, the experience is never diminished and the normal vision mode is the one used most often. Because each mode has a particular strength. This is particularly relevant to how I end up implementing the [[Thermal Imaging System (TIS)]] and related vision systems in [[Steel Father]]. # Mini-Maps In most games, the minimap is also a victim of its own success. It is too useful not to use constantly, which means I often find myself wondering why we even have 3D games if we are just going to end up staring at a 2D top-down minimap most of the time. # References ```cardlink url: https://youtu.be/sOBL1Lz-YLA title: "Do Stealth Games NEED a Crouch Button?" description: "Crouch-walking has become synonymous with modern stealth games, despite being relatively impractical in real life. I made this video to discuss why the mecha..." host: youtu.be favicon: https://www.youtube.com/s/desktop/711fd789/img/logos/favicon_32x32.png image: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sOBL1Lz-YLA/maxresdefault.jpg ``` - [[Navigation without Minimaps]] - can't find this video, but it probably exists (critique of detective vision)