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When it's done well, I'm willing to embrace the cinematic nature of these games. Like a movie, the game is taking me on an adventure, but unlike a movie, I am r

When it's done well, I'm willing to embrace the cinematic nature of these games. Like a movie, the game is taking me on an adventure, but unlike a movie, I am responsible for whether my character succeeds or fails. If I don't jump at the right time, or deal with the attacker coming up behind me, my character will die and it will be my fault. Sure, I'm aware somewhere in the back of my mind that everything has been laid out for me, but in my favorite games, I'm able to suspend my disbelief. However, if I can't figure out where to go, or if the game is too hard and I die too frequently, or if the game is too easy and I don't feel a threat, or if the pacing gets bogged down by optional side quests and bullshit skill trees... it's very easy for any of these things to break the illusion. I'd actually hold up Portal 2 as the best example of a linear cinematic experience done right. The pacing is perfect, the difficulty is perfect, and there's no distracting side quests or experience points. Combined with the first person perspective and the mute protagonist, I really feel like I am Chell, trapped inside Aperture Science and talking to Wheatley.

garaetjjte 5y ago
>my character will die and it will be my fault. About that... Tomb Raider 2013 has probably the most gruesome death animations I ever encountered in video game.
- brimble 5y ago
  So much so that it felt like someone involved's... uh, particular interests were coming through in the game, in a way that was kinda off-putting.
- Wowfunhappy 5y ago
  So, I actually suspect that this was intentional, and kind of clever. When games don't have a penalty for dying, players will sometimes fall back on a trial-and-error approach, where each individual attempt stops being meaningful. Some experiences, like Celeste, are designed around this type of gameplay loop, but it usually doesn't work well in a cinematic experience. The most common penalty for dying is lost progress, but this also doesn't work well for cinematic games, because the experience looses its magic once you know what is going to happen. So Tomb Raider takes a different approach. Checkpoints are frequent, but the death animations make you really, really not want to die! I'm very squeamish, so I always had to close my eyes when I died. But even the chance that I might see something was a good incentive!

garaetjjte 5y ago

>my character will die and it will be my fault. About that... Tomb Raider 2013 has probably the most gruesome death animations I ever encountered in video game.

brimble 5y ago
So much so that it felt like someone involved's... uh, particular interests were coming through in the game, in a way that was kinda off-putting.
Wowfunhappy 5y ago
So, I actually suspect that this was intentional, and kind of clever. When games don't have a penalty for dying, players will sometimes fall back on a trial-and-error approach, where each individual attempt stops being meaningful. Some experiences, like Celeste, are designed around this type of gameplay loop, but it usually doesn't work well in a cinematic experience. The most common penalty for dying is lost progress, but this also doesn't work well for cinematic games, because the experience looses its magic once you know what is going to happen. So Tomb Raider takes a different approach. Checkpoints are frequent, but the death animations make you really, really not want to die! I'm very squeamish, so I always had to close my eyes when I died. But even the chance that I might see something was a good incentive!