What are your gaming "turn-offs"?

[Blackhawk]

Yes.

I'd love a game where you could take a fork, unobserved, and hock it easily. And then also, if you steal a family heirloom, you need to break it down, sell it cheap, or far away.

And totally, yes, the whole thing where (especially in a medieval setting) where all the guards are aware of who you are and you clearly are highlighted for them - that's also very stupid.

On the other side of the country.

And yes, we're talking about Elder Scrolls, where a jumk merchant on the east coast knows instinctively that a dinner fork, identical to every other fork in the world, was stolen on the west coast.

[Skinypupy]

BTW, why isn't a crossbow a real world weapon? Or are you more focused on modern weapons?

Correct, it's just modern weapons that cause me to lose interest.

Generally anything that skews towards "real world" realism - be it weapons, vehicles, locales, etc. - loses me pretty quickly. I play games to escape from the world.

[dbt1949]

I have enough X-Com type games, not to mention FO and Skyrim to fulfill my need for rpg as these games are almost endlessly replayable. And of course Diablo from a long time ago. I love 4X type games but don't want to spend the energy to learn them anymore. Once again the MOO series,Stars in Shadow,Sword of the Stars,Civ series,Space Empires IV satisfy my needs.

[Dramatist]

Realistic. Historical. War.

It just bores me. Now that goes away if it’s from a really long time ago but even then I want some fantasy in my medieval settings too.


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[waitingtoconnect]

Copious amounts of DLC that you are bugged to buy throughout the game. And if you do it unbalances your main game play through (I’m looking at you borderlands). And other dlc adds in a minor but useful feature but not much else for half the cost of the main game (looking at you Paradox!).

[waitingtoconnect]

Copious amounts of DLC that you are bugged to buy throughout the game. And if you do it unbalances your main game play through (I’m looking at you borderlands). And other dlc adds in a minor but useful feature but not much else for half the cost of the main game (looking at you Paradox!).

[Pyperkub]

Yeah, I won't buy Paradox games anymore due to the DLC bloat. I get it, but you need to release catch up versions with all the dlc.

Along the lines of jumping puzzles ( which I actually like in a 3d platformer), but I hate the insta-death falls. Prince of Persia had the great time rewind feature for this, but others really need to just have you catch a ledge or something and do it again rather than die.

Also, falling into water insta- death is stupid

One I haven't seen yet, which bugs the heck out of me. Long involved character creation/modeling/customization before you can start a game. I don't always have the gaming time to spend 15+ minutes on this as soon as I start a game. I much prefer games which put this after some game time has happened.

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[Blackhawk]

15 minutes? Pfft. After 15 minutes I'm lucky if I've picked a hairstyle!

[Rumpy]

One of my bigger ones is when a game will change style at the 11th hour for the boss. For instance, if I've been playing an RPG with skills that I've leveled up, only to completely disregard those skills, it makes me feel like I've wasted time. One game I played did exactly that and turned into a sequence where you were firing arrows at a dragon. The game leads you to a tower with four arrow launchers at each quadrant. I wanted to play an RPG, not a shooter. Since then I've seen more and more examples of this kind of thing.

[Kasey Chang]

My gaming turnoffs are...

* obtuse game mechanics -- if you want me to do something, you better give me some hints after 3rd time I died at around the same spot. Most puzzle games have learned and give you an option to skip the puzzle after umpteenth attempt, but not all action games did. Of course, it could just be I'm bad at such games.

* unclear / inconsistent references -- often an UI, issue, but if you mention X, and you expect players to go there, WHERE that X is should be either obvious, or can be found via some sort of in-game reference. If I have to go consult a strategy guide or walkthrough, you'd lose my interest. Mass Effect Andromeda is guilty of this quite often as you need to remember which bar is which on what planet. The quest list doesn't always show the place you need to go to.

* weird difficulty spike (could be related to obtuse new game mechanic) -- the infamous "The Butcher" in OG Diablo is one such. Telling players "you don't have to fight him" is not exactly an answer. Same with the OG Wing Commander Defecting Ralari mission.

* stupid controls -- by now there are clear and obvious "standards" on how certain controls *should* be mapped, like WASD for FPS. If someone invented a new way to control things, but doesn't offer the "traditional" way without a lot of effort to remap, that's an instant turn-off. That's that martial arts game. It's beautiful, but they start to include some weird "click and drag" mechanic. My mouse would NEVER work on it, and I can never get past that stage. They offered me to skip a couple times, but I'm not going to play if I have to skip EVERY combat sequence after that. Another one was Need for Speed, the 2010 one I think. They mapped "engine on/off" to button B on the controller, which is usually the handbrake. WTF?! WHY would I even care about turning the engine on/off in a driving game? Why do you need to dedicate a major button for that?!?!?!

* Why is there a game X in my game Y? -- same idea as Rumpy's complaint... Why did the game designer think throwing in a different genre game in the middle of a genre game is considered "innovation"? If I am playing a driving game, I should not be playing a platformer where I have to jump from roof to roof, hit a ramp at the right speed, and land on something precisely. Yet that's what happened to Crash Time games. Or how Dynamix ran out of ideas with Stellar 7 remake. They made a sequel called Nova 9, except it's a pure puzzle game, no longer about tank combat.

[Rumpy]

Good ones, Kasey. There seem to be a lot of unclear and inconsistent references in foreign games that have had translations. I remember playing a game several years ago. The tutorial said one thing, and I absolutely could not figure out what it was referring to. It was baffling. Turned out to be something rather simple, but the bad translation led to some word I'd never come across before in that context.

Just thought of another one related to the stealing mechanic. If there's a part of the story that requires you to steal something, and it's mandated by the story, then please don't ding me for it!, unless it's understood that it's something important that will have authorities swarming you. Too often, I'll do something the game asks me to do and punishes me for it.

It's the same kind of logic seen in Red Dead Online. In Online, you'll sometimes get a message saying there's a bounty on your head (it can be very random) and to prepare to defend yourself. So you do, and you shoot your opposition dead. But then the game dings you for it all the same for defending yourself and marks you. Contradictory much? It's like games have no way to tell you're in the right.

[Hipolito]

The Game that Wouldn't End: It looks like I'm approaching the finale. My palms sweat, my heart palpitates. I take on the boss and get my butt kicked a few times but eventually win. Yes! Now give me the girl and roll credits. Oh wait, there's more dialogue with the boss. The boss takes on a second form. I beat that one. More dialogue. Another form. I beat it. It was the final form, but not the final boss! Now I have to visit every town again. Arrrgh, just let the fat girl sing already.

Tiny text: It seems developers sit just a foot away from their monitors and assume that's how we all play games. So what looks clear to them is just fuzzy to me when I'm playing on a large TV ten feet away. Oh well, at least I get some exercise by getting up from the couch to take a closer squint at the TV.

Characters not really interrupting each other: Lots of games with spoken dialogue has this problem. Person A is speaking, and Person B is supposed to rudely cut Person A off. But what instead happens is that Person A trails off into silence, then Person B chimes in. Persona 3 is the only game that handled interruptions correctly. Even if you had set the game to wait until you pressed a button before playing the next line of dialogue, the interrupter didn't wait. That's how it should be done. Strangely, Persona 4 and 5 messed up and brought the problem back.

Climactic theme for an anticlimactic scene: We got caught! The game's playing thrilling chase music. The bad guys are on their way and I have to get out! But wait, let me first explore the room for loot. And then I'll hit Esc so I can adjust my inventory and play some audio logs I forgot about. By all means, game, continue playing that skull-rattling chase music, that's not annoying at all.

[Rumpy]

Tiny text: It seems developers sit just a foot away from their monitors and assume that's how we all play games. So what looks clear to them is just fuzzy to me when I'm playing on a large TV ten feet away. Oh well, at least I get some exercise by getting up from the couch to take a closer squint at the TV.

God yes, and it's subsequently worse with console games where it's normal to sit far from the TV while playing. I've been dealing with vision problems for the past several months that have only made this issue worse. Admittedly, some studios seem to have gotten better at implementing accessibility options, such as increasing text and UI sizes, and first-party Sony studios have been particularly good at this. But overall, it's an issue that's only going to get worse as resolutions become higher too.

I've been playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and some of the text can be incredibly hard to read. I've been passing on the treasure hunts for this reason, as for some reason the clues are shown in a small text box.

[Kasey Chang]

Let me add another one, which is related to several I've mentioned:

* You want me to do what? -- I've burned out on Hot Wheels Unleashed, as I don't really want to replay existing races and I can't unlock any more races due to some impossibly tough courses. So I went to read some strategy guides. Turns out there's a mechanic I've not discovered: shortcuts. There are certain sections on certain tracks you can SKIP if you take the jump a certain way or go "off road". It'd be the only way you can achieve faster laptimes on those tracks. Frankly, that's just ridiculous in a racing game, even if it's based on toys. I'm already on the best vehicle(s) in the game. If I can't win with that, I must suck as a driver, or the game's obtuse. In a way, this is a mixture of SEVERAL different gaming turnoffs.

[Brian]

Don't know if it's necessarily a turn off but certain games lately (or more specifically Anno 1800, which I've been playing a lot of recently) will reach a level of complexity that my tapioca brain just can't handle.

Once I've got multiple islands with different trade routes and resource requirements and trying to meet the never ending and ceaselessly changing needs of my population I eventually, and too quickly given the scope of the game, completely shut down.

I'm playing on the least difficult mode and have watched a ton of really excellent tutorials but I just stop having fun once I reach that point and simply start over or go back to Civ6 yet again.

[Rumpy]

I'll go ahead and say it:
Survival Elements.

Done right, I think they can make a game fairly fun. But it's when they aren't well-implemented that it becomes a turnoff. Case in point, I bought a game several years ago I thought I might enjoy, Kim, based on the Rudyard Kipling story. It's billed as an rpg set in Colonial India, and it has its charms. But it has awful survival elements I felt detracted from the overall experience leading me to uninstall it. I'd wanted to play it like an rpg, the way it was billed, but the survival elements meant I'd face a starvation every 2 or 3 minutes leaving me to deal with it all the time rather than spending any time actually making any progress in the rpg part of the game.

[GreenGoo]

Busy work.

Define that as you will.

[Unagi]

While it doesn't really affect me, as I just try and ignore it, I always sneer at the 'Holiday DLC' (Xmas & Halloween) that just so many B-level games (and even some bigger titles) seem obligated to make. I'm not sure if it's just as a 'money grab' (I mean, of course... but...) - or if it's designed to help Youtuber-type content get some fresh eyes (probably both).

Something like a Prison Architect Spooky Night* or American Truck Simulator doing some Xmas Cab Decorations DLC *...

*(I don't mean either of those were real, but the thing that comes to my mind)

[JCC]

Agree on many things mentioned above (particularly unadjustable tiny text).

In the year 2023 AD, every single game should allow me to save any time I want and have it be done quickly. It is just unacceptable for this to not be a standard feature in all games.

On a similar note, quick loading should also be easy and actually quick. Having recently replayed Dishonored, I could do both of these things and both were delightfully quick.

[Unagi]

In the year 2023 AD, every single game should allow me to save any time I want and have it be done quickly. It is just unacceptable for this to not be a standard feature in all games.

I usually appreciate this as being an artifact of the design/development of the game - and that there are just certain times where the "game state" just isn't actually pegged down for what they developed. I'm also frustrated by it, but I generally just hold it against the 'genre' that leans that way (basically all console games brought to or shared with the PC) - and hate them all as a group - even to some degree when they genuinely have come up with a clever way to make it look like they aren't still doing it.

[Isgrimnur]

Let me add another one, which is related to several I've mentioned:

* You want me to do what? -- I've burned out on Hot Wheels Unleashed, as I don't really want to replay existing races and I can't unlock any more races due to some impossibly tough courses. So I went to read some strategy guides. Turns out there's a mechanic I've not discovered: shortcuts. There are certain sections on certain tracks you can SKIP if you take the jump a certain way or go "off road". It'd be the only way you can achieve faster laptimes on those tracks. Frankly, that's just ridiculous in a racing game, even if it's based on toys. I'm already on the best vehicle(s) in the game. If I can't win with that, I must suck as a driver, or the game's obtuse. In a way, this is a mixture of SEVERAL different gaming turnoffs.

Hydro Thunder. Impossible to win unless you "cheat".

[Kurth]

Situations where there's a difficult challenge, hard to overcome, and the nearest save point requires you to spend a lot of time/energy getting back from your reload to the challenge.

I mentioned in another thread that I started playing the pixel-horror game, Lamentum, the other day. It was doing a great job sucking me in, and then I hit an annoyingly challenging (for me anyway) section where you have to work your way through a maze with spike trap squares scattered through it and large piston mechanisms trying to push you on to the spikes. Worse, once you navigate through it and claim the necessary prize at the end, you have to backtrack to the beginning, doing the whole thing over again in reverse. I've died so many times.

It's not one of those puzzles that's impossible. If I keep at it, I'll get it. But every time I die and reload, I have to walk what seems like a country mile from the save point to the spike maze puzzle. In reality it probably takes a minute or less, but it's driving me fucking nuts. So much so that I'm about to quit this game entirely.

Just move the damn save point closer to a challenging puzzle if you're going to insist on including those in the game!

[Skinypupy]

MMO(ish) games that don't allow you to restart or roll a new toon (Warframe, Genshin Impact, Skyforge).

If you happen to step away from the game for a while and forget mechanics, systems, or how the gameplay loop works? Whelp, good luck. Here's a few text tutorials...hope you can figure it out.

[Kraken]

When you watch the screen for a minute or more, scrolling the map, waiting for something to happen, and realize you're still paused. (Not the game's fault, I know.)

[dbt1949]

When you with find the game's not complete without one or more dlcs.

[LordMortis]

Agree on DLC overload, non pausable single player, and tiny text. I'll add washed out dark looking stuff that make it hard to differentiate stuff. My vision for contrast is getting worse as I get older and the idea that a game, for instance features dusk, where stuff blends together for artistic purposes but makes it so I cant tell dead thing x from live thing x and with no easy way (like an alt key highlight) and no in game reason to make seeing difficult just annoys me.

[Holman]

Here's my controversial take: I don't like 3rd-person play, i.e. looking at the butt or over the shoulder of the character who is "me." I've avoided many games for this design feature alone.

The terrific reputation of The Witcher 3 finally made me break through this prejudice. Even so (and even though I know many of the game's mechanics are only possible in this point of view), I always find myself wishing I were looking through Geralt's eyes Skyrim-style rather than from a few feet behind him.

[Holman]

Oh, and another one (though not controversial): toxic multiplayer communities.

Some people here have talked about disliking modern war and real weapons, but I'm the opposite. A realistic multi-player shooter with serious ballistics and lots of kit and that rewards genuine teamwork (e.g. Squad or ARMA) would be just heaven for me, but almost every time I join a server I get fed up with the racism and idiocy I have to put up with in chat.

I guess I could make the effort and find a group of serious players who behave like adults, but so far I haven't done so. As is, I log off the first or second time I hear a racial slur.

[Madmarcus]

Timing or jumping puzzles and non-pausable single player are fairly big ones. My wife likes to talk to me when I'm gaming!

More controversial is that any interaction with other human players is a turn off. I don't mind seeing them in the game or passively interacting through an asynchronous marketplace or something like the Dragon's Dogma toons but I really don't want to divide my attention between the action and a chat channel or worry about how my play stacks up to someone else's opinion of optimal play.

[Blackhawk]

Some people here have talked about disliking modern war and real weapons, but I'm the opposite. A realistic multi-player shooter with serious ballistics and lots of kit and that rewards genuine teamwork (e.g. Squad or ARMA) would be just heaven for me, but almost every time I join a server I get fed up with the racism and idiocy I have to put up with in chat.

I used to love modern military/tactical sims, but I had a similar experience - they have become a haven for hard-right militia types, a way to live out their fantasies, and they aren't subtle about it. Between that and what's been going on in Ukraine, I find that I have a very hard time enjoying realistic modern military anything anymore. There is just an aftertaste that I can't stomach anymore.

[Lagom Lite]

Turn-offs:

1. Steam-comments such as "This game has SUCH good WRITING!" usually means, I've learned, that the game is unnecessarily verbose and bloated in text. Isometric RPGs from Obsidian (Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny etc) are good examples of how MORE writing isn't at all the same as GOOD writing. It annoys me to no end when some fan-fiction level fantasy author wannabe wastes my time with their verbose trite.

2. Shooters, or any game that relies on me having quick reactions.

3. Post-Apocalyptic settings. The drama already happened apparently, why couldn't I have a game about the events leading up to the disaster? I mean it's too late now. All that's left to do is to survive, for a while, and loot the scraps from better days. It's just too depressing for me.

4. City-builders or "God-games". While I often love strategy titles, something about City-builders specifically puts me off. This, combined with Turn-off no. 3 above, means I still haven't played Frostpunk, which I'm sure is an excellent game. I even bought it on sale. But I just can't bring myself to boot it up.

5. Slow-drip patch philosophy. When a game is released and immediately patched, and patched again, and again, over months and months, corrupting every save every time, apparently not finished and should have been labeled "Early access" so I could have avoided it. Paradox does this a lot, so nowadays I just avoid their titles until the company loses interest in supporting it. By then, the game might be ready for release, at sale for a reasonable price including for the inevitable DLCs, and maybe a great title at that.

[Buatha]

In addition to most of the previous comments, I've discovered a new peeve with Midnight Suns: Rated Missions

"Thank you for saving the world...but you could have done it a little faster. 1 Star!"

Eff you, Watcher/Beyonder/Living Tribunal...or whatever entity is rating my performance.

[Blackhawk]

3. Post-Apocalyptic settings. The drama already happened apparently, why couldn't I have a game about the events leading up to the disaster?

Have you read the news lately? You're already playing!

[Isgrimnur]

Parapocolyptic at best.

[Unagi]

I still haven't played Frostpunk, which I'm sure is an excellent game. I even bought it on sale. But I just can't bring myself to boot it up.

It's brutal on the 'depressing' scale... You are probably better off.

[Unagi]

Not really in the spirit of the OP question, but I wish there was a good modern Sherlock Holmes game that didn't include Cthulhu or the occult.
* this could be based on old data/opinions from when I last left the genre.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Not really in the spirit of the OP question, but I wish there was a good modern Sherlock Holmes game that didn't include Cthulhu or the occult.

There is, it's just analogue rather than digital. But this only enhances the experience, like the 'feelies' included with Infocom games back in the day (that were largely inspired by the original version of the same game).

[Unagi]

Not really in the spirit of the OP question, but I wish there was a good modern Sherlock Holmes game that didn't include Cthulhu or the occult.

There is, it's just analogue rather than digital. But this only enhances the experience, like the 'feelies' included with Infocom games back in the day (that were largely inspired by the original version of the same game).

big smiles - and - so close
Absolutely in the right frame of mind - but sadly I will let you know that I already own both "Thames Murders" and "Jack the Ripper/West End Murders" - (some critiques of both, but yes - this is exactly my desire)


Had I not known of these, I would have been very very happy to learn of even these analog solutions.

having known of these, I'm just thrilled to find someone else that celebrates them. I'll take it!!

[Rumpy]

3. Post-Apocalyptic settings. The drama already happened apparently, why couldn't I have a game about the events leading up to the disaster? I mean it's too late now. All that's left to do is to survive, for a while, and loot the scraps from better days. It's just too depressing for me.

I did appreciate the moments at the beginning of Fallout 4 that were spent before the events. That said, I think it would be fun to have a game leading up to it, with the final chapter being the event in question. They could do something like that with a Fallout Prequel.

[Holman]

3. Post-Apocalyptic settings. The drama already happened apparently, why couldn't I have a game about the events leading up to the disaster? I mean it's too late now. All that's left to do is to survive, for a while, and loot the scraps from better days. It's just too depressing for me.

The thing is, post-apocalyptic settings are all about the struggle for survival or restoration or exploitation now that the old order is gone. The game consists of doing hard things and making hard choices with a lot of freedom of action. That freedom is the game.

A pre-apocalyptic game would be one where the old order persists, and thus its rules and protections are still in place. Where's the game in that?

Of course there's room for grey areas (e.g. the zombie apocalypse has begun, but it hasn't yet reached your town), but I'd argue that there is really only a game to the degree that the player can act outside of the old/normal rules of society. I mean, the game could be about fortifying a town, but even that scenario has left the pre-apocalyptic order and its norms behind.

I don't mean to dump on the opinion you're presenting. Watching the apocalypse slowly approach and begin to unfold is *great* stuff for novels and movies and TV. (My favorite parts of The Stand are all in the long slow burn of the first third of the book.) But I'm not sure there's much potential gameplay there.