4-18-26 - Gameplay is Paramount

The unique aspect of playing a video game in comparison to other forms of media is control. You have agency, albiet prescribed by the developers, to press the buttons at your fingertips and affect the world. From this comes my core opinion about whether I like a game or not, do I enjoy the gameplay.

If the core gameplay is not fun I will probably not like a game. A lot of games people like have gameplay that feels bad and while i recognize that it can have themactic value, for many games I find this as insuufiecient. As an example I bounced off uncharted 4 very hard because the gunplay felt horrible and the slow platforming in a number of sections did not feel fun enough to keep me going. Basically all my favorite games have gameplay I will defend with my life. Destiny has maybe the best feeling gunplay on account of bungie’s very good sound design and other systems to make everythign feel satisfying. Many games fall into the category of “fun dash” such as hollow knight, hades, celeste and ultrakill. Titanfall 2 has movement and gunplay unmatched by most modern fps’s. Even the rpgs I like have this core property.

This philsophy gives me an aversion to slower games which I do think about often. I played red dead 2 and it was fun with music and distractions. I might just have cooked my zoomer brain but I do think I can enjoy the gameplay of big rpg’s if it feels fun.