{"id":780138,"date":"2026-09-23T16:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T16:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780138\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T16:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T16:34:12","slug":"why-fans-are-digging-their-claws-into-wolverine-over-its-patronising-gameplay-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780138\/","title":{"rendered":"Why fans are digging their claws into Wolverine over its patronising gameplay | Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marvel\u2019s Wolverine, the latest action game from Sony\u2019s stable of expensive blockbuster-factory studios, has had an unfortunate launch. Reviews were decent<\/a>, if not stellar, but a series of viral video clips from reviewers and streamers have made it the scapegoat for a patronising flavour of game design that gamers have hated for decades. This clip<\/a>, from Skill Up\u2019s review, shows the player entering a beautiful wintry landscape before being overwhelmed by visual cues telling them what they\u2019re supposed to be doing there. Sonar pulses point you in the direction of objectives. Targets \u2013 which, it bears emphasising, are shaped like targets \u2013 get an extra reflective visual effect so you know you\u2019re supposed to pay attention to them. A trail shows you not just where to go, but where the level\u2019s sole hidden collectible is.<\/p>\n

It is hand-holding to the point of parody. Indeed, it reminded me of the sniggersome Mario in Unreal Engine<\/a> satirical videos<\/a> that makes the social media rounds every few months (\u201cA mushroom? I should take a look at this\u201d). Skill Up\u2019s clip has been followed by hundreds of others, gleefully ripping into Wolverine with ironic savagery. In one much-copied clip, a streamer simply lays down his controller during a motorbike chase sequence and watches as Wolverine speeds on regardless, bouncing off the scenery as the game plays itself.<\/p>\n

People really detest this kind of thing. It\u2019s impossible to pinpoint exactly when big-budget games started assuming that players were irredeemably stupid, but throughout the late 00s and 2010s it became more and more common to see obvious GPS trails showing you where to go, and for characters to talk to themselves to remind you what to do. At the same time, there\u2019s been a cyclical discussion over the difficulty of games: every time a notably challenging game comes out, we rehash the same talking points about whether all games should have easy modes. Is it acceptable for games to shut players out if they aren\u2019t prepared to \u201cgit gud\u201d?<\/p>\n

I am not a game designer, but as a critic who loves challenging games<\/a> and has thought a lot about them, for me there is a difference between a game\u2019s difficulty and its friction. A game might be difficult for all kinds of reasons, intentional or otherwise: perhaps the controls or camera aren\u2019t great; perhaps there\u2019s a mid-game boss with a bafflingly massive health bar and one devastating unblockable attack; perhaps the balancing is off. But a game\u2019s friction is always an intentional part of its design. Friction is about how much a game helps you achieve its tasks. Games with perfect friction are clear about showing you what to do, but not overbearing about helping you do it: there is intentional distance, distance that you must broach with agency, strategy and skill. Friction leaves space for frustration and learning, and a sense of achievement.<\/p>\n

\u2018A game is only fun if you have to do something\u2019 \u2026 007 First Light. Photograph: IO Interactive A\/S<\/p>\n

A lot of modern blockbuster game design seems hellbent on removing this friction. Not sure where to go? Here \u2013 follow this brightly coloured trail of fart gas. Not sure how to climb that building? We\u2019ve helpfully painted the ledges yellow. Have you stood still for 30 seconds? We\u2019ll have another character talk in your ear and tell you exactly what you need to do. Playing through the opening hours of 007 First Light<\/a> recently, I was dismayed when Bond inevitably acquired a watch that magically highlights important things in his vicinity with the press of a button.<\/p>\n

At its best, game design like this helps players avoid becoming irrevocably stuck. At its worst, it totally removes agency and challenge \u2013 you know, the reasons that many of us play games in the first place. Fundamentally, a game is only fun if you have to do something. I don\u2019t play games for passive entertainment. That\u2019s what binge-watching Netflix is for. If you don\u2019t have to invest anything to reap the rewards, the experience just washes over you.<\/p>\n

Games can be difficult and have high friction. In Hollow Knight: Silksong<\/a>, you are constantly figuring out what to do, where the next boss might be, how to open that tantalisingly blocked path. Achieving those goals is then also very challenging, requiring practice and mastery of whip-fast fighting and precise jumping. Or they can be high-friction, low-difficulty: Blue Prince<\/a> tells you literally nothing about how to make your way to its mansion\u2019s secret 46th room, but it\u2019s not difficult to walk around and try out ideas. An example of a low-friction, high-difficulty game, meanwhile, would be a combat-focused one like Devil May Cry<\/a> (or most shooters), where the aim is always \u201ckill all the guys to open the next area\u201d but actually killing all those guys is majorly demanding.<\/p>\n

Low-friction, low-difficulty games hold very little interest. Many mobile games fall into this category, where you barely have to do anything save prod the screen to provoke a dopamine-shower of flashy visual effects (I\u2019m looking at you, Monopoly Go). It\u2019s unfair to lump Wolverine in with these almost entirely valueless games \u2013 but it is instructive that it has been subjected to such ridicule.<\/p>\n

The infamously challenging Dark Souls<\/a>, a dramatically influential game that turned 15 years old this week, seemed to remind the entire games industry that you can actually trust players: that they won\u2019t drop the controller and storm off as soon as they get skewered by a skeleton. That there\u2019s immense and unique pleasure in participating in a game, unravelling it, conquering it little by little with skill and understanding. I hope that the reaction to Wolverine will serve as another reminder of that fact, for any executives who need to hear it.<\/p>\n

What to playPsychosocial dread \u2026 Silent Hill: Townfall. Photograph: Screen Burn<\/p>\n

Konami\u2019s horror series is on a roll lately. The Silent Hill 2 remake was very well received (with a few exceptions, including our critic<\/a>), last year\u2019s feminist, small-town Japanese horror story Silent Hill: f was excellent, and now Silent Hill: Townfall has succeeded in sending the series to a new setting: an island off the Scottish coast. Per our reviewer Lewis Gordon<\/a>: \u201cThis is a taut, smart tale, less about psychosexual terror than psychosocial dread\u2026 Townfall seems to understand that some things should remain shrouded in fog. The fate of St Amelia naturally festers in our imagination. How very Silent Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Available on: PS5, Xbox, PC
Estimated playtime: 12-15 hours<\/p>\n

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What to readPikachu in spaaaaaace \u2026 a toy Pikachu floats inside the International Space Station. Photograph: S Adenot\/ESA\/NASA\/SWNS<\/p>\n

Pikachu is now an astronaut<\/a>, thanks to a collaboration between Pok\u00e9mon and the European Space Agency as part of the franchise\u2019s seemingly endless series of 30th birthday celebrations. Human astronaut Sophie Adenaut brought a Pikachu plush up to the International Space Station, where it spent 67 days in orbit.<\/p>\n

According to Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka, Sega was once poised to kill off the whole Sonic franchise. It was the success of 2020\u2019s live-action Sonic movie that saved it. \u201cI had to fight within the organization to keep the franchise as long as possible,\u201d he told One More Game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new Resident Evil movie is out, and it\u2019s going down well<\/a>. Aftermath describes<\/a> it as like watching your inept stoner roommate play the games; certified horror-game enjoyer Keith Stuart says it\u2019s one of the best video game adaptations he\u2019s seen.<\/p>\n

The Tokyo Game Show had to wrap up one day early last week due to an incoming typhoon. Gamesindustry.biz has a slightly depressing rundown<\/a> of the show, which was heavily dominated by AI.<\/p>\n

There have been yet more dramatic changes<\/a> at Microsoft\u2019s Xbox division. The company is all but closing Halo Studios and moving Halo\u2019s development to Activision, which will also now be in charge of storied British studio Rare. Multi-BAFTA-winning studio Ninja Theory is starting consultations on a proposed closure, having failed to find a funding deal to return itself to independence.<\/p>\n

What to clickQuestion BlockSurreally European \u2026 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Photograph: Kepler Interactive<\/p>\n

Reader Mike asks: \u201cI just finished reading your article about the GameCube, which ironically got me thinking about the PS1 & 2, marvellous machines which I remember fondly. The game I got bundled with my PS2 was \u2018Shadow of Memories\u2019 which sticks with me to this day, the story was magnificent and also beautifully rendered, with multiple endings. Are there any similar \u2018timeywimey\u2019 games set in beautiful European villages, evoking memories of this game, out there today? Either on Android or PS5?\u201d<\/p>\n

This question unearthed a bunch of half-remembered fragments from the early days of the PS2 \u2013 I definitely played Shadow of Memories as well. It\u2019s a Konami game about a young German travelling through time, trying to solve his own murder. You mentioned games available on PS5, so here are a few that have some of the same elements. The Life is Strange<\/a> series is set in the US but has a similar time-travel and murder-solving premise; Clair Obscur<\/a> is a very different kind of game but is as uniquely and surreally European; this year\u2019s Japanese RPG The Adventures of Elliot<\/a> involves travelling through different eras to prevent a catastrophe. None of these have the same strange adventure-game atmosphere as Shadow of Memories, though \u2013 that\u2019s something that felt really specific to the PS2 era. Readers, have you any more suggestions for Mike?<\/p>\n

If you have a question for Question Block \u2013 or anything else to say about the newsletter \u2013 email us at pushingbuttons@theguardian.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n