I watched an hour of gameplay this morning. There was a scene that basically soured the experience for me, though I kept watching.
Writing is important. I don't just mean text on items, or script itself. I mean writing as a rationalization of characters, systems and mechanics. Every game needs to do this in some way, to frame the unrealistic gameplay elements correctly against a stylized "realistic" universe.
Most importantly, it needs to take a holistic approach to this end. Everything should make sense, especially the things the characters say in the first half hour, when suspension of disbelief is tenuous.
So, when my character - my avatar for the rest of the game - hears the word "adenosine" and says "ADENO-WHA???" I learn two things about them. Either:
They're stupid. This is an astronaut from the year 2185 who is cyber-enhanced out the eyeballs, and is selected among billions of humans to go to a brand new galaxy who doesn't know basic biology.
Or:
They're unfunny. This "joke," where you're perfectly able to say the more complex part of a word, then stumble on the easy part - they did it in Bully too, "SOCIO-WHAT???" AH HURR HURR HURR - is so rote as to be actively destructive to the narrative you're trying to build about this character. Why do they say it? Clearly they can say the word. Is that their sense of humour? It sounds like it's from 1945, ffs.
Why should this be what I have to learn about my character in the first half hour? Is being competent that unrelatable? If you're a game writer and you do this, STOP. Question EVERYthing that you put in a game. Don't make these "jokes."