Games that lock fun behind bloated intros need to stop

Inviusx

Inviusx

Member
I'm so tired of modern games burying the actual gameplay under endless tutorials and bad story cutscenes. Just let me play!

Death Stranding 2 does this well: quick setup, a few cutscenes, then you're straight into the core mechanics.

Meanwhile, AC Shadwos drags on forever before you get to do anything meaningful. Same with MH Wilds, which has a painful, cringe-heavy tutorial that never ends. It feels like devs don't trust players to figure things out anymore. At least give us an "experienced player" option to skip all the fluff.

I almost dread picking up a new game now knowing that my enjoyment is going to be gated behind this meandering, slow drip approach to onboarding a player (returning or new).

Anyone else frustrated by this trend? What games do you think handle intros right (or horribly wrong)?
 
Its a modern game problem for sure.
A vast majority of intros these days treat the player as 'babby's first videogame'.
The hand-holding is absurd.

Solution: play more retro.
Press start and go...
or for more complex offerings, getting tossed into the deep end with no clue what to do or how to play was part of the fun.
 
I don't mind mechanics based tutorial, where they just kind of let you go at it, but keep things simple and you figure it out yourself. Maybe you can talk to NPCs and stuff for more info if you are having troubles.
I can't stand the constant popup text breaking the flow telling me useless shit.
Like I started playing Expedition 33 and they stop the game with a pop-up telling me the character will automatically crouch under things if you just walk at them. Why the hell would I need a tutorial for that? Meanwhile they have other mechanics in the game that are more obtuse that they don't bother to explain at all. Makes no sense.
 
It's also a personal hatred of mine when games slow down (or stop) until you press A to show that you've understood what was being said. There's almost always a 1-2 second delay before the input even registers because the 'tip' includes an animation playing.

Speaking of things, I also don't need to be reminded that video games can cause seizures every time I boot up a game. I'm not an epileptic and I think most of them know this already. It's like warning dyslexics that A is not B.
 
Hoddi said:
Speaking of things, I also don't need to be reminded that video games can cause seizures every time I boot up a game. I'm not an epileptic and I think most of them know this already. It's like warning dyslexics that A is not B.
Click to expand...
I think they are obligated to show the warning
 
Yeah it's a pervasive problem in big AAA titles nowadays; the intro drags on for ages and treats the player like they're 5 years old.

I'm here to have fun, not watch endless cutscenes are be spoonfed basic game mechanics.
 
It takes a good narrative director to do it properly. Most studios don't have one.

I argue a lot with people that claim that GOW 2018 is better written than the original trilogy. No fucking way. Pacing is included in the writing part and very few nail it.
 
Ac shadows and mh wilds fosho. Both have skipable scenes but it's like what's the point of them then. Clair obscur actually has very good cutscenes imo. Sure the tutorials are awkward but they are in every game and they only happen once in play through.
 
bruno_shady said:
I think they are obligated to show the warning
Click to expand...
Obligated by whom? There are also people suffering from PTSD and you don't see these warnings about explosions.

It also doesn't mean it needs to be shown every time you boot the game. This could be solved with a simple 'Are you epileptic Yes/No' answer. Nevermind all the other unskippable splash screens that usually follow.
 
In particular after 2018, there was a wave of PhD-educated UX designers, like Celia Hodent, who became famous for working on Fortnite and were much talked about at GDC. She's clever and listening to her makes you feel smart yourself, so those videos ended up on many Slack channels shared among colleagues. That created a newfound awareness among producers for the need of dedicated UX design, resulting in a higher demand than could be filled with people who have psychology degrees, so then parrots repeating what they heard at GDC got those UX design jobs, without having studied psychology, and justifying their existence as UX designers by pitching accessibility and tutorial friendliness in every meeting.

Blizzard
WoW Legion (2016) credits on Mobygames has zero UX designers
WoW Dragonflight (2022) credits on Wowhead has 2 UX leads and 7 UX designers

Bethesda
Fallout 4 (2015) credits on Mobygames has zero UX designers
Starfield (2023) credits on Mobygames has 2 UX designers

Capcom
Monster Hunter World (2018) credits on Mobygames has zero UX designers
Monster Hunter Wilds (2025) credits on Mobygames has 2 UX designers

I'm too lazy to list more, but it is around the 2018 mark after which UX designers appear in credits. Prior to that it is a rare sight. And now you know the reason why, you're welcome.
 
one of my favourite Switch games is sadly guilty of that...
Astral Chain...

that game takes AGES to get to a point where you actually have all the main mechanics available and where the game is out of its intro/tutorial stages.
I love this game, but my god, I had to endure the beginning of the game and almost sopped playing it.
 
Screenshot-2025-06-30-231726.png


farley-upset.gif
 
MrRibeye said:
In particular after 2018, there was a wave of PhD-educated UX designers, like Celia Hodent, who became famous for working on Fortnite and were much talked about at GDC. She's clever and listening to her makes you feel smart yourself, so those videos ended up on many Slack channels shared among colleagues. That created a newfound awareness among producers for the need of dedicated UX design, resulting in a higher demand than could be filled with people who have psychology degrees, so then parrots repeating what they heard at GDC got those UX design jobs, without having studied psychology, and justifying their existence as UX designers by pitching accessibility and tutorial friendliness in every meeting.

Blizzard
WoW Legion (2016) credits on Mobygames has zero UX designers
WoW Dragonflight (2022) credits on Wowhead has 2 UX leads and 7 UX designers

Bethesda
Fallout 4 (2015) credits on Mobygames has zero UX designers
Starfield (2023) credits on Mobygames has 2 UX designers

Capcom
Monster Hunter World (2018) credits on Mobygames has zero UX designers
Monster Hunter Wilds (2025) credits on Mobygames has 2 UX designers

I'm too lazy to list more, but it is around the 2018 mark after which UX designers appear in credits. Prior to that it is a rare sight. And now you know the reason why, you're welcome.
Click to expand...

Good info and definitely around that 2018 mark the experience of onboarding started to be hailed as a sacred thing. I think Ubisoft are probably the biggest offenders here, Assassins Creed, Star Wars Outlaws, Far Cry etc.
 
Inviusx said:
I'm so tired of modern games burying the actual gameplay under endless tutorials and bad story cutscenes. Just let me play!

Death Stranding 2 does this well: quick setup, a few cutscenes, then you're straight into the core mechanics.

Meanwhile, AC Shadwos drags on forever before you get to do anything meaningful. Same with MH Wilds, which has a painful, cringe-heavy tutorial that never ends. It feels like devs don't trust players to figure things out anymore. At least give us an "experienced player" option to skip all the fluff.

I almost dread picking up a new game now knowing that my enjoyment is going to be gated behind this meandering, slow drip approach to onboarding a player (returning or new).

Anyone else frustrated by this trend? What games do you think handle intros right (or horribly wrong)?
Click to expand...

I've been on about this for years. It is to the point where I am no longer really interested in the story in most games, so the fewer cutscenes the better. I know that that is a personal preference and not a universal truth. But it has been absurd in general with modern games. I am all for the art of storytelling. I am all for the expansive tech that allows for more story beats. But I ultimately want to play a video game first and foremost. Save the heavy narrative for movies and books. Keep cutscenes to a minimum and don't make them more than a minute or two. It doesn't help that I grew up on gaming in the 80's and 90's when there were far fewer interruptions in games due to tech limitations.

Recently I tried Final Fantasy XVI again. I got through some opening tutorial stuff. I went on a quest and killed a thing in the swamp. Then the game started a cutscene and I zoned out to my laptop and after some time I realized I had ignored the game. I looked at the TV and expected to be my character but no, it was still playing a cutscene. That scene ended and then another one started. When that scene ended and another one started, I turned off the game.

Then there are the nutjobs like Kojima; I want to finally play Death Stranding but I know Kojima goes nuts with mocap and actors. I heard that the final cutscene is like two hours long. That's a fucking joke. I'm not watching a movie to finish a game.

Mind you, if a game is specifically and directly trying to tell a story and is built around that, I am not crusading against that in and of itself. I am just not happy with how much unnecessary and annoying storytelling has found its way into more games than warrant it in modern gaming.

*falls out of rocking chair*
 
Okami is the grand champion of opening that never ends. I did not play this game for over a decade because I could not get through the opening.

All games should tell their story AS you play.
 
In the case of MHW, it's not the countless tutorials that are the problem. The issue is the games mechanics itself are so overly complex and complicated at the same time that no newcomer could ever figure all this shit out just by trial and error.
 
Expecting this from all new games is what gives me choice paralysis half the time.

"I only have an hour, it might not be worth starting that today" is a thought I've had many times.
 
Driver (bad)
That fucking garage, man. Need I say more?
More recent example: Death Stranding. What a slog it is at the first few fucking hours. I put it down and tried again 3x to get into it.

God of War (good)
Start with a setpiece & boss fight on a ship, then afterwards every single new thing you get lets you play with it in an arena. And later, even if you haven't used it for a while, it makes you use it to get to secret area's.
More recent example: Expedition 33. You get something new like a character? Cool, here you go use it in this 1 fight so you can check if it's something for you.
 
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AC Shadows actually isn't that bad in its first hours. After the short playable introduction you can keep playing as Naoe and there's no rush to advance with the main quests. You can really extend the amount of time before the unwanted second protagonist is added. ;)
 
2000s MMOs: The thread.

They will make you go kill 10 wolves, chop trees, and pick flowers for hours and hours until the player finally starts to reach the good fights, the good story, and the good armor.
 
Unfortunately Kingdom Come 2 is an offender here.
I love the game, but on the second playthrough the effort to get to the point when you can freely explore the Trosky region is just tedious.
 
Depends on the game.

The Prologue of Exp33 was magnificent for me.
It was good for world building, it has basic combat tutorials, teaches in case you didnt know to look everywhere and investigate everything and everyone......you also meet your first mime in the prologue so you know whats up from there.


The Last of Us had a brilliant prologue, when I played through that, I knew it was over, this game was gonna steal my life for the next few weeks.


Ori and the Blind Forest I dont know how many times ive replayed that prologue, yeah im not the ninja mouse Ori is for its duration but its so worth it.


I also like Gears of Wars Prologue, and they have the genius idea of in-universe letting you skip the tutorial which is excellent for repeat playthroughs.
Nothing more frustrating than doing a repeat playthrough and being forced to do a tutorial again.





If the game is jsut wasting my time for wasting times sake yeah it can go.
 
I mentioned Skyward Sword a little earlier, but I also think Monster Hunter Wilds is equally as bad. I think these two are the worst of all time.

I have never played SS after my initial playthrough. This is the only Zelda I've only played once.
 
MrRibeye said:
In particular after 2018, there was a wave of PhD-educated UX designers, like Celia Hodent, who became famous for working on Fortnite and were much talked about at GDC. She's clever and listening to her makes you feel smart yourself, so those videos ended up on many Slack channels shared among colleagues. That created a newfound awareness among producers for the need of dedicated UX design, resulting in a higher demand than could be filled with people who have psychology degrees, so then parrots repeating what they heard at GDC got those UX design jobs, without having studied psychology, and justifying their existence as UX designers by pitching accessibility and tutorial friendliness in every meeting.

Blizzard
WoW Legion (2016) credits on Mobygames has zero UX designers
WoW Dragonflight (2022) credits on Wowhead has 2 UX leads and 7 UX designers

Bethesda
Fallout 4 (2015) credits on Mobygames has zero UX designers
Starfield (2023) credits on Mobygames has 2 UX designers

Capcom
Monster Hunter World (2018) credits on Mobygames has zero UX designers
Monster Hunter Wilds (2025) credits on Mobygames has 2 UX designers

I'm too lazy to list more, but it is around the 2018 mark after which UX designers appear in credits. Prior to that it is a rare sight. And now you know the reason why, you're welcome.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. It's just for joke but you cited 3 series where the first game is better than the subsequent 🙃
 
Plies said:
Dragon Warrior VII does videogame intros the correct way. 💯
Click to expand...
from what i remember the 7 is infamous for longest intro in rpg, about 30 hours?
havent try the 7 in 3DS, i heard it's better than original.
playing 11 currently but with heavy ways because hero's hair... put some mods to spice, and still doesn't tickle much.
few weeks ago finished 9. luckily, there is mods of 11 which changes luminary into eight from 8.

Inviusx said:
I'm so tired of modern games burying the actual gameplay under endless tutorials and bad story cutscenes. Just let me play!

Death Stranding 2 does this well: quick setup, a few cutscenes, then you're straight into the core mechanics.

Meanwhile, AC Shadwos drags on forever before you get to do anything meaningful. Same with MH Wilds, which has a painful, cringe-heavy tutorial that never ends. It feels like devs don't trust players to figure things out anymore. At least give us an "experienced player" option to skip all the fluff.

I almost dread picking up a new game now knowing that my enjoyment is going to be gated behind this meandering, slow drip approach to onboarding a player (returning or new).

Anyone else frustrated by this trend? What games do you think handle intros right (or horribly wrong)?
Click to expand...

i kind of agree with lot of games are having intro too long
Yakuza and MGS and i recall KH are the series which took intro too long IIRC

but thanks to YT longplay no commentary, i can skip it and see it later on the YT.

Old YS had this issue, and unskipable mess.
YS origin will be the best ARPG i ever played if only they could skip cutscene in the first playthrough : ))
(still one of the best imo)
 
This is probably my number one reason for refunds. If after 1h im still not playing the game properly, i'm out. And that's already stretching it. Depends on the game too of course. Some games i'm out after 20mins if im not playing the game yet.

I dont need to have the entire game explained at the start of the game. Wanna teach ke ranged combat? Do that when i pick up my first ranged weapon.

A notabke example was code vein. It put me in an arena at the start of the game and explained everything to me. Im not gonna use magic so i dont need you to explain it to me. Explain it to me when i equip a magic weapon for the first time.

Also the treating me like a child. Okay this button is block, try it. Now do it 3x in a row. Hold this button for charged attack. Now do it 3x in a row.

Well fuck you 3x in a row, im out.
 
For me the perfect balance would be a short cutscene to get into the game and then a sort of "vertical slice" of what I can expect from the game. In this sense, games like Dragon's Dogma or Metroid Prime come to mind, since in both games you get to experience all of the features (or most of them) during the first 15 or so minutes of gameplay.


First 10 minutes and you already have seen the dragon, got a full party, some nice equipment and is fighting multiple types of enemies and even a boss fight.


First 15 minutes and you get to engage with all the basic mechanics and got some cool toys like the missiles or the grapple beam. Got to see Ridley and the pirates and the stage is set up for the rest of the game.

Perfect intros if you ask me.
 
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People like to learn things in different ways and can get very angry if they are introduced to new things the "wrong way" but how that breaks down and what do about it seems like a dark art that nobody really understands to me.
 
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