Modern Games Are Too Afraid to Trust Players

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Games today boast incredible graphics, sound, and scale, with studios creating truly spectacular moments. However, many games have lost sight of something important: moments are most impactful when players are the ones actively involved in the action, rather than just watching it happen.

Many games currently take away player control during the most exciting moments. Instead of letting players react to challenging situations, make mistakes, or achieve something impressive on their own, developers often switch to pre-made scenes, restrict movement, or rely on simple button presses. This means the game shows you something amazing, but doesn’t let you experience making it happen yourself.

When Games Take Control Away at the Exact Wrong Moment

Call of Duty frequently illustrates this issue, and has for a long time. The games are known for their spectacular moments – think buildings crumbling, helicopters exploding, and thrilling chases. However, just when the action gets intense, the player often loses control. You might be running through a battlefield, only for the game to force you to watch a pre-determined explosion on its own. Even worse, exciting scenes are sometimes simplified to just pressing a single button, seemingly to prevent you from losing focus during a cutscene. The game aims to make you feel like an action hero, but it rarely lets you actually be the one taking action, aside from standard shooting sequences.

Even highly praised games like Red Dead Redemption 2 have this problem. While the game world is impressively detailed and feels alive, the story missions often force you to follow a very specific path. Straying from that path – even during exciting moments like chases or gunfights – can cause you to fail. These moments look great, but they’re so controlled that they don’t allow for much player freedom or creativity. It feels like you’re watching a movie rather than truly experiencing your own adventure, constantly reminded that you’re on rails.

Even major, story-driven Sony games aren’t exempt from this trend. Titles like God of War Ragnarök feature incredible, emotionally powerful moments and large-scale battles, but many key scenes play out as pre-determined sequences. For example, the final confrontation with Baldur in its earlier game was a quick-time event, taking control away from the player during a highly anticipated fight. Often, boss battles turn into cinematic sequences with limited interaction, or important story moments are shown through unplayable scenes rather than actual gameplay. While these scenes are visually impressive, this lack of player agency creates a slight disconnect – you’re watching a great story unfold instead of actively participating in it.

Why Interactive Moments Outshine Cinematics

What’s really cool about games is that they already show us how amazing it is when players create their own unique experiences. Some of the most memorable gaming moments happen when different parts of a game unexpectedly come together. Like when you narrowly win a tough battle, or figure out a clever solution the game designers didn’t anticipate. These moments feel special because they’re unique to you, not just something the game tells you to do.

Games that build trust with players often stick with them for a long time. Titles like Elden Ring and Helldivers 2 don’t shy away from letting players fail, sometimes spectacularly. When something amazing happens in these games, it’s usually because the player took a chance, learned from their errors, and adjusted to the situation. There are no guaranteed successes or cutscenes to save you – the game trusts you to rise to the challenge.

Look, letting players really do cool stuff in a game takes a lot more work, honestly. We’re talking extra development time and tons of playtesting to get things right. Everything has to be adaptable – levels can’t just have one solution, and we can’t script every single move. It’s tough when animations don’t always line up perfectly. But trust me, it’s SO worth it. When I get to actually pull off an awesome move in a game, it’s way more memorable than just watching something cool happen. It’s not about seeing something impressive, it’s about doing something impressive, and that’s what people talk about with their friends for years!

This isn’t saying cutscenes are bad overall. They’re still useful for building characters and controlling the flow of a game. The problem is when games only tell stories through unplayable cutscenes. That makes them feel more like pricey movies than interactive experiences. Players aren’t asking for less impressive visuals – they want to be part of those moments, even if it means things aren’t always perfect.

While not the biggest issue facing games today, a common problem is developers not fully trusting players. Giving players more control can be risky, but that’s also what makes games unique and engaging. If developers allow players to truly impact key moments, it won’t just create more exciting scenes—it will create unforgettable gaming experiences.

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2026-02-06 00:11