Bluemudbabble

When Playing Games Feels Like Working

I play games from time to time, picking up only certain titles that interest me. They come from others' recommendations, or some series I am deeply invested in. I don’t track the trend, or land my hands on every horror game, which means I miss something from time to time.

This year I play more games. I bought Silent Hill f (SHf, I like Japanese horror), Expedition 33 (recommended by a former colleague), Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake, and more.

I am more familiar with Fatal Frame franchise, having bought every remastered/remake ones, and the control part has never been an issue for me. I thought playing games can’t be a problem. Until SHf.

Shocked by the complexity—control buttons and resource management

There were three things I got frustrated over in SHf: motion sickness, resource management, and the amount of control buttons. The latter two were the hurdles that stopped me altogether. No, they don’t make horror games horrifying, but horrible.

For the combat system, think about it for a sec: To be able to make Hinako survive in the town full of monsters, I had to remember: button for run, for light attack, for heavy attack, for dodging, for switching weapons, for charge, for healing, coordinating my fingers between them, while observing how monsters moved, when they attacked, and when I could counterattack…

Honestly, I thought maybe I just needed more time to get used to it. When playing Fatal Frame, they also have buttons for running, raising the camera, special shot, regular shot, menu… Hmm, still significantly less complicated.

I didn’t give up at beginning of the game. I have beaten Sakuko, Rinko and Hinako’s parents! (If you have played the game, you know how far I was in.) But, here comes the element I hate the most: the resource management.

I know. I know. Almost every game has some level of resource management, but hear me out.

SHf gives Hinako weapons, and there are many ways she can attack monsters. Combat is obviously a point, but it’s not rewarding, because there is weapon degradation, and Hinako could only hold 3 weapon at maximum. I could fight, but I also didn’t want to fight. When encountering a monster, all the anxiety flooded me, from fumbling the buttons, from observing the monster, and from worrying about weapon breaking, all at the same time.

And, come on, please don’t say fumbling buttons and resource scarcity is the source of fear in horror games.

Exploring Expedition 33 for a change of mood—and failed again

I couldn’t bring myself to finish SHf. The motion sickness was a hindrance, and the combat system design wasn’t ideal for me. either. So I decided to play Expedition 33, hoping the beautiful graphics and the well-woven story could make my play experience better.

As I played, I found it’s the opposite kind of the frustration, but still a frustration nonetheless.

While SHf shovels a lot of control buttons into players' hands, Expedition 33 thrusts multiple combat operating systems into players' brains. It’s too complicated that I couldn’t extract anything from my brain when I fought. To show how complicated it is, here are some elements from the game:

I want to be clear that I can see the love and devotion poured into the game. Anyone can see that, but the complexity made me feel like a rookie in a new work, without proper time to make sure I have grasped everything I function normally. It’s a shame that the complexity became a high threshold stopping me from further exploring this beautiful game.

Coming back to something simpler—Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake

After struggling with SHf and Expedition 33, I kind of lost faith in newer games. I was afraid that the new Fatal Frame remake would have the same level of complexity.

Before I tell you my experience with it, first I would like to introduce my history with Fatal Frame franchise and my observation of the games. I have been investing myself into the franchise almost for 20 years (since I encountered Fatal Frame 4: Mask of Lunar Eclipse). I didn’t have game consoles so I watched every game’s playthroughs multiple times, knew what happened in each game. It’s only when Nintendo started remastering the series and releasing them to all platforms (from Fatal Frame 5: Maiden of Black Water) that I could actually play them with my own hands.

I played remastered Maiden of Black Water(FF5) in 2021, and remastered Mask of Lunar Eclipse(FF4) in 2023, and I didn’t have any of the issues mentioned above. Yes, I had to upgrade camera, dodge when needed, change lenses if I wanted and remember to pick up stronger films to fight back ghosts, etc. But Camera Obscura (the camera used to fight ghosts) doesn’t degrade, and even when I run out of all the stronger films, I still have the unlimited supply of weaker films. Healing items can be bought with points, controls for moving are much simpler, combat systems are mostly shared among characters, and I don’t have to manage my resources with constant low-grade anxiety. I just checked in from time to time.

Does any of the simplicity make Fatal Frame less as a horror game? Absolutely not. If you watch the YouTuber Gab Smolders' playthrough (she loves the series deeply), you would notice how simple the system is for the first game. The characters can’t even dodge in this one. And yet many players shared the memories of playing with their siblings or even never finishing it, because it’s too scary. The director Makoto Shibata said that those comments made him realize that “oh, can’t make it too scary, huh?” Clearly, he knows the fear doesn’t come from frantic button smashing or worrying over weapon breaking on the spot, but something subtler. In the atmosphere, in how characters experience the world, in how they implement uncanny valley, and so on.

Now back to Fatal Frame 2 Remake. I wasn’t sure whether the new remake would keep the simplicity, but out of love and loyalty, I pre-ordered it (the digital deluxe version). My thought after playing it? Still much better. Compare to the original Crimson Butterfly, it adds something new (I learned it from old players), but not too much of a stretch compared to other games of the franchise. Dodge has existed for a long time, using filter is just a different name for lenses, chasing shadows is from Maiden of Black Water (just that you do it with the camera now), etc.

Overall, combat-wise, I feel comfortable. As for the graphics? Crazy details go into everything you see in the game: the scenery, the fabric, the skin, the ghosts, they even made Mio’s eyes dilate in the first scene! Finally, I can enjoy a game without feeling like doing a second job.

Why do we play games? For fun!

I am not familiar with soul-games or soulslike games or their history, but I have heard them a lot when people talk about games.

On one hand, game developers complain that these days those terms are thrown around when the games don’t have the essential elements of soul-games. On the other hand, players aren’t wrong about games being frustrating; they just use a label that game developers don’t like.

Some may argue that if people want to play simple games, play simple game, duh? Like, CozyTyper, Coloring Game, etc., just don’t touch any action games. But the deeper problem for the games is… they are not fun, they feel like chores, and they feel like a second work. When game development becomes so sophisticated that games stop being fun, what’s the meaning of playing such games?

What makes a game fun? Many things! The well-designed reward system, the intricate story plot, the beautiful art, the music… the things the game developers need to work on, not the heavy labor forced upon players from the moment they open the game.

I don’t mean games have to be easy—simple and easy are two different things. I would argue that gaming experience is somewhat like learning. To make playing engaging, the difficulty can’t be too low or players just coast through; but it can’t be too difficult that it’s frustrating. It’s a balance game developers have to achieve.