I’m much more excited for Avowed after hearing the team say that what makes RPGs special is “missable content”

rockpapershotgun.com:

‘Confident’ game design is one of those slightly fluffy critic words I sometimes find myself reaching for tenuously, knowing that - sigh - I’m going to have to do all sort of detestable nonsense like ‘back up my vague assertion with concrete examples that are useful to the reader’ if I do. Yuck. If there’s one type of design that deserves the accolade, though, it’s RPGs that are assured enough in the richness of their worlds to not feel the need to signpost every discovery.

It’s a feedback loop of charitable feelings: the game is saying "we think you’re smart enough to find this stuff on your own". "You’re right!" you respond. "I am smart! And anyone who recognises that must be one smart cookie". Joy abounds, it rains Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers, hedgehogs jig gracefully in the street, and all is right with the world. So, I must say, I’m quite pleased to hear Avowed’s environment region director Berto Ritger sing the virtues of missable content to GamesRadar.

The "core of RPGs that makes them special is missable content, to be honest, and it makes the experience feel so much more personal to how you play the game," Ritger says. You might find something special, but a mate finds something else instead. "It creates a very interesting dialog about the game," Ritger says, "and it makes your experience feel more personal to you."

For Avowed specifically, they’re aiming to allow for this with vertical environments. "We want to draw your attention to things we want you to engage with," says Ritger. "Like the lighthouse is very tall, and so everybody's going to see a big, tall thing and want to go climb. And so we want to support that as well. And you can do that, and you can jump off into the ocean, if you like. And so we try to draw your attention that way."

The irony of me just now saying that I like games that trust my intelligence, then Ritger saying “gamer brain make want climb big tall thing” is not lost on me. But he’s right, dammit.

This approach to design does, of