8 Game Mechanics That Should Be Left Back in 2023

With a great year for gaming coming to a close, we hope for even better years to come. With that in mind, here are 8 game mechanics that should be left in 2023. Read on to learn more.

8 Game Mechanics That Should Be Left Back in 2023

Quick Time Events and Button Mashing

Every time quick-time events are discussed, gamers often love them or hate them. While some can argue that these can work to immerse you more, keeping you in the loop during cutscenes, others can argue that these distract you from being able to fully appreciate the spectacle before your eyes. Some games, like God of War and Spider-Man, do it well, while others infuriate their playerbase. Insomniac Games, the developers behind the Spider-Man games, made it an option to be able to turn on/off QTEs, which is something that most games should do to cater to both QTE enjoyers and haters.

Something somewhat universal is the hate for button mashing. When you’re enjoying a game, the worst thing that can happen is getting stuck behind a ridiculously challenging button mashing sequence. This is enough to make a grown man throw a tantrum.

Fetch Quests

Fetch quests are some of the most pointless, annoying quests I’ve ever had to do. People play games to enjoy a virtual space with limitless possibilities, not to be someone’s errand boy. Like, no mister, I don’t want to get magic herbs from the dangerous forest so your friend, who I’ve never met before, would feel better.

Like QTEs, some executions of fetch quests are great, if they pay off memorably or if they directly affect the story. However, it’s often just a seemingly pointless roundtrip from point A to point B to get something for someone I don’t care about at all.

Escort Missions

Escort missions, if they’re not exactly a major part of the game, can be pretty annoying to deal with too. They’re often incapable of doing basic things, let alone defending themselves, so you’ll have to do those for them while you’re swarmed with enemies trying to murder you all.

These aren’t always bad, like Deep Rock Galactic’s Drilldozer Escort missions, which are some of the best in the game. Almost all of Resident Evil 4’s playthrough is an escort mission, with the president’s daughter, Ashley, being the focus of the game who you must escort to safety. While she’s pretty useless, protecting her is something I could get behind, as that’s what we signed up for in the first place. Executions like these work, but often are annoying chores you just have to suck up and do.

Poor Checkpoint Placements

Imagine dying to a boss and having to navigate for what feels like an eternity, just to get back to where the boss is. Games have evolved so much, and by now, all developers should understand that these are some of the most infuriating things some people still have to do in 2023. Thankfully, most games these days understand this and often autosave right before a big fight or whenever you complete something tedious.

Holding a Button to Run

When there’s an option to run, 10 times out of 10, we’re running unless we have to do something sneakily. Moreover, specifically on a controller, holding the left thumbstick button down too much wears down that button and ruins the controller in due time. Call of Duty was aware of this and added a feature where players can now automatically sprint or tactical sprint without having to push any buttons. This should be the case for most games, especially if there’s no real benefit to walking. Cough GTA V cough

Eating, Sleeping, and Drinking

Games often pride themselves on being realistic. However, being too realistic can be bad. Eating, sleeping, and drinking are basic joys we, as humans, like to indulge in. However, the same cannot be said for games. Hunger, rest, and thirst meters are some of the most annoying aspects of games. I understand that some survival games need to have these, but they almost always end up being a hassle more than anything. Nobody wants to scavenge for a can of tuna in-game just to get your virtual character to stop complaining about being hungry. Of course, like with most of these examples, it all comes down to execution.

Pay-to-Win Mechanics

Pay-to-win mechanics are predatory cash grabs aimed towards people willing to pay to gain a competitive advantage over others. While microtransactions aren’t inherently bad, especially for free-to-play games, these should be purely for cosmetic reasons. Some games have sadly turned into shameless cash grabs, like NBA 2K24’s MyTeam and MyPlayer game modes, which require ridiculous amounts of investments, be it time-wise or financial.

Simple Control Scheme

A new trend that’s been included in a lot of fighting games recently is an alternate, simpler control scheme, aimed towards newer/beginner players. These often make it so that players can now very easily pull off combos, sometimes with just one button even. While it’s nice to be inclusive, some players, who are already pretty talented, abuse how easy it is to use this control scheme. Moreover, it makes people rely on these pre-set combos, rather than experimenting or spending time practicing and learning new ones.

Street Fighter 6 is a prime example, as they introduced Modern Controls, which is essentially what we discussed above. The biggest fighting game tournament in the world was held (EVO US), and one guy named Haitani used Modern controls and made it to the top 8. Naturally, this got a lot of salty remarks from players, who believe that these controls should be left for beginners and not literal professional players. Simple control schemes should definitely have a place moving forward but must be executed properly, as with the rest of this list.

Steven V. Santos

A big fan of video games in all its forms. Especially passionate about competitive esport titles (LoL, DOTA 2), shooters (COD, CS), and sports games (NBA 2K, EA FC, UFC). Self-proclaimed NBA 2K GOAT.