this post was submitted on 07 May 2025
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Don't make dying harder than it has to. I really hate the mechanic in Hollow Knight where you had to go back to the place you died and battle your shade. It's extremely punishing and unfun (for me). Compare that with Ori where, when you die, there is no extra penalty and the reload is almost instant, so you immediately get to go again. It keeps me in the flow.
For that same reason, bosses should only have a grand entrance, cut scene, etc once. When I die and go again I want to immediately fight him, I don't want to have to sit through the same scene 30 times just because I suck. Not even if it's just 5 seconds long. So, second time make sure the boss is spawned and waiting.
Counter to this: Don't cater to noobs.
Hollow Knight is one of the GOATs because it's hard, but extremely fair. Learn the patterns, and any boss can be beaten hitless; explore properly, and any boss can be returned to rematch -- after a death -- from a bench in 1 to 2 screens (late game even has a teleport ability!).
Then it would be a game I never touch; when there's no other way to learn than by dying, your game has failed in my opinion. I shouldn't have to beat my head against some pattern that I can't discover through lore or elsewhere in the game. I'm in my 40s and used to game competitively in the early 2000s, FWIW.
This is the essence of the genre of metroidvania and soulslikes. To die, learn, and start again, change approaches and tactics. Perhaps this is just not your genre
Souslikes, yes. For metroidvania, I would disagree. You did not mention soulslike in your post, unless I'm blind, or else I would have said nothing.