Action, spectacle, and big dynamic set pieces. These are the things you remember when you’re thinking back on your favorite video game, but I don’t think we give nearly enough credit to everything that happens in between. If you think about it, in most video games, you’re just doing a whole lot of nothing.
The same nothingness that’ll have you peeling away from the game just to take a quick scroll through TikTok…but that never happens, does it? If a game is designed well, then the nothingness between all the action, drama, and suspense will feel just as good as the action itself.
So, in this article, I want to look at all the ways video games make doing nothing feel good.
Not Everything Needs a Reaction
If you’re someone like me who’s practically fried their brain on overstimulation, then you’re probably also itching to press the big buttons in video games. I was under the impression that to make the most out of a video game, you needed to press every button the game allowed you to push.
This led me to take every opportunity to interact with a scene, such as exhausting every dialogue option in an RPG, even if it meant going against the character I was playing, because the button was there. But then came Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, a game where staying silent was a possible choice for the player.
Before the storytelling masterclasses that are The Walking Dead and Firewatch, I always thought that my character had to be vocal about everything. I thought that there was strength in speaking out because it progressed the overarching story, and I still remember the exact moment my perspective changed. It was during one of Firewatch’s more intimate conversations, talking about my past, and it got to a certain point where I completely froze. The choices on the board weren’t true to what I felt, and so for the first time ever, I chose to say…nothing. And the way the game reacted to my discomfort, cutting off the conversation immediately, left me more immersed than any dialogue option ever could.
The Long Walk
If you’ve played any multiplayer video game, be it Marvel Rivals or Overwatch, then you’ve probably done the walk of shame.
There’s an intense team fight, your team is duking it out, and it just so happens that you are the first one to get blasted by the enemy team. Even worse, you may be the only one (speaking from my experience), and now you have to make the long walk from your spawn back to the point. But if that walk is so painful and punishing, why aren’t players just abandoning matches? Two words: Information Overload.
The walk back feels less like a slog if you’re constantly being fed information about the battlefield. Teamfights happen so quickly that not every bit of information that needs to be processed has been processed. Bits of information like the enemy’s health, how much damage you did, where all the damage is coming from, and how to best approach the next team fight all rush to your head as soon as you’re given just that bit of downtime. The developers keep your mind occupied as well, making all this information accessible and easy to digest during downtime. This approach to downtime ensures that even though your body and senses are away from the fight, your mind remains constantly engaged, as if you were still in the midst of it.
Oh, and having cool weapon inspect animations makes the walk back feel less of a slog, too, I guess. I love you, Fidget-spinning butterfly knives.
Active Defense
Combat isn’t all about offense; a large part of it also lies in defense, and that doesn’t feel good. In fighting games, the most frustrating position to find yourself in is being infinitely stunlocked in the corner while your opponent chips away at you. Trust me, this does not feel good, and it is also in large part why Tekken 8 feels horrible. Fighting games are two-player games, and it’s no fun when you’re left with no other choice but to hold block and do nothing while your life wittles down. This is where active defense should come in.
I firmly believe that the first step to making a fighting game feel good is making sure that blocking doesn’t make you feel helpless. Active defense is the feeling of opportunity, even when you’re forced into a corner and holding back. Personally, there is nothing more satisfying than completely shutting down an opponent through defense. Suddenly, instead of just holding block and doing nothing, you’re side-stepping and ducking strings straight into a punish. You are still given control while you’re doing nothing.
Ultimately, these are still just a few examples of making downtime feel good. There are hundreds of small, unseen tweaks that developers do to make sure you stay hooked even when you’re not doing anything, and the more we look out for them, the more we get to appreciate their craft.
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