I’d be perfectly fine with just a spider web map of squares showing what links are in what zones. It’s just to hard to keep them straight when quite a few of them loop back over others. I don’t really need a Castelvania accurate map but something as rudimentary as Megaman ZX’s map would be appreciated.
I imagine the team probably wondered if it made sense for the creature to have a map. It is kind of a weird disconnect. Ultimately the current state is a bit frustrating unless you have excellent spatial memory.
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I ended up just downloading some screenshot area maps someone made and using those to track down the remaining containment units. Kind of a long way to go for something so frivolous but I enjoyed controlling the creature enough that it made it worth the effort.
The next concession I could see being made is a super echolocation ability that will flash an image of the zones layout that shows spots of activity like nests you’ve made and active enemies.
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I can imagine a developer’s dilemma in deciding whether to include a map. I’m actually trying to decide that very thing for a long-term game project of my own, and I’ve gone back and forth a lot.
I like the idea of getting lost in a game’s world, though to allow that you must walk a line between immersing the player and frustrating the player. Additionally, almost any type of HUD or sub-screen can detract from a game’s atmosphere. (I remember complaining years ago that there was no option to hide the totally superfluous HUD in Shadow of the Colossus.)
In other news, they released a Carrion update today that fixed some bugs (I never saw any) and also laid the groundwork for custom level creation. Depending on how flexible that option ends up being, we might see some clever mods one day.
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The main issue is that visually the maps artisticly read like real places but the layouts themselves feel so disconnected that the map just doesn’t form in my head. There isn’t quite enough of a natural flow to chart in your head like you do in a castleroid or Souls game.
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2011 can’t arrive soon enough
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I loved Outward’s solution. It includes a map but there is no player position marker, its just like a physical map in real life, something you look at and your surroundings to get your bearings
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some of the reflections i’ve had on the metroid series have been that the mapping feature works when it feels like an element of the roleplay - you’re collecting data and referring back to it intermittently because that’s something the protagonist would actually do. in this case, the further lengths the game goes to to blur the line between it being a meta-game convenience for the player and a concrete mechanic within the fiction of the game, the better. there were hints of that in the primes with entities that would jam or corrupt your HUD, and i suppose fusion started using the navigation helpers to mess with you after a point, leading to a way blocked by collapsed scenery or into a trap (not that figuring out the correct path came down to much more than process of elimination)
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Free holiday-themed expansion.
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I just got around to playing that free holiday-themed DLC, over the course of two nights. It does a few minor new things but it mostly just reminded me that I like the game.
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Additional reminder this has 3 days on game pass and the buck or whatever I paid for 3 months of game pass was just enough to try this upsetting gross game about being an unstoppable monster.
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