this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2025
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gamingcirclejerk
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omg they made lemmy political
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I actually can't stand procedurally-generated games, I'd rather have a curated/hand-crafted experience with lots of thought put into every little detail. I'll play it once, enjoy it and remember it fondly then move on to the next thing.
If you haven’t yet.
Outer wilds features a finely hand-crafted solar system and can only be truly experienced in full once.
Perfect example, one if my favourite games full stop.
I'll never understand why people say this. I couldn't even stand to play the game for more than 2-3 hours before the frustration/boredom became overwhelming.
Please explain what gets people like you so excited over this game. I just don't get it. All you do is wander around aimlessly for hours and die to the same things over and over again again. It's extremely frustrating, especially given that you have to start over from the beginning every time you die (and it is way too easy to die). I didn't get very far because I don't have the patience for this trial and error bullshit.
Its the payoff and different worlds are so interesting once you get there. There is a moment where everything just clicks all of a sudden.
I'm in the sale boat, I haven't picked it up for months even though I really want to like it. I don't know what I'l supposed to do and it feels like I have been on every celestial body there is
It basically delivers the world full of depth and wonder that procgen promises, but never quite nails.
Another if-you-haven't-yet: Deathloop. Turned out much better than I initially expected, and I found myself going through it multiple times even though it's linear and the same each time. It's a very well done solo game (though there are multiplayer options) with high replayability.
I also love Satisfactory. The whole map is amazing with tons of interesting things to explore.
I tried going from that to a similar game, Foundry, that uses procedurally generated maps and it just feels soulless in comparison.
I am getting quite curious about Minecraft.
That one simply wouldn’t work for me without an infinite terrain. It also doesn’t feel so procedural because its low detail.
Custom maps can be quite amazing though but it never feels like the same game.
Doesn't work well if you easily suffer from motion sickness though. Especially the time pressure heavily incentivizes flying recklessly which only worsens motion sickness. It made the game really only "okay" for me - great gameplay sadly cannot outcompete physical discomfort.
Tunic was vastly more enjoyable for me. It has a similar concept (in that the main obstacle is knowledge) but uses an isometric view and there are no time limits whatsoever.
procedural generation and great curation, hand craftedness and lots of though put into details are not exclusive.
Take Hades for example.
Not mutually exclusive, procedural generation simply means you let an algorithm make stuff for you. Take GTFO for example, the devs procedurally generate rooms and everything that connects them, then hand-pick the best ones, and tweak whatever else they want.
You now have a curated, hand-crafted (they made the assets) experience, that was also procedurally generated. Not to mention there's more to procedural generation than just levels.
I would still call that handcrafted, the devs just use procgen tooling that the player never sees.
I'd say most players think of procgen as the stuff that's actually generating content on the fly for the player
I will remark that you can have both. It's not very common, and I can't remember an example right now, but you can have a main/official seed for the world/levels, providing a curated experience, while also including a randomizer mode that lets you replay the game with a randomized layout.
I think all approaches have merit. A well envisioned and designed game can be any type.
On the other hand I have serious prejudice regarding open worlds.
Sad FTL Noises