What features in an adventure game turn you off and stop you from purchasing a game?

Some thoughts:

Gadgets
Stealth
Mini Games
Timers
No Voices
keyboard only
Jump Scares
profanity


I'm loving your participation in the discussions! Thank you to all who contribute!

Ana

Having to learn how to use gadgets - especially when there are lots of different ones - or you won’t be able to complete the game 👎

Unfortunately, nothing stops me from purchasing a game. Playing the game is a different matter.

None of the thoughts mentioned is necessarily a game stopper, but possibly all of them could be. It depends on the game. How many gadgets? How much stealth? What kind of mini games? How short of a timer? Voices - I do prefer them but don't have to have them. Keyboard only might depend on what actions need to be done in the game. Jump scares aren't a problem. Profanity doesn't bother me, though sometimes it seems misplaced and there isn't any reason for it (but people could say that about my use of it also).

But, for me an Adventure game turns into a problem with too much stealth, being chased, dying, being on a timer, too much jumping, too much manual dexterity required. This to me, means Action game, though many of them are classified as Adventures.

Also, I was trying not to call you out Ana, on the Let's Discuss 3 topic. I was waiting patiently but never did see a response from you. We would all like to hear your thoughts on these discussion too you know!

#1 for me is unable to save at will, followed closely by lots of gadgets. The last Ghost game - can't remember the name - turned into a real chore after awhile because of all the gadgets and figuring out which one should be used when or where.

There is one game I can think of that I didn't buy because of some feature in the game. Trust No One. You apparently had to send an email somewhere to get something, and also use web browsing. The email part is what turned me away from the game.

READING!!! can't stand when there is so much reading, honestly...I gave up reading Adventure books back in 1995 when Adventure games gave me the ability of actually being in the type of books I used to read. I have quit many a game because of too much reading.

I am of very little use when it comes to mechanical puzzles. I don't care for timers, although I will put up with one or two if the rest of the game is really good. Another thing that makes me run screaming for the hills is games with some kind of societal message - i play games to escape from reality, not be hit over the head with it.

Hi Draclvr, it might not be this game: Dark Fall: Ghost Vigil, but I played it for about three hours and gave up because of All the complicated gadgets you had to use and found this one absolutely boring.

Not being able to “save at will” is another big turn off for me.
Real life can so often disrupt game play and not being able to immediately save and quit to go deal with it is extremely annoying !!
I absolutely don’t want to have to replay a sometimes rather large chunk of game just to get back to a point I’d already previously reached solely because of no appropriate save facility being on offer 🥺

Of the ones Ana lists, keyboard only is the only feature that unconditionally turns me off. I sometimes work around this by mapping the keys to a game controller using an excellent little program called Xpadder though.

Unforgiving timers make me rage-quit a game immediately.

However, I dislike all of the listed features if they’re used excessively or don’t fit in the game.

Other than that, lack of manual saves should be illegal. Also, having to click half a dozen times to use a single inventory item really gets on my nerves.