The "dumbing down" of games tends to be a pretty polarizing topic for many gamers, and it's easy to understand why. In order to be interesting or fun games have to engage with the player on some level, and one of the most common and effective ways of doing that is a challenge - and a game being too simplistic or easy can fall flatter than the disk it ships on.
With all the ire and venom the gaming community throws at dumbed down titles I think that gamers have lost sight over what they're trying to fight for. A lot of people will cite specific game elements or tropes as crutches for dumbed down titles rather than trying to understand what makes a game engaging or not.
Rather than argue whether specific games are or aren't dumbed down, I'd like to take a look at what does (and doesn't) cause a game to feel dumbed down.
Rather than argue whether specific games are or aren't dumbed down, I'd like to take a look at what does (and doesn't) cause a game to feel dumbed down.
