What videogames are you playing in 2026?

[Parmandur]

I am anti-respawn myself, only because I like feeling like I accomplished something.

Yeah, respawn makes things feel like Disneyland, with the rides resetting. BotW does it, but there is at least a diagetic magical reason.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Yeah, respawn makes things feel like Disneyland

I think it's possible to avoid that in an open world, but you need to have Skyrim-style respawn, not MMORPG-style respawn, i.e. you don't get the same exact things respawning, necessarily, nor do they respawn on a tight, obvious schedule.

 

[Reynard]

I think it's possible to avoid that in an open world, but you need to have Skyrim-style respawn, not MMORPG-style respawn, i.e. you don't get the same exact things respawning, necessarily, nor do they respawn on a tight, obvious schedule.

I haven't played the Avowed re-design yet: what were they aiming for?

 

[Gradine]

I mean, to respawn or not respawn argument really has to do with the question of how much backtracking there is in your game. The more backtracking there is in your game the less I want/am willing to tolerate constant respawning. If there's no backtracking whatsoever, the only reason to have enemy respawns is for grinding, so might as well put those in. If there's just a minor about of backtracking, it's kind of dull to do it through an empty environment. Lots of backtracking is really bad in general, but it's made more bearable there's no respawns (especially, as mentioned upthread, because it helps with your sense of accomplishment and progress).

Of course I've never played Avowed so I have no idea how much backtracking that particular game requires. But I find it a handy rule of thumb to follow.

 

[Parmandur]

I mean, to respawn or not respawn argument really has to do with the question of how much backtracking there is in your game. The more backtracking there is in your game the less I want/am willing to tolerate constant respawning. If there's no backtracking whatsoever, the only reason to have enemy respawns is for grinding, so might as well put those in. If there's just a minor about of backtracking, it's kind of dull to do it through an empty environment. Lots of backtracking is really bad in general, but it's made more bearable there's no respawns (especially, as mentioned upthread, because it helps with your sense of accomplishment and progress).

Of course I've never played Avowed so I have no idea how much backtracking that particular game requires. But I find it a handy rule of thumb to follow.

I'd say grinding like that only really works with a game classic D&D random encounter tables, like Final Fantasy or Dragonquest.

 

[MarkB]

I mean, to respawn or not respawn argument really has to do with the question of how much backtracking there is in your game. The more backtracking there is in your game the less I want/am willing to tolerate constant respawning. If there's no backtracking whatsoever, the only reason to have enemy respawns is for grinding, so might as well put those in. If there's just a minor about of backtracking, it's kind of dull to do it through an empty environment. Lots of backtracking is really bad in general, but it's made more bearable there's no respawns (especially, as mentioned upthread, because it helps with your sense of accomplishment and progress).

Of course I've never played Avowed so I have no idea how much backtracking that particular game requires. But I find it a handy rule of thumb to follow.

I haven't been keeping up with the redesign, but I know one issue with the game as it originally released was that you couldn't really do that Skyrim-style aimlessly wandering around doing stuff and avoiding the main quest to more than a limited degree, because at some point you'd have effectively 'pacified' the entire map and there'd be nothing left to do but push on to the next chapter.

I could see respawning being added more to support that kind of casual gameplay rather than for XP grinding.