The original Resident Evil 4 came at a time when "dumbing down video games" was at the forefront of the conversation and it turned out that the worst was yet to come. Resident Evil 4 went on to be a masterpiece, which let the player dictate the action. Yet, the remake has made several missteps already, involving yellow paint and intrusive UI elements. Modern games simply don't trust the player with that kind of power. Here's why I think it's a big deal.

Summary

With the release of Resident Evil 4’s remake, there is a lot of discussions online about why certain design choices were made, and how it affects the player’s experience. The addition of yellow paint or tape to boxes and windows scattered throughout the game world seemed to be an attempt by developers to guide the player towards certain objects, which could be seen as an accessibility feature for players with colourblindness.

However, this comes at the expense of the game trusting the player to make their own split-second decisions and create action set pieces, as was the case with the original game.

This design choice is part of a larger trend of games being “dumbed down”, where quick time events, linear level design, and button prompts are used to convey information. This runs in direct opposition to how classic PS1 titles Resident Evil and Silent Hill, used environmental storytelling and level design to provide players with the necessary information without explicitly telling them what to do.

Furthermore, the fixed camera angles would often change to bring certain items into the foreground or obscure a secret reward for players who explored the game world thoroughly. The current design philosophy that implemented yellow paint is antithetical to this approach of encouraging exploration and rewarding the player for paying attention to their environment.

Even Tomb Raider, despite the over-the-shoulder camera, expected the player to have a basic awareness of their surroundings to be able to traverse the levels and know which objects can be interacted with.

Instead, it seems to suggest that the players are not capable of being challenged or engaging with the game world in an intelligent way, and instead need to be guided every step of the way. This lack of trust defeats the purpose of survival horror games, which rely on the player being put into a low ammo situation where they need to use their wits and resources to survive.

Ultimately, this design choice speaks to the stereotypical view of gamers being mindless drones who need to be constantly guided and told what to do. While the yellow paint may help guide certain players, there should at least be an option for players who want to experience the original challenge of Resident Evil 4 and be rewarded for exploring the game world.