This time, it was interactive, and after I ‘used’ it, my character grabbed a gun and opened the door without any problem, since it wasn’t locked. After a long, long search I approached a gun rack, which was non-interactive before the door closed. The door wasn’t opening, so I thought I was trapped and supposed to find another way out - possibly a vent, if I were to follow the general video game logic. Flipping the button made the lighting change and the door to the room shut. For example, early in the game, I was expected to press a certain button. The devs took the easy way out and relied entirely on mission markers. Switching off the HUD makes it clear that this game, desping looking gorgeous, doesn’t drop many visual hints. Unfortunately, the direction isn’t so smooth in Battlefront 2. Somehow, when you saw a brightly lit area, it was obvious you should go there, and that dark places are optional. And it wasn’t even openly stated in any kind of tutorial. It implemented a simple rule: you should follow the lights. The game that perfected directing the player without slapping a „GO HERE” marker was Left 4 Dead. It used to be this way in the 90s and the early 2000s. It might sound obvious, but apparently isn’t since the developers have chosen to always keep me informed as to where and how far my goals are. It just made so much more sense that, when trapped on an enemy starship, I wouldn’t immediately know where to go, what to press, what to use to advance, or which turn to take. A layer of immersion-breaking omniscence was gone. Suddenly a game that was not much more than an on-rails shooter became something far greater. No HUD meant no mission markers, and this change pretty much transformed the experience.

It also made it less user-friendly, but generally – it was an improvement.

Then, without necessarily wanting to check this particular feature, but flipping whatever’s possible, I switched the HUD off. So I’ve been testing the way everything looks in different configurations. I like when what I get is a fully realized artistic vision, not a ‘pick your own style’ type of game. First person, third person, grain on/off, cinematic camera lens on/off etc. Battlefront 2 is one of the titles that infuriate me with the amount of visual options.

Battlefront 2019 single player