Star Wars Outlaws‘ developer has come up with a solution to sidestep that never-ending ‘yellow paint’ discourse.
Bright yellow paint – or any sharp coloured paint – shows up in many games to guide players to points of interest. In Uncharted, paint markings might alert you to a windowsill you can clamber onto. In Resident Evil 4 Remake, yellow paint signals breakable boxes. In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the same divisive markings signpost climbable ledges and whatnot, but all examples attract some pretty heated discussions.
Yellow paint defenders will argue that it’s a good tool for readability – most modern games are too photorealistic, and if these bright markings didn’t exist, players wouldn’t be able to properly differentiate intractable objects from normal set dressing. Meanwhile, some yellow paint detractors reckon that it’s either too distracting or too often used as a crutch for uninteresting exploration – instead of having players think about how to navigate, they’re simply told to follow a trail while only holding one button on the controller.
Regardless, it can be a good accessibility tool, but Star Wars Outlaws is giving you the option to rub it away completely.
PC Gamer just recently confirmed that Stat Wars Outlaws includes an ‘Explorer Mode’ which turns off the “guiding color on core navigational elements,” or in other words, no paint. PC Gamer’s Morgan Park mentions that the default option makes the navigational paint more prominent than even Uncharted.
It’s worth noting that some other games have also had the same idea. One of my favorite difficulty screens in a game comes from Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which had different sliders for puzzles, combat, and exploration – the latter would adjust how much the world would resemble a paintball field. That might just be the blueprint to follow.
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