Like it or not, handholding in video games has become a lot more of a point of contention within the gaming community. One of the most notable is “yellow paint” in open-world or semi-open-world games. It looks like Ubisoft understands both the need for it and why some gamers hate it, introducing “Explorer Mode” to what we hope is a new era for Ubisoft — Star Wars Outlaws — which axes the dreaded “yellow paint” that displays what is climbable and what isn’t.
As reported by PC Gamer, it appears Ubisoft’s unique mode, which will be defaulted to “off,” was likely introduced to mitigate any sort of criticism about the use of the maligned trope. It does seem weird that it isn’t using other means to guide the player like last year’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which used visual cues like scratches on walls or metal railing with holes to indicate what was climbable.
Typically, this sort of thing is introduced after a first playtest spurred on from early playtesters getting lost in the world, something a developer doesn’t quite want. Proponents of the trope say it makes the game easier to understand and more accessible. Meanwhile, the opposition paints (pun intended) the game’s easier, more handholdy nature as a bad thing, especially in games where exploration is key.
Star Wars Outlaws’ Explorer Mode feels like something any game from now on that uses the yellow paint trope should include if only for the sanity of players who want the extra challenge of figuring out what is scalable and what isn’t.
Star Wars Outlaws releases on August 30 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
