[Authoritarian Trope] Casually being questioned/threatened by an imposing authority figure out of nowhere

[u/TheWalkingBag]

One way to really set the oppressive atmosphere of a setting is by having our characters get randomly questioned or interrogated by a soldier/cop out of nowhere, often for very minor reasons

1. "Pick up that can." (Half-Life 2)

When Gordon first arrives to City 17, a Combine Civil Protection officer he's passing by suddenly drops a soda can in front of him and orders him to pick it up. If you comply here and throw the can in the bin he'll amusedly let you pass, but if you don't then he'll proceed to whip out his stunstick and attack you on the spot

1. "I'm just a tourist." (Andor)

In the episode "Announcement" of Season 1, a random shoretrooper on Niamos questions and threatens Cassian (using the fake alias "Keef Girgo") for nervously looking around too much while they're conducting a crackdown. The trooper asks if he's "a part of it" to which Cassian repeatedly protests that he isn't and that he's just a perfectly normal tourist; he's then violently arrested by him anyway and sentenced to hard labor in Narkina 5 without a fair trial

1. "Now, you. Show me your identification papers, please." (Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus)

A Nazi commandant randomly sits down at Papa Joe's Diner, orders a strawberry milkshake for himself and then very casually asks Blazkowicz to show his ID papers to him. Here you can show him your fake IDs (where you use the alias "John Smith") which seems to fool the commandant for a bit before he looks at a wanted poster on the wall and immediately recognizes your true identity, frantically pulling out his pistol before being shot by the diner's owner

[u/afromao]

Half-Life 2: "Pick up that can." Ten seconds into the game and you already know exactly what kind of world you're in.

[u/WillSym → u/afromao]

While also casually showing off their tech. This was a big deal for the time, full physics on any loose object in the world like a random can in the bin an NPC can knock over, and you can pick up, carry, and put back in the bin/donk off his head.

[u/Gebsfrom404 → u/WillSym]

I replayed hl2 this year and sadly it's still impresive. Not a lot of games have player interacting with physics this naturally. Lil seesaw that you need to raise using barrels floating in water feels so good, it feels like lost tech sometimes.

[u/spicesucker → u/Gebsfrom404]

It’s a shame how PhysX was sidelined in favour of graphical fidelity like ray tracing

[u/g0atmeal → u/spicesucker]

It's because loosening constraints on makes game dev way harder. Valve programmed for every possible thing you could do with the can, accounting for it possibly getting lost or stuck somewhere inaccessible, etc.

So most "true" physics are either for cosmetic reasons or kept to sandbox games that are open-ended by design. Cases where if something breaks or something unexpected happens, it doesn't interrupt the player's experience too much.

[u/topdangle → u/spicesucker]

physx wasn't sidelined. most of the games you've played probably use CPU physx or havok, and since the PS4/xbox one GPGPU physics have been common in games.

developers have to actually design a game explicitly utilizing extended physics. you can't really just have physics applied to all materials and let people run loose unless that's the conceit of the game. metal gear revengeance tried to design around making all objects including walls cuttable into physics applied pieces and they eventually gave up and had to outsource the game to platinum.

[u/Auctoritate → u/Gebsfrom404]

Not a lot of games have player interacting with physics this naturally.

On the contrary, it's so natural for games to have object physics that we don't even notice it anymore. It's just that the vast majority of games don't have you directly picking up the objects as a dedicated mechanic.

In other words, it's so commonplace that it's a background feature rather than something games every bother drawing focus to.

[u/Zhuul → u/Auctoritate]

Exhibits A, B, C and D are the sheer amount of environmental carnage you cause in Control just by existing

Taking screenshots of rooms before and after a fight is one of the funniest things you can do in that game

[u/QC420_ → u/Gebsfrom404]

It’s why we haven’t had a 3rd game (ignoring Alyx). We haven’t had that same wow factor in terms of progression. They don’t want it to be the same as previous. As soon as we hit the next paradigm shift with gaming tech/physics engines/idek or can fathom what it could be, i can guarantee the next half life game will follow suit (or probably even be the game that paves the way. Knowing valve they’ll be the ones to invent portal tech and incorporate it into portal 3 lmao)

Sorry I’m stoned outta my tiddies

[u/IonHawk → u/QC420_]

I truly got that feeling with Half Life Alyx with Valve Index though.

No other VR game came close to the amounts of immersion. I kept being surprised of how they were able to create new puzzles using it.

One of the strongest moments was having to put your hand into a tiny area, filled with mushrooms and other dirty stuff, to get a key. You had to stretch to get there. While a blind monster could hear you if you accidentally hit anything and rush to kill you.

[u/ValkyroftheMall → u/Gebsfrom404]

Old valve and Bethesda games will always be great simply due to the fact the physics engine ensures you never feel ignored as a player and are always able to interact with the world. 

[u/MagnesiumOvercast → u/WillSym]

It's a tech demo, it's a tutorial, it's scene-setting. HL2 is really a masterclass in game design.

[u/Remarkable-Site-2067 → u/MagnesiumOvercast]

Did you play it with developer's commentary? Tons of insights, tidbits, and trivia about game design. Also, the commentary in Portal is amazing.

[u/BurnieTheBrony → u/Remarkable-Site-2067]

Playing the commentary version of Portal is like playing another, incredibly interesting, game