Abilitease

Overview

Abilitease is a gameplay concept in which the player character begins the game with all, or nearly all, of his or her powers at the start of the game before losing access to those abilities very early on. The player then slowly recollects the lost powers over the course of the game.

The point of abilitease is to give the player a taste of the player character at or near their full potential, and then force the player to earn each of the abilities back once they're lost. The abilities are often acquired in a sequential order that sees the player's powers grow progressively stronger over time. Additional powers that the player character does not have at the game's start may also be acquired, further enhancing the player's arsenal.

Examples

Select entries in the Metroid series employ abilitease by allowing the player to begin with a number of Samus Aran's suit powers at her disposal before events in the plot take those powers away. Games that follow this formula include Metroid Prime and Metroid: Other M. However, this is not a universal trait of the series, as a number of Metroid titles, including the original Metroid and Super Metroid, force the player to start from the beginning without any upgrades.

Another example of abilitease is demonstrated in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. In this game, the opening play sequence sees the player take the role of Darth Vader; a powerful and experienced Sith. The player then transitions to the actual protagonist, Starkiller, who begins the game as an apprentice that lacks most of Vader's own abilities, and must learn them over the course of the game.