Less is More, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying About the HUD and Love the Game.

HUD elements have become obtrusive. In many modern games (competitive shooters especially), you're often spammed with a dizzying array of numbers, objectives, notifications, etc. While I completely understand why these exist as genuinely helpful bits of real-time information to have, they bother me for a few reasons. The first is that they ruin the visuals of the game. I like pretty things. HUD elements, even at their best, are not pretty. Moreover, they incessantly scream that you are playing a video game-ass video game. It's tough to take things very seriously when I'm supposed to be in some historic WWI battle and xxBluntSmoka420xx kills l0v3rb0y69. Finally, HUDs are just distracting and a bit exhausting. Having my eyes always darting around the screen monitoring in-game metrics leads me to often not even look at what's in front of me, and that feels like a disservice.

Granted, disabling the HUD adds a significant layer of difficulty. I have to try and discern friend from foe based on uniform. It's impossible to know if our side is even winning the battle. I must keep track of how many bullets I've fired. I don't know if that grenade actually killed that guy in that building. There is no map. It is a world without feedback, and I kind of love it. There is a general sense of confusion and disorientation as I incessantly try to figure out what is happening around me. I'm not about to claim it approximates the horror of what I imagine actual warfare to be, but it's definitely a more surreal experience when there's nothing there to hold your hand.

From a gaming standpoint, this obviously has its drawbacks. For objective modes such as Conquest, I have to rely on subtle audio cues to tell me if we're capturing or need to defend a control point. Unsurprisingly, my HUD-less kill/death ratio and overall score absolutely tanks from being a generally competent teammate to "WTF is that guy doing?" I'd like to sincerely apologize to my teammates for various failures stemming from my perpetual lack of information, but I'm quite literally playing a different game. There was a time I was far more competitive back in college days of my friends and I winning Halo tournaments and being among the world's best at Rainbow Six 3, but that time has long since passed. At this point, I'll gladly sacrifice the "glory" of seeing my name high up on the scoreboard if it means a more immersive, affecting experience for me.

I don't imagine many are similarly willing to knowingly handicap themselves, especially when it comes to multiplayer, but there is something to this. It's like when a good survival horror game is at its best, with the tension ratcheted up almost beyond what you can stand. I'm into it. I'm using Battlefield 1 as the example here, but I'm going to start doing this more in other games when possible as well. If you find that games are becoming a little too game-y, I encourage you to give this a shot. Trimming the HUD fluff is a bit of addition by subtraction in terms of atmosphere. It feels far more significant to draw your gun at a figure without the information crutches of knowing which player it is, what side he's on, if he's alone protecting this flag or trying to join teammates attacking yours, etc. It's refreshing to experience the beautiful simplicity of gaming without constantly being spoon-fed everything you could possibly need to know. Sometimes less truly is more.

I'm with you, most games have way too much garbage on screen distracting from the actual game, and it's always surprising to me how much better games look when I'm solely focused on the actual gameplay. Recently I found Monster Hunter World to be a big offender, where I'm spending most of my time with my eyes darting around to the various gauges and maps and inventories, and missing half the cool stuff happening in the actual battle. I think alot of games would be improved if they employed more show, and less tell. Like you said, it's way more engaging , and in the case of Battlefield 1, respectful of the subject matter to have to visually verify a kill, rather than getting a giant "+10 Bobbydopebottom69 fragged" pop up overlaying a scene of horrific violent warfare.

Competitive games like Battlefield, where it truly does feel like a different game without the HUD, should have a specific mode for HUDless play so people who prefer that don't need to worry about handicapping themselves.

I don't know that I'd ever disable the HUD in a competitive multiplayer game, but the first thing I do in any open world game I play is turn as much of the HUD off as the game allow. It's so much more immersive and engaging to explore a beautiful open world through the environment, rather than just following an icon or waypoint. Granted, many games these days are designed so much around the HUD that, rather than have characters tell you where to go through dialogue, you're meant to simply follow map markers and quest icons, meaning turning that stuff off can often leave you entirely without information required to progress.

However, in those rare cases where the developers make an effort to present all relevant information and direction via diegetic means (such as in Breath of the Wild), going HUD-less can be an incredibly immersive experience.

AC Origins was really good for this, there are a ton of cues outside of the hud to communicate to the player the most vital information without busying the screen and taking away from their beautiful rendition of Egypt.

While I do believe there is a threshold for how much information a HUD displays before it becomes too overbearing, and I also believe in allowing players the option to disable or enable every HUD element - I've rarely felt that any HUD was too distracting.

When I play video games with many HUD elements, I don't have the habit of needing to constantly pay attention to every single thing at the same time. I selectively only look at what current information I need; be it what quest I'm currently on, how much health I have, what my friend is typing back to be in a private message, how many tickets my team has left, etc.

While all of that information is important, and on-screen at all times, I don't pay attention to all of them at the same time. I only look at what's pertinent in the current moment, and selectively ignore everything else. World of Warcraft (and a lot of MMOs in general) have a very busy, but necessary HUD. And with third party add-ons, a person's WoW HUD can look like Excel spreadsheets pasted all over the place. To most people it would look like an unnecessary mess, but to the player, each element of that HUD it crucial at certain times.

I personally prefer some HUD elements over others. A small, unintrusive health bar is much better than layers of strawberry jelly, or red vignetting covering my screen as I get hurt in first person games. It blocks my field of vision more than that tiny health bar in the corner does, and becomes a distraction, to a handicapping nuance that could cause me to actually die because I didn't see important cues in the game world.

Auto-fading the HUD is another annoyance that has caused me slight inconveniences to actual setbacks like dying. I would prefer the HUD to be displayed at all times to know how much ammo I have so I can go into the next encounter with a fully loaded gun. The developer knows I'm out of combat, so the best thing to do is to fade out the ammo counter. But without this reminder, I forgot to hit the reload button, and when I go into combat again, I only have 2-3 bullets left and die. Lesser examples would be fading out my HP/MP bar when out of combat, so I don't know if I need to take that mana potion. Or fade out objectives for side quests, when I want to do all the side quests around the area of the main quest.

I do think that having less HUD helps immersion. But over many years, I have trained myself to be selective in the barrage of visual information coming my way. In turn, it has allowed me to not be constantly distracted by the HUD and enjoy my immersion - while at the same time not inconveniencing me by trying to think what is best for me in every situation.

If you find that games are becoming a little too game-y

On the contrary, I'm very much welcoming video games returning to "gamey-ness". Last generation had way too many games trying to be movies. That top screenshot you've got looks totally fine to me.

As you might imagine from that sentiment, HUDs have never really bothered me. I do think that "fade-out" HUDs should be a more common option, but not in multiplayer shooters. If you're looking for immersion, fine, but the silly and random antics of online FPS players has to break that immersion pretty often, right?

I would like to see a meaty single player WWI/WWII FPS that gets rid of the HUD, as you're suggesting. You're right, those screenshots do look pretty clean and pretty great. Unfortunately, I don't think this is going to happen - people looking for military shooters are often leaning way more into multiplayer than single player and they're often not looking for a HUD-less presentation. A multiplayer version of this just sounds like it would lead to a whole hell of a lot of team-killing and people running around like idiots, not trying to play the objective.

I like minimal HUDs. Going full no HUD is maybe a little too extreme for me. Breath of the Wild was good about this. Pro mode just shows your health and context menus. It's much cleaner and you don't need those temperature indicators. Link shivers when he is cold, you get the idea by looking at the screen.

I like video game arse video games.

Just for fun, let's further consider the first two photos as an exercise in demonstrating how HUD elements, for better or worse, are made to be such a huge part of the game.

Here is the information that can be gleaned from photo #1:

• I just killed a guy.
• It was a headshot.
• It was Alanoliz.
• Alanoliz is level 20.
• My team is up 681 to 480.
• The enemy has a dreadnought.
• The enemy dreadnought has roughly half damage on it.
• My team holds four of seven control points.
• Control points A, B, D, E, F, and G are presently not being contested.
• My squad wants me to attack control point C.
• Control point C is 229 meters away.
• Control point C is Keese Island.
• Our team is currently taking Keese Island.
• The enemy thus does not have as many men on Keese Island.
• Control point B is directly in front of me.
• I am currently facing West.
• All of the control points the enemy holds are to the Northwest.
• My team holds all the control points behind me.
• My AT Rocket Gun is no longer loaded.
• My AT Rocket Gun is fully out of ammo.
• I can switch back to my Hellriegel by hitting Y.
• I can put on a gas mask by hitting up on the D-pad.
• I can switch to anti-tank grenades by hitting left on the D-pad.
• I have one incendiary grenade.
• I have the three indicated perks in effect.
• There is a teammate behind me.
• My squad is led by SALSQUATCH.
• SALSQUATCH is in the clan [LBS].
• SALSQUATCH is a medic.
• D3ng3r Black is also in my squad.
• D3ng3r Black is playing as support.
• BarbarickFlame3 is also in my squad.
• BarbarickFlame3 is in the clan [CoR].
• BarbarickFlame3 is assault class.
• I, too, am running assault class.
• FakerFake27 is the last member of our squad.
• FakerFake27 is a scout.
• One of our teammates has requested support near the shoreline ahead.

Now, the information that can be gleaned from Photo #2:

• There's a dude.

I love the dynamic HUD in Horizon ZD. It may not work for all games, but it’s awesome in that one.

Yup. Disabling HUD is a different game altogether. It’s all about what experience I want at the time. Sometimes I do want to just be immersed in an experience rather than trying to be competitive. I may not know every piece of information when i disable the HUD but that may be what i’m going for. It’s kind of akin to PUBG being described as a thriller/suspense game.

You should play Insurgency.

@notnert427 said:

Well, I don't like ADS. ADS is a lot more pointless and obtrusive than a HUD. I don't mind good HUDs.

I agree with liking the video gamey-ness of some games. Depending on the type of game, less HUD can def help with immersion though. Like the Dead Space games where your ammo was on the gun and health was on your suit. That was a smart way to give you the info without just having a bunch of overlays on the screen. And if you're going for immersion and a realistic/cinema-esque single player that can help. But I agree about last generation. I like games that play with and take advantage of their medium instead of just trying to be a movie.

Also, I don't think I could ever disable HUD in multiplayer. I play some Destiny, Halo, Titanfall, and Overwatch and those without radar would be rough.

@tuxedocruise: Well you see, I was the same once, only looking at the UI for information as it was needed. Then I played a lot of Starcraft, League and DotA. And now the brain damage is permanent. I physically can't not look at a minimap every free moment if it's there. This was my PSA, don't do MOBA kids!

@notnert427 I definitely recommend Rainbow Six Siege for a hud-less experience, curious to hear your thoughts on it.

A HUD-less mode would be interesting, but I'd think the only people crazy enough to want to do it are probably WAY better at Battlefield than I am anyway. I don't actually care about the handicap anyway, given that it's something I'm choosing to do. Ideally, I'd like the HUD elements to be fully customizable in every game. Battlefield 1 has some pretty decent options, but not enough to keep the few things I might want to and cut out everything I'd like to. There's a toggle to disable the entire HUD, and while fun and pretty, ideally even I'd not disable everything.

Well put. It's somewhat lazy that games just info dump on the HUD rather than designing a game where players have a decent chance of organically "discovering" a path. I wrote a bit about this a while back in another thread, but HITMAN is an excellent example of a game that lets you tailor your experience. Turning off opportunity hints (which are literally just fucking step-by-step waypoints) added a great deal to that for me. Finding some item or pulling off some silly/amazing kill on your own is super-rewarding in terms of creativity.

That's good to hear, especially considering the icon barf that series was previously known for. I'll probably pick that game up eventually, perhaps after Far Cry 5 and before RDR 2. That said, I'm a little concerned that I might be in line with Vinny in wanting it to be more of an AC game than it seems to be.

The overbearing HUDs definitely have some PC roots. Watching WoW/Dota streams is somewhat of a "WTF is even happening" experience. I actually like multitasking, but that stuff feels like an exhausting attention management sim akin to work instead of play. I recognize that there's skill inherent to managing all that shit, but boy, that is not what I personally look for in video games.

I don't mind the injury vignettes. However, subtle HUD elements are definitely preferable to me. Ideally, a game would allow players to enable/disable all HUD elements and toggle auto-fading on or off. I like having the choice to interact with the game the way I'd like to. While I similarly am selective in what HUD shit I pay attention to (typically only the critical info) I can't seem to compartmentalize their presence that well and achieve the kind of immersion I get without them.

I hear you on the "trying to be movies" thing, and I don't really want or need games to try and force that for me, but I enjoy when I can make the game more cinematic if I so choose. As my gaming hardware/TV has improved, I've started to tolerate HUDs far less. I didn't buy a sweet-ass 4K HDR TV and an Xbox One X to look at icons and text everywhere. I want to see the pretty graphics, environments, art styles, et al.

Battlefield 1 has mostly been light on the online antics. I'm not going to claim the playerbase is exactly "mature", but it's definitely much moreso than your typical CoD due the game's overall tone and pace. The overall presentation of the game does allow you to generally make it believable enough to be immersed in it. I'm not even realistically wanting or expecting them to make HUD-less games, as people are simply used to having all that stuff now. I would like to see more of an effort to minimalize them, though.

That's neat to know about BotW. I'm glad to hear from several folks in this thread that it pulls off the immersion. In another world where I hadn't basically sworn off Nintendo products and where I didn't have a general dislike of cel-shading as an art style, I think I could really enjoy that game. (I know, I'm being petty and dismissive.) I do appreciate those kinds of touches that you're describing, though.

That's cool; to each their own. I fully recognize I'm in the minority here.

Horizon seems pretty rad. I'd definitely play that game if I had a PS4.

Yeah, my apathy towards the scoreboard (whether I do well or not) these days in multiplayer games has been an interesting and fairly unexpected development as I've aged. I just want the more engrossing experience now.

I looked that up, and that does look right up my alley. I'm typically not much of a PC gamer, but I may have to check that out. Thanks!

I'll respectfully disagree there. I struggle to get past the ridiculousness of sprinting around hip-firing with any degree of accuracy. That's another "video game" sort of thing that has its place, but it's not really for me at all. Again, though, I'm probably the weird one here.

Yeah, the Dead Space solution is pretty cool. Of course, that applies mostly to just fictional guns in fictional settings, but I appreciate the design there. Titanfall and Halo are really the only future-set shooters I've enjoyed, and even those were pretty minimal on HUD. Titanfall uses largely transparent elements that never really bothered me, and Halo barely used any HUD and employed the "ammo on gun" thing. That said, I'd be more inclined to forgive a game set in the future for having more HUD elements because that's the way we're actually heading with everything, and similarly, I get more out of turning the HUD off in a game like Battlefield 1 where things should be simplistic. It's also the reason I've struggled to get into CoD WWII, as the twitch shooter gameplay doesn't really fit the era the game is supposed to be in. (I'm fully aware I sound like an insane person here demanding thematically appropriate design from video games, FWIW.)

That's the thing; it's hard to go back. I think that's why the HUD trend has only expanded in recent years. Once they've given us information feeds, if they aren't there, suddenly it's "missing" that. I sort of reached my personal breaking point on it, though.

I have complicated thoughts about Rainbow Six: Siege. It is a good game at what it does, but it's not what I want at all from a Rainbow Six game. If I still had a good 4-man crew to play it with, I imagine it could be quite fun. The nature of its gameplay would seemingly lend itself well to an intense HUD-less experience in ways I could probably get down with. If I had my way, though, the Rainbow Six games would still be like Rainbow Six 3 (and the Splinter Cell games would still be like Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory, but I won't digress too much down that path.) Regardless, anyone taking a step back from HUD-centric gaming is cool by me, if for nothing other than to just give it a try. I feel like games are getting a little same-y and emulating each other too much, so turning off the HUD is my small protest to change up the gameplay a little bit. It's definitely not for everyone, but I think it's something that some people might like, and I hope this thread has at least made people consider the way they interact with games. I really appreciate everyone's thoughts and responses!

@notnert427: I don't see how you could possibly be the weird one when ADS is in everything now and everyone accepts it. It's a dumb mechanic, though. First person shooters aren't realistic anyway. What kind of a weirdo holds their gun perfectly straight and steady at all times, never turning their head? Also unrealistic is that your accuracy is so poor when the gun is always steady and pointed straight. Before ADS, we reduced our sensitivity with a slight zoom, which was better. It didn't cut off so much of your view and the regular accuracy wasn't so bad and there wasn't the pretension that ADS makes sense in a first person shooter. You could see your surroundings better with the wider field of view while shooting and could count on your bullet hitting what your gun was aimed at. Even military shooters like Medal of Honor had you shooting from the hip, and no one complained about it. Run and gun shooters are faster paced and have higher skill ceilings. Devs should be finding ways to add more mobility to shooters instead of taking it away with things like ADS and forced over the shoulder aiming. Because this isn't that exciting:

@notnert427:

I just got it but Horizon is pretty awesome so far. It has a lot of HUD options too. You can go custom and turn things on and off. I went with Dynamic. The HUD fades out and if you cycle through items it will come up and then fade back out. You can also just tap the touch pad on the controller and the entire HUD will come up and then fade back out. I also get your point on futuristic shooters. With Titanfall it kinda feels like that's what your helmet HUD would show (and that's pretty much the idea with the HUD in that game).