> If somebody automated Devil Daggers, I would stab them in the hands with a barbeque fork.
If you stab them in the hands with a fork, then they need to automate Devil Daggers to play it. Not an easy game to enjoy missing half a hand, it or Hyper Demon.
I didn't read past the paywall fold, but this seems like a pretty silly hill to die on. Many of the best games - Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Starcraft, Simcity - all automate their background tedium to let players focus on more interesting skill expression. If you took away the macro focus and forced people to micromanage every gameplay element, it feels fair to say that all of them would become worse games with very little added to the experience.
Even the author's ironic ideas, like "automate Street Fighter" echoes a real-world genre of turn based fighting games that end up being awesome spectator sports. YOMI Hustle has a pretty dedicated community that ekes out frame-perfect skill expression that other fighting games dream of: https://youtu.be/fZVsO62e4Aw
I agree with your take (as someone with 3k hours in factorio). I think there is different categories of automated though. In one case you're still solving problems just at a higher level, in the other case you're no longer solving any problems. Like, getting logistics drones in factorio does automate some aspects of the game but then you just increase your scope and scale and still have the same core problem of "grow the factory"
I play a self-playing game with sites that do that. I click the Block Site (Firefox extension) button, and the site never appears again. Talk about easy mode! :)
It's a silly take. When one mechanic is removed or automated it should be seen as being in service of focusing on another. I can see an extremely nitpicky complaint that this can make it so a game looks like it's a genre you like but then in reality it's a genre that you don't. That's OK though, you can adapt to new information, and not every game needs to be for you.
Never played these games, but from reading the wiki, are the right choices pre determined? I could be misreading it but it does sound like vampire survivors is functionally an auto clicker
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[ 0.24 ms ] story [ 9.2 ms ] threadIf you stab them in the hands with a fork, then they need to automate Devil Daggers to play it. Not an easy game to enjoy missing half a hand, it or Hyper Demon.
I didn't read past the paywall fold, but this seems like a pretty silly hill to die on. Many of the best games - Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Starcraft, Simcity - all automate their background tedium to let players focus on more interesting skill expression. If you took away the macro focus and forced people to micromanage every gameplay element, it feels fair to say that all of them would become worse games with very little added to the experience.
Even the author's ironic ideas, like "automate Street Fighter" echoes a real-world genre of turn based fighting games that end up being awesome spectator sports. YOMI Hustle has a pretty dedicated community that ekes out frame-perfect skill expression that other fighting games dream of: https://youtu.be/fZVsO62e4Aw
> This post is for paying subscribers only
is a cortisol hack. thanks author :( i'm going back to actually having fun!
But fair enough everyone can have their take.
> In a May 2026 update, Valve named the genre Bullet Heaven on their Steam tagging system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Survivors%E2%80%93like
Is the game deep? Not really. Is it self playing? Also not really, unless you already completed it.
The game is NOT the movement except if you build your character particularly poorly.
The game is exploration and build choices. Choosing the wrong level upgrade will make you lose.