Ever since Minecraft first emerged back in 2009, “crafting” has been touted as a major feature for countless games. AAA team or indie, it seems like most developers feel they need to include some sort of crafting system in order for their game to be taken seriously. Is that really true, though? Do crafting systems truly make games more enjoyable or do they actually hurt many of the games that implement them? Everything can be taken case by case of course, but it may very well be that crafting is not nearly as necessary as many of us think it is.
First, there absolutely are games that make great use of their crafting systems. Minecraft, Terraria and Subnautica are excellent examples of this with each one implementing crafting as a foundational element. InSubnauticaand Terraria, crafting is essential to powering-up one’s character, defeating strong enemies and generally just making it further into the world. In Minecraft, crafting is more or less the entire point of the game. It’s even in the name: “Minecraft;” mine in order to craft in order to mine some more. Really, crafting works well in these sorts of games so they’re not the issue. Rather, it’s when crafting is implemented as an extra feature that problems arise.
Take a look atResident Evil Village.Like a lot of other survival/horror games out there, a decent chunk of the tension comes from scarcity of resources. Every bullet counts and healing items need to be used as sparingly as possible. Use too much too quickly and the next fight will be that much more difficult. It works well for the most part, but the crafting system undermines this a bit. Once the ability to craft items like medicine and ammo is gained, players suddenly have a lot more flexibility.
Once one has some resources in their pockets, they’re able to miss more shots and heal more often with little consequence. Running low? No problem. Just top off that ammo, make a mine or throw together an extra bottle of medicine. The effect is lessened on higher difficulties of course, but the crafting system still undermines the tension in a big way. The same can be said for games likeDead Space 3,which traded-in ammo scarcity and dedicated weapons to universal ammo and player-crafted weapons. Everything else aside, the game just isn’t scary once one makes their own personal ultra-gun with virtually unlimited ammo.
Exploration-oriented games likeFallout 4andSkyrimare affected by this too. In both of these games, finding better gear serves as a major motivation for exploring the world. It’s not the only reason; side-quests and interesting locations are important motivators too, but they also tend to use good loot as a reward. Both games, however, also feature crafting systems that, while interesting, allow players to make gear that’s leagues better than anything found lying around in-game. If it’s possible (and easy) to throw together an uber-weapon in a game’s opening hours, then everything else just plain isn’t going to be interesting. Perhaps it’s not a problem for those who are playing specifically to mess around with the crafting systems, but it’s taking away something from exploration side nonetheless.
There’s also all the games with crafting systems that are just plain poorly implemented. Be they useless like in BioWare’snow-basically-defunct Anthemor just plain busywork in otherwiseexcellent games like Ghost of Tsushima,shallow (or just plain bad) crafting systems would be better-off as cut features rather than implemented as they are. If the system is overly complicated (or weighted to drive people to the cash shop), then players will do their best to ignore it as much as possible. If it’s only for minor things like ammo and upgrades, then perhaps it would be better to give players more money-making opportunities and offer said items through a vendor rather than waste players’ time by having them pick up every stray twig and flower they happen across.
When implemented as a foundational feature, crafting can enable top-tier gaming experiences. If it’s just an extra feature though, then developers have to be very careful about how they use it. Making it too strong or easy will undermine the game’s more important qualities. Going too far in the other direction can be just as bad though, as it’ll often wind up being an annoyance at the very least. Truly, crafting can be a powerful feature, but this practice of having it “just to have it” needs to stop. Games with this sort of crafting are made worse, not better.
