Something I like to stress is the importance of the enemy's game plan & the meta-level tug of war between the player & enemies.
Here's a question that might be a useful shortcut + lense that'll help get the brain gears turning :
Does retreating have a cost?
What is the player losing by walking back or running away? In 2D beat 'em ups, shmups, fighting games, etc. the answer is somewhat clear - the player is losing valuable screen space. Sometimes this gets undermined by your ability to easily run side-to-side and never get trapped, though. But the basic idea is there.
But with the rise of 3D games and larger more open ended levels, the borders of the screen which framed your gameplay & provided natural risk vs reward are gone. Space is is now an abundant, almost free resource. Now you can back off to the start of the level, or sometimes circle strafe arenas, so the question is more important. What exactly is the player losing if they choose to back off at any moment?
Often the answer is going to be that, in terms of survival, they are losing nothing. Backing away tends to be an action which neither has a negative cost, nor helps you build advantage, as a result it lets you reset the situation or keep it in a static state. Many older games fixed this with a mix of tighter arenas & scoring systems - DMC, Bayo, RE4 Mercs, etc. all have time requirements for high ranks (or chaining) that give meaning to the act of backing off, and they don't let you back off too far. They don't outright remove your ability to retreat, but they add a cost to it. The game state doesn't remain static when you do it, you're potentially losing something as a result of your decision.
Nowadays more open-ended levels are becoming the norm. Devs shy away from constantly trapping the players in arenas and when they do those arenas tend to be huge. On top of that, they're increasingly abandoning scoring in favor of soft incentives, and enemies aren't getting insane gap closers or fast running speeds. So what's the cost of retreating?
If you've ever wondered why stagger meters are in vogue, I think they're an attempt to address this exact issue.
This post's inspired by a section The Electric Underground's Rise of the Ronin vid.
