3D action games are bad

written 2026-09-11

Most kinds of games aren't bad. Even if they're not my taste, they have unique interesting mechanics or dynamics. A good example is card games: I usually dislike them for a good reason, but they have interesting strategic and tactical challenges that no other genre does, and are one of the very few kinds of strategy games we've invented.

What do 3D games have over 2D games? In theory, the same that 2D games have over 1D games. An extra dimension expands the possibility set exponentially, creates more possible maneuvers, tactics, and levels. 3D games have huge potential!

But in practice, almost no 3D action games actually use that 3rd dimension much. Here's a broad sample I've played: Halo, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, Dark Souls, Jedi: Fallen Order, Jade Empire, Blood Wake. In all these, most levels are flat and you only move along the ground. They don't really benefit from being 3D. They're only 3D for a sense of immersion.

But even if they don't use it much, does just having the 3rd dimension damage these games? Yes! Mainly in that the camera is *wrong*: if only 2 dimensions matter, the camera should be perpendicular to that plane so you can see space most clearly. This has long been my frustration with 3D games, unconscious until 2026-09-10: I struggle to see space. That's because the camera is almost parallel to the gameplay plane! Imagine a 2D platformer where instead of seeing the world from the side, you see it from almost straight above. That'd just make it hard to see how high things are, and that game would be bad.

Why did I specify 3D *action* games? Because I've seen a few 3D games that do use the 3rd dimension, but they're not action games. They are: Portal, Manifold Garden, Monument Valley, and Hyperbolica. The first three are puzzle games, Hyperbolica is just an exploration of non-Euclidean geometry which has to be rendered in 1st person for full effect.

To future game designers: if you're making a 3D game, please consider designing levels and abilities that actually use the 3rd dimension. If you don't want to do so, please consider making it 2D or at least making the camera perpendicular to the gameplay plane.