Interaction: Environment
Video game concept
Tags describing how player can interact with environment.
Parent group
This is a container group; its children are:
| Clambering | Player can climb onto about waist/chest high objects or possibly higher ones. (too short) | 1998 / 2018 | 17 games |
| Cover system | Player can interact with cover and/or gains various bonuses from using them. Popularized in third-person action games by Gears of War in 2006 (that was also inspired by kill.switch in 2003) | 1978 / 2023 | 236 games |
| Destructible environment | The environment can be destroyed in a more or less limited fashion, but often leaving the base level structure intact. | 1984 / 2023 | 376 games |
| Horizontal bars | A bar used generally in artistic gymnastics. (too short) | 2006 / 2014 | 21 games |
| Interactive terminals | Terminals and similar are interactive without entering separate dedicated interaction mode with them. | 2004 / 2016 | 13 games |
| Interactive triggers | Player encounters trigger mechanisms they can or must interact with, usually in form of push buttons or turning levers/valves. | 1990 / 2023 | 240 games |
| Ledges | Player can use ledges to pull themselves up to surfaces higher than what they can jump to, move left and right on them while hanging helplessly from them, or otherwise interact with them. | 1984 / 2019 | 344 games |
| Manual interaction | Player interacts with the environment manually rather than being given a generic use/manipulate command that produces a precanned result. | 2007 / 2015 | 21 games |
| Poles climbing | Player may encounter poles or other column-like objects that they may climb up, down and [i]around[/i] more or less freely. | 1987 / 2012 | 21 games |
| Rope swinging | Swinging from ropes, or any other things that serve the same purpose, often to get over death pits. (too short) | 1982 / 2018 | 129 games |
| Terrain deformation | Features deformable terrain, usually in the form of terraforming or otherwise changing terrain elevation for construction purposes as well as creating mounds from explosions and similar things. | 1994 / 2020 | 101 games |
| Vaulting | Player can climb over certain objects, such as fences, without using jumping or similar functions. (too short) | 2008 / 2020 | 70 games |
| Wall climbing | Involves scaling vertical surfaces without the aid of ladders or similar aides. (too short) | 1980 / 2020 | 126 games |
| Wall clinging | The protagonist can cling momentarily or permanently to walls or other mostly sideways facing surfaces. | 1990 / 2020 | 67 games |
| Wall-hugging | The protagonist can lie flat against a wall for one reason or another. (too short) | 2001 / 2014 | 10 games |
| Wallrunning | Player is able to run short distances on the walls, usually to sides avoiding something or as some other mechanic. | 2002 / 2019 | 50 games |
| Wall traversal | The protagonist can freely traverse any wall or mostly sideways facing surfaces in any direction. (too short) | 1999 / 2012 | 24 games |