When a tutorial ruins a good game

A rough tutorial can bury a genuinely good game, and I've watched it happen more times than I can count. A strategy title we ended up loving nearly got deleted because its opening was a wall of text.

The problem is usually pacing. Great games teach through play; weaker tutorials stop everything to explain a mechanic you won't use for another hour. By the time you're allowed to actually play, the hook has slipped.

My advice when a promising game front-loads its teaching: push through to the first real decision you get to make. That's the moment the game shows its true self. If it's still dull after that, fair enough, but give it that chance.

We try to flag tutorial trouble in our reviews specifically because a slow start isn't the same as a bad game. Sometimes the payoff is worth the patience.