Resident Evil 4 Remake's take on Separate Ways is a hit with fans, giving us a reason to return to what is likely to be a serious Game of the Year contender. However, as we come back for the DLC, a debate has reignited among the fanbase - and it's all over yellow ladders. Is the level design just too hand-hold-y?

This is how many players feel, arguing that the bright yellow ladders - painted so the player knows they can climb them - are even more egregious in Separate Ways. Game devs, however, have hit back, explaining that without these cues, many would fail to navigate through the game. They add that this is less immersion-breaking than getting hopelessly lost, but not everyone is convinced.

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The debate kicked off when Twitter user @feydemon shared a screenshot from Separate Ways, complaining about the level design in the Resident Evil 4 DLC.

"The yellow paint is so unnecessary," says feydemon. "Obviously a ladder is climbable obviously a crate is breakable why did they do this [sic]".

Even before game devs weighed in to explain exactly why this was done, other players jumped in to defend it. One argues that it would be pretty boring to have every single ladder be a plain, silver colour, regardless of whether they're climbable. Others say that this would be fine, as it would be up to the player to decide which ladder to use. Then, some players say they should be able to toggle it off, so they can try to figure out the route themselves.

Yet it seems that every game dev on Twitter is in favour of Resident Evil 4 Remake keeping things exactly how they are, painfully aware of why Capcom would make the intended path so obvious.

"Anyone who has ever watched someone play a game they made understands *immediately* why that ladder is yellow," says Nat Clayton, level designer at Inkle Studios.

AkaBaka, the lead developer on horror dating sim, Sucker for Love, also completely get why the yellow paint is there. "I promise the yellow paint was added in after a dev was forced to watch in silence as a playtester got stuck for 20 minutes looking for a way up," they add.

In any case, it's an interesting look into game design, and it's worth considering if we'd really glide around the map as effortlessly as we'd like if these markers weren't there. Looking at a lone example like this might seem daft, but on the whole, there's a reason the ladder has been made so obvious like this - these games do get playtested, after all.

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