I’m starting to find that HUDs in games clutter the screen and take away from being fully immersed in the game. I like games that force you to pay attention to what’s going on in the game and not numbers/markers on the edges of the display. What are some of your favorite games to play with no HUD? Here are a few of mine:
Astroneer - this game has tool tips on screen but that’s about it. There isn’t even an inventory, all objects are interactive and you can physically place them on your backpack.
Battlefield 1 - super gritty and immersive, but playing without a HUD really puts you at a disadvantage online.
Red Dead Redemption 2 - I liked that you could hide the HUD, but the mini-map was a tap on the d-pad away if you get lost. It was a super immersive experience!
Grand Theft Auto 5 - maybe not designed to be played without the HUD, once you get used to the layout of the city this becomes a lot easier, and you focus more on landmarks to navigate and again this really increased immersion. Sometimes finding things in missions wasn’t obvious and required consulting the map but otherwise this was enjoyable.
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Tomb Raider 2013 would only pop up the hud when you did something that involved it, by default the GUI was fully hidden.
The ultimate original “no hud FPS” was Jurassic Park Trespasser, where checking your health involved looking down at a tattoo on your breast.
Elden Ring and other fromsofts have the Hud disappear unless something actively happens with it sometimes. You don’t see your health or mana unless you get hit or cast a spell.
Both Zelda BotW and TotK have the option for a “PRO” HUD mode which only shows certain elements of the HUD at the right time.
It makes exploration so much more fun when you’re not (if not subconsciously) navigating with the minimap instead of the environment in front of your eyes.
+1 for Battlefield 1. That game nailed the cinematic experience and without a HUD it’s turned up to 11.
Have you played heists in GTA5 in first person without a HUD? It becomes a completely different game!
I don’t think you can fully remove all the HUD elements in Ghost of Tsushima, but there’s an “expert” mode that removes most of them to make it more immersive.
The Long Dark…
Absolutely, came here to say this. You can fully turn off what minimal ui there is and it’s still playable. They could really get rid of some menus too, like cooking could be a little more drag and drop.
More animations too. Latest patch went a long way, but eg fire starting and the like.
Dead space? It famously has a hud that’s built into the world rather than being random bars and stuff on the screen. Everything UI related is essentially from an object in the game
Dying Light 1 is awesome to play HUDless, but you have to learn the controls beforehand, and you have to enable the HUD again for a certain bossfight, or just memorize the keypresses for it from a walkthrough.
I’m pretty sure Hellblade didn’t have HUD and that game was incredible.
Dead Space, which has come up a lot, does have a hud, it’s just all diegetic. Whether that fits or not is up for debate.
For true zero hud stuff the first one I think of is Inside, for instance. If you’re going for immersion that counts, but of course it’s a very light, focused game. Journey and Flower are in that space, too. So is Mirror’s Edge, technically, but it feels more intricate due to being first person, for some reason.
There’s a bunch of minimal HUD games from that period, too. There’s a thing here and there, but not a full HUD. There’s the Portal games, which technically show which portals are up on the reticle, but nothing else. There’s the Metro series, which will pop up some HUD but mostly relies on other visual cues. There’s The Order 1886, which at the time was one of the standard bearers for minimal HUDs but I think now it’s just slightly lighter than average, because that game is super underrated in how ahead of its time it was in terms of setting triple-A standards.
Does The Witness count as diegetic HUD or just no HUD? It’s borderline. I think the Talos Principle has some light HUD elements, but they may be optional.
And hey, let me call out the times when a super dense HUD is actually immersion-creating, especially when it comes to representing tech or machinery. There’s Metroid Prime, making the HUD part of the suit and placing you inside it. There’s Armored Core, where the mech stuff is such a part of the fiction. There’s the new Robocop, which I don’t like but does a lot with its HUD. HUDs can be cool and immersive.
diegetic
I upvote any time I see this word.
I know you can disable all HUD elements in Doom eternal, but you need to be pretty good at it already to be effective. So not a good candidate for a beginner, but it sure does look good if you can pull it off.
Kingdom Come Deliverance
The standard game mode has map markers, quest icons, and a health bar. However, if you switch to hardcore mode it removes pretty much everything. There’s no map markers on the world map, and no compass, so you need to figure out where you are on the map by building up knowledge of the landmarks and roads of the area. The sun and moon can be used as directional markers as well.
If you’re into Bethesda games and modding them, nearly all of them have “immersive HUD” mods that only show HUD elements when it’s relevant.
Limbo is amazing. You want engrossing atmosphere? No HUD, no music, no color. Just you and the terrifying, soul-crushing, body-crushing environment.
I really like portal’s absolutely minimal HUD. The game absolutely works without any hud whatsoever just as well too.
Mirror’s Edge and it’s sequel don’t have a hud at all
Reboot, I wish they made a sequel instead
