The more information we as designers give the players, the more easily they can exploit that information. If for an example there’s a secret breakable wall in the level, what are the chances that players will find it? Depends. What information are you giving out?

Does the breakable wall look like everything else in the game? Are there no clues pointing to the location of the breakable wall? Have there not been any other similar types of secrets? Can you even break anything else in the game?

Good secrets have clues to them. They’re not really secrets at all. If you can only discover a secret purely by accident, then it will likely remain secret. So, what’s the problem with enemy health bars?

Health bars are one way to convey information to the player. What information is that? Strictly speaking…

How close to dying is the enemy? How much damage are you doing?

Why do you as a player need this information? Well, there are exceptions to this, but in general, I don’t think you actually do need it. It’s a cheap way to give players feedback for their actions. By cheap I mean that the feedback is reduced to a simplistic value that might very easily take you out of the experience. Here’s an example.

Imagine that you’re playing Fallout 4. You’re sneaking around some section of the city, collecting equipment along the way, when suddenly you notice a monster ahead. The monster has not seen you yet. It’s large, gray, hairy, and has some mutated arms sticking out of its neck. Your skin crawls as you think about options. There’s likely some sweet loot laying ahead that you want to get your hands on. But perhaps the monster will rip you in pieces in two hits and there’s nothing you can do about it. Should you go ahead? Should you turn back?

You take out your trusty old hunting rifle, aim at the monster’s head, and take a shot. Immediately, you notice at the top of the screen the health bar of the monster informing that you’ve taken out most of its health, robbing the situation of all further dramatic tension.

What if you didn’t know how much damage you did? Perhaps you get scared off by the monstrosity trampling towards you and get out of the place as fast as humanly possible. Perhaps you shoot the monster five times and when it doesn’t die, you deem the situation hopeless (no matter what’s going on be behind the scenes). The point is, the lack of information is creating tension.

I enjoy feedback. I like knowing that a monster is almost dead, because it gives me a sense of progress and makes me feel powerful. Games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II for NES did this by making the bosses flash orange when they were low on health. You knew you were close, but still didn’t have any idea how close.

Perhaps these days we could have more subtle effects, like making the enemy bleed or something. But still, I think giving players too much information (i.e. the exact state of the enemy’s health circumstances) is detrimental to the game atmosphere in many (if not most) cases.

Don’t get me wrong. Enemy health bars have a reason. They have a function. I just happen to think that function could be filled in other ways. When game designers stop thinking, the medium stops evolving!