There is very little visual information as to my current enclosure level, other than tiny, half-opaque breadcrumbs at the top of the screen and a folder icon next to the title. This requires me to re-parse where I am and what I’m doing.

In other menu sections the circular layout theme is continued with the type and iconography, which makes the content more difficult to parse than if it has been laid out on a grid. There is a tension between all menu sections as they look similar and yet, slightly different. This frequently results in feeling lost as to what menu section I’m viewing.

Font choice and size

I am playing the game on a fairly large TV at 1080p resolution from about eight feet away. I have 20/20 vision and the font size of many UI elements often rests on the edge of unreadable. I could imagine the font rendering much better in 4K but I’m stunned that this wasn’t considered more carefully.

When working towards an objective in the game you are presented with new terms or specific places to go. I can’t believe I physically have to get up to make sure I’m reading something this important correctly. Either BioWare was being optimistic about people having 4K setups or they didn’t consider how distance might impact UI legibility.

The next step in your current objective is shown in the top right of the screen in a type size that is barely legible.

The font choices are about as equally unreadable as they were in previous Mass Effect games. Narrow fonts with very little kerning make the Codex unpleasant. Overly bold fonts with heavy letterforms are distracting. Curved layouts on paragraph text seem unconsidered. This game ends up being a lesson in why typography is important.

Charging powers

One of the most disturbing gameplay issues is knowing when your biotics and special powers are charged and ready to go. This is critical to fast gameplay and many other games have solved this well.

In Destiny, when your Super charges, you get clear gold text in the middle of the screen letting you know it’s ready to go. Zero ambiguity.