a lot of AAA games will have their primary system (usually combat), while features like exploration and puzzles are reduced to texture

they serve to pad things out & pace the game but are not allowed to be difficult/interesting as they're not the important part-

https://twitter.com/DaveOshry/status/1755469586999505137

-it's usually skin deep but technically offers a lot of variety that, ideally, obscures the feeling of doing nothing of importance/busywork while giving you downtime, but not actually letting you fail or give you choices unlike the "real" part of the game.

obviously im not fond-