A Redditor just beat the Driver (PS1) tutorial after 25 years of tryharding. Let's dive into the most sadistic UX design in gaming history.
Modern gamers will die twice in Elden Ring, cry on Twitter, and beg the devs for a boss nerf. You guys are way too soft! Let me tell you a story about a game where the tutorial level had players rage-quitting for... 25 straight years.
Recently, an absolute gigachad posted a screenshot on Reddit with a massive flex: "After 25 years I finally did it!". The thread immediately blew up with 18,000 upvotes and thousands of PTSD-triggered gamers rushing to the comments.
For the zoomers out there, the game is Driver, released in 1999 for the PS1. Instead of a smooth onboarding process, the devs decided to throw you into an underground parking garage, hand you a cryptic checklist (Slalom, 360, 180, Reverse 180...), and start a ruthless countdown timer. No hints. No hand-holding. You mess up? Restart. Over and over again.
The comment section is an absolute goldmine of shared trauma:
From a developer's perspective, the Driver tutorial is a textbook example of abysmal UX/UI design.
An onboarding process is supposed to welcome new users, teach them the mechanics, and hook them. The devs at Reflections Interactive turned it into a massive gatekeeping wall. It's like building a SaaS app, but forcing users to solve a LeetCode Hard problem just to click "Sign Up". If this was an online multiplayer game today, you'd probably blame the lag and download a game booster designed to reduce game ping just to cope. But back then? It was pure, unfiltered skill issue and terrible design.
The lesson for game devs and software engineers alike: Don't let your ego dictate the user flow. A smooth, step-by-step onboarding is how you retain players. Unless your game is literally named Dark Souls, drop the "filter out the noobs" mentality.
Anyway, GG to the OP. I'm gonna go download a PS1 emulator tonight and test my patience.
