Calling a tutorial the worst part of a great game is a bit of theater. These aren't ruined masterpieces, and most recover the moment they stop explaining themselves. But the opening hours are where a game makes its case, and there are plenty of titles that fumble that first handshake. Whether they lock you in a corridor or drop you into a spreadsheet with no context, here are the openings worth enduring.
Persona 5 and the Slow Burn
Persona 5 kicks off with a slick casino heist, but then immediately takes it away. What follows is a long flashback filled with school orientation and social busywork. The Metaverse—the stylish dungeon-crawler everyone raves about—stays locked for hours. Even in Persona 5 Royal, the slow build remains. While it isn't "bad," it is an enormous amount of throat-clearing for a game this confident, and it causes plenty of newcomers to bounce off before the hooks finally sink in.
The Intimidating Front Door of Crusader Kings 3
Paradox Interactive's Crusader Kings 3 has a tutorial, but it is a bit of a misnomer. It walks you through the interface buttons while serenely declining to mention the actual game: the scheming, the inheritance math, and the slow-motion family apocalypses. New players finish the tutorial knowing how to navigate menus but nothing about why or when to use them. The true learning happens through failure—or by having a friend lecture you—until the systems finally click.
Enduring the Blizzard in Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 starts with a crawl. The Van der Linde gang is stranded in snowbound mountains, and the game forces you to learn systems at the pace of a man wading through treacle. Horses handle like canal boats, and the open world remains frustratingly out of reach for a couple of hours. It is a deliberate choice to establish tone, but it acts as a significant toll for any player wanting to see the extraordinary game underneath.
Hand-Holding and Corridors
Some games struggle by being too helpful, while others are too restrictive:
- Pokemon Sun & Moon: This entry swapped traditional gyms for a narrative island journey, but it never stops to let you play. Hau, Lillie, Professor Kukui, and the Rotom Dex constantly interrupt to explain mechanics that have been standard since 1996, with no way to skip the dialogue.
- Final Fantasy 13: The patron saint of slow starts, it funnels you down a single, gleaming corridor for nearly twenty hours. There are no towns to explore and few decisions to make until you finally reach Gran Pulse.
- The Witcher 3: While one of the finest RPGs ever made, its White Orchard tutorial zone is a muddy, grey starter hamlet. The combat tutorial feels fussy and lands awkwardly, punishing players for not grasping systems the game hasn't even finished explaining yet.
Whether it is the long, deliberate crawl of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, the petting-zoo-like opening of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, or the arcade-style punishing boss gauntlet of Nier: Automata, these games all share a common trait: they require a test of devotion. The good stuff is waiting on the other side; you just have to survive the onboarding to reach it.