Toward Minimalist HUDs? Longitudinal Trends and Player Perceptions in Action-Adventure and Action-RPG Games

Abstract

Heads-up displays (HUDs) in contemporary action-adventure and action-RPG games are often described as becoming more minimalist, but evidence for this claim is largely anecdotal. Moreover, it remains unclear whether expert-coded HUD minimalism corresponds to how players actually perceive and evaluate game interfaces. To address this gap, we combine a longitudinal analysis of prominent commercial games with a clip-based perception study. We coded 30 Game of the Year nominees released between 2014 and 2025 using a four-dimensional framework of HUD minimalism capturing diegetic integration, persistence, density, and contextuality, and complemented this analysis with a remote within-subject study (<em>N</em> = 59) in which participants rated perceived minimalism, expected immersion, clarity, preference, and HUD reduction intention across gameplay clips. <br/> Results show a clear upward trend in composite HUD minimalism over time: later games more often present information through diegetic and context-dependent means while reducing persistent and visually dense overlays. Player judgments closely tracked this distinction. Interfaces perceived as more minimalist were also associated with higher expected immersion and stronger preference, whereas clarity was driven more by familiarity than by perceived minimalism. Rather than indicating a simple disappearance of HUDs, these findings point to a broader design shift toward selectively surfaced, integrated, and state-dependent information presentation in prominent action games.