I’ve been revisiting anno 2205, infamously the ugly duckling of the Anno series of RTS games. I don’t mind so much the fact that it’s different, lacks customisation and random map generation - I’m bothered because the game is so slow to progress through on challenge settings, and it feels like a game designed just to artificially waste your time; in other anno games, you can always pull tricks to dig yourself out of economic crisis - selling off assets and surplus goods, completing quests for other parties, or taking loans. 2205 is very very confined in terms of what you can do to financially recover in the early game and forces you into a lot of military events.
I feel this in so many FPS campaigns. When the chief comes in your ear and says “theres no time move move move GO NOW” and theres a clear corridor to the objective, what they really mean is take cover immediately because you cant just run the gauntlet like the narratives pacing is obviously going.
I also feel like I got robbed out of half the game on Disco Elysium from that business.