Video Game Deja Vu: Reusing The Basest Mechanics

Deja vu isn't just a ridiculous movie starring time travel cameras and Denzel Washington's terrible driving, it's part of the standard operating procedure of the video game industry. Once a mechanic, no matter how good or bad, is introduced into a game, you can guarantee some new developer will twist it into their new property. Even if you are unaware of Diablo II, one of the grandfathers of the modern action RPG, it is extremely likely you have played a game with randomized loot, increasing numbers, and increasingly obnoxious mobs of monsters to kill with your increasing numbers and randomized loot. Dead Island is such a game. Worse, it is such a game that did not require such an overused system for marking progression.