I’m willing to bet you play video games with subtitles on. Most players do – I did for a long time, too, right up until last year.
I made the switch in early 2024, and because of a few main benefits, I’ve never looked back. If you’re still covering your favorite titles with text, you don’t know what you’re missing – especially since it only takes one click in the settings menu to turn them off.
Here’s why I play games without subtitles and why I think you should, too.
Subtitles: “I’m breaking your immersion.”
Dialogue is key in narrative-driven games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Detroit: Become Human, or SOMA. Interactions between characters and the environments around them give us players all the clues we need to understand and be fully immersed in the world we’re delving into.
Every joke the main character cracks, every snide remark the unwilling sidekick gets in edgewise, it all comes together to paint a better picture of what the writers and developers had in mind.
Then, the music and sound effects come in. Games like Dead Space and The Last of Us simply wouldn’t be the same without the award-winning sound design that sends shivers down the spines of even the most courageous horror game enthusiasts.
So why reduce all that work to a few lines of text at the bottom of the screen?
I used to keep my eyes glued to the subtitles, paranoid I would miss a meaningful name, location, or instruction, glancing up at the visual storytelling on screen here and there.
Then, I came across an article from our own Lance Ulanoff on why Gen Z loves closed captioning. The more I read, the more I could see myself in the reasons for subtitles given in that article.
A fresh perspective brewing in my head, I booted up Steam. It wasn’t until I decided to take a step back and soak in the beautiful and dynamic landscape of Red Dead Redemption 2 that I thought about just how much I take for granted in modern-day story titles.
Don’t get me wrong, not all cutscenes and maps are cinematic marvels that demand your full respect and attention – some are quick, dirty, and get the job done – but how many details have you missed skimming text instead of taking in facial expressions, admiring landscapes, or listening for intentionally-designed audio queues rather than letting the subtitle act as a lazy visual indicator?
Are these subtitles or spoilers?
Subtitles aren’t just immersion breakers, though – they can be downright spoilers. It really irks me when a character would’ve actually made a pretty good joke with solid comedic timing. Still, the subtitles stomp all over the punchline by plastering it on screen before the actor has a chance to deliver it.
Similarly, many subtitles spoil the names of mysterious characters before we’re meant to know them.
One that jumps to mind immediately is The Illusive Man from Mass Effect 2. The entire opening sequence of this game is shrouded in mystery: how is Shepard alive, how did he get to be a lab specimen in an unknown starship, and who’s behind it all? Well, the subtitles take some of that guesswork out for you by spoiling the identity of a main character in a passing cutscene.
Of course, this doesn’t reveal everything you’re meant to learn about The Illusive Man. But in a scene that’s meant to have Shepard (and you as a player) flying blind, relying on little more than the words of those who brought you back from the brink of death, immediately being able to match a name to a face kills a serious chunk of that secrecy.
And it doesn’t happen if you don’t have subtitles enabled.
It’s not just the names of characters, either. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve completely ignored the audio dialogue, skimming the subtitles on screen and thinking, “wow that’s a lot of text. Don’t care, got the general idea. Skip.”
Before I knew it, I’d just read the Sparknotes of a story instead of playing a video game. It’s not that I’m disinterested in the story, either – it’s that skimming those subtitles is much more efficient. I had to take some time to remember that I’m not playing a story game to get through it as efficiently as possible. Cut subtitles out, play story games again.
I can’t even see the game!
Lastly, some subtitles just look downright terrible. A select number of games let you configure how the subtitles look, but all too many give you two options: no subtitles, or a giant block of text with a background that covers the bottom third of your screen (honorable mention for tiny subtitles you have to squint to read).
I used to think, “yeah it looks terrible but I always play with subtitles on.” Don’t do it – they’re actively making your game look worse.
Max Deryagin wrote an excellent piece on what video game subtitles got wrong in 2017 – I’ve personally experienced almost every shortcoming he points out in that piece, and he also showcases plenty of examples of subtitles that look like major eyesores.
In spite of it all, we need subtitles
Of course, subtitles aren’t all bad. They’re an extremely important accessibility feature that needs to be included in every game that comes out today. Gamers with hearing impairments or auditory processing disorders rely on subtitles to glean key information and objectives.
They’re also vital for players who are trying out games in another language from their native tongue.
Subtitles can be fun, too – like in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, where the only way to understand some alien races who don’t speak Basic is by reading the translated captions.
But lately, I’ve been wishing more games had a Baldur’s- Gate- 3-style conversation log. This is the best of both worlds in my eyes; I get to see and hear the scene play out as the visual and audio designers intended, but if I missed something in the dialogue, I can go back and check the logs.
You might feel ‘naked’ at first, turning subtitles off, like something is missing. I know I did. But if you stick with it for a bit, give it a fighting chance, I think you’ll find a new way to play your favorite games.
Do you have to have subtitles on when you play games or do you think you could give turning them off a shot? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!
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marcus.mearsiii@futurenet.com (Marcus Mears III)
