Collectibles
Optional items scattered through the world purely to be found and collected — feathers, flags, figurines — often tracked with a completion percentage and cosmetic or achievement rewards. Assassin's Creed's collectible feathers and Batman: Arkham City's Riddler trophies are the genre archetypes: content that exists to reward thorough exploration rather than advance the story. Designers use collectibles to extend playtime and reward exploration, to give completionist players a long-tail goal, and to encourage players to see corners of the map the main path would skip. Key decisions: quantity and density (too many becomes exhausting busywork, too few feels pointless), whether they require skill to reach (rewarding platforming or puzzle-solving versus just walking to a marker), tracking tools (map markers versus organic discovery), and whether rewards justify the hunt. Pitfall: collectibles that are purely a checklist with no discovery skill or narrative texture are widely disliked padding — the best collectibles either demand real skill to reach or carry small story/lore payoffs that make the hunt feel worthwhile.
- Dev effort: Small
- Timing: Real-time or turn-based
- Common in: open-world, action-adventure
Seen in
- Assassin's Creed
- Batman: Arkham City