I’m not sure when exactly the change happened, but I sure am sick of it. Over the past few years, it feels like every action game developer has collectively decided that R1 / RB is the button for “light attack,” following in the footsteps of Dark Souls and other Soulslikes.

No!!! This is an affront to the video game gods. Put those inputs back on the face buttons.

I first noticed the trend in a pair of action games released at the start of this console generation. Godfall, the vividly colored “looter-slasher” from Counterplay Games, was a timed PS5 console exclusive featuring a control scheme in which R1 performed light attacks, R2 performed heavy attacks, and X controlled your dodge. Weird, I thought at the time, but not so weird as to panic about it. For one game, I could deal.

Around the same time, I picked up Assassin’s Creed........

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