- Primary Subject: Game Design Mechanics (Environmental Interaction)
- Key Update: "Battlefield Toys" are essential design tools that provide spectacle, utility, and agency, turning standard shooters into tactical playgrounds.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: May 28, 2026
- Quick Answer: "Battlefield Toys", such as barrels and puddles, are interactive environmental objects that provide spectacle, utility, and agency, allowing players to approach combat beyond just running and gunning enemies creatively
Let’s start this off with a thought experiment: You’re a soldier, you’re walking through a hallway from point A to point B, and you shoot bad guys along the way—the End. What I have just described to you is the base concept of about 50% of the most popular video games out there today. Call of Duty, Doom, and Battlefield all involve you running from point A to point B and shooting bad guys, but there is a difference. Now, imagine that same scenario, but now you have an explosive barrel in the middle of the hallway. Boom! Game of the year.
Recently, I’ve been thinking about game design and why games feel “fun”. There are a lot of things to be done mechanics-wise for a shooter to feel fun, such as the active reload in Gears of War and rewarding headshots in the Halo games. But I find that the surefire way for a shooter game (or any game, for that matter) to feel fun is to introduce “Battlefield Toys”. These toys are interactive objects on the stage that were placed there to give players something else to do, other than the usual shoot-the-bad-guy shtick. And perhaps one of the greatest examples of this would be the iconic explosive barrels.
If you’ve played any video game, you’d have probably seen a version of the iconic explosive barrel at some point. The concept of color-coded barrels that explode and deal damage to an area around them has existed in gaming for the longest time, probably inspired by movies that used explosions as spectacle time and time again. The explosive barrel has evolved through the years, coming in many different forms and variations. My personal favorite would be Borderlands’ implementation of elemental barrels that dealt different types of damage. Explosive barrels are also a perfect example of what battlefield toys should be because they check the three very important elements of what a battlefield toy should be.
The first element would be the sheer spectacle of a battlefield toy, rewarding players with visual or audio feedback that they did something epic and spectacular. Basically, a battlefield toy should make the monkey in our brains jump for joy whenever we interact with them. Another personal favorite example of this is the gas and oxygen tanks in Left 4 Dead 2, all of which give very striking and powerful auditory and visual feedback. The hiss of a gas tank getting hit just seconds before exploding hordes of zombies in a gaudy party popper of gore will always be satisfying, and Valve understood this perfectly.
The second element would be the utility of a battlefield toy, because it’s not all just about design. Explosions (obviously) deal a ton of damage to the surrounding enemies, and having players use the environment to their advantage will definitely satisfy the tactician in their brains. Using one of the greatest games of all time as an example, Resident Evil 4 uses explosive barrels to perfection. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve managed to kite hordes of zombies into a chokepoint with an exploding barrel, dispatching a handful with just one bullet. Game designers know that you recognize these little toys, and the best ones know how to design their maps around them.
The third and most important element of battlefield toys is interactivity. I’m loosely quoting grand daddy Gabe Newell himself, but the gist of what he said in an interview is that gaming fun is based on interactivity. The more interactions a player has with the outcome of an action, the more fun they’re bound to have. This is why getting washed in a fighting game feels so bad, and why planning out engagements in Call of Duty feels so fun in contrast. But with that said, I want to zoom out and take a glance at the other battlefield toys that fit this criteria.
Battlefield toys can come in all shapes and colors, and a few of my other favorite examples are puddles. There’s the kind that bursts into flames when you shoot them, like in Bioshock, and there are some that stun enemies when you shoot a generator nearby, like in Resident Evil 3. They may be small at the time you see them, but in retrospect, they’ve all added depth to games that would have otherwise been just straight run and guns.
If you want to go to extremes, there’s also the aspect of destructible environments that contribute to how players creatively approach encounters. Bridges that can be collapsed to take out multiple enemies at once, and towers that can be blown up and used against a giant kaiju monster. Satisfying moments that stick in every gamer’s head, whether they realize it or not! So the next time you play through an action sequence, take note of the tiny ways developers spice up a set piece. Who knows? Maybe your favorite gaming moment is just an explosion away.
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