10 Game UI Mistakes That Hurt Player Retention

The UI of a video game is often the unsung hero.

It’s the bridge that transforms a player from an observer watching your game into an active participant who is shaping their experience of your game.

However, UI and UX are frequently overlooked or left until the last minute. When done poorly, they can quickly frustrate players sometimes to the point where they simply exit the game altogether.

Keeping players engaged is challenging even under the best circumstances. Developers must carefully balance art direction, storytelling, and gameplay. UI plays a role in all of these elements at any given moment.

In this article, we’ll explore the top 10 game UI mistakes that could be harming your players’ experience, with insights from a specialist UI studio dedicated to getting it right.

1. Overloading the Player With Information

Often referred to as cognitive overload, this occurs when the UI becomes too complex or cluttered for players to process easily. Too much information on screen at once can make even a simple game feel overwhelming.

Players frequently describe games as “difficult to understand”, and UI is often a major contributor to that. Management and simulation games, for example, must strike a careful balance between a player understanding the game intuitively, while also still having enough depth to the game that simulation games are known for. However, many fall into the trap of “more is more,” filling screens with excessive information that ultimately confuses rather than informs.

Even in less complex genres like first-person shooters, cluttered HUDs can become noisy and distracting especially during fast-paced gameplay where quick decision-making is critical. Just because you can display something doesn’t mean you should. Prioritizing essential information and offloading secondary details to other screens or removing them entirely can significantly improve a player's experience.

When there is a lot of information on screen - such as a skill tree - trying to keep it clean but still informative can be a delicate balance.

2. Weak Onboarding UI

Poor onboarding is a common frustration. Players often encounter tutorials where tooltips disappear too quickly, forcing them to guess controls or mash buttons to figure things out.

While not every game requires extensive tutorials, onboarding should always match the game’s complexity and audience expectations. For example, first-person shooters benefit from quick, streamlined introductions, whereas management sims may require more guided learning.

Providing accessible reference points such as controller screens, or logs of previous tutorials, can help players revisit information when needed, reducing players having to scour the internet for answers and improving the overall flow of the game.

3. Poor Visual Hierarchy

Visual hierarchy determines how players process UI elements, and in what order. It guides the eye toward what matters most, such as low health or out of ammo notifications.

If hierarchy is unclear, players may miss important information or struggle to identify what to do next. Call-to-action elements such as a “Start” button on the main menu should stand out clearly and not blend into the background.

A strong approach is to begin with simple wireframes. Taking away the task of deciding colors, shape language and other visual design polish allows designers to focus purely on layout, flow, and prioritization before layering in the art direction.

4. Inconsistent Design Language

UI should feel like a natural extension of the game world, and should follow the same art direction. Inconsistent art styles whether in icons, typography, or layout can break immersion and make the experience feel disjointed.

Players expect cohesion across the entire art of the game. A realistic sci-fi horror game, for example, should not feature UI that feels more suited to a light-hearted farming simulator.

This issue is especially common in indie development, where UI may be deprioritized due to limited resources. However, even simple, consistent design choices can help to boost your players perceived quality and immersion in your game.

5. Non-Responsive UI Across Devices

When porting from one device to another, a slew of problems can arise and often it is the translation of the UI and UX. It can be that the UI doesn't scale well, or it doesn't play as intuitively between console and PC. Players will quickly become frustrated if buttons are too small to press on different mobile screens, or a button that before was easy to use on a controller, now has them trying to contort their hands to press the new button on PC.

Making sure at the beginning of development that you are clear on which platforms you are hoping to port to, can give your UI and UX designer context and a heads-up of what needs to translate before you get there. Preparation is everything!

6. Too Many Screens to Begin Playing

We have seen this many times, where an excessive number of menus is stopping the player from getting into the game quickly. Screens that may be filled with monetization prompts or offers can quickly create friction and frustration with your player who gradually over time will stop playing.

While additional screens may serve business or informational purposes, they should be limited and thoughtfully placed. Reducing the number of steps between launch and gameplay improves engagement and retention.

7. Confusing Navigation Systems

Navigation should feel intuitive and effortless. Players should quickly learn how to access menus, inventory, or settings without needing to think about it to the point where it is second nature.

You don't want players to feel like it's a slog to get to a certain menu, or that they have to watch a long, drawn out animation each time they want to do a simple task. Similarly, exiting menus should be quick and straightforward and players shouldn’t have to fight the UI to return to gameplay.

8. Ignoring Accessibility

Accessibility is often treated as an afterthought, but it should be a core part of UI design from the start. According to Scope's report of 1,326 disabled gamers surveyed 40% of them haven't been fully able to enjoy games due to poor accessibility features such as low color contrast, small text, or lack of control customization.

Key accessibility considerations include:

• Adjustable audio settings
• Customizable controls and sensitivity
• Color contrast options
• Visual effect (VFX) toggles
• Subtitles and captions
• Scalable text and UI
• Magnification tools

Designing with accessibility in mind not only broadens your audience but also improves usability for all players.

9. Unclear Reward Feedback

'So...did I win?' is never something you want to hear from a player. Strong feedback systems are essential for reinforcing gameplay outcomes.

Clear visual, audio, and UI cues help celebrate victories and communicate losses. Weak or ambiguous feedback can confuse, and frustrate players which in turn can diminish the satisfaction of progress.

10. Designing UI Too Late in Production

We have lightly touched on this, but UI can sometimes be treated as a final layer or decoration, and be added late in development.

Designing UI early allows teams to match gameplay mechanics with how information is presented, identify issues sooner, and avoid costly revisions. It also ensures the UI supports - rather than hinders - the players experience of your game.

How Professional UI Design Improves Retention

When you first begin designing your game, you are already considering the gameplay. UI and UX are fundamental to how players experience your game. A well-designed interface supports gameplay, reduces friction, and keeps players engaged.

Equally important is user testing where you gather feedback from a diverse range of players, including those with feedback. We can sometimes get blinkered to how the UI really performs, but only because we know the game, understand the context and have fallen in love with the visuals, but play testers will give their honest opinion.

Great UI should feel invisible - seamlessly supporting gameplay without drawing attention to itself. At Athena Productions, we help games from indie to AAA achieve exactly that, crafting UI and UX that enhance player retention by removing friction and frustration. If you’re looking to push your game’s experience to new heights, get in touch with our team today.