Does anyone else automatically reach for the flare key when exploring dark areas in different games?

Dark, Story-Driven Narrative
1

I’ve been grinding Deep Rock Galactic for several months straight and barely touched any other games during this time. Recently I got a bit tired of the constant mining and decided to take a break by jumping back into some Minecraft.

The weird thing is that now whenever I enter any cave or dimly lit space, my finger automatically goes for the flare button out of pure habit. My muscle memory has been completely programmed by DRG at this point.

This creates a real issue in Minecraft because the button mapped for dropping items on console is identical to the flare throw button in Deep Rock. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve accidentally tossed my mining tool on the ground while trying to illuminate cave walls to search for ore deposits.

The conditioning runs even deeper than just gameplay. When I watch streamers or YouTubers playing Minecraft or dark horror games, I mentally expect them to toss flares for better visibility. When they don’t, I feel somewhat ridiculous for even thinking about it.

Anyone else experience this kind of cross-game muscle memory issue?

2

Deep Rock really messes with your head like that. I switched to playing some indie platformer after weeks of DRG and kept looking for the scout’s grappling hook button whenever I needed to reach higher ledges.

3

Oh man, this hits hard. I went through the exact same thing but with different games. Spent way too much time in Resident Evil and kept trying to ready my weapon in peaceful exploration games. The worst part is when you’re watching someone play and you’re mentally screaming at them to light up that dark corner, even though you know they don’t have flares. Your brain just gets wired a certain way after hundreds of hours.

4

Same thing happened to me but with Spelunky’s rope throwing. Now I instinctively try to throw ropes in every platformer.

5

I totally get that. After playing a lot of Subnautica, I found myself trying to craft flares in other survival games too.