Enemies allowing space for other enemies.

What I mean is, different enemies occupy different "spaces" in an encounter. Both in a literal spatial sense but also in role and synergy. As opposed to a mass of enemies just converging on your position all at once -we've all played a game like that.

And if you pay attention you start to see it everywhere.

It's often justified with enemy "personality"; lions stalk, zombie shamble, ninjas flip, bulls charge, cowards flee, soldiers shoot, etc. This creates space for the player to juggle different enemies/actions simultaneously.

A la the iconic Dark Souls' boss Ornstein and Smough. Ornstein is big and slow while Ornstein is fast and dashes ahead creating space between the two. The pillars in the arena also being useful for splitting them up.

In Sekiro the dogs are just simply designed to not attack all at once. And it totally fits the "personality" of being circled by a pack of wolves/dogs.

In Hollow Knight some enemies are airborne and in that same encounter there might also be grounded enemies. Each occupy literally a different space. And the mechanics lean into that! This then becomes a satisfying game of whack-a‐mole between bouncing on their heads and batting away the flying enemies.

Or more recently in the new Jedi Survivor game we see how some enemies fill different contextual roles. Some enemies like the B1 Droids can literally be killed in a singular hit -several at a time if you use the force. Now alone, this enemy type doesnt pose any sort of challenge and at a first glance you might call this poor enemy design. But we need to look at it with a bird's eye view. Its relative weakness becomes a note in a harmony when its paired with another enemy -or two enemies -or three enemies.

And thats not all that this simple enemy brings to the table. Because they're so easy it creates a hierarchy of priority for the player and compels them to strategize. They COULD ignore them and focus on the tanky and hard-hitting Hammer Bedlam Raider but maybe a better strategy would be to take them out first and 1v1 the Raider. Sooooooo context provides a niche that each enemy can fill without bumping into each other.

And again the mechanics lean into this:

• Cal moves significantly faster than his opponents allowing the player to create space between them.

• Force push and pull can be used to break up a mob.

• The deflection mechanic automatically deflects blaster bolts while running. Which is essential when you will frequently be pitted against several ranged enemies in a singular encounter. Its also very forgiving as far as blocking. If you block too early instead of deflectinf it'll just block the attack and drain your stamina.

• Cal has several ranged options including blaster stance, saber throw and force push.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts and insight. Im always looking to improve my game design philosophies!