There’s something about those early games that were in the first generation of their genres and people hadn’t figured out the rules yet. Lots of experimental stuff. Things that could created a wall that the average kid would stall on.

Try playing the Marathon trilogy and then go right to Halo CE. You’ll realize why Cortana walks you though most of the game. The line “This cave is not a natural formation” came from when the opening was more natural looking, but even with the dialog, play testers had trouble fining the opening. Still way better then dumping yellow tape or green lights everywhere.