Risen 3: Titan Lords

[Googolplex]

If excluding the HUD handicaps the player and makes the gameplay poor, is it really worth it? I don't think it's a big immersion killer to most people, unless it's of course way overdone.

A game should be designed that it doesn't need HUD. When games like Skyrim for example require compass and quest markers, then it's bad designed. Without these things it's almost unplayable. But when the quest system would be incorporated with the world, then you could avoid such immersion-breaking comfort functions. In Risen the HUD is just pointless. For what should the compass be? The quick bar helps to access important items faster, but people never missed that in Gothic. This game shows that it also works without all these things by adding very nice quest descriptions in the protagonist's diary.

And when HUD is required, it's important to keep it as minimal as possible. For me, It's generally a no-go. Frictional Games always does it right and I think they know why. Imagine Amnesia with a health bar, that just would look like a "fun-game".