Use of Tension in Game Design

After playing recently hours, and hours more, extraction shooters and several mobile games for entertainment — as well as for research purposes, as the case may be — I’ve grown being interested, and even hooked a bit, to the tension elements of these games.

In addition to engaging with games with tension playing a big part in them, I’ve also become interested of how tension can be used effectively in game design, economy design, monetization design as well as on live ops and product marketing. This is what we’ll be covering in this article.

Tension in Game Design

Tension is a critical component of game design, shaping player engagement, emotional investment, and overall immersion. It plays a role across various genres, from fast-paced mobile battles to slow-growing, high-stakes encounters in PC and console games.

In this post, I’ll break down different types of tension, the psychology and physiology behind it, and how to leverage it effectively in both short- and long-session games. I’ll also discuss how to balance tension as players grow, how it fuels live ops updates, and its potential for monetization and product marketing.

Types of Tension in Games

1. Static Tension – Pre-determined, scripted tension often found in linear storytelling and many puzzle games.
2. Systemic/Emergent Tension – Arises from player interactions, AI behaviors, and open-ended mechanics (e.g., brawlers, battle royales, extraction shooters).
3. Algorithm/Machine Learning-Based Tension – Games that adjust difficulty dynamically, such as AI-driven encounter balancing or enemy behavior adaptation.
4. Personalized Tension Through Segmentation – Games using player data to adjust tension levels based on skill, experience, and/or engagement metrics.
5. Social Tension – Tension created through competition, teamwork, or social dynamics (e.g., PvP encounters, guild interactions, social deception mechanics).

Note: There can be more techniques on top of these, but these are the ones we’ll mainly focus on this article.

The Psychology Behind Tension

Tension taps at least into following fundamental psychological principles:

• Challenge and Reward Loops – Uncertainty, risk, and anticipation keep players engaged.
• Loss Aversion – The fear of losing progress, status, or resources creates tension.
• Curiosity and Cognitive Dissonance – Players seek resolution when facing uncertainty or puzzles.
• The Flow State – Properly balanced tension keeps players engaged without frustration.

The Physiology of Tension

Tension isn’t just psychological — it has physical effects:

• Increased Heart Rate and Adrenaline – Peak tension moments drive excitement and immersion.
• Fight-or-Flight Response – Higher stakes can lead to physiological reactions such as sweating or heightened reflexes.
• Dopamine Release – Overcoming tension creates a strong reward sensation, reinforcing engagement.

Note: What I’m also interested on physiology side, is also can tension trigger oxytocin releases in human bodies as well, where I believe it depends mostly on how tension is constructed in games E.g., stress-relief can be part of a core loop’s cycle, on top of which social tension and cooperation could lean to this side.

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Tension in Engagement and Monetization

When we’re looking into engagement and monetization of games, I believe tension can be categorized into two primary strategy types (which you can also combine in your designs):

• Intrinsic Tension – Stems from gameplay itself, such as skill-based challenges, strategic decision-making, and/or story-driven suspense. Proper strategies involve designing systems where players naturally experience tension through engagement loops, meaningful choices, and mastery progression.
• Extrinsic Tension – Created by external motivators like time-limited offers, competitive rankings, or social pressure. These tactics often work in monetization but should complement rather than replace intrinsic tension to maintain long-term player trust and engagement.

Leveraging Intrinsic Tension for Engagement and Monetization

In terms of strategic categorization of tension between extrinsic and intrinsic side — I believe that a proper long-term strategy should focus on intrinsic tension first, ensuring:

• Well-Balanced Difficulty and Challenge – A continuous but fair skill progression keeps players invested.
• Meaningful Decisions with Consequences – Players should feel responsible for their successes and failures.
• Social Tension – Social tension, such as working with teammates in high-stakes scenarios.

Monetization through intrinsic tension:

• Skill-Based Progression Systems – Unlockable content based on player achievements rather than paywalls.
• Layered Risk-Reward Mechanics – Optional high-stakes modes and/or economy-based systems that encourage thoughtful decision-making.
• Social Monetization – Social monetization mechanisms.

Note: Interested of learning more about intrinsic and social strategies? Check these articles:

Using Extrinsic Tension to Complement Engagement

Engagement-monetization tie-ins can focus on extrinsic side on e.g.,:

• Time-Limited Offers and Events – Introduce FOMO without disrupting core engagement.
• Leaderboards and PvP Rankings – Create competitive pressure that can drive spending in a fair way.
• Social Tension Mechanics – Guild wars, cooperative missions, and team-based challenges drive deeper engagement and social monetization.
• Tension Stashing and Passes – Stashing and Pass mechanisms can include tension elements.

Note: Some of these could be built around intrinsic engagement-monetization tie-ins vs. leaning solely to extrinsic approach for each.

Side Note: Interested to learn more about Stashing and Pass mechanisms and where they could evolve in the future? Find more from these articles:

Tension in Mobile Games

Mobile games, with their short sessions, rely on rapid tension buildup, e.g.,:

• Brawl Stars and Other Competitive Mobile Shooters – Short, intense matches ramp up tension quickly through fast-paced action and rising stakes.
• Puzzle Games – Tension builds through difficulty, but the real peak happens when a player is close to losing and/or solving a puzzle.
• Dynamic vs. Static Tension – Some games have fixed difficulty levels (e.g., pre-designed puzzles), while others use AI and/or other means to adjust difficulty dynamically.
• Algorithmic and Personalized Tension – Mobile games leverage data to create difficulty spikes based on player behavior, maximizing engagement.

Tension in PC and Console Games

Longer-session games utilize more complex tension structures:

• Extraction Shooters (e.g., Hunt: Showdown 1896, Helldivers 2) – Slow-building tension that peaks in high-risk moments, such as encountering tougher enemies and/or PvP threats; where tension builds up to e.g., mission objective or bounty collection, and still continues from that towards the extraction point where things can happen. These games leverage strongly emergent and systemic approach to tension, which adds lots of replayability depth to these games.
• Open-World and Emergent Gameplay – Games with dynamic AI and unpredictable player interactions create varying tension levels.
• Linear Narrative Games – Games with pre-scripted tension arcs (e.g., horror games, cinematic action-adventure titles).

In these games I’d say a rhythmic tension is a thing, where you would need to understand how to increase its rhythmic heartbeats and when to slow them down a bit to sustain proper flow state.

Side Note: Interested of how I perceive future for some of these types of games? Check these articles out:

Tension in Live Ops and Live Services

How I perceive things, I do see that tension can be a powerful driver of engagement in live service games:

• Event-Based Tension – Limited-time challenges add urgency and stakes.
• Seasonal and Content Updates – New mechanics and enemies refresh tension levels, incl. putting even “veteran” players back to learning curve, which builds up tension more (and keeps game experience fresh for them).
• Dynamic Meta Adjustments – Adjusting game balance and difficulty over time keeps the experience engaging for veterans.

There are much more to this, for which this article overall gives some ideas for everyone to explore this topic more themselves in their work.

Monetizable Moments for Tension

As already discussed a bit (well, actually quite a lot; for which this section is an extension here) — tension can be a powerful monetization tool, over which I’d layer certain moments to be the main ones you can strategize things for, e.g.,:

• Pre-Game High-Stakes Triggers – Features like loot boxes, premium matchmaking, and/or paid risk-vs-reward mechanics capitalize on pre-match tension.
• Post-Game Tension and Meta Engagement – Players often seek relief or improvement after intense matches, leading to purchases (e.g., better gear, cosmetics, progression boosts).
• Time-Based and Seasonal Offers – Aligning tension peaks with limited-time monetization events enhances conversion rates.

Social and Group Tension for Engagement and Monetization

Social dynamics play a crucial role in tension-driven engagement:

• Guild Wars and Clan Battles – High-stakes PvP creates group-based tension.
• Social Deception Games (e.g., Among Us) – Leverages tension in communication and decision-making.
• Co-op and Team-Based Tension – Shared tension strengthens group cohesion and engagement.

Side Note: Interested more about social strategies? Check these articles out now:

Using Tension in Product Marketing and Re-Engagement

Tension isn’t just for gameplay, engagement, and monetization — it’s a key tool also for marketing:

• Content, Creatives / Ads and e.g., Trailers – Highlighting peak tension moments in promotional content.
• Intrinsic Product Marketing – Showcasing real in-game tension rather than relying on artificial hype, incl. UGC campaign tactics, and such.
• Live Ops and Re-Engagement Campaigns – Using tension mechanics to bring players back through high-stakes events, urgent challenges, and/or major content updates.

Final Thoughts

The more you think about it, tension is one of the most effective tools in game design for engagement, immersion, and monetization — as well as for live ops and product marketing.

Whether through emergent gameplay, social dynamics, and/or e.g., AI-driven personalization, effectively managing tension keeps players coming back. By understanding its psychological, physiological, and design implications (incl. ethical side of the power of tension), developers can craft experiences that captivate audiences and drive long-term retention.