Unpopular opinion: All games should have the option to enable pausing.
And to save almost everywhere.
Yes even in soulslike games.
I am an adult who has a full time job and responsibilities. I get to play maybe an hour a week. I do not want to lose that hour of progress because devs decided ‘pause’ was not allowed in their game and I had sudden unexpected things come up that meant I had to quit the game without saving/leave it playing and hope enemies wouldn’t respawn.
Also it would massively increase accessability. I have fully working non-injured hands and they still need a break after a tough boss fight. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be for people with joint pain, arthritis, etc, etc.
Pets. Children. Phone calls. Wife going into labor. People playing the game while working, and needing to pause when actual work needs to be done.
Pot boiling over. Pets getting into a fight. Doorbell rings for delivery. Car wreck on street. Kids coming over to visit. Random weird noise at 1 am that needs investigating. Actually me-> random weird noise was HOUSE ATTEMPTING TO BURN DOWN.
“Maybe it’s a burglar, maybe it’s a fire. Is it worth giving up the last 30 minutes of gameplay to check?”
Not a question you want your players asking.