Yellow paint. Something in some form or another games have been doing since SNES era and many don't realize it. Super Metroid gave you a map. Crazy Taxi gave an arrow. Forza directed you on the road. We had Compasses and mini maps since the 90s.  Yes I saw people complain back then.

- Seconding the OP, obvious signposting is a good thing, few things are more annoying than when a game is vague and cryptic.

- Easy/story modes: people who complain about these are nearly always toxic elitists who don't want other people to be allowed to enjoy the games they like.

- The "desaturated"/grunge/high contrast era from like 2005-2009, I genuinely loved this era, it was and still is awesome and beats 99% of today's games.

- Short games. A few hours of concentrated fun beats the shit out of 50-100 hours of padding and filler.

Linearity.
I like when it is clear what's next. The correct path. I feel stories are better told that way and it is more fun to deviate and explore when those things are side options instead of the main thing.

Definitely agree with this too, open world games can be cool, but so often they add little but a needless commute between the actual gameplay segments.

@Leynos

Pretty sure I remember some CRPGs in 80s that had automap feature, way before Super Metroid.

Collectathons. For some reason I like going around and finding shit. Probably why Lego games are a guilty pleasure of mine.

Bad graphics

Super Mario Bros 2 & Resident Evil 3 remake are great games.

And what's this about modern YouTubers complaining about tank controls in the classic Resi games, just cos they heard another YouTuber say it. 10 years ago no one complained about it.

Games that aren't afraid to be over the top, cheesy, and stupid, to realize that not everything needs to be taken seriously and that it is okay for games to be ridiculous, regardless of how much the artsy fartsy folks may look down their noses at it.

Not saying Metroid was the first in games but it was a first for that genre I believe. At least was for Metroid.