but it makes no digetic sense. People in real life don’t do a squat mid-air if their only intention is to step up to a higher object.

I kinda gotta disagree with this entire premise, it is very common to lift your legs up when trying to jump on something higher than your starting position.

I don’t think a mantling system is a good drop-in replacement for crouch jumping. As you say, it simplifies the movement, meaning the player will no longer have the variety of “jump, without being able to land on higher surfaces” and “jump and be able to land on higher surfaces.” I think having that extra functionality is a benefit to purposeful player movement.

It also means that they can connect other important game functionality to the Crouch button if that keybind just doesn’t do much for the intended gameplay.

What other functionality could be tied to the crouch button that is mutually exclusive with crouch jumping? Like I get some games with more movement abilities would have double jumps and air dashes, but those movements are already pretty well accounted for with the jump button and sprint button.

What’s wrong with crouch jumping?

Posts complaining about “politics” and “propaganda” are invariably made by people who want to see those things, just the kind aligned with their politics.

I disagree, IMO a lot of it is just low effort trash spammed across multiple communities, multiplying how annoying it is. It’s not that I disagree with the idea, I just think “elites bad, updoots to the left” is mind numbingly lazy.