Saw this pop up, and it rings true for me at least. I like some numbers in my games, and not just the washed-out kind where they might as well just use a color instead.
And like he says, it’s fine in games like DOOM 2016. Doomguy needs no numbers, his numbers are “Shotgun” and “More”.
Not to mention, sometimes they actively take away from the art direction. You can have a game that’s clearly going for semi-realism and yet keeps damage numbers flying off like it’s a comic strip, which doesn’t fit whatsoever.
The strangest, funniest mixture are the games built off comic licenses that employ a semi-realistic style with damage numbers, when a better combination would be stylized so it would all fit better artistically.