In the game I'm making you navigate a somewhat open environment (think Metroid / Dark Souls). The player character has abilities that don't require consumable resources, they are limitless.
As a result, my levels are made up of entirely necessary spaces. Every area is important to player progression. This is unlike that of a lot of other games where you find secret rooms or whole areas which aren't critical to progression, instead the rooms give you missiles or upgrade points etc.
Because of this, my game is pretty streamlined and I'm now wondering if I should arbitrarily add either abilities that require consumable resources OR have spaces which let you collect secret items that don't affect gameplay (Ass Creed feathers) - I feel like this probably isn't the right way to go, but I just wanted to get your opinions on it - what do you all think about collectibles in games, do you find them useful tools to drive players forward or to reward exploration?
For my game I feel like the reward in exploring the levels is that you are always doing something which moves you forward, it's potentially quite neat, though as I said, makes the experience shorter and more streamlined.