Whenever a fast paced action game like Devil May Cry, Prodeus, HiFi Rush or Doom have a grading system then I would feel like not continuing them as if some one is judging my performance, instead of a bar to get better.
It’s weird that this feeling never happens in a game like Hitman or Overcooked. I view them as challenges, but not grading like in DMC.
I like factory or management games, even ones where it is expected you will fail, like Dwarf Fortress, because it’s not about winning or getting a high score. It’s about going in with an idea and setting it through to fruition. I like seeing things I spent a bunch of time on as a large concrete thing I can go back and look at again, and actually have it provide meaningful value in a direct way instead of just incrementing some number in the engine somewhere.
I still play some roguelites that are like that, but there is something nice about sandbox games where progress isn’t directly quantifiable.