Cognitive Walkthrough

A UX evaluation technique where evaluators step through a task from the perspective of a new player, asking 'will they know what to do here?' at each step.

In games, this means

Walking through the first 10 minutes of a game as a new player, asking at each moment: 'What does the player see? What do they know? What do they need to do? Is it obvious how?', surfaces onboarding gaps before any user testing.