No one wants to be put in the situation of feeling let down by endings, each should feel unique and awesome.
Putting players back on to the same track will make the player feel like future choices in the game are also irrelevant.
It may be more work for you, but the player only cares about how much effort has gone in to the game!
If you’re in the business, be truthful with yourself. Are you in it for the creativity and imagination, or the potential financial gains?
To clarify being anywhere on either of these, is neither right or wrong
If you have a small level, it can seem necessary for padding to make the player back track after getting an objective.
Players tend to expect levels to be linear, unless explicitly told. Backtracking leads to confusion and that is the last thing we want.
Morale of the story:
Don’t wear out your players shoes!
Commonly made mistake, unless your game is ‘Inventory Management simulator 2013’ people should be playing your game, not spending the whole time cleaning backpacks.
This also goes for perceived ‘different’ items like Borderlands, players do not want to spend 30 minutes figuring out whether -0.1024% attack speed but +0.16 damage is better than original.
Do not tell your players where all the secrets are, this is not a secret!
The player wants to think that they have managed to out smart the developer. Doing this is like ruining the final episode to breaking bad!
Not telling your player allows them to invest in your world. The satisfaction of exploration should always be cherished.
Games that sell well, have logical complexity.
When designing a colour scheme for your game, always use complimentary colours to reduce confusion with your player, this is why in a 2D games the hero will generally have ginger hair to contrast the blues of the background.
Game Design tips 