Although online education offerings continue to grow in the higher education marketplace, issues of student achievement and course rigour still challenge the underlying instructional model, and alignment with institutional missions. Pedagogically, instructors and course designers can mitigate these issues by leveraging technology to further enhance students' cognition and knowledge retention within the online domain. This study analysed the effects of visual hints and elaborate feedback embedded in serious educational games to determine the effects on student learning and information recollection. Using a quasi-experimental design and quantitative testing methods based on differing forms of feedback in the game, significant differences were found among three groups of students in an online educational environment. Mean scores on comprehension tests indicated that participants who were exposed to elaborate feedback and visual hints performed better than control groups in an online learning environment. This supports the underlying framework of information processing theory.