The best part of video games back in the day was making memories with your friends, now it all feels like structured fun. “This is how you play the game and this is when you are supposed to have fun” Idk if that makes sense.
What types of games are you playing? Sounds like you are describing a generic AAA "live service" game, there are plenty of fun games but you have to search for them in a sea of soulless corporate cashgrabs. I would recommend trying games by smaller developers. If you want to play with friends I would recommend indie co-op games like risk of rain 2 or deep rock galactic. Or maybe you are just burnt out on gaming? Never hurts to take a break, try another hobby for a bit and come back reinvigorated
Live service games, MMOs, gatcha games, and many hardcore multiplayer games are the worst for this. They love to waste player's time on some repetitive grind because they want players to keep playing their game. They usually have either microtransactions (often for cosmetics) or a subscription.
Personally, I love MMOs, but I try to avoid playing any grindy content (or at least as long as I don't think I'll genuinely enjoy it). So I'll usually play a game for a few months (they're really big games) and then quit for years, if not permanently (I have a bunch of MMOs I intend to someday return to, but have not yet).
Single player games are generally much better at being genuinely fun. Especially story driven games. I also love open world games because you largely get to make them your own. It's perfectly valid to beeline the story missions if that's all you care about. Or you could do just the side quests. Or you could additionally explore like crazy. e.g., with Tears of the Kingdom, you really can ignore most of the shrines and largely focus on the story quests. None of the side quests are necessary, either. You don't have to explore the depths except for a tiny few places for the story. The vast majority of sky islands can be ignored. But I personally had a lot of fun exploring, so I explored nearly everything and loved it (except most of the depths -- they were way too big, empty, and repetitive).
Some people don't like long games, though. And that's fine! There's tons of short or more streamlined games out there that you can have fun with. e.g., The Last of Us is a fantastic one. The sequel is about 24 hours long for the story and it felt like it flew by in the blink of an eye for me cause I was having so much fun.
Was going to say this as well. As a long time destiny player it very much feels like checking boxes or doing chores each week.
I've finally managed to break away and play other games and am so excited for my current to do pile. Mass Effect 1,2,3 done, Andromeda is in progress and after that is Control, Cyberpunk and Fallout 4.
I think you've just played too many games. You know how they work now, you have a sense of what's behind the curtain. You can see the way the dev is trying to talk to you through specific camera angles and lighting placements, and you resent it and wish for the days you didn't notice that stuff.
I get it. It's valid. But it's a personal thing. Games didn't get less fun, you just aren't enjoying them anymore. They've always been like that.
May I suggest cheating? No, seriously: Download some mods, cheat tables, or trainers. Play the game the way you want to play it. Break out of the devs' carefully-packaged little box, even if it makes the game easier or makes people sneer at you. Go out of bounds. Give yourself infinite health and see how long it takes to beat the last boss naked and unarmed or using a DDR pad.
Don't cheat in multiplayer though. There's a special hell reserved for those who ruin others' experiences.
I've been cheating since the days of hand writing them from the internet for snes games. Once it gets boring, fuck it. But wholeheartedly, DO NOT CHEAT IN MULTIPLAYER. There's just no reason, either you like playing or you don't. I'm trash at Siege, but I still play without hacks cuz I still find it fun even when I lose.
As I got older, I learned to love easier difficulties. Like I can't imagine going back to any Fire Emblem game with permadeath on. That's just not fun anymore, its a giant timesink to carefully play a level to make sure no one dies. These day I kinda just go yee-haw with my team see who makes it through.
Same. Challenge just isn't meaningful the way it used to be. Unless the entire point of a game is challenge (your soulslikes and whatnot), I'm not that interested anymore. Especially not in an RPG where the story and character development are the main draw for me.
But of course, to each their own - mods and cheat tables can be used to make a game harder too if that's what tickles OP! An extreme difficulty or a no-money run or some such - something the devs excluded because there's no way it would gain mass appeal.
Expand your horizons and play games in genres you don't normally play. There's more to video games than just the shitty uninspiring AAA corporate cashgrabs.
I have 1400 games on Steam and 1500 on my wishlist. There's always new games coming out and literally thousands of games to explore and find gems in
I'm at like 600 some odd games on Steam and under 100 on my wishlist, and the latter is only there because I started trimming fat. Backlog was getting far too unwieldy (I blame Humble Bundle's from back in the day and a few too many Steam sales.) for me to keep looking at buying new stuff.
Thankfully the backlog (On Steam anyhow) is down to 165... too bad my tastes lean towards the kind of RPG's that take 40+ hours to beat hahaha
I try not to see it as a list clearing situation. For me that just stresses me out with unnecesary "I'll never be able to play everything" FOMO. I see my library and wishlist as more a hat with a bunch of scraps of paper with game names. And I'll just start something up randomly and just see where it takes me.
It sounds cringy lmao, but I've found some genuinely amazing games and genres I never initially thought I'd be into
Learning about the concept of enshittification (https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/) made me suspect that this might be going on with games too. I mean these always online and monetisation trends seem to suggest so.
Though for me it‘s also the age and work, quest logs remind me of ticket systems and grinding of more repetitive work and it all lost it‘s shine. I enjoy games still, but less often I would say.
I know how that feels, I go through those kinds of anhedonic funks too.
You might want to try doing some new things. Get outside, see new places, try out a different hobby… Anything to get your spark back. Games will still be there when you want them again
Aside from nintendo related products, I have stopped playing most AAA titles for this reason. The only reason I have stuck with nintendo is because I can still get excited and be impressed with what they release, though this isn't as much of a guarantee as it used to be.
I usually play indie games when I'm looking for something fresh, or I play retro titles when I want to revisit my roots and remind myself why I fell in love with gaming in the first place.
I also have a selection of comfort titles I reach for when I'm feeling down and nothing else is bringing me joy. Stardew Valley, Earthbound, Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Skyrim are my shortlist.
Co-op base building survival games is a pretty popular genre right now - might I suggest checking out Valheim, Raft, Grounded, something along those lines?
Burnout is definitely a thing. Try cutting back, taking a break or switching genres. Dust off that real-time strategy that’s been gathering dust in your library, or try something completely new. Take care of yourself my guy.
I might offer a slightly different take on this than you tend to see. Yes, it is very common for enjoyment of entertainment to be based on external factors (free time, friends, family). But the modern gaming landscape has changed overall quite a lot. It is entirely possible that the type of games you truly enjoy have gotten lost in the sauce, and just aren’t made as much these days. Likely a combination of the two, but if you’re having the feeling, trust it. That feeling is valid, and claims that everything is the same, you just have external differences feels a bit gas-lighty. Good luck out there~
I quite like your answer and tend to agree. Just wanted to add that while popular games have changed over time, the sheer amount of games that get made these days is insane. I would recommend to see what strange indie stuff is being made, this is something that helped me when I had similar feelings. When not bound by large budgets or investors, really awesome experiences are still possible.
Examples: A Short Hike, Vampire Survivors, Outer Wilds, Undertale, Stardew Valley, Rocket League …
Any imaginable genre is still getting new and interesting stuff IMO, it’s just that mainstream gaming has gotten worse (again, IMO).
But it is true that you shouldn’t simply discard what you’re feeling! I really love that about your answer.
The small indie titles are what is saving my passion for gaming since quite some time now. It’s also what’s saving my wallet as usually they focus on good gameplay more than flashy presentation which helps in not having to spend a ton on a “competitive” hardware.
It strongly depends on what kind of person you are and how you get your enjoyment out of things. If you understand this, then you can find games that fulfill that.
For example, some people get a dopamine hit when they see numbers go up. Be it level grinding, kill/death ratio, optimize builds. Others like the feeling of exploration. Others want immersion/role-play.
It has nothing to do with "today games bad". Part of that is childhood and nostalgia. You won't get that back.
Figure out what you enjoy. If you like social games and making friends, then you need to lean towards that style of game. RuneScape 2007 is still very much alive today.
Nintendo are the masters of this kind of game. They don’t need flashy graphics or deep plots, they just make very well-designed, innocent fun games. Their first party titles, anyway.
I guess some of this comes from making games more accessible. More people are playing nowadays and games are more inclusive. As a side effect, this leads to structures thay are less fun for some. There are games that break out of that, e.g. Elden Ring or Tears of the Kingdom. Both aspects, accessibility and player freedom are very important. I hope we are getting to a point where they don't works against each other anymore.
I got sucked in by TOTK and Elden Ring so I can’t say I’ve had the same experience. I basically haven’t played a multi-player fps since I graduated university though, so that must count for something? I played a ton of those back then.
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