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.
I have found, in my experience, that I only start to feel this way if I keep playing the same games/genres over and over again. Of course it's going to feel stale when you're playing your 30th fps game. You need to try games and genres that you never have before, I've discovered some new favorites just by going back and playing entire genres that I missed.
I think you'll have more mileage out of less structured games then. Play games where you play as a team but get to decide how you progress. I strongly recommend Valheim. You can essentially make a team of viking neolithic hunter gatherers and build your own village while exploring.
Sounds like you man, games are better than ever. Stop playing garbage (which has always existed, not a new thing).
Before people point out monetization... Literally always been a thing. Arcade games were purposefully made to be unfair to suck the quarters from your pockets. Not new.
Monetization is certainly worse than it used to. Look at Minecraft java edition vs bedrock edition. In java edition, the older one, the only in game purchase is realms, everything else is free and community made. Bedrock edition on the other hand locks a lot of that stuff behind paywalls and your not even really paying the creators because of the huge cut Microsoft takes. Sure, on android and windows you can play content from outside the shop but that's only a portion of the players.
Apart from that every game NEEDS to have paid dlc it feels like. Again addons for games has always been a thing, going back to sonic 3 & knuckles on the genesis (which is arguably different since each part of the game could be played completely independent from each other, you can't purchase modern addons without the base game) but now dlc is in everything.
There are way more games than ever before, and even in the AAA space there are more options for varying games than ever as well.
The best part of video games back in the day was making memories with your friends...
Is the issue with the games themselves, or is it an issue of getting older and not being able to connect with friends in the same way as you did when you were younger? If your goal when playing games is to feel like you did when you were a kid, I have some bad news for you.
This is a common thread and question that I've seen pop up all over the internet since I first joined message boards in the early 00s. It's you and I dont mean that in a judgmental way, but it sounds like you're probably burned out or being brought down by other factors in your life.
I said it in 2002 on gamefaqs, I said it in 2005 on my small local game message board, I said it in 2010 on reddit, and I'll say it again. The best time for gaming is now. Because there are still good games coming out regardless of the bad contemporary trends, and the indy revolution of the 10s has only made that more true. On top of that all the classics you know and love are still behind us and playable.
I think you need to take a step back and try to figure out exactly what it is about gaming that you used to enjoy and try to figure out why you may not be enjoying games anymore. It could be the type of game youre playing, it could be that you're just burned out, and it could be external factors in life.
Did you used to play games with friends and family that have drifted apart as you got older? Does work leave you drained and with little time and energy to play your long playsession single player experience? Is the game that you're playing one with a toxic community? Do you feel unfulfilled in other parts of your life and feel guilty that instead of working on that you're engaging in your hobby? Are you experiencing other mental health issues like depression or anxiety that might be tinting your enjoyment of things?
There are a number of reasons you might fall into and out of gaming. I'm in my 30s and I personally go through seasons and times when I play a lot of games and when I focus my hobbys on something else. Ive felt like "maybe I'll never get that immersive feeling again like I did at 18" a bunch of times in my life and then picked up games I couldnt put down. Once you find out the why you can try and tackle the problem.
I’m not OP, but I feel like I want to add on to this if that’s alright. I think it’s often easy to get into this mindset when a trend seems to overtake a lot of the industry. For instance, personally I’ve noticed a common game that seems to get churned out a lot in recent years: it’s open world, but has nothing in it and is given light RPG elements that don’t really add anything. That doesn’t mean every game is like that, of course, but I think it can be easy to fixate on what we’re tired of seeing. Eventually, someone will come up with a new trend, and the empty open world games will fade out, and the cycle will continue as it always has. It’s also interesting to point out that humans tend to remember the past more fondly, so it’s easy to remember old gems and ignore the flops. Anyway, thanks for entertaining my ramble.
I started avoiding games that make it hard to play without choosing the meta. I look for indie games where solving mysteries about the game made it more interesting. Its not for everyone but it could be a breath of fresh air for anyone looking to get away from games that expect you to play a specific way or to grind for new stuff.
I understand where you're coming from when you look at the games with the most marketing, but we also live in the age of Minecraft, not to mention the countless games and genres it inspired. The stuff you're looking for is out there.
shrug I play mostly single-player RPGs and similarly story-heavy games, so while the mechanics are different and the graphics much prettier, the structure is the same as it's been for the past 30+ years: Follow the story to get anywhere, or just wander around in your current area if you want to grind.
Play indie games. There are still a lot of fun games out there. AAA games are all "live services" nowadays and designed to maximize your play time, not fun.
Absolutely. This is how I discovered games like Hollow Knight and Spiritfarer, two of my absolute favorites. Can't bring myself to play very many AAA games outside of some multiplayer ones like Mario Party and Mario Kart.
Yeah, it's a golden age for indie development. I struggle to find AAA games I want to play, but when it comes to games as a whole I have far too many I want to check out thanks to the current vibrancy of the indie scene.
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