I’ve fallen into a deep gaming rut lately. What helped “get you back into” gaming and rediscover the magic of video games?

I, like many gamers, grew up playing Pokémon Red and Nintendo 64 and was obsessed with Nintendo products. I graduated to a PS2 and PS3 and became super into Metal Gear Solid and Call of Duty and Fallout. Also spent a ton of time with the Guitar Hero series. I loved the escape gaming brought me and it genuinely helped me relax.

Fast forward a few years and I hadn’t really played a video game between the years of like 2011-2017. College, moving cross country and busyness of life kept me from gaming. Finally in 2017, I bought a Switch and Breath of the Wild and felt the same magical feeling I remember when I first started playing Ocarina of Time, or the first time I booted up Metroid Prime, or Metal Gear Solid 4. I started to get into online gaming and made a lot of friends. I played my Switch frequently for a few years.

During the beginning of COVID lockdowns, I turned more to reading than gaming and my Switch gathered lots of dust. I ultimately ended up buying an Xbox Series S when it was announced because I’d never owned an Xbox system and Game Pass really intrigued me. I went through a phase of being very into Destiny 2, Halo, Gears of War, Forza Horizon…a bunch of games I had never played before.

Then, a divorce, a new job change, another cross country move brought new levels of stress to my life. I lacked an attention span strong enough to focus on a video game. FPS’s seemed boring, online games couldn’t keep my attention long enough to get through a match, and eventually I’d just leave a game on the pause menu while I messed around mindlessly on my phone. Gaming wasn’t even a way for me to decompress anymore, it seemed more like a chore I was procrastinating—which sucks.

I’ve fallen deeper into this lately, as more life changes have come along. I work a stressful job with long hours. I’m now a stepparent to two young boys. The little free time I have I spend walking the dog, reading, and trying to just let my mind settle and decompress. Let alone, if I try to turn the Xbox on or have the Switch on my lap, it turns into a whole event where the kids want to sit and watch and participate and ask tons of questions (which is fine, but sometimes I just want to do something by myself for me!)

I miss the time of my youth where gaming was a relief and a release for me. I miss how I felt when I first got a Switch and felt so excited and so nostalgic and reinvigorated and looked forward to playing a game! Now…I feel like I can’t even consider myself a gamer.

So. That’s a long winded way to ask if anyone else has gone through similar ruts, or fallen away from gaming, and if so, what games helped you get that spark back? What games brought you back to that nostalgic feeling you had when you first got into gaming? What games help you decompress after a long day? What games have you recently become obsessed with in such a way that you look forward to playing them and are always thinking about them?

I want to get back into gaming. I want to feel the magic again.

Jinxyface,

If you’re burnt out on games, more games won’t solve that and will just make it worse

Go explore some other hobbies for a bit

jclinares,
jclinares avatar

Excellent response, and pretty much what I was going to say. I have a few hobbies (games, movies, camping, reading, live music) that I don't always have time for, at the same time. So sometimes I'll spend my free time hiking and camping, other times I'll watch movies in the evenings when I get home, and other times I'll play games.

Even something you enjoy can get tiring, if you do it a lot; and there's nothing wrong with putting that aside for a time, to spend time doing other things you like.

Hyperreality,

Hobbies like boobmodding skyrim.

frevaljee,
frevaljee avatar

Modding skyrim is usually 99 % setting up the mods and 1 % gaming anyways, if I'm being generous.

gk99,

And put health first. I know a good chunk of the time I spend browsing my Steam library and thinking "a thousand channels and nothing's on," is me being exhausted in disguise.

The best thing to do when gaming loses its magic is far and away to just stop gaming and find new ways to rest and wind down.

ContentConsumer9999,

Gasph How dare you tell someone to touch grass?

garretble,
garretble avatar

I like to tell people I have three pillars of media - books, tv/movies, games. I’m always consuming all three, but when I feel a bit burned out on one type, I just ignore it for a bit.

Jinxyface,

Yep same, I have a list I keep of books/movies/tv/games I'm interested in. If I start watching a show and binge it for a bit, I'll take a break and read a few chapters of a book, then maybe play a game.

Variety is the spice of life, as they say

Teali0,
Teali0 avatar

This is a great point. Pursue other interests for the time being; don't necessarily stop gaming altogether though. I had a few gaming ruts in my life and around the same time I was in grad school.

Something a professor had said to the class about writing a thesis paper can apply to many things in life: "When you find yourself enjoying what you are doing, stop for the day while you are still enjoying it because you'll be excited to get back to it next time. If you stop working on something when you're forcing yourself to do it, you'll have a much harder time being motivated to continue."

It's not very profound, but I related it to the gaming rut I was in at the time but it helped me bounce back.

ConstableJelly,

Have you played Outer Wilds by chance? I agree with many that it's probably one of the best games ever made, and I can't think of any game that better encapsulates what games should be capable of. It captures the magical potential of exploration and discovery like nothing else I've ever played. So many cool ideas waiting for you to figure out, and the process is just so fun.

Along those lines, I've just been growing fonder of smaller, indie-style games, which had never been my preference before now. Games like Gris, Little Nightmares, Hades (if you consider that "smaller"), Deliver Us the Moon have left a really positive impression. Many of them are imperfect, but I feel like there's a lot of love tangible in those experiences. Maybe I'm just imagining that, but they lack the bloat that has disillusioned me with a lot of the bigger games lately, and they feel more purposeful in general.

If you haven't, look through some lists of best indie games and see if anything jumps out at ya.

e-ratic,
e-ratic avatar

There are moments in Outer Wilds that left me grinning like a child. It hits at that same time of wonder I felt playing ocarina of time when I was very young

ConstableJelly,

Exactly! There were other times that I don't want to mention here cause I don't know how to hide spoilers, where my fully adult mind too was thrilled by some of the revelations.

flak,

My girlfriend got me to play Outer Wilds and the first thing I did was try to fly into the sun and she was just staring at me like “why are you like this” while I was grinning like mad.

Manticore,
@Manticore@beehaw.org avatar

Nothing makes me enjoy games like moderation. But moderation isn't just how often you choose to play - it's also how much you're expected to play.

I'm going to discuss both, because I think people underestimate personal moderation. But I suspect gameplay moderation is your struggle.

Personal moderation:

Games mimic psychological fulfilment (problem-solving, self-actualisation, etc). But it's not in a lasting way, they're just more attainable.

It's like buying a chocolate bar vs cooking yourself a roast meal. It's easier, it's pleasant, and there's nothing wrong with enjoying it - but if it's the only thing I'm doing, and I never put in the work for something more satisfying, I feel unsatisfied - even emotionally 'sick' (bored, restless, ennui). When they are a treat at the end of a day, they feel great. But when they are my day, I struggle to enjoy them.

This is the trap that often catches directionless people (eg: depressed, NEET, lonely). They don't play games for games, they play them to avoid the anxiety or stress of cooking a roast meal. They eat chocolate until they feel sick, and then feel too sick to cook.

Gameplay moderation:

Games are designed for people who have time to burn. Teenagers, kids, some young adults. When you were younger, you could afford to burn that time, and it felt good, because each session meant you felt that hit of dopamine for problem-solving, achievement, and progression.

But now, you can't. You're an adult, you don't have that time. And yet games aren't being designed for you anymore, but the new kids and teens. They brag about dozens or even hundreds of hours of playtime, and bloat their content with grind. (if anything, the latter has gotten even worse.)

You only have an hour to play a game, and after that hour, there's no feeling of progression or advancement - the game expects you to give it more time than that. And without the feeling of progression and advancement, games don't feel as engaging.

That is why they feel like chores, like jobs; it's why you choose things that give immediate feedback like the internet. Games are asking you to put in too much time and then not giving you enough back.

Portal 2 is considered a masterful game at five hours long, because each hour is rewarding. Is Destiny? Is Halo? Froza?

If this is your concern, my suggestion would be to step back from the bigger scale games that want to monopolise time, and embrace smaller games from indie devs.

You'll get far more variety, they tend to be much denser. They're also cheap enough that it's worth it to try a bunch of things you might not have tried if they were AAA.

If somebody says a game is 'only 6 hours of gameplay', see that as a positive, not a negative. It probably means each hour is going to mean something.

Ragnell,
Ragnell avatar

If you're depressed, sometimes you lose interest in your hobbies. You might want to look into seeing someone.

I will say, you seem a bit worried about no longer considering yourself a gamer, like this burnout has led to a crisis of identity. You are MORE than your hobbies. Gamer is a temporary state based on what you are doing. It is okay not to be one. You're still you.

shiggityshwat,

Loss of interest in activities you previously enjoyed is a key symptom of depression. Basically, your brain isn't making the "I enjoy this" chemicals any more. This often strongly correlates with stress, which it sounds like OP has plenty of.

OP, you need a serious break. Give yourself time to de-stress and you will eventually find yourself enjoying things again. If you can't do that immediately, then talk to your doctor and maybe you can buy some time with meds, but know that it's just a band-aid.

Evolone,
@Evolone@beehaw.org avatar

Thank you for this comment. I am working on myself and trying to see what I can do to help me get through this depression I've been experiencing.

I appreciate you reminding me that I am not defined by just my hobbies (or my work, or my failures, or whatever). I am me, and that is perfectly alright.

fische_stix,

I do two basic things when I get on a rut. I replay a favorite RPG with mods and a very specific roleplaying theme. For example I played fallout 4, console commanded myself a million caps, high charisma, and liw intelligence. I played through as a rich idiot. The other thing I do is find a game way outside my normal style and see if I can figure out the appeal that it has to other people.

hot_bowl_cold_soup,

The Forgotten City is the one that restored my hope in gaming.

mananevergone,

I just homebrewed my Wii and have been having a blast playing GameCube and Wii games I never had but always wanted to try.

Naruto Clash of Ninja 4 for example is a PHENOMENAL game that I had never even heard of before two days ago

FreedomNuggets,

Honestly my current jump back into gaming was playing Breath of the Wild on my Switch while on deployment. I did have a hiatus a few years back which was broken by my attempt at beating Bloodborne (wholly unsuccessful, btw, it's not really my speed but I enjoyed the heck out of it). My go-to game for decompressing is Stardew Valley. I just love being able to jump in and maybe harvest some crops, maybe explore the mines, maybe go interact with the villagers even.

Another tactic of mine when I'm in a funk is to pick up an older rpg (snes or ps1 preferred) and start working on it.

hunte,

Feeling the same, even tho my life hasn't been nearly as stressful as yours. Games, especially new single player games with thousands of hours of content just aren't fun for me anymore, even tho I loved Skyrim, Fallout, Dragon Age and Witcher. But I still find a lot of fun playing games with friends.

Especially DayZ. It's like, really just taking a long walk with friends in the forest, because that's what the game is lol. Strolling arounds in Cherno, sitting together at the campfire and talking about our days, sometimes meeting with strangers and sharing that experience (or getting into a stressful firefight 😅). These are really the best experiences I had with gaming to this day.

Evolone,
@Evolone@beehaw.org avatar

Just downloaded DayZ on Game Pass! I'm going to check it out based on your experience you shared. Thank you!

larouxn,

The latest Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom, completely reignited my gaming passion. This game is incredible if you enjoy rich world building, exploration and adventure, and puzzle solving.

Tomato_666,

I bought a steam deck. Its the best thing if you don't have lots of time as you can pause and turn it off and pick up where you left off later. Obviously that won't work for online games great for project zomboid though. YMMV

YuzuDrink,
@YuzuDrink@beehaw.org avatar

I would say to look for something that looks like you would vibe with it, but is also a VERY well reviewed release. Like, there’s a lot of people complaining these days about how all open world games are kind of the same—meaning a lot of the meta-game tasks are similar—but especially if you’re not constantly playing them, just find whichever has the highest reviews.

Folks have mentioned Horizon, Spider-Man, and God of War, and those are all top-notch games in their genre! If you like sports, there’s some quality games for both football (USA) and football (int’l).

Street Fighter 6 just came out, and if you like fighting games, that’s maybe the best one out in a long while.

Racing, you’ve got Mario Kart on Switch which is CLASSIC; but also Forza Horizon 5 is a blast to drive around and do random races and challenges.

Also on Switch, you’ve got the two Zelda games (Breath of the Wild and the new one, Tears of the Kingdom), both of which are high quality plays with lots of different things you can do, and very little you strictly MUST do, so very chill!

This to say, there’s zero shame in just picking up whatever the current popular game is! They get well reviewed for a reason, and all you want is a good time? They’ll probably give you that! :)

ExoMonk,

I've been playing Destiny nearly 100% of my gaming time for the last like 9 years. I finally decided to try other games again after a particular slow and uninteresting season. I decided to go with Mass Effect Trilogy. I loved it so much after I beat it I immediately started a new character of the opposite gender. After finishing that run I've moved on to Andromeda.

As a huge fan of space and scifi. I'm looking forward to Starfield. Mass Effect gave me that magic and I'm super excited to see all these worlds I've been missing out on.

fades,

For me, I just kind of faded away from gaming, focusing on life and other hobbies.

I finally saw that god of war and horizon zero dawn were ported to steam, played the fuck out of them both, and jumped on spider-man as it got ported as well.

From there I ended up getting a PS5 to play the sequels of those three and I haven’t looked back. It has been SO fun to get back into it

The Star Wars Jedi game was also another game that I had a blast with as I got back into it. Played the first on pc and the second on ps. Excellent games without question

PlayStation has just been fucking killing it in the story driven gameplay the last few years especially

Life_Lover,

Try Hollow Knight!
I started gaming the same times as you, N64, all the classics and bangers. Hollow Knight is one of my favorites in recent years. It evokes the spirit of much older games and made me feel like a kid again. Art, music, level design and combat are top notch. It has a deep and immersive atmosphere. Its simplicity and structure allow you to take it at your own pace, and it never feels like a high pressure FOMO ordeal. Highly recommend.

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