Let me preface that I’ve been gaming since I was 10, own a PS5 and had an Xbox Series X both at one point (and played Game Pass)

But man… after spending the summer going to garage sales, finding older / retro games for PS2, GameCube, SNES I’ve realized that games are not any better than they are these days, or not even near the amount of originality that came with said games.

I’ve played some great games like Ghost of Tsushima, the Tomb Raider Reboot on PS4 and loved those, looking into the future of games I’d want to get on PS5 and the list seems rather small, maybe I’ve consider GTA 6 and the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake, but really that’s about it – and I usually try new things but haven’t found a modern day game on the PS5 that really hooks me in.

I find myself going back playing Donkey Kong Country on SNES, Tetris on GameBoy, or even having a blast playing Mortal Kombat Trilogy on PS1 – games like those while tied in nostalgia just seem to have been made better – I just don’t know what changed. I’ve also been collecting older video game magazines like GamePro and EGM – and it shows so much excitement around video games.

My question is too, is it because rental stores disappeared and now we’re stuck with a 50-70 dollar game (refund if we can, sometimes not always the case) – did developers get lazy? Small studios bought out by big companies? What about exclusives being faded out, or everything being ported over to every system?

  • Interesting_Many_983@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    While 60$ was always the price for quality games, 70$ is definitely overpriced for anything AAA, Baldurs Gate 3 proves that.

    I think nostalgia is definitely deceiving until you play those games again, I always replay the Souls trilogy to once again convince myself how I feel about them. I did the same with older CODs this year becayse I felt scammed by MW2, since Activision is falsely advertising that their CODs have a working MP and are knowingly distributing games with huge security problems, it was a bit hard.

    But after pirating, I managed to play those old CODs again, and let me tell you, they are indeed better than new ones, in almost all ways.

    They were made in times where to make money from games, you HAD to make them good, now you just don’t, people who buy games aren’t only gamers anymore and bar for quality and effort is minimal. This is something you have to remember.

  • Majadamus@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Can you really tell me with a straight face that MK Trilogy is better than MK1 (2023)?

  • MoreauIsBae@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    This is a you problem. I’ve been gaming since the mid 80s and I think games are as awesome and exciting as they always were.

  • RustyCohleon@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    You might enjoy Elden Ring. No hand holding, quest markers and it respects your intelligence.

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    1·
    11 months ago

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  • elkeiem@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Part of the problem is that fun gameplay mechanics and gameplay loops are harder to market that new pretty flashy graphics. Those in charge don’t play games and don’t know what makes a game good, so they are just pushing for prettier graphics and forget the actual game part.

  • Zeraru@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    There is ZERO reason to go back to something like Gameboy Tetris other than crippling nostalgia. Your horizon has become too small, and that’s not the fault of games.

  • gazingbobo@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Fellow old school gamer here. I really like the variety of games that are released nowadays but there is a lot of bloat to navigate through before you reach the fun parts. That means a lot of money and time spent filtering through the stuff you can’t really get into.

    Once you can do that then gaming is better than ever.