Making peace with liking very few games?

I've found that as I got older, my taste in games has narrowed significantly. I used to be able to play pretty much anything, or especially any popular or critically acclaimed games. But these days I just don't give a shit about most of what's out there. I do have certain genres and developers that interest me though, so I know there are occasionally going to be some new games that I really like. And every now and then I might get surprised by something too.

Lots of people have replied with similar experiences.

But personally? I’m having the time of my life currently playing tons of new games. I love trying new ones and getting surprised, and maybe falling in love with a genre I hadn’t considered before.

I feel totally contrary to what others are saying: as I’ve gotten older, I find myself enjoying games way more. My time is more valuable to me now than ever before, so I want to fill it with things that are joyful and meaningful. Often those things are art. Games to me have always been very special in the way they can deliver a powerful artistic experience.

I think they also have a special power to be blatant disgusting soulless cash grabs, to be fair. As the years go by I feel like many aspects of the industry have become particularly unpalatable. But many studios are still releasing good games, and so far I’ve continued to find joy in seeking them out.

Not too many people on this post are actually listing games. So, in no particular order, here are some games I absolutely adored that I played recently. Games from the last ~year that have touched and moved me in some way. Experiences I don’t think I’ll forget.

Sable
Chicory: A colorful tale
Manifold Garden
Signalis
OneShot
The Talos Principle
Night in the Woods
Citizen Sleeper
Webbed
Rusted Moss
Armored Core VI
Iron Lung
Slay the Princess
Ghostrunner
Mundaun
Crosscode
Eastward
Animal Well
Pseudoregalia
Dave the Diver
Nine Sols
Patrick’s Parabox
Cocoon
Smushi Come Home

Not to imply that I expect you or anyone else to take a deep look here or to try any of these games. Just wanted to throw my perspective out there, and to show the games in concrete terms that have left an impression and continue to motivate me to keep looking and keep trying more

Do you play indie games often? Most of my favorite gaming experiences have come from indie studios. They put more love into them

I don't think you're alone in this. I'm kind of becoming the same way, and I figure it's because as you become older you become wiser, specifically wiser to the way that so many modern games are bullshit now.

Nowadays it seems like almost everything is just a cynical cash grab. And with a lifetime of experience, you know how to spot that bullshit. Oh look, it has always online components. And an in game store. And season content. And gatcha mechanics. And grind. Not only just regular old grind, you know, where you need to level up and be at least be this tall to beat the beef gate (which always has the tantalizing possibility of being able circumvent it by cheesing it or being very clever). No, it's just grind with no mechanical justification. You must fill the bar before you're allowed to access this content. Would you like to make a microtransaction to fill the bar faster?

Fuck that, and count me out.

The current fascination is on delivering games as a "service," and that just rubs me the wrong way. Everything is transient, nothing is permanent, and everyone is making a desperate grab for recurring revenue over creating a compelling experience or indeed anything anyone would ever want to go back to and play again. It's all just crap designed to feed into people's sunk cost brains, and it feels like damn near every major title wants to be your full time job.

I have even started eschewing Nintendo titles and some modern indie stuff specifically because they display a complete and utter disrespect for not only the player's intelligence, but also their time.

Saw where you mentioned being into fighting games, action games, & shmups, so I wonder which games you find yourself bouncing off of more.

Along with reasons other have mentioned that are similar to my own (many games demanding a lot of time, better finding what games really click with me, etc.), I've also been put off by other details (hyper-monetization, big budget photorealistic & cinematic styles, etc.). Personally it's less being into very few games, and more being into more specific kinds of game design and creative style, which are sometimes harder to find.

Like not being into drawn out progression systems immediately narrows one's options pretty significantly, especially among many recent games.

I have a very similar experience to @[email protected]. When I was younger, I'd play just about anything I could get my hands on. But now, it's like you, where 99% of what's out there doesn't interest me.

I think this happened for a few reasons for me:

1. Games are a pretty big time commitment compared to other media, and my time has only become more valuable as I get older. I'm just not willing to invest it in a game that isn't really scratching an itch effectively
2. There are more games out now than ever before in history. Combined with the previous point, there's never been a better time to be picky.
3. AAA games are stagnating pretty badly due to profit incentive. While there a still some that break the mold and show artistic value, most of them are so commodified and painfully derivative, it's difficult for an older gamer who has already played things like it to get excited
4. I've become more attuned to my preferences in genre, and know what I will and will not enjoy, which is something I didn't have as much when I was younger, since everything was still relatively new and therefore, interesting enough to play.

But this last one is the biggest reason for me: games are not reaching the potential they have locked within them.

I say that as someone who is a massive fan of storytelling, good writing, and immersion in games. Compared to books and movies, writers are still given extremely low priority in the gaming industry, which results in a tremendous amount of cognitive dissonance, simplistic writing, and a lack of innovative gameplay inspired by said writing.

Indies have been the most willing to experiment, but that's mostly with pure mechanics or themes, and writing is still often neglected.

There have been a few titles that I think reach that potential, but most of them are quite old now. With so few to truly tickle me in that way, I'll instead opt for arcade type games that manage to create a tight gameplay loop, as it let's me not lament the lack of a good story so much.

Eh, I get it. There’s an overwhelming abundance of choice that’s growing faster than the average time it takes to form a connection with any one game. Why deal with the FOMO and misbuys if you know what works for you.

That doesn’t stop me from purchasing way too many (non-refundable) indie titles on the Switch, though. And I’m glad to say some of those feel like they’ll keep me hooked for a good while.

Still, nothing can ever top my love for one classic game in particular: AOE 1 (definitive edition). Why? (It’s unfair to the rest.) Years ago I used to play against my dad over LAN. It’s some of the most fun we had together. Standing outside while he took a smoke break mid-game, I’d explain how I was about to wipe his whole civilization off the map in ways he couldn’t possibly imagine. Sometimes when I miss him, firing up AOE lets me feel closer to him again.

All this to say, nostalgia is a tough bar for any new game to beat.

Does anyone need anything besides rimworld and factorio??

It's ok dude. What do you look for in games, is there a common theme?

I'm the same, I actually look for cinematic games with clever, interesting stories. Idgaf about multiplayer or any of that shit, I want to be a director in my own movie.

Bioshock, half life 2, LA Noire, and so on.

I think you just described me exactly. I constantly replay a few specific games but very little grabs my attention like the few I love.

I still enjoy playing rollercoaster tycoon and have been playing it since I was... 10 years old.

I've played other games over the years but put 1000 hours of game time into them. I think it's abnormal to constantly chasing and trying new games.

You have a narrow taste in games and that's perfectly OK, nothing to be ashamed of at all. Enjoy what you like. You have no obligation whatsoever to play the newest, most popular thing just to keep up with the gaming Joneses. The list of popular games I haven't tried myself is MUCH longer than the list of them I have played, either because they don't appeal to me or I just don't have the spare time or money, and I am 100% fine with that. I buy the games I know I'll put time into and enjoy and don't worry about the rest.

I ended playing Deus Ex for the 10th time last week and I realized there's not many big budget titles that I like that shipped past 2017. The attention to detail, system complexity, and writing quality is just not there anymore. Its all slop. The last one that I can even remember with any fondness...is Arkane's Prey. Well that's not true, I dig Metaphor ReFantazio's (sic) art style. But I've played JRPGs.

I think the AAAs are cooked, folks. But Indies? Have you heard of Mouthwashing? Empires of the Undergrowth? Satisfactory? Those are my timesinks and what sticks in my mind the longest.

I myself get bored of the games quickly, imo. I guess when I feel like devs are 'cheating' I lose interest.

Some examples:

Batman Arkham Asylum: Gave up I got to Killer Croc level. Didn't like how the stealth/action game turned into precision platformer.

Batman Arkham City: Stopped at Mr. Freeze level. I looked up how to beat him and turns out I had to follow specific moves to defeat him. Ain't got time for that tbh.

Spider-man: Stopped at Rhino + Scorpion level. Again with getting Rhino to headbutt a wall, under heavy load to drop it on him to stun him and beat him up? Bye.

Life Goes On: Gave up on a level where timing was crucial. Until that point I focused on steps to solve the puzzle but at this stage, even though I knew what to do, timing was too important and I haven't got those reflexes or patience to replay the level again and again.

I find the same thing, but I'm really questioning the taste of others.

Never really did PC gaming, bought a SteamDeck to get into that ecosystem after seeing all the posts about "ZOMG! STEAM SALE!!!"

Are people just... not discerning? Do you just buy ANYTHING because it's on sale?

The signal to noise ratio on Steam is just nuts to me... Yeah, some game might be $1.99, 90% off, but if it's not worth the bandwidth to download, why are you bothering? Do you lack the ability to tell good games from bad games?

This is me with current books and music. For books, common styles of prose or an abundance of certain tropes used now simply don't hit with me, and I've even gone back to mid-to-late 20th century books recently to try to avoid all that.

I'd say the best way to try to broaden your taste is to make sure you're touching on the hits in different genres, and--if you can handle dated gameplay and visuals--to go back and try games from previous generations as well.

I definitely feel like my tastes have narrowed with age. Or maybe it's just that I've found a few games to really really fall in love with, and not much else pulls my attention away from grinding those top favorites.

When I was a kid, I could only get a new game every few months or so, so I kind of had to make the most of each one. Now I've got several hundred games in my Steam library, and more than half of are unplayed, because they don't grab me enough to boot them up over playing another ranked online set of riichi mahjong today.

Limit Internet usage and avoid games and other entertainment for a few days, then go on itch.io and just play whatever. Not because it looks cool, not because it's popular. Just anything.

I think my tastes have remained mostly the same, it’s the industry that is losing me as a customer for two reasons:

1. more and more games now are based on shit that I hate - multiplayer, GaaS, micro transactions, copy and paste gameplay mechanics with new coats of paint, etc.

2. studios that used to make my favorite games have really gone downhill over the last decade, like Bethesda, Bioware, and maybe CDPR (hopefully the cp2077 release was just a fluke but we’ll see).

I realized that I need a certain amount of time with a game to warm up to it or else I‘m always drawn back to known quantities. Seems like playing things I know is just more comfortable. I also realized that I really like racing games for a similar reason: I don‘t have to learn anything new about the mechanics/game, I just have to drive.

Should be happy to have less things trying to convince you to spend money. Being able to enjoy a few games is an absolute financial win.

This just means you're figuring out what you like, and refusing to force yourself to enjoy trash.

Remember, 90% of anything is shit, and of that 10%, not all of it is going to appeal to your tastes.

On top of that, AAA gaming is a fucking wasteland right now. Publishers have squeezed all the life out of the medium in search of ongoing profit bonanzas. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a AAA game, unless we count Cyberpunk which had the benefit of being self published, so I don't really think that counts.

Oh, my bad, Elden Ring would definitely count as AAA. That was awesome (still need to finish it, and the DLC). But let's be real, Elden Ring is great because it's so different from the vast majority of the open world games out there.

Anyway, I mostly spend my time on mid-shelf, indie and self-published stuff, and even then the number of games I like is pretty small. My main go tos are Darktide, Warframe, Insurgency, Chivalry 2, The Finals (I guess that's kind of mainstream?), Stellaris, and Total War Warhammer. I've also recently enjoyed VA-11-Hall-A, Slay The Princess, Shadows of Doubt, and Space Marine 2. Those were all pretty great.

I like that a lot of games get more long term support now. That's really cool. It's fun to be able to keep coming back to a game I like and finding new stuff.

But yeah, you don't owe it to anyone to enjoy everything, and you owe it to yourself to not waste your time on things you don't enjoy.

Which games?

I find it's not that I don't like them, it's just a decent commitment to get into it.

I’m the same way. I just want to live in those stories until I’ve played them and replayed them so much that the feeling goes away. Currently: cyberpunk.

I don't think there's anything wrong with it. The genres I like keep getting new games, but if most games now were precision platformers or MMORPGs, I'd read more lol.

Just try to hold back the good ol days mentality, try new stuff if it catches your interest, and let yourself enjoy your 10000th replay of your favorites? You aren't against new things entirely, after all. You just don't make yourself play games you don't like. Somewhere out there is an indie developer with similar taste, also frustrated they can't find a game they want to play, and I hope you find them and add a new game to your list.

There's no wrong or right way to enjoy games, and so many ways to find enjoyment in those games. Some people love the novelty, or the stories, graphics, music...

Based on the favorites you've mentioned, I feel like you really enjoy specific mechanics or the physical experience/practice of the game. Back in the day, I could spend hours running through Diablo 2, and that was entirely based on button mashing and running. Something about its pacing, interface, and the match of its challenge with my coordination just hit exactly right - difficult enough to be rewarding, easy enough that repeatedly dying didn't frustrate me, and always another fight just seconds away. I played that for years.

Now that game launchers track my time, it's really obvious that I like certain games for their mechanics - mostly Skyrim & Fallout - other games for sandbox/crafting - Valheim, Rimworld, X4 - hundreds of hours in each, even though I'll try other games, at least long enough to finish their stories, once. Sometimes just because I paid for it & feel obligated to get to the end. It's OK to have favorites.

Which games? Try mods and especially randomizers for them

https://randomizers.debigare.com/

I'm extremely picky, and I'm lucky to have a game I love to bits that's been consistent the last two decades. I don't think it's a bad thing, and I've come to accept it. I still play games socially with my friends, even if I wouldn't have played that game by myself.

I went through the same thing you did, trying games that are popular and finding that I don't enjoy them that much, and then thinking that I've become jaded and no longer enjoy games. However when I do play a game I enjoy I enjoy it very much indeed, so perhaps I'm not jaded after all.

There's no accounting for taste.

You see a new game as an investment. Nothing wrong with that. There's different genres to games and once you've explored them it can be hard to put up with something you feel you've already played and that one of your favorites did better. You're probably at the point where you'd have more fun playing with friends / exploring an mmo. Stay curious and be bold.

That sounds wonderful to me, as long as you have fun with your favorite games and the other content. You save a lot of money and, more importantly, time.

I used to buy tons of games and I enjoyed them all. These days I rarely buy any, unless it's something that's really got my attention. But I've got a ton of old games to play.

I have the same thing but with music

I have a single “like” playlist with ~30 songs and 3/4 of those are only different covers/ arrangements of the same 3 songs

@mohab Eh. I like what I like, which is relatively narrow, and the major industry quit catering to me 30 years ago. Luckily indies picked up the torch that AAA threw away.