State of Gaming Today

[JoE]

Having grown up with the original NES and progressed through each generation thereafter I find myself constantly struggling to get through games because I find the stories padded out to justify the price tag or the gameplay so boring I rather do something else.

Graphics are great and better than they’ve ever been but in the constant battle to push the system to the limit we’re often let down with buggy messes as developers aren’t arsed to optimise a game prior to release as they can always fix it with an update.

I considered blaming my old age but I find myself being drawn to and spending more time with smaller, shorter or retro experiences that allow me to have the satisfaction of beating a game and not taking the better part of a year to get through. My yt feed doesn’t help being filled with these sort of videos [emoji23]

What are your thoughts? Are games unnecessarily too long and would a shorter more ‘episodic’ or tighter game allow for the gamepass model to trully become the Netflix like service it requires.

 

[noman]

Subscription services are here to stay now. Gamepass and ilk will get stronger, since it is now synonomous with and fundamental in driving uptake of the respective platform its availble on.

As an old gamer I am content with the incremental progress in quality and experiences. The smorgasboard of developers specialising in what they do keeps us sated. Something for everyone.
Don't think gaming has ever been in a better position.

 

[AdrianH]

I find myself not being drawn in by newly released AAA games. I might have a look 6 to 12 months down the line when they come down in price and reviews seem good.

I am also enjoying the simpler, less complex games lately, games that don't incorporate grinding to complete, games that don't need a massive crafting and levelling up to progress.

An example is Stray, a goodish game, definitely not brilliant, wasn't too short, wasn't too long, no crafting this, levelling up that, just an enjoyable game.

Compared to Hogwarts Legacy which became a grind and took me 8 months of starting and stopping to complete it, just lost interest in the game.

 

[Evil_Villain]

The problem is they always try put too much **** in games or making them "experiences" or services and not enough game.

We need games to be more "gamey" for lack of a better word.

With me it's often too daunting to actually start a new game unless it's something that I know what to expect, because you're going to spend 10hrs just getting to grips with the game and all the bs and only really get drawn into it when you're halfway through.

Recently playing olliolli world and it's so addictive from the start you can't stop playing even though it's hard and you have to skip through the dialogue and story parts because the core gameplay is soooo good, Would've been a 9/10 game for me if the game wasn't bugged locking me out of the platinum and 100% completion so now it gets a 7/10 and a sour taste in my mouth for the developer.

 

[MarioAna]

I have no issue with the current state. I can find tons of games across all genres long and short. There's so much variety if you look it's crazy. I can go back years and find games that i still haven't played and more coming out constantly. People tend to not look very hard or limit themselves to a few genres. I'm happy to give anything a go and because of that the value I get from extra is insane.

We all love the AAA stuff and that's where the marketing budget is so naturally there's a ton of focus there but look off to the sides and you'll find some amazing games. Also one big thing that is working for me is just waiting, don't play games at launch because yes they are very often buggy and the inevitable patches will come along and fix them.

I'm busy with The Witcher 3 now. That's a 7 year old game, been sitting in my TV stand for about 3 years, bought it for $5. Now i'm playing the PS5 version and it's pretty damn good, an extreme example granted. I've waited on Cyberpunk and that went from terrible to excellent in the course of a year. These are examples that happen constantly now. The Indie stuff though is much better at launch and some of the games are incredible.

Some example from this year:

Inscryption (this is one of the best games i've ever played but you have to go deep).
Death's Door was good, great combat but kept simple.
Mafia remaster had a great story line.
Kena had solid, tight combat.
Tchia which i can't say i really enjoyed. If you want a chilled out runaround then it's okay.
Inside is short and extremely well made.
Trek to Yomi surprised me, every screen is like a painting or rather and elaborately setup movie set.
MediEvil is dated and clunky, didn't enjoy it much.

I've also played some bigger games:

Deathloop solid mechanics, could have been interesting but wasn't really.
Spiderman MM, as expected.
Alan Wake R, not great.
Judgement, pretty good but damn this one is drawn out and there's so many distractions.
Horizon FW, solid followup.

We don't want these sub models to become like Netflix because honestly their stuff is mostly trash. Pushing stuff out the door on cheaper budgets and shorter timelines. Quality is lacking. They also cancel stuff way too early. Imagine if you are playing the next Mass Effect game episodically and halfway into it they just cancel the series, no thanks.

 

[noman]

agree. Waited for DYING LIGHT 2 to become what we expected, and the price drop,. Purchased on special, and it has the proper scare/night factor now. Finally, the game it was supposed to be on launch. Envy your W3 experience now, with bells & whistles

Of the games 'off to the side' a few have really set a benchmark. eg Soma, Subnautica comes to mind, and is of those that was a terrific experience and not what I expected. Would have preferred the devs double down and expand / enhance it, instead of trying for a 'sequel'

My only 'old man gripe' is the ubiquity of streamers/tubers that I have to avoid since exploring and discovering is a big part of enjoyment for me. And of course the 'reviewers/critics' who can nitpick every last bit of others' arduous labour of love and actually influence success annoys me.
Kinda spoils the fun figuring a puzzle, finding something only to hear/see it pop up as a tutorial on media, or worse, be aware of it before playing. The kinda stuff we would have been excited and chatted about and helped each other experience among gaming buds.

 

[KenMasters]

I think it's up to us to be discerning in what we choose to play. I find reviews valuable for this, I don't care what the score is, I listen to the critique and figure out if it's something I'd like to try. Same with movies, Unanimous praise isn't always a good thing, sometimes a film that splits opinion is way more interesting.

Either way, when it comes to games, there is so much choice out there, so many types of experiences, there's no reason to limit yourself to sprawling collectathons. Cuphead is a great game, enjoyed doing the DLC recently, Rollerdome was great fun, highly recommended, but then I'm equally happy playing Elden Ring (which I immediately replayed to experience things I missed out on).

I'm the same as Mario and Adrian, I don't feel the need to play the newest thing out. I have a "To Play" folder, I fill it with games I want to play that go on special, dipping into it whenever I'm done with what I'm currently playing. At the moment I have OlliOlli World, RE4, Doom Eternal DLC and Dead Space waiting - with plenty of games I'm waiting to hit sales to add to it.

 

[bokka1]

Since getting Game Pass I have played a lot of games I usually won't play and I have really enjoyed it, these shorter Indie games are great.

I would never had bought Tinykin but it hooked me instantly and I finished it in a weekend with my 1000GS without grinding, it was just a lot of fun.

Starfield is awesome but I am so busy with work that I hardly get the chance to play it for extended periods of time and it is a game that requires long sessions.