Some of my favorite games have come out within the last 5 years.

Less nad less everyday. Eveyrthing is too sanitized by one stripe of moral busybodies or another.

I like both new and old games. Both worlds have some great and some not-so-great entries for me to play.

Originally posted by professionalnuisance:

do you guys even like modern gaming?

Well... Now that I'm spending like thirty seconds to think about it... Realising that I barely bought any modern games of the past decade and didn't particularly like most of those I did buy... I think the answer is actually no.

I spent more time DMing D&D 3.5 in the past decade (yes, I still do even today) than playing "modern" games. For reference, 3.5 got out in 2003 and I probably picked it around 2005 or 2006...

I do, but rarely do I play triple a anymore

Modern games have jsut gottenboring for hte most part. no edge.

I have played some brilliant games in the past few years but you really need to avoid the deep rot in Western gaming at the moment.

Depends on what you mean by modern…AAA certainly churns out worse stuff constantly only to see so many eat it up. On the other hand, always getting easier for people with actual passion to enter the scene as indies. Whether Grasshopper in particular still sort of fits that definition is debatable but they’ve managed to hold my interest since No More Heroes. That all said, I fear for more “taboo” games i enjoy being unnecessarily run out of the industry if we just let clowns like Visa ir Mastercard bully everyone.

Originally posted by professionalnuisance:

idk man these new games just don't hit the same anymore everything just feels like colorful corporate slop and money grabs

I agree. they are crap now. I remember when the first call of duty came, first battlefields, ETQW multiplayer, half life 2 and doom 3 came out. Even olders like Giants: Citizen Kabuto. I loved all these old games. Nothing comes close to the old games. Last modern game I found interesting that was a AAA game was The Division 2. But it got destroyed with patches. I don't even recognize the game anymore. Devs have lost the passion.

Yes. It's not hard to find good new and upcoming games. I have more games on my radar than time and money to play them.

I really keep going back to games I played a lot before, indie games have just given such amazing experiences that mainstream games struggle to catch my attention.

THe Indie scene still has some value left for sure. Hundred Line has been a great ride. Uchikoshi and Kodaka always deliver.

I think it's more likely that as you've grown older and more experienced, you've become more discerning about your entertainment preferences. But at the same time, it is true that bad practices have become par-for-the-course with big-name developers and publishers.

When I was younger, there was never a concern about a game update shoehorning microtransactions or bald-faced gambling mechanics into something I was playing, let alone anything being designed from the ground-up to be so exploitative. FOMO pre-order bonuses weren't on the table.

Cosmetic changes, for example, typically came about as a result of either using hidden code inputs, or completing different paths/modes that may or may not've required distinct difficulty settings.

I do want to be clear here that i do not think that games with stories/characters which appeal to atypical audience demographics are in and of themselves a bad thing, and I do not think they are responsible for the diminishing value of AAA efforts.

What I do think, however, is that the top brass at major outfits have fallen into the same cynical trap as Hollywood studio executives: buying into the frankly insane belief that every release must replicate smash-hit, record-breaking successes of prior years. There does not seem to be room anymore for modest successes or niche genre offerings.

Rather, they want the ROI now, this quarter, with the funny number line ever-increasing, and the advertising/media blitz surrounding titles (which frankly do not warrant them) demanding our sole attention. We are expected to gush on social media about how much we love these releases, while simultaneously acting as a mass free-labor QA group in the same moment we're pressured to fork over more hard-earned cash for same-day DLC or what-have-you.

Conversely, indie developers and their games tend to appeal to narrowed interests, offering those niche genre experiences that are so lacking from major studios. Small-time devs made up of a handful of people, or a passion project put out by one or two individuals working in their spare time, often feature the enjoyable, non-invasive gameplay of past eras.

Keep in mind I am also not suggesting there aren't bad actors on the indie scene, either. Steam is littered with abandonware and obvious, low-effort grift, and plenty of people (myself included) have fallen prey to these types.

But as all of this relates to your inquiry, I still find plenty worth playing that's released within the past few years; some titles as recently as earlier this calendar year. Most of these have been indie efforts, however, and I've largely sworn off AAA purchases until sufficient time has passed that anthology/compilation editions are available at a steep discount, and I'm not at risk of being subject to piecemeal offerings over the course of a 'project lifetime.'

Yes. So many good and fun games (old, current, yet to be released). My wishlists on the various platforms/devices have quite some good stuff that is upcoming.

But, I'll add that I don't partake in all the culture war drama, the doomsday scenarios and such.

I might if I could run most modern games, as VRAM requirements have sadly left me and my setup behind in recent years. Add to that the fact that modern AAA gaming is unaffordable in general, with price increases across the board and developers becoming more stingy with sales, and I'm content to stick with my backlog full of indies and older mainstream games for a little while longer.