Comment by noobiemcfoob | Hacker News Reader

Comment by noobiemcfoob | Hacker News Reader

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Eh, Breath of the Wild notwithstanding, I haven't found a game, indie or AAA, that scratched that old itch in years. There is a glut of games, for sure, with no easy way to filter them and no promise of a game I will actually enjoy.

Sure enough (and I've wondered how much of this is just getting older), over time I find fewer and fewer games to be worth my time. BotW has indeed been an exception; but I still can't get into it quite as deeply as some of my friends who are a little younger. It's a great game, but I cannot find myself compelled to try to find every Korok seed, or beat every shrine. I think I started gaming before there was the idea of being a "completionist"

The only game I've found in the past few years that made me really feel like I did when I was 8-17 is Divinity Original Sin 2. It's Baldur's Gate, but honestly better (BG hasn't aged amazingly if you really go back and play it. It's good, but we've learned a lot in 20 years). And the multiplayer is amazing, and lets you feel like you're playing AD&D with friends.

This, to me, sounds personal.

There are wonderful games being made and I even found new titles to call my favorites as the years go by. I do not at all believe games are getting worse.

That being said, there are a lot more games now and there's less hard curation, and some genres have shifted (RTS and classic style MMORPGs are both dormant atm).

Katamari and Portal are the last games that really had me thinking about playing even when I wasn't playing them. I wish those games had additional levels to buy.

You might like:

The Talos Principle — Basically Portal but... different. Physics, timing, & world-affecting-zappy-device puzzles. No actual portals but it's pretty similar. A "there's more going on" story. Quite good.

The Witness — Myst-like I guess? In that you're exploring an island and solving puzzles and piecing together a story, kinda. But the puzzles are all variations on one sort. Elements get added, things get weird, lateral thinking becomes necessary. It's good.

The Talos Principle really had me thinking about it when not playing. I halfway thought I was going to hear a voice when I got on the elevator at work.

Thank you for the suggestions. I'll check out both of those.

Edit: Just bought Talos for the PS4! Once again, thanks! When I'm done with it, I'll check out Witness.

I'll second The Witness as a great game. Very different, and beautifully designed.

Puzzle games, especially good ones, are relatively rare, that's the problem. They're one shot, easy to spoil... And then there is a risk that the puzzle will turn out too hard.

There was Portal 2, which was pretty fun.

Stephen's Sausage Roll is great little puzzle game I've spent hours playing. Not an easy game by any means, but it's easy to get lost in it & kill a few hours. The puzzles have no time component, which is great, I'm not a fast thinker so timers just annoy me.

There is a glut of games, for sure, with no easy way to filter them and no promise of a game I will actually enjoy.

Has there ever been a time of the "promise of a game I will actually enjoy"?

Back in the day all you had was rare magazine articles, and one wall of a Toys R Us with flaps consisting of the front of the box on one side and the back of the box on the other.

I'm not sure I see that as preferable to the modern situation.

It wasn't so much a promise however long ago as much as a lot of MBA-style thought had yet to be put into the monetization strategy. The games that were made tended to be made for artistic and entertainment motivations over a boardroom identified market niche that is somehow the exact same niche filled by every other game.

Steam has scratched my itch. I too used to game a lot but growing a family takes time and resources. Steam allows me to play on my time and play with my kids. There is a lot to offer from the Indie community.

You should play Cuphead

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