Sorry this video is a bit more serious, next video is a return to form. I just felt like I needed to talk about this heading into the rest of 2022. Hopefully my story resonates with a few people, and hopefully i've convinced you to try out some other genres of games.
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I’ve been playing video games for, as long as I can remember. I can remember the first time I held a controller in my hands vividly. The sheer size of the Duke way too massive for me at the time, but all that was just background noise in my head compared to the fresh sights and sounds of what is now my second favorite entry in my favorite franchise ever. Gaming during this time period was, limitless. I had no concept of developer or hardware restrictions, the limits of pre-generated responses from NPC’s or content in the game to consume. Halo was an infinite universe to create in and experience, Spyro had no end to the amount of dragons I could rescue, hell I can remember using an action replay in Pokemon Platinum, using the walk through walls cheat, and accidentally finding shaymin at the end of this long path of flowers.
Come early 2021 it was time for me to upgrade, and after managing to walk into a best buy and just randomly come across a 3090 that I wasn’t even looking to buy at the time, I knew it was time to go all out. I managed to get a 5950x, the best motherboard I could buy at the time, and some sick RAM, there were NO compromises to this system, besides the fans I was running out of money. I built the computer, ran some benchmarks, and then didn’t play any games. At first I assumed I was just unmotivated, or maybe even burnt out, but over time I came to realize that I just wasn’t enjoying games anymore. I got scared, scared that I spent all of this money on a hobby I wasn’t interested in anymore, scared that the youtube channel I wanted to start was already dead in the water, scared that I’d be giving up a huge part of what formed my online identity.
I calmed myself down, and took a step back. It makes sense that I’d start feeling this way about gaming, doing anything pretty much every day for long enough would ultimately become mundane and boring, what can I do to have fun with playing games again. For awhile I was stumped, but during my time I decided to just take a break and work on my Ultrakill video, and while that was technically still gaming, it was mostly for work and I could take the time to figure out what I wanted to really do about my problem.
What I found though is that as I was taking a break from playing games for the most part, my desire to play them started rising again. But once I actually managed to get into a game and started playing, my desire to continue playing them would immediately fall, and I’d get off of it within 30 minutes.
What I came to realize is that I had no variety in what I was playing. I would get on my computer and boot up the same FPS games, or just open up Minecraft, which I’ve been playing for years as well. I decided to actually take the the time and figure out other genres of games I could play, and I’ve never been happier for it. I realized that what I was experiencing overall wasn’t me not finding games fun anymore, I just wasn’t finding FPS games as interesting.
Throughout 2021 I decided to take the effort to branch out into different video games, and what I learned was that I still enjoyed playing video games, I just needed a breath of fresh air. I played games like Forza Horizon, Monster Hunter, Ghostrunner, Spent some time on Spyro, replayed Sonic Generations, Sonic Unleashed, Cities Skylines, Dark Souls, Demon Souls, all of these games made me appreciate just, playing playing games in general, and reignited my love for the hobby.
This peaked when Halo Infinite was released. For 6 years I waited for a follow up to Halo 5, I watched any lore video I could come across, scoured reddit posts and twitter threads that discussed what would happen in this game and tried keeping up with the game as much as I possibly could. I’ve already talked about Halo a lot on my channel, so keep my bias in mind, but this game gave me hope for new releases. Did I have issues with Halo Infinite’s campaign, of course, but how GOOD the gameplay was kept me from noticing them as much as I could have.
list of varied games i like for those with this problem:
hollow knight – really good metroidvania
factorio – amazing factory building sandbox game, but maybe avoid this one if you want to do anything else for the next 48 hours
portal 2 – favorite game of all time, amazing puzzles
metro exodus – if your pc can run it, it’s really good
pretty much any doom game – not the deepest of experiences, but very fun and difficult
a hat in time – great mario-64 like with a surprising amount of content
rimworld – colony building game, enough mods to make a second game
stardew valley – only farming game I’ve ever enjoyed
dishonored – great stealth/story fps, cool choices, second one if you like it enough
prey (2017) – similar to dishonored, by the same people, but more of a spiritual successor to:
bioshock – 1 and 2, recommend the originals rather than the remasters if you can get them to run on your computer. all time classic
terraria – pretty well-known 2d sandbox game, lots of bossfights and another game with tons of mods
enter the gungeon – funny top-down twinstick shooter roguelike. even if you don’t know what some of those words mean, still great game
outer wilds – not to be confused with the outer worlds. cannot recommend this enough. story driven roguelike. DO NOT SPOIL YOURSELF.
valheim – terraria but 3d and viking themed. also really good.
octodad: dadliest catch – hilarious rage-game. there is no reason this has such a low metacritic score, it’s a great game.
project zomboid – tough-as-nails zombie apocalypses survival game with permadeath.
vessel – difficult indie 2d puzzle game. very thematic, might require some looking-up.
control – cool 3rd person shooter with a bizarre story and cool brutalist architecture, if that’s your thing. made by the people who made alan wake.
dead space – all time classic, really scary if it’s your first time playing. slightly less scary once you get a certain weapon.
goat simulator – sadly somewhat short on content, but still entertaining to play around with for a while.
slime rancher – ok maybe i lied about stardew valley. much more chill than some other games on this list.
stanley parable – funny story-driven game about a guy in an office
singularity – relatively little-known linear fps that still holds up today. also a little bit scary.
spelunky – one of the few “rage games” i like. platformer roguelike
the swapper – difficult 2d puzzle game with a dark story and some pretty cool graphics.
deus ex: human revolution – good story driven semi-linear rpg fps game. not *too* groundbreaking, but still fun.
dark souls series – reaaally hard if you don’t know what you’re doing, but you figure things out eventually. interesting story, mechanics, and really good combat.
titanfall 2 – movement shooter to end all movement shooters. if you’re having server problems, look into the northstar client- community hosted servers
ultrakill – doom with a retro 3d style. nuff said.
and that’s it, I’ve gone through almost all the major games in my steam library. hope this helps
Hey man Uhh ik this is a weird Question but how do i fix the black lines going up my screen when i turn off the frame limiter? in gta sa
Where dead cells at? And the binding of isaac(gets a bit boring on the win streak -100 stage) and all the dlcs? Plus doom(the classic one) and the infinite amount of mods n’ wads?
@◇MyYoutubeAccount◇ I enjoyed it it was really challenging and I love a challenge
Would recommend Risk of Rain 2, game is such a banger, especially with friends and mods
you listed alot of games im completely sick of like terraria
Been noticing that older games were designed to be fun
And *not* for nostalgia, they’re just fun
And that’s what makes them nostgelic
Also games are much more phone when you don’t have a job or responsibility that’s the only way to enjoy them to the fullest
Older games were fun because you grew up with them. Games aren’t meant to be played by older generations. Remembered yes, but it’s focused on the ones who are having their original experience be these amazing well made games. Like MW2. Any indi game dev can recreate or create a way better version of that game. Yeah it’s one of the best from the Cod franchise for the original players but it’s seriously outclassed now. That’s the problem with content creators reviewing games. Like how MW 2019 changed the mini map so red dots don’t usually pop up without help from a UAV. They still added a compass that not only still had the red dot indicator for every time a player fired, it also gave direction, how far an enemy is away, and current location names throughout a map. Way more info than a mini map would have given you. you just gotta glance up in a different spot. They are naturally biased and you’ll always hear them say the older games are better instead of looking at the new title as it’s own thing and what it flawlessness of what it sent out to achieve.
Play Daggerfall people, it’s pretty old and it’s pretty fun
I’ve been a gamer for my entire life (19 years) and I’ve hated learning how video games work because it ruins the magic of video games. Ignorance is bliss and I miss being ignorant
@Xjood I know too. But cringe is cringe.
That isnt the case for me.
@SINdrome in spiderman 2 on the ps2, i was convinced i could find my house
God same. I’m never on awe anore because so many games, even single player, demand metas that I would miss out on if I didn’t look into how to play properly. I just know the average. mechanics so well that I can’t see myself doing anything fun and only looking to efficiently finish it as if it were an information source. I’ve min maxed the fun out of games and I never min max, I just started seeing anything outside the objective as unnecessary
It was so much more fun discussing minecraft with my friends when i was very young. Everything could suprise me back then, because i didnt know what AI was, whats pathfinding, how mobs spawn, and ideal mob farms and whatnot. Now i cant enjoy minecraft again like i used to, now i just min-max everything and it becomes boring.
I’ve literally been desperately playing old games and buying old games I fell in love with as a kid to try and keep some sort of joy in this hobby alive if I’m honest.
@blodiga omg honestly? like tbh ngl literally? omg
I’m honestly more tempted to whip out Scarface and my PS2 than to buy a new game
omg like literally? like tbh? omg ngl I like literally can’t even rn
I’m a junkie for first person shooters, the only games I’ve been playing that aren’t generic run of the mill FPS games are Kirby FL and GTA V (which may as well be a shooter). No idea what your situation is but games like Deep Rock Galactic and Doom Eternal are FPS games I’ve picked up that actually reminded me what fun in a video game should be. No overly cinematic campaigns with shallow gameplay mechanics, no more frustrating and toxic MP games. Just raw, whacky fun.
same im gettings ps2/ps3/xbox 360 to play on. cuz the games were made more fun back in the day
This is why I love Gamepass. I just cycled through the Gamepass library, when i found what became one of my favorite games, Superliminal. Can’t think of any way I would’ve tried the game elsewhere.
@Josh Hawkins Don’t subscribe on it, then!
@JoMat Mathisen don’t, I have it gameshared
@Orinbrim you can do that???
yeah, first person puzzle games are goated
@Josh Hawkins Don’t play it, then!
This was a really thoughtful and put together vid. Great content, dude. Halo’s my favorite franchise as well 🙂
YO ITS THE VALORANT VIDEO FUNNY GUY
A wild egg appeared!
😮 eggwick epic valorant video man
The valo guy, love your videos
They are fun but as we get older, we get lonelier making us play more. And the more we play rather than finding fulfillment elsewhere, we get burnt out.
@ItsLuckzy na, there was more effort, variety and less censorship in games. it has changed, there may be a lot more games quantity-wise, but quality has lacked greatly at the same time. that is until Elden Ring.. quality met with current gen graphics, amazing but not everyone’s cup of tea.
damn … i guess … ur imagination when ur a kid is amazing, that doesn’t go away …. ur belief of the thing u imagined does… that’s what sucks
I would play Minecraft and think if I add one more mod it will be fun, turns out it just makes a bunch of crafting recipes and the game more tedious and boring than before
I had never really enjoyed open world games, but after I started getting bored of the other games I had been playing, I decided to get Breath of the Wild and it is one of the most fun and awesome games I have ever played. The magic is kind of running out after over 120 hours of playtime, but it was still a great game.
@CrazilyRyan I love breath of the wild because it felt like I could go anywhere and I wouldn’t really be going somewhere I shouldn’t, I never felt like there was something I had to do and there was never any pressure to do anything. I could just wander around doing whatever and have fun, it’s very rare to find that in games
@Dax Ennenbach I actually enjoyed doing each and every quest. The only reason the game got boring was because I completed every single side quest and main quest. The main reason I never liked open world games is because I need a sense of direction in order to not get bored of a game. I also get distracted very easily which is also why I didn’t like open world games. BOTW was the only open world game I ever really enjoyed.
@CrazilyRyan play red dead redemption 2 i really recommend this open world game probably the best game ever in my opinion
I’m starting to feel the same thing. Guess we’re all just growing up. However, when I got into VR, It all felt new again. Since then, I’ve never gotten bored.
@Tivon Watts stop the cap u never had hobbies even as a kid all u did is play video games now u don’t kno what to do
@Mr. Eminem thanks Eminem!
@Tivon Watts preach em
@Tivon Watts I’ve just found I like to just hang out with family and friends, go camping, go to the shooting range, etc
For me, i get bored playing alone, but with THE HOMIES i have lots of fun, we make memories we develope teamwork video games help us make great memories and help us escape reality
Variety literally is the spice of life. Many of those who say games arent fun anymore from what i saw only played one game (usually mc or cod or one of the popular shooters). Taking breaks and trying new things are definitely a couple of the best ways to enjoy games again, another good stryxo video 🥃
You must be young
i only play one game and im still satisfied 😐
But that’s the thing. All games are starting to be the same. Look at most AAA games. MgsV, Ac valhalla, Far cry 6, ANY ubisoft game. They’re all so mechanically similar it’s ridiculous. They aren’t bad. But they’re just so similar. They’re almost all the same. The triple A grey blob. But, you find gems. Soulsborne, resident evil, old halo, there are tons of things. Look to the past if you get bored. Get things that aren’t usually your forte. THAT, is where you’ll find your love again.
yes
Kinda a hard reality to accept, especially when you think you’d love video games forever.
I went through almost exactly the same series of events in my personal life, and after taking taking a long break from gaming g I too found joy again in trying new games. It’s been awesome.
I’ve had this same feeling start up 1 or 2 years after going into adulthood. Now as of recent anything I try playing just isn’t fun or interesting anymore.
@Bruh #2 Naa I grew up g
@Bruh #2 Wouldn’t be anything new.
I think you have depression my guy
I play and it feels like a chore
I swear, I used to sit down and play through the whole of Halo CE on legendary in one evening and now, I will play the first mission and then quit the game on the second. I miss the atmosphere it once had as a kid, that sort of mystery, the unknown. Knowing everything makes everything a lot more boring.
I think the reason people don’t enjoy games it’s because modern games feel like jobs, absurd amount of missions without any meaning for the game experience, boring farming mechanics, empty open worlds, plain storytelling idk i really enjoy more classic games this days they are more focused in what they want to deliver (sorry for bad English)
Exactly
Oh man this is spot on!!!! I really like your point about lack of focus in games now. It’s what I’ve always considered why COD began to suffer…to much emphasis or MORE and NEW and BIGGER without realizing that the inherant joy of early games was their focus and simplicity
It’s because it’s all about money now. Micro transactions.
The multiplayer’s are just so anti social. Barely anyone talks anymore in game to make it fun. People treat games like their life depends on it. They try so dang hard and it’s just not the same anymore. I go back to old games like black ops 1 and it’s so dead. People talking in the lobby and funny moments made it better.
I found that I really enjoy games with open mic multiplayer. Being able to make friends while being under fire in a battlefield makes a great game
I agree with this. Couple of years ago I really started to feel this way about games. Dropped the FPS games and started simming in DCS World and sunk thousands of hours. I love it but now it’s starting to feel the same as all the other games which is a shame
Actually, for me, games are more fun now than when I was a kid. But something I’ve noticed is that I research a lot before playing new games, usually I go for games that bring some kind of new mechanics. For this reason I don’t play most big games they all seem to use the same recipe. Movies on the other hand seem to me to be very boring to me these days.
Does anyone else have the problem of getting really into a video game, playing it halfway and then never playing it ever again. Or that feeling when you open your console/pc, look at your games and then just stare at it for 5 minutes then proceed to close your console/pc.
YES! Example: Zelda breath of the wild.
I just did that earlier today on my Xbox
Same but instead of closing pc i just play one of them and get addicted again
I’m terrible at finishing games
i cant remember a game i finished in the last couple years. every game i play, i stop half way even though when i start the game im super into it. the witcher 3, red dead 1 and 2, doom eternal, cyberpunk, forza horizon 5, fallout 4, god of war, all unfinished. started elden ring and i can already see the fun and desire fading and ill probably leave it half way like the rest.