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You only have this view if you only play AAA games. The explosion of high quality indie and AA games in the last decade tells a different story. I haven’t bought a AAA game since Cyberpunk came out (and I pre-ordered a year early) if you don’t count Baldurs Gate 3 as one.
My last CoD was the original Modern Warfare, my last Battlefield was Bad Company 2, my last sports game NHL '05 (on the PS2 lol) and I don’t think I missed much.
I am sorry guys, old man here, but 1997 was the best year for gaming:
- Diablo
- Fallout
- Quake II
- Ultima Online
- Ages of Empires
- Final Fantasy 7
- Grand Turismo
- Golden Eye 007
- Starfox 64
- Crash Bandicoot II
- Tomb Raider II
- PaRappa the Rapper
How the hell do you beat that? Most of the games released yearly are sequels to these games.
And 1998 isn’t far behind with:
- Half-Life
- StarCraft
- Baldurs Gate
- Unreal
- Metal Gear Solid
- Resident Evil II
- Ocarina of time
- Soul Calibur
- Spyro
I was actually thinking earlier this week that this year has been insanely good for gaming! We’ve gotten:
- Silksong
- Hades 2
- Alabaster Dawn (by CrossCode developers (my fave game of all time))
- Doom: The Dark Ages
- Death Stranding 2
- Monster Hunter Wilds (This one is controversial but as a long time MonHun fan I genuinely think its the best one yet, performance notwithstanding)
- Ghost of Yotei (soon!)
- Probably a million more amazing games I’m forgetting
IMO we are in a golden age of indie games right now. At one point practically every indie game was a 2D platformer (not that there’s anything wrong with platformers, but that’s all their limited development resources would allow).
Then we had the era of the untextured (or really minimally textured) 3D Unity games with boxy models and really minimal animations.
Now there are so many indie games coming down the pipe (or which are already out) with amazing art assets and really high quality animations, better than a lot of AAA stuff in the 2000s I would even say.
Also, even in the AAA scene we are finally out of the brown era.
Technology has advanced so much that it’s easier everyday for a single developer or a small group to make a game. I think it will only get better. It’s a good time to make things!
Unless you want to get paid for it lol
I would say that up to 2013, things were on a steady incline, but since then there was a stagnation, and then a decline in quality from big name publishers who used to be really great. And I don’t think it’s a “oh I’ve just gotten older and more cynical and I’m nostalgic for the things I grew up with.”
Because I can go back and play games that were well before my time, or around when I was a kid but never played, and really enjoy them. But if I pick up a game from even 5 years ago from one of the really big studios… at best it feels under cooked. Like there is potential, but a lot of stuff just never got finished. At worst, it feels as if the game lacks any intention or thought in the design beyond how to maximize the skinner box.
Take for example “vampire the masquerade: bloodlines”, it wasn’t a game I played when it came out, in fact I only played it a couple years ago, it has a lot of flaws but it is still a great and engaging experience, it felt like the team making it had a strong vision and they executed on that well. A lot of modern games from big publishers don’t seem to have a vision beyond a vague aesthetic and the final projects routinely feel disjointed and poorly thought out.
Also seems like indie games are really filling that niche now, while AAA games are mostly just phoning it in.
Like, Silksong is probably GOTY while Black Ops 6 is such a far cry from the impact that Black Ops 1 had (2024 vs 2010).
i think it really does come down to the cohesion of the teams. A small team that has worked together for years is going to make a cohesive product with a strong vision. A huge team with extremely high turnover is going to make something disjointed and dependent on formula.
Firing half the team every three years to avoid having to give them raises probably isn’t doing much to help their long term capability.
Like, the gigantic teams with high turn over aren’t new, but we’re now seeing the long term results of the strategy.
No one said that in 2007.
Halo 3, Assassin’s Creed, The Orange Box (Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 2, Portal), Mass Effect, CoD4:MW, Uncharted, Mario Galaxy, BioShock, Crackdown, The Witcher, Crysis, God of War 2, Metroid Prime 3…
That year was historic.
(But I realize this ruins the joke.)
2007 was about as good as it ever got anyone who says otherwise wasn’t there. COD4 having perks was revolutionary for console shooters, TF2 is still played on PC, Mass Effect is dope as hell, and Halo 3 was the last good Halo game. Until I guess reach idk shooters preference.
Halo 3 by itself, that game owned me and my friends that year
From all the years listed, 2007 is the only one that I would agree was weak, for my taste in games.
And 2013 was peak. It’s absolutely the year I spent more time playing new games, with a monthly average way past 200 hours (300+ by the final quarter).
the latest Acerola video talks about how the modern anti-consumer industry trends (less content, more monetization, more dlc, live service, etc) became a lot more common after 2013 or so, and specifically after the release of Destiny
What’s one of the games you most enjoyed in 2013?
Rune Factory 4.
This if you had hardware and decent internet back then. Otherwise it’s cs 1.6 from 2000.
Also in 2007 many were too hooked on MMOs to notice anything else really.
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Feel bad for anyone working in the industry at the AAA level, but games themselves are so good. They’ve been good all my life.
Sure if you follow only the big players then they were making more interesting games when they were less corporate, but that’s the same with any art.
It’s just like the old “music sucks now, it was best in (insert decade of your late teens, early twenties)” argument. It’s a combination of
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Survivorship bias, you only remember the good music, movies, games of the time and forget all the trash and dumb trends happening.
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It’s when key parts of your identity are forming and you develop strong bonds with the media of the time.
And for games it’s also when your playing them the most. When you get older and get a job, partner, children and other responsibilities you tend not to have as much time for games . You can’t put hundreds of hours into a game to fully appreciate all the story and content it can provide.
And for games it’s also when your playing them the most. When you get older and get a job, partner, children and other responsibilities you tend not to have as much time for games . You can’t put hundreds of hours into a game to fully appreciate all the story and content it can provide.
I think many people also just generally appreciate entertainment media less as they get older, especially if they pick up some depression along the way. They might remember that they really like a game or music album from their formative years, but they don’t actually enjoy it as much as they did when they were 20. Novelty is a big factor when you’re young that tends to not have as much draw when you’re older, but nostalgia by nature isn’t exciting.
I want to be 100% clear that i listen to all the trash from 2010. It’s my favorite genre
There are definitely great games these days. I’m not saying bias/nostalgia doesn’t factor into it, but legitimately the AAA space is not doing great. Sony spent most of their first party money on free to play games this generation, some of which failed spectacularly. Nintendo has bragged to investors that they are producing fewer games and selling them for higher prices. Xbox has not had significant output since the 360, lately Microsoft has been laying people off at Xbox to move people to AI. The big third parties are… EA and Ubisoft…
There are great games but most of the really interesting stuff is in the indie space and a lot of people don’t want to hunt for that.
The AAA gaming space has been ruined by letting the scope of their games get out of hand. (Does borderlands 4 really look that much better than borderlands 3?) and by greed partially to manage that ballooning scope but also to line the pockets of executives and investors. Which is also the reason for the push to free to play.
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It also makes very little sense nowadays. Don’t like the current new games? Play a slightly older one then, is not like they spoil…
Me in 2001, pouring dozens of hours into a rushed-release game with potato graphics, truly demented plot, garbage translation, and 15 second load times every seven seconds: “this is the most fun I’ve ever had!”
BG3 is like BG2 all over again in all the right ways… but even bigger somehow.
Elden Ring is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Expedition 33 is one of the best games i’ve ever played.
I’m not really hurting on great games to play right now. The thriving indie scene with all kinds of wacky awesome shit is amazing too.
Me from 90s: Games are so awesome nowadays.
I guess the problem is that:
- Gamers lose their kids eyes and enthusiasm over time.
- Big game developpers lose their kids eyes and enthusiasm over time.
I agree to a point. Getting older has changed how i interact with games and what i am looking for. I went from “i want something to hold my attention for a long night or seven” to “i want something that i can engage with while watching a video” or “i want something i can play in short bursts because i only have about an hour to play”.
And yes, the enthusiasm isn’t the same any more. I played Expedition 33 recently and while i liked it i’ve been sitting in the last bit for weeks no without touching the game.
Some things still grab me. I prolonged my studies by a semester (which is not expensive to do here) because i wanted to play through Baldurs Gate 3 before the kids are born.
Alh of that said, i still see how the industrie is beeing sett down the same path that took movies from us: more of uhe same, no risks, looks over substance. If not for Indie devs i’d likly moved on from gaming by now.
Baldur’s Gate 2 was released in June 2001, and that was fucking awesome!
BG2 was released in 2000, it’s Throne of Bhaal
DLCexpansion that was in 2001.Damn, how did I miss that? I blame AI (I didn’t use AI, but some of the pages in my search results might have).
Man, BG2 is so peak, the story hits perfectly. RIP Bioware
Channel 3 or 4 preferably
