more linear games, please
Playing video games has been my one consistent hobby, though I can't pinpoint exactly when it started. I remember watching my dad play Doom every night for years. My mom and I would play Sonic together, and I spent many hours dying in the Turbo Tunnels of Battletoads. I pretended to be a god while playing Black & White and built the most hazardous rides imaginable in Roller Coaster Tycoon (R.I.P. tiny theme park goers).
Eventually, my parents got me a Game Boy Color, and I spent long drives playing Pokémon Red in the back seat of our 95' Dodge Caravan. It was so easy to get lost in their worlds and stories, helping me survive a turbulent childhood. I'd even put up with bullying from the son of my mother's friend to get any chance I could at playing his N64. Since we only ever had my dad's Sega Game Gear, I lusted after other kids’ game consoles for years. It wasn’t until the Playstation 2 was released that I finally got my own and spent countless days and nights playing Prince of Persia, Metal Gear Solid, Hitman, and so many others. Every new game I got my hands on was played to completion and as quickly as I could manage.
Splinter Call: Pandora Tomorrow (2004), one of my favorites
AAA games back then were easier to digest, not taking hundreds of hours to complete like they do now. Today, I feel lucky when I make it through even a single game in a year. I don't have the youthful stamina I once did, pulling all-nighters, chipping away at a game with more missions than a CVS receipt.
Lately, I’ve heard people complain that games are getting stale and repetitive. At the same time, others suggest that playing more indie titles could solve this. While I’ve played and loved many indie games, my attention span has been totally borked these past few years thanks to social media, making it tough to finish these beautiful, hand-crafted gems.
My current steam library. My completion rate is around 10%
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle came out recently and one of its criticisms is that it feels too on rails, being devoid of true player freedom. But we have plenty of games already that grant players autonomy and a chance to stay in the world for as long as possible. The worlds built for these games are so vast it can sometimes take real life hours to traverse from one side of the map to the other.
For a long time, it seemed like every single new game release was an open world game with over 9000 quests, side quests and things to do, but we're seeing an increase of smaller curated games. Games that lack side quests or use them sparingly, allowing players to get through the content in a smaller amount of time. These games leave me with a sense of fulfillment, drawing me in like the ones I played as a kid.
Here are some recent recommendations:
Dave the Diver
Life is Strange
A Plague Tale: Innocence + Requiem
Limbo
Stray
Little Nightmares
Firewatch
Dredge
Undertale
Road 96
A little on the longer but maintain focus (also some of my absolute favorites):
Alan Wake 1 & 2 (any Remedy Games tbh)
The Last of Us 1 & 2