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I& #39;ve been disconnected from video games for a long time now, longest I& #39;ve ever been, for about 3 years now. This led to the death of Hidden Audio Log, my game review site with the wonderful @Vod_Crack, who is like a brother to me. Miss talking with him.
Part of it was that I got burned out on the medium after ruthlessly playing so many games so quickly for reviews, podcast discussion, to stay informed about the industry, etc. It was also very expensive to do so as it& #39;s the most expensive entertainment industry to keep up with.
Part of it also was that I felt like the medium was leaving me behind. Year after year, there were less and less games I was interested in, and more and more games I was hyped up about flopped and ended up doing nothing for me. It hurt a lot and I felt empty for awhile.
AAA games felt like bloated copy-paste jobs, soulless experiences which blended together to only form hazy memories of open-worlds and RPG-lite systems. Every E3 reinforced this fact, reveal events where I couldn& #39;t even remember what I had just seen it all looked so similar.
Indie games become more pretentious and shallow, barely even games anymore. Experiences that were were becoming about narrative and message, yet being clumsy hollow messes that made me embarrassed to play them due to their ham-fisted and eye-rolling nature.
Games like Slay the Spire and Sekiro last year and Persona 5 Royal and Hades this year became the only games I& #39;d finish over a whole year. Before I would play almost hundreds of games a year, and now I could barely complete a couple to competition.
I did find something to fill the hole in my heart, that being anime. A treasure trove of a entertainment medium, with it& #39;s only very glaring strengths and weaknesses, that was previous undiscovered by myself. Without it, I& #39;m not sure what I& #39;d being doing with myself nowadays.
But that doesn& #39;t change the fact that video games are my first real memories from my youth, and were my obsession for 25+ years, and now I barely care about them. . It& #39;s a surreal feeling and I& #39;m still unsure what to do about all of it.
I hope to reconnect and find my way back, but I do think game design and the industry needs to meet me halfway. Games need to be fun and the stories they tell need to be inspiring. When I see miserable things like The Last of Us 2, I see how far I am from coming back in earnest.
No good way to really end this thread, not happy ending or positive message at the end. But it& #39;s been something that& #39;s been haunting me for awhile now. So it helps getting it all off my chest. Again, much love for my man @Vod_Crack who I owe so much too. Love ya bro.
