Lately, games have started to feel less like an escape and more like a chore.
Every new release seems to come with a trade-off. Battle passes, cosmetic shops, seasonal content, daily logins. The message feels clear: the more money you spend and the more time you sink, the more fun you’re allowed to have. Microtransactions are “optional,” of course. Just like breathing.
I started wondering if the problem was me.
Maybe I’ve just lost the patience to really get into games. Maybe adulthood hollowed out that part of my brain. I’d watch reviews where someone confidently stamped an “8/10” on a game, boot it up myself, and immediately feel like I’d played it already. Same mechanics, different coat of paint. Or worse, a game that felt unfinished unless I paid to fill in the gaps.
Then, almost by accident, I played Dispatch.
For those who don’t know it, you’re in charge of a superhero group, managing crises and sending heroes out to fight crime. No endless progression systems. No dangling carrots. Just a focused idea, executed well.
I finished it in one sitting. And immediately wanted to replay it to see the other outcomes.
That hasn’t happened to me in years. I still haven’t finished The Sims 2, and I started that around 2007.
That experience made me pause. Maybe I wasn’t burnt out on games. Maybe I was just burnt out on the kinds of games I’d been choosing.
So I tested that idea.
Instead of relying on reviews and scores, I went back to how I picked what game I play back in the day, so I started watching trailers and forming my own opinion about whether a game actually looked fun to me. Not “content-rich” not “worth the grind” just fun.
That’s how I landed on High on Life.
On my first play, I went for four uninterrupted hours.
That might not sound impressive, but for me, that’s huge. Four hours without checking the time. Four hours without feeling guilty. Four hours without that nagging sense that I should be doing something more “productive.”
And when I stopped playing, I didn’t feel like I’d wasted my time.
So now I’m left with a burning question.
Is it just me, or have a lot of modern games become either souls like pits that require time and dedication just to master one move, or carefully engineered money machines designed to drip-feed dopamine? Games that don’t respect your time unless you give them your wallet too?
So great games are still out there, and I’ve just been looking in all the wrong places.
What game(s) have you been playing lately that was just an absolute blast?
Top comments (1)
This resonated with me a lot!
I think you nailed it with 'souls like pits'. A lot of the games I found myself playing in recent years almost created a trauma bond instead of a joyous feeling. A lot of the grindy games started to feel like a job, and after playing them, I was often left drained and feeling like I'd wasted my time.
I too fell into the trap of listening to reviews, watching gameplay videos and simply looking for the "This isn't for you" flag. After taking a few months away from gaming I found myself moving to a more curious approach to games and not worrying about the reviews.
Side note: Battle for Middle Earth - Return of the Witch King has been an absolute pleasure to get back into, because it just brought me joy!