What a fascinating thread...for example:
...it really amuses me that this, written back in 2003, is now only two years away.Originally Posted by NE146
Well naturally. I sure as heck hope that in the year 2023 people won't be making arguments as to how the Xbox/ps2/GC games from 2003 are NOT better than the "current" batch of games. Heck we BETTER have better games by then or something is friggin wrong!
It's true; Indie games can be very hit-or-miss. There is so much stuff on Steam that weeding through all of it can be a daunting task. The nice thing is that things are cheap - if you go to town during a Summer Sale, you can pick up 10 games for < $50. If a quarter of those end up being really good, I consider that a win. It doesn't dole out money according to how great the game is, unfortunately, but it does mean that I'm paying about what I'd expect to pay for the great ones. For games that I like to play, I often find that the Indie scene is the only one churning these out. For whatever reason, AAA studios are still stuck in 3D land and refuse to make anything 2D. Nintendo might be an exception? But the most recent console I own from them is a Wii and a DSi "big" (whatever it was called - the larger version).
Appreciate the note on "Papers, Please". It looks experimental...maybe people gush about it because it's making a "statement" through the gameplay? It embeds "moral choices" into its design? That gets people all riled up...whether it's fun or not is a different matter.
The Indie games I've loved (I define this as "Finishing the game" or playing the heck out of it if it has no end - any game that holds my interest that long is a winner) over the past decade+ that have been actually fun have been (in no particular order):
Aquaria
Bastion
Transistor
Dead Cells (love this one - it's like SotN turned up to 11)
Fez
Kingdom: Classic + New Lands
Double Dragon Neon (not really "indie" I suppose, but maybe for Capcom it was experimental)
Runespell: Overture
FTL
Into the Breach
Invisible, Inc.
Thea: The Awakening (I'll admit this one may be an acquired taste)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Soulcaster
Hand of Fate
Terraria
Firewatch
Dex
Waking Mars
There are a few others in my Steam library that I haven't tried so far. The only AAA release I can think of that has gotten as much play as any of these has been Civ VI - that has been really fun and I love it. Maybe I'm not giving them enough of a chance because they're so expensive.
Point is...I think gaming is as good as it ever was. When I go to pick up my NES controller, it seems like a huge step down compared to any of the games I just listed - with a few of the absolute greats like Super Mario Bros. 3 being a notable exception. I can't honestly sit here and say "They don't make 'em like they used to" - not in the sense that phrase is used. It's true, they don't - I think they make things BETTER. The problem today isn't in having better games than before, it's in finding them amidst all the mediocre or bad.
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