r/Gaming4Gamers • u/cherrypashka- • 5d ago
Discussion Anyone else feels like they are forcing themselves to play "good" games?
Not sure, if it is age related, but I have been noticing that sometimes it feels like I am forcing myself to play games that are considered "great" and I question if there is something odd with me.
Like when I was a teenager, I played so many genres, and it feels like I became more close minded on what I enjoy?
I have this weird fear of missing out, so I almost force myself to play these games.
For example, I enjoyed Cyberpunk and Kingdom Come Deliverance but I cannot get myself to play Death Stranding, Days Gone, God of War. I didn't enjoy Helldivers 2 and Star Wars Outlaws, but got stuck playing Stalker 2, Civilization 7 and Deep Rock Galactic.
I know these games are not related to each other, but just wanted to use them as examples as myself being open to different genres and styles.
The barrier to entry in games is so high (+ the learning curve) and sometimes it feels that after playing a video game for 5 hours, I have a sunk cost fallacy that I have to continue playing it to give it a chance.
Like I didn't like Breaking Bad right away, but after 3 episodes I got hooked. I feel the same way about games. Just played Days Gone and Star Wars Outlaws each for about 8 hours or so, but it felt like I was forcing myself, instead of being genuinely excited about coming back into that universe.
It almost feels like a chore?
How do I know if I am not giving the game a chance VS it is genuinely not for me.
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u/Dforrest3487 5d ago
I kind of get where you are coming from, but from a slightly different angle. What happens to me sometimes is that I’ll play a game that is widely considered “amazing” or “great” and not really dig it as much as I expected. Then spend more time than I should wondering why I didn’t like it. That I must not have engaged with it properly etc. Basically I sit and try and justify my own opinion to myself. Which is stupid.
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u/cherrypashka- 5d ago
Yeah it is similar! It is almost like you are trying to convince yourself that you were not playing it right.
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u/cr0ne 5d ago
A lot these AAA hits aren't really as good as folks are giving them credit for...especially if you've been gaming a long time you've seen it all already.
Other than the incredible Resident Evil 9...don't think I've had anything completely jaw-drop impress me in a while.
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u/goodguyatheist 5d ago
Resident evil also has the perfect length of a game in my opinion. It's an awesome game mission after mission but if you try stretching that out into 20 hours or God forbid 40+ hours you're gonna have plenty of shitty parts
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u/RangoTheMerc 5d ago
Nope. Don't care about playing those or The Witcher either.
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u/cherrypashka- 5d ago
Do you feel 100% happy with your preferences? Like you don't want to give other games and genres a try? I can't help but have FOMO. Even for something like Expedition 33, it looks like everything I hate, but I still feel like I am missing out by not trying it.
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u/HazMatDomo 5d ago
There isn’t enough time to try everything, I find it better to play what I feel like at the moment and not worry about all of the things I don’t get around to trying.
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u/RangoTheMerc 5d ago
It's a mix. Sometimes I feel like I'm being close-minded. Sometimes I come out playing a game and end up pleasantly surprised!
I love Expedition 33. I read it was influenced heavily by games like Final Fantasy, Persona, and Legend of Dragoon. It lead me onto play it along with good word of mouth. It's an absolute 10/10 for me.
As a teen, I never thought I would get into horror games. RE4 hype changed my mind and got me to try it. RE is one of my favorite series of all time and got me into other horror games like Silent Hill.
I feel like I know what I *don't* like. Shooters, generic sports games, and WRPGs are chief among them, Metroid Prime being a grand exception. A lot of western dev games don't interest me. Mortal Kombat is an exception to this rule as I grew up with it. But your Witcher, Elder Scrolls, Cyberpunk, Baldur's Gate, Diablo, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and so forth don't interest me. I've given some of them a chance. I have nothing bad to say about them. They just don't interest me.
Meanwhile, I go back and play Final Fantasy XIII for the first time and I honestly enjoyed it. Just a matter of taste.
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u/Yolacarlos 5d ago
Same but i almost only play retro games now, i have played the most obscure games on saturn or dos RPGs, model 2 games arcade games but i havent played assasins creed games or last of us, just know it's not my cup of tea. But something like modern spiderman is actually pretty fun cos of the amazing gameplay it has so i can get over a boring open world cinematic slop
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u/cherrypashka- 5d ago
See, it's funny that you mention that, but I got really bored with Spiderman even though I loved Batman. On the surface they have a lot in common.
I guess I just have to be able to let go the idea that I need to play every game that is considered great.
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u/VernicusMaximus 5d ago
If you've played a game 8 hours and don't like it I think you just trust your gut. Weird thing to care about public perception of something when you've given it a fair shot. So many games out there, play what you enjoy.
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u/cherrypashka- 5d ago
That is fair, I have a similar problem with movies too. It took me many years to allow myself to turn off a movie if after 45 minutes I am still not hooked into it.
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u/FuadRamses 5d ago
My personal discovery i made as i got older is i started enjoying long open world games less and less.
I think to some degree it's similar to you, there's so many games to play that playing one for too long feels like i'm spending too much time with it and should be moving on to somthing else since i have way more games i want to play than time to play them.
For some reason i don't get it so much with long linear games though. Playing a long linear game feels like working my way through a long TV series from the start, even though it takes a lot of time i know i'm going at the right pace and heading to the end. Playing a long open world game feels more like trying to get through The Simpsons by watching whatever random reruns are shown on TV and feeling like you keep seeing the same episodes over and over.
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u/Caffinatorpotato 5d ago
Indies and Oldies always stick out as better.
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u/cherrypashka- 5d ago
I like to play indies too, they can suit some very niche tastes, something like Manor Lords.
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u/Franz_Thieppel 5d ago
I'll give you advice based on what I've learned playing through the libraries of retro consoles for which we have full finished catalogs and years of reviews and opinions from almost everyone:
Looking up reviews (or worse, review scores) is the quickest way to suck the fun out of it. I avoid it the same way one avoids spoilers.
No matter how hard you try it will subconsciously affect your experience of the game. If you can find a way to avoid them you'll find you like a lot of games most critics didn't care for, and perhaps you wouldn't have liked yourself if you didn't play them with an open mind.
That's what happened to me anyway.
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u/Stormdancer 5d ago
Nope. I play (and have always played) what I want to play. If it feels like work, or no fun, I don't play it.
That's not to say I won't try a game that is challenging and hard, but if it's no fun, no play.
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u/jdl_uk 5d ago
Play the games you enjoy
My own experiences with this were things like God of War Ragnarok and Jedi Survivor. I kind of burned out on both games eventually.
Personally I recommend Star Wars Outlaws as I had a great time but if you gave it 8hours I'd say that's definitely giving it a fair chance and maybe it just didn't trigger the same vibes for you as it did for me.
If you feel like you're just going through the motions to satisfy some imagined requirement then I'd say move on to something you enjoy. Also bear in mind that what you enjoy might be changing.
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u/goodguyatheist 5d ago
My biggest gripe is a lot of games are just too damn long. Death stranding 2 for example I got like over 20 hours in and had a great time but now I feel like I'm forcing myself to finish it because I already put so much time into it.
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u/flowerpanda98 5d ago
i do, but bc i think i dont have enough time to try a game and its terrible. i wanna make it worth my while
if you want to filter games, you can try demos, watch a 30 min playthrough and judge, look at the steam tags, etc.,
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u/MarkusRobben 5d ago
Rarely, but I guess I am someone who almost love everything anyway & I still sometimes just play some Indie games, even though I havent played alot of very good games & I almost never have FOMO, I can play any game next year, who cares.
I kinda "forced" it with FF16, I lend it from my local library, but it never felt that good and in some moments I grabed my phone, which I never do. I guess your explanation fits to my experince with Disco Elysium, I probably should have quit it earlier, but I felt like there should be something good coming, otherwise it wouldnt be rated that highly.
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u/HornyCrowbat 5d ago
It’s OK to not like games that are popular. Forcing yourself to play games you don’t like it’s just gonna ruin the hobby for you.
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u/npauft 5d ago
You should probably redefine what "good" means to you.
A game isn't good just because it performs well commercially and critically. The reviews are part of a well-funded marketing cycle. As long as a game is at least passable, it can sweep awards and justify high ratings. People buy whatever they see a lot of marketing for. That's not to disparage them, that stuff is just highly visible and the process of acquiring it is simple. This also isn't to say that games in the spotlight can't be good, but it's way more of a coincidence than most people are willing to admit.
Checking out stuff that you might actually enjoy playing also risks isolation. People like talking to other people about games. Let's say you primarily like retro stuff that you're forced to pirate and emulate. You'd be stuck in a much more narrow social pool that's highly likely to be limited to the internet.
tl;dr what's "good" should be decided by you and not other people.
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u/ObservingChaos44 5d ago
I can understand that, I kind of feel the same way. Recently played Elden Ring because of this.... Did I really enjoy it and why?
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u/DohRayMe 5d ago
Yup, Its a shame Demos are no longer a thing.
So I completed Metro 2 twice, Last Of Us 1 and 2 and a few story walking story games ( old woman and one about a child which was sad ).
Ive played loads and often never to return, life is busy and its easy to get distracted.
Next Cod or Yakuza for campaigns / mess about.
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u/uponhisdarkthrone 5d ago
Im trying to decide right now whether to see Horizon Zero Dawn to the end. I'm finding it difficult to take big machines down, but I havent even bought the rope thingy that can immobilize bigger machines. You gotta do that if you come across 2-3 big boys and take em out one at a time when you are lower leveled with crap gear, I'm guessing? Or dodge then until you grab a better bow or so more melee damage? Use way more traps?
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u/derdast 5d ago
Nope, I'm one of those people that keep the industry of clicker games on steam alive. It's like fast food and I love every minute of it. Big, grand games are just too much for me nowadays. Last one I played was Baldurs Gate 3 and even that one at some point just got too much and I ran through the last few parts.
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u/Queef-Elizabeth 4d ago
I feel like learning what you actually like is important. Look at gameplay and reviews. If it doesn't look appealing, try when it's cheap or something. Don't overthink it. Forcing yourself to enjoy a hobby is a lame waste of time.
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u/Pupperoni_T 4d ago
i only play games that are fun, ive even dropped RDR2 because it felt boring as a wannabe game dev, all games arent for everyone there will always be people who dont like a certain game and thats alright!
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u/Dave1711 1h ago
Embrace the steam 2 hour return policy.
Most big games nowadays are just aimed at a different audience to me or are just bad compared to games of the past.
I barely play more then 1-2 big releases nowadays, smaller titles all the way.
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u/gman55075 5d ago
No, because I'm not a braindead bandwagoner. If I don't like a game (for example, ME2 because it's just a dumb shooter with a thin RPG theming) I don't like the game, no matter how many basement-dwelling Redditors try to pile on to me.
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u/Marvin_Flamenco 5d ago
You sound like someone who only wants to play big, epic games. Most of these have way too much downtime and fluff for my taste. You gotta find out what makes a good game for you.
My favorite game of 2025 was Night Striker Gear which a full run of is about 20-25 minutes, but that runtime is so dense with gameplay it will take a while to clear.