I used to be a passionate gamer, and I often find myself nostalgic for the golden era of video games when there were new ideas popping left and right.
Now, it feels like we’re caught between long-delayed triple-A titles and a constant stream of indie platformers. Originality seems to have taken a backseat, with many games regurgitating the same concepts.
What do you think defined the golden era of gaming? Are we currently in a rut, or is there a chance for fresh ideas to emerge again?
The obvious answer is whatever generation you grew up during.
I think the most realistic answer I think would be from 1998 to 2001 as the golden years of gaming. Just so many classics games from basically every genre and system of the time. Half Life on PC, Spyro and Crash 3 on PlayStation. Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast. Pokemon on Nintendo. Halo on Xbox. And that’s just the beginning of the list.
There, of course, were plenty of shovelware titles. So it’s not like the era didn’t have its own problems like we have with excessive reboot/remasters/remakes and subscription and battle pass slop and everything else.
But the difference is that gamers have changed their standards. It’s easy to avoid Hello Kitty Island Adventure in the year 2000. Hard to purchase a game today without a live service model or battle pass