Getting older. Not enjoying gaming like I used to

[Irrotational]

Type R Tom said:

I'm 35, used to game a lot but of late fallen out of love with it. Had and xbox 360 and PS3 but didn't buy the latest generation. I built a PC a couple of years ago and decided to upgrade recently with an RX480 so can play games at 1080p and 1440p at a push.

Got Doom with the graphics card and quite enjoyed the sillyness of it but then bought GTA V and I just can't in to it.

Any ideas? Mainly like FPS and driving games. 3rd person too sometimes.

If you fancy a challenge and something different, try Dark Souls...it's a helluva game..but you need patience and be willing to experiment with trial and error.

For PC FPS, I can offer a few choices:-

Overwatch - it's been incredibly popular for over a year now. It is completely focussed on multiplayer though, so if you want a big bombastic campaign then this isn't for you.

Player Unknown's Battlegrounds - if you've seen the film battle royale it's basically that minus the japnese school kids. You jump out of a plane onto an island with 100 other people. You have to quickly pick up guns and ammo and then try and survive for as long as possible. Last one standing is the winner. Again this is completely multiplayer

Campaign FPS...hmm i'd guess BF or COD has a decent campaign. Titanfall 2 involves calling down and climbing into giant mechs, and the campaign was meant to be pretty good. The multiplayer in TF2 will be pretty quiet now as everyone has moved on.

If you like co-op then ghost recon wildlands is meant to be good - the base campaign is a bit cra on your own but if you co-op with people you can get up to a lot of hi-jinks.

[peterperkins]

20+ years ago worked through most of the first person shooters, duke nukem, quake, half life, counterstrike etc.

Stopped about 10 years ago and just had odd days in last few years.

In last 5 years virtually never game. Far too busy doing other stuff.

All those hours wasted on gaming seem fairly pathetic now...

Can't see me ever going back to it unless I'm bored rigid confined to a bed/wheelchair by some adverse incident..

[Hoofy]

peterperkins said:

In last 5 years virtually never game. Far too busy doing other stuff.

All those hours wasted on gaming seem fairly pathetic now...

Well, what are the other things that you're too busy doing? If it's just another pastime, then it's wasted time, too. Or is it? All this wasted time on games or watching the football or whatever is just downtime to help you deal with your work time.

[born2bslow]

I consider sim racing my hobby now...I'd do it in real life if I had the time and money, but work is so hectic I need the downtime at the weekends and don't want to be running all over the country for a couple of hours on track...even at the weekends family time and kids stuff takes priority. I fit my hobby in when it's convenient.

Gaming is an interest like any other, some people choose to ride around in vividly coloured lycra putting their lives in the hands of increasingly myopic and inconsiderate (sometimes aggressive) car/van/lorry drivers, on extremely expensive two wheel, pedal powered death traps...good luck to them but it's not for me thanks.

Recreation is recreation, we all like what we like...and tastes will change over time.

[Zetec-S]

I definitely feel the same, but as others have said, as you get older you have more commitments and other things to do. I occasionally go through spells of gaming but nothing like when I was younger.

For example:

Quake 2 / Half Life / Deus Ex - I probably played/replayed each 4 or 5 times. In the last couple of years I've bought Fallout 3 and Arma 3 and am probably less than 20% through either of them.

Sim City 1-4 - huge amounts of hours. I bought Cities Skylines a couple of years ago. Great game, it offers everything I wanted back on SimCity, but I've struggled to get going and probably played less than 40hrs in total.

Civilisation 1 & 2 - dread to think how many hours I put into them. Haven't tried Civ 6 yet (I'm too tight to pay full price), but I've racked up about 300hrs on Civ 5 since I bought it about 3 years ago, so a decent amount of time but nothing like the amount I spent playing 1 & 2.

GTA - again, I completed 3 & Vice City a couple of times, and then spent hours running after all the bonuses, easter eggs, etc. Had San Andreas and got most of the way through before the Xbox packed up. Bought GTA 4 a few years ago and got maybe halfway through until the stupid online profile thing lost my saved games. Can't be bothered to replay.

Saying that, I've just seen GTA 5 is on sale on Steam, so although I'm sure I'll get bored after a few hours I am tempted to give it a go . At the end of the day I still think that most games offer good value for money (£/hr ???) compared to other activities.

[The_Doc]

Witcher 3 on PS4

I'm late 30s and gamed all my life from BBC electron upwards.

The Sandbox games are the only ones that interest me now. Crafting, shooting or sword-hacking, stumbling on random cool stuff

200 hours Fallout 3
50 hours Fallout N/Vegas
100 hours Fallout 4
GTA San Andreas, Liberty City. V
Borderlands 1+2
now 100+ hours into Witcher 3

I just can't get into the (IMO) boring "gameplay corridor" games like The Last of Us or Uncharted. Tried and sold them on. Linear and restrictive without freedom to roam. I know they are wildly popular

[DoubleSix]

Limbo and Inside are both on Steam sale this weekend.

If you are an ageing gamer who has tired of all the "pew, pew" stuff you will find the originality, simplicity and gorgeous art direction a breath of fresh air.

Trust me..

[Zetec-S]

DoubleSix said:

Limbo and Inside are both on Steam sale this weekend.

If you are an ageing gamer who has tired of all the "pew, pew" stuff you will find the originality, simplicity and gorgeous art direction a breath of fresh air.

Trust me..

Just viewed the trailer, have to say both look awesome, especially Inside. As you say, totally different to the same old stuff out there. Won't get a chance to play for a while as I've got too much on, but tempted to buy now while on sale (both for less than a tenner) and play in a few weeks

[Oliver James]

I'm a little younger than most of the veteran gamers in this thread but I empathize. I remember playing Spyro on the ps1 as a kid and loving every second. Now I still game a lot but its a rare few for a title to impress me as much. I feel like CoD or Tekken, anything in a series like that, is always samey. It never gives the same thrill of experiencing something new.

I have found certain games still cause me to rush home from work and fire up the console though, even now. I played the Last of Us and though it was art, so compelling and vivid. Or even a little IOS game like Super Meat Boy is really bizarrely addictive, I found I can really get lost in just finishing one more level.

Gaming, as an industry, is a lot bigger than it was and along the way its adopted some poor games, bad consoles and just a grey samey feel. That said, there is still true gems there, if you really look for them. Maybe its the youthful naivety in me but I'm really excited to see whats announced at E3!

[DoubleSix]

Zetec-S said:

DoubleSix said:

Limbo and Inside are both on Steam sale this weekend.

If you are an ageing gamer who has tired of all the "pew, pew" stuff you will find the originality, simplicity and gorgeous art direction a breath of fresh air.

Trust me..

Just viewed the trailer, have to say both look awesome, especially Inside. As you say, totally different to the same old stuff out there. Won't get a chance to play for a while as I've got too much on, but tempted to buy now while on sale (both for less than a tenner) and play in a few weeks

I just played Inside through from start to finish last night for the first time... wow, dare it say it was a profound experience.

If you've played neither I would start with Limbo just because it was developed first and Inside builds upon the ideas and format. Both are a joy.

[anonymous-user]

The_Doc said:

Witcher 3 on PS4

I'm late 30s and gamed all my life from BBC electron upwards.

The Sandbox games are the only ones that interest me now. Crafting, shooting or sword-hacking, stumbling on random cool stuff

200 hours Fallout 3
50 hours Fallout N/Vegas
100 hours Fallout 4
GTA San Andreas, Liberty City. V
Borderlands 1+2
now 100+ hours into Witcher 3

I just can't get into the (IMO) boring "gameplay corridor" games like The Last of Us or Uncharted. Tried and sold them on. Linear and restrictive without freedom to roam. I know they are wildly popular

Witcher 3 is a fantastic game however I've stopped playing it as there is almost too much stuff to do! It can get a bit overwhelming.

[22]

I played Limbo as a phone game (the little dude in grey-scale woods etc?) and couldn't get into it; if that's the same game. Imagine the atmospherics on PC would be a lot more impressive than its app version, but game didn't grab me*

• might have got stuck quite early on and lost patience!

My XB1 only gets switched on now to watch sky through it, must be something groundbreaking coming along?

[Oliver James]

ruprechtmonkeyboy said:

Witcher 3 is a fantastic game however I've stopped playing it as there is almost too much stuff to do! It can get a bit overwhelming.

Literally this. Witcher 3 is so vast, its got more content than I could ever finish, I feel the Witcher is a better game than I am a gamer, I am not worthy

[DoubleSix]

Oliver James said:

ruprechtmonkeyboy said:

Witcher 3 is a fantastic game however I've stopped playing it as there is almost too much stuff to do! It can get a bit overwhelming.

Literally this. Witcher 3 is so vast, its got more content than I could ever finish, I feel the Witcher is a better game than I am a gamer, I am not worthy

Uhuh, but it's more of the same isn't it - go here, find this, upgrade sword, listen to dialogue etc - not what I'd recommend to someone feeling jaded by gaming.

I'm enjoying games as art more these days. 'Journey' is another piece of original programming I enjoyed very much. 'Superhot' was highly original too.

Currently playing 'Senua's Sacrifice' and it is a stunning visual and aural experience, definitely a must play although not perfect.