My thoughts are you need to find a new hobby if you think like you do. That or stick to only playing older games that satisfy you. They're going nowhere through emulation.
I personally have no disagreement from people who say there's a lot of flaws with modern gaming but I also think it's a shortsighted way to look at the hobby. There's arguably many things evolved and better in modern gaming. Are things regressed in some areas? Sure. I like playing older games. I have phases where I'll just play older stuff. I can appreciate newer things too. Lots of innovative things out there if you're willing find it. Look at a game like Balatro in the indie space. Might not be your cup of tea genre but it's an innovative excellent game.
If I focused all my time with negativity you do I'd quit the hobby. I love older games but I like new experiences too. So my advice to you is maybe you should look at different hobbies if you feel this way about gaming or stick to your wheelhouse so you feel happier. If you can't find any modern game to play that pleases you when there's more games than ever coming out both from indie/AAA devs I don't know what to tell you.
Swapping over to an entirely different hobby isn't going to change my view on how I see the modern age of gaming. It used to be that games being made were consistently enjoyable since there were so many of them that were actually high-quality.
Sure, the olden days had its fair share of zeros (such as every single Castlevania), but I was too busy enjoying all the best games that I favored, whether it was Marble Madness or Metal Gear Solid. Still playing all the oldies, however, is not something I'm too keen on doing. Especially with the unending swamp of ports and remakes. I've no intention of grabbing the Silent Hill 2 remake this year. A lot of people may be hyped for it, but by the looks of the game it comes across a whole lot worse than when that masterpiece originally launched in 2001.
Poker happens to be a game I've never been taught. Although friends have attempted giving me some insight into the game, the rules have never officially stuck with me. There are other card-based indie games I've played in recent years, such as Mahjong (which it wasn't too long ago that I learned how to play that). Earlier this year I also played through a dungeon-crawling game where you use cards to fight off enemies. The game itself was not good at all, but it was something a little different from what I'm used to.
Lately I've been playing through Shady Part of Me, one of the worst puzzle games in existence. Controlling two different characters (from the same person, I'm assuming), both parts are equally obnoxious as you wander through this unbalanced story where a character stops and only starts speaking again once they reach the destined point of the level that gives them their cues. While I'm big on puzzle games that are actually made well, this is exactly the sort of horrible game in my backlog I should stay away from. However, with nothing to play in 2024 it's the kind of scum I've had to put up with while waiting for the extremely long haul of getting a game that I actually
do wish to play this year.
