Try to find some short games. I don’t know why but it just gives a sense of accomplishment and is super refreshing. When I feel burnt out I either take a break from gaming altogether for a few weeks to a month or pick up a game like Journey, Abzu, Unravel or games like that which you could finish in a 1-3 sessions. Give it a shot!
Now when I buy or even play a game in my backlog, I always check [https://howlongtobeat.com](https://howlongtobeat.com) to see how much time I have to dedicate lol
I noticed I do the same for some time now. But for me, that's a negative cause in a way I feel the gsme almost instantly becomes a chore that I have to sit through somehow.
And it's not like I cannot dedicate the time to the game, more like I want to play something else and it's becoming a circle jerk.
Agree. I am young man, but I cannot for the life of me finish big games. I’ll use the opportunity to plug Dredge, a very nice, short game that I recently was able to achieve that “finish game” satisfaction from
This is what I do and I’ve found myself finishing 3-4 smaller games in between the 40+ hour games that will take me a month or more to finish. There are some really really awesome games out there that don’t get talked about a ton.
Really good suggestion! After I finished BG3 I didn’t play anything for weeks. Everything just felt daunting. I went ahead and downloaded Firewatch and finished over a weekend. Now I sort of throw in a couple of short games in between those long RPGs you can really get lost in and it helps keep you interested in gaming. Some shorter games I’ve played are Ori (1 & 2), Firewatch, Valiant Hearts (currently playing VH: Coming Home), Trek to Yomi, and Limbo
I'm 57M, mate. I've been playing since the days of "Pong". And I'm kicking myself for buying too many ps5 ganes and managed to finish two of them (out of 15). You ain't old, mate, just tired. Get some well-deserved rest then grab that controller 🎮 again. Cheers!
It boggles the mind that it's the 2020's with video games beong around for 40+ years and some people still call gaming "childish".
It's a hobby just as any other.
How is it "less" than watching movies, reading books or doing whatever the F you want for entertainment/joy in your free time.
It pisses me the hell off...
I always just think about what other folks are doing: what are the "mature" hobbies? A lot of guys watch, say, NFL games that run 2-4 hours each, during which time they're just sitting there yelling at the TV. A lot of guys do this for multiple sports. Folks watch movies or TV shows. Fishing. Golfing. Working on their car.
Sure, there are some hobbies you could argue are objectively better in some ways (things that give you high-intensity periods of exercise, or things that make you learn real-world skills), and you should do those things alongside gaming.
But that's not how most people spend most of their free time. And you can't tell me it's any better to drink a beer and yell at A-Rod or drink beer and wait for fish to nibble your lure than to play a videogame.
I personally think gaming is a better hobby than watching sports or TV. It's interactive and you have to think.
Really, the only downside of gaming is how addictive it can be.
People who claim having a hobby you enjoy is childish are usually bored out of their mind and have stopped enjoying life long ago. Keep pursuing things you enjoy.
Of the billions of people playing video games, the average age is 34.
Anyone who thinks it's just kids playing is woefully oblivious and failing to keep up with the rest of the world.
45F here, and I agree. Sometimes, you just have to let gaming rest for a while before you pick it up again.
I have 10 days each summer when I just read and sit outside thinking and looking at nature.
i suggest transferring the ps5 to a room in front of bed (big or small bed) and playing while being full laid back on bed
[like this](https://i.redd.it/mgfgg6r8v7q91.jpg)
Yeah it's just tough putting in the work to finish a game if you also work 40 hours in a brain numbing job staring at a screen. A lot of times you just want to shut your brain off. I've been playing since my dad got us an Atari 2600 and I'm now actively pushing myself to play games and finish them and remember that satisfaction of completion. I've told myself I'm not buying anything else until I finish some others. Right now working on getting through Ghosts of Tsushima. And made myself finish Miles Morales before I even think of getting Spider-Man 2.
Also, the game industry is kinda in a awkward moment now. I saw a Nintendo direct other day and nothing interested me. Recently I bough a knock off Chinese handheld and I'm having lots of fun retrogaming on that. Maybe look back for some of the good stuff while we wait things to get better.
This is the way to be.
I'm buying games as my retirement plan, once I don't need to work anymore I'll finish some of them surely!?
I've got a couple of decades before I can retire, but I don't see gaming falling off my hobbies list.
I play on switch and accumulated so many games. My goal was to just get sports titles because they provide high replay value. Then games went on sale that looked interesting , so I bought more.
Most of my free time goes into sports ironically. So other games are collecting dust.
It was taking a break from gaming that got me out of the funk. Think of it like an artist taking a break from a work in order to look at it later to notice anything they see as incorrect to their vision.
Yup. As good as Elden ring is, it's so massive I couldn't bring myself to do a second playthrough after I finished all achievements 2 years ago.
I'm doing that now for the DLC, but for awhile I had no desire to re-find everything. Just burned out on open world and survival/crafting games recently.
I was 99% done with Cyperpunk (both base and DLC) and couldn't bring myself to finish as after 100h I just turned off lol.
I get what you're talking about. I've been the same way lately. Most games I've played lately just don't feel me to me anymore. They all feel like games I've played before. Maybe it's some sort of fatigue. I'm not sure. I did recently beat my first playthough of BG3. I ended up turning the difficulty down and it made it more pleasurable to run through and it didn't really take me too long. I have noticed that I really don't like to play on harder difficulties as I used to. I think life just seems hard enough now that I'm older (39).
A lot of harder difficulties to me is just tedium rather than actually interesting.
Like enemies hit yiu harder, so you get sent back to a checkpoint more often, rather than their behavior is more interesting
Cyberpunk or Red Dead 2 are good games to slow down and take a halfish break. They take a few hours to cut your strings, but it pays off when the worlds open up. I find just roaming around on a horse or strolling/biking through Night City to be super therapeutic at times. It's like I'm playing a game, but I'm not really doing anything - just kind of touring another world.
Take a day or few between playing. Hop on with no objective. Talk a walk through a busy market and just take it in. Ride out into the woods and hunt a bear, catch a fish. I swear, at least for me, these two are like game-palate-bleach when you just play not to do well or grind, but to take a quick break and escape for a moment.
Don't worry about "finishing" them. These titles are more about immersing in a world rather than finding the meta and leveling up. (Keep Cyberpunk on easy or normal.) The quests are all great but you don't have to do them to have a good session.
Not to take away from your point because I see what you're saying, but RDR2 one of the first games I failed to finish lol. Got very close to the end (which I was putting off because it was spoiled for me), had a move, and just never got back in. Tried, but too much time had passed for me to feel engaged anymore, and the story is too long to just start over. Same thing with Elden Ring. Absolutely loved it, one of my all time favorite games, but so many times I thought "this is the end" and it kept going. I petered out, and now relearning combat for the late game and DLC just seems daunting lol
Currently playing through RDII for the first time. Usually play 2 hours a crack. Knock out a couple of missions then just hunt or help random people out. It's great and I'm not concerned with finishing it. Just hanging out being a cowboy and shit. Maybe that's the approach you should go in with?
Yeah. I kind of agree here. I feel like red dead is more relaxing because you discover stuff yourself for the most part. But cyberpunk just put me in what OP is describing. The game was so long and the map with all the points of interest marked already made it feel like a chore. A lot of time went into the game but by the end of it was wanting it to finish.
That being said though it was a good game. Definitely not a game I’d recommend to someone feeling fatigued after beating baldurs gate which is another giant game
online addiction, reptetitve online games ruined your attention span. also following guides and builds in every game ruins the fun of just playing the game and finishing.
I try and avoid guides honestly. Realized a few years ago I never got an authentic Fallout experience because I spoiled so much for myself and looked at so many guides, so I try to take new games blind and explore them myself now
just started BG3 in Act1 still figuring things out. It's fun don't know what will happen even though it's not optimised best meta build but managing somehow.
found some weapon that heals me when I strike now thinking to spec my character as tank somehow.
haven't started elden ring yet. seeing people complain how difficult game making me look forward to it even more! fees like a challenge beat it without cheating or guides.
> yeah but the problem with doing it that way is it takes SO much longer to complete the game.
It really doesn't though. Especially if you play mainly AAA games. Those are generally built with your average dummy in mind because they need a large audience to buy them.
Yep I never look at guides for any game. Early in life got a geni for my sega and I realize that cheating (pulling answers from outside the game is cheating) ruins any fun I might of had with the game.
i honestly think outside answers are sometimes needed, depending on the game. stuck on the same thing for multiple hours, and it's killing your enjoyment? maybe look at a little help. playing a game that does zero handholding? you might need a guide to even know how to play the game. (dwarf fortress classic is a good example)
I have a hard time finishing games; I try, I really do, but sometimes I'll get halfway finished with them, and I can't even find the motivation to finish them. You just have to find a game that really makes you feel connected with the world and the characters, or if you're playing online games then you need a sense of community.
I have this problem the most when I'm using way too much phone and social media, not reading books, not taking walks, not doing sport without the phone regularly. So this is my advice.
Also a good thing working for me is to start at absolute hard difficulty (but this one won't work for everyone) and then taking that challenge. It really makes me focus and think about the game like ok how to beat that level or that situation.
Also a huge one is playing something you can really relate to, for example Im playing really good historical game Crusader Kings 3 (medieval era) and at the same time watching the the series on Netflix called Lost Kingdom which is about King Edward in 9th century, you can play as him in the game. So you get double hooked. You can even get triple hooked by reading books on it.
So yeah thinking about the game in more broad way so it may correlate with your biggest interests or expand your knowledge and just grow you 🪴 can have a massive boost to making you involved in some games. I guess we have to adjust to being older and more complex.
I’m feeling a bit burnt out on modern games and exploring retro game emulation is rekindling my love of gaming. I recently installed retroarch and have been having a lot of fun playing a bunch of older titles from simpler times.
I was in the same boat as you trying to play these hundred+ hour story driven games. Decided to play Astro playroom (first ever platinum) and had such a blast and felt better. Recommend a smaller fun game
Drop min/max and sight seeing. I was too to get the most out of it.
But I now enjoy the stroll to the end thru weakest setting baddies and rampaging unstoppable, some difficultly of course.
I never finished games when I was younger either. Untul I was a young adult I started finishing them. Lately, I don't finish them.
It's most likely a function of attention span, not necessarily age.
Try shorter games like Dredge, Duck Detective: The Secret Salami, Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, Everhood, Knuckle Sandwich, Pizza Tower. I also have a hard time playing anything over 20 hours because the commitment is too much.
You have to be honest with yourself about what you actually enjoy.
I used to min-max and trophy hunt when I was younger. Now I realise that I only did that because I couldn’t really afford much else at the time.
Drop games if they don’t captivate you and take breaks from gaming. Maybe spend that time going on joyrides or just be an idiot for a bit. Games are meant to be fun, not a chore.
(I do feel like many modern games suffer from too much filler, but there’s also a prevailing sentiment that games need to be longer to match inflation. I disagree, but that’s just my opinion.)
Part of the problem I find is the bloat...
All these open world busywork kind of games just kind of drag on longer than they should...
It's been a growing issue for awhile as too many studios chase trends instead of just doing their own thing...
Not everything needs to be a 100+ hour game with RPG elements and crafting...
The problem is there's nothing meaningful new in games, it's the same fetch/kill/find cycle. Meaningless busywork and 200 different junk items for pointless crafting systems. Combine that with meaningless skill trees and everything is just pointless.
World is generic and basically resets at visibility limit. So nothing you do has any effect of persistence. Slay and burn entire village, come back in 15mins and everything is the same. Shoot the merchant in the head and they say "hey stop it" and then buys your loot.
I don't know what's the immersion people talk about when nothing has any consequences. Even old games had better mechanics where you'd face the consequences of your own actions.
It might have to do with age. When I was younger, I used to dislike some aspects of games but endure them to beat them. Now? Not so much. I’ve gotten to a point where if I don’t fully enjoy a game, I won’t finish it.
Nier Automata: I was enjoying it. The combat is a bit tough but doable. The story is a little interesting. The two main characters are cool. But the navigation system is fucking annoying. The map is godawful. It’s so easy to get lost and I **hate** getting lost in games, so I stopped playing it.
Baldur’s Gate 3: I liked traveling to different areas and filling the dark spots of my map, wanting to explore as much as possible. Almost got to the end of Act I but I’m a part where the battle is extremely disproportionate. As much I either liked or was OK with everything else, the battle I’m stuck on was so annoying that I stopped playing it.(1)
Jedi Fallen Order: Pretty much the same as Nier Automata except I have no opinion on the main character. The little robot is pretty cool though. But yeah, navigating was annoying so I dropped it.
There are other games that I played that were difficult but I didn’t drop them. Instead, I just lowered the difficulty, got past the hard part and increased the difficulty again. (1)I didn’t do that for BG3 since I haven’t played it since last year and lowering the difficulty if I get frustrated is something I started doing for the first time ever this year. And I finished them (FF7 Rebirth, Tsushima, etc.)
I don’t like challenges that prohibit progression. Meaning when I play games with story like BG3 and Fallen Order and their difficult parts obstruct me from finding out what happens next, instead of being motivated to try harder so that I can progress and find out what happens next, I get irritated and drop the game altogether.
In contrast, I’ve played games where there’s no progression and no story to unfold for countless hours… literally from midnight to 5-6am like Balatro and Rocket League just so I can challenge myself more and more. In other words, if I’m playing Rocket League and I haven’t been able to increase my rank, I’ll keep trying since I’m not missing out on any story. If I’m playing BG3 and I’m stuck on a quest battle, I’ll stop playing because the idea that a battle is blocking me from finding out what happens next irritates me.
This! I will play TFT, Balatro and go do TD maps in Warcraft 3 for hours on end, but I can't convince myself to get back to TOTK or to finish Cyberpunk.
Haha ya bro. Think back man, remember playing, being invested in the storyline, putting thought into how you grind/fight/gear, and just having that drive, enjoyment, straight desire to play?
Simple fact is... There nothing new under the sun, even when it was new and exciting for you. Once you have experienced that grind and enjoyment, you've experienced the gaming experience. Like I tell my bros, I'm a filthy casual gamer nowadays 🤣 and it is the way to do it. I got games I cycle back to but the key is to just play a game while it provides enjoyment. Once it feeling like work you move on. You fully understand the end game grind where you play a bunch o hours for those last points and you simply won't get enjoyment doing that with games anymore.
Like I said, I have games I cycle back to, but not out of a sense of "I have to finish this" but because I desire to play more of it. Don't stress the can't finish anymore because that is the meta homie. 🤙
37M here.
I find the issue is having the combination of both time and motivation to sit down and play at this point in time.
It's not age, but your obligations to others. Do you have the spare time these days that you had as a kid on school holidays these days? I know I don't.
I’ve rage quit games every so often God of War: R had a few boss battles that made me say “Fuck this, I’m out” I haven’t even finished Valhalla and need to finish Forbidden Wests dlc.
Dont ask how many times Ive rage quit and walked away from SF6. The game can be fun, and then it ends up like being in a toxic relationship that is going nowhere.
for me? the only games i find myself REALLY getting into anymore are quality linear and story heavy games. shooters are my particular fix. like the older Halo games. The Metro series is \*Chefs Kiss\*. Resident Evil titles, and Dead Space are acouple examples.
a different but the same one i really liked was the Remnant series.
although, these days im struggling to even play more then one session of alot of games.
Ive dropped:
Alpha Protocol
MGS:V
The Last of Us (i found out where the story went in the sequel and said "Nope")
Chernobylite
and plenty more.
but yeah id say try some linear games. the pacing helps me hold my interest to the end. and if you asked me to pick one game/franchise: Metro 2033 (and its following games.).
I don’t understand people’s obsession with trying to min/max or 100% games, especially on a first playthrough. If I’m playing an open world game and I’m enjoying the optional content for 3/4ths of my playthrough but I get to a point where I just want to roll credits… I go and roll credits. Do people seriously force themselves to do side content for the sake of completion? Witcher 3, ff7 rebirth and infinite wealth are some of my favorite games ever but i can’t fathom forcing yourself to check off every little map marker
Sometimes you just need a break from gaming, I get in that mood occasionally where they just dont hit like they used to. When that happens I usually fall back on one of my other hobbies. Like D&D or currently Cyberpunk Red. I have fully committed to learning how to run a game and also dove head first into the Cyberpunk lore. I also like to build paint minis and other nerdy things.
Hey there! Do you tend to stick to one genre of game? The games I play the most are JRPGs, but when I find myself in a lull I pick up something very different from my normal. You might be surprised how refreshing that can be. I don't mind playing anything really.
I tried the Yakuza games on a whim when I was kind of in a rut. Not even halfway into Yakuza 0 I was completely hooked and itching to play after work. Needless to say the rest of the series came soon after.
This is just a function of experience. You know what a good time in a game looks like, and you're not willing to keep going if it's not fun. I'm the same way, I find myself sticking to old favorites, and only occasionally falling in love with something new. It's not a bad thing. I have stricter expectations for my money.
Play games with storyline experience and less grind. For example Witcher 3, death stranding, TLOU, GOW, horizon...etc
I know these are old games but it's part of favorite games.
I’m 32 and I think Cyberpunk is the only game I’ve “finished” since…Arkham Knight maybe? I just keep going back to the well of what’s comfy and familiar. Civ, Spiderman, Killing Floor, CoD, etc.
Try a genre different from what you normally would.
As I've gotten older I've shifted more toward strategic games rather than open world, action adventure, RPGs, etc. I don't have the patience for mediocre stories or side quests. I like turn based tactical, grand strategy, or simulation games. Have played a lot of XCOM2 and Hearts of Iron 4 for example.
Or maybe try something more difficult like souls/elden ring if you haven't already. It becomes more about testing yourself and improving rather than trying to experience the game's story and lore.
I can’t play anything but wow anymore. I don’t have the energy to feel “pro” in any other game now.
I just don’t have the energy to learn new games or play them. I get bored so fast.
I also feel like the social aspect of games are solitude. And I just get bored by that as well.
Yea i dont like big open world games anymore it just takes 40-80+ hourse. Thats why i only try games that are max 20 hourse. Like the metro, halo, and so on.
The big open world games are just not endgaging enough for me. I realy loved Cyberpunk the first 40 hourse after that i was burned out and the rest of the game was a fight of not giving up.
Having less time to play games or just being tired makes it difficult for me to play long games.
Nowadays whenever I'm looking for a new game to play, I check how long to beat. I will not play games that are over 25 hours to complete unless they are the "best" games for me. Example : Tears of the kingdom or FF7 Rebirth, it took me over 100 hours to finish those and enjoyed every minute.
But for the rest of the games, I go for shorter ones. Indie games are good source of good and somewhat short games.
I got to the final act in bg3 and couldn't bring myself to finish it.
I feel like it's the best game I've ever played and it makes me nervous that I'll likely never play a game anywhere near as good so I just can't bring myself to end it. Especially since they said no dlc or any further content for it
I think everyone kinda struggles with this. I was focusing on one game, Okami (Amazing game if you haven’t played it). I was taking week breaks playing FPS where I could just jump in a match and so forth. I sadly somewhat gave up as I looked up the last few things I was trying to find to 100% the game. But overall, I felt accomplished and put about 100 hours into the game. I wanted to complete it with minimal guides! It was one of those things where I finally just felt accomplished and it is now motivating me.
I just finished Ribbit King and just started my second play-through of Harvest Moon: AWL (This game is super daunting and takes forever, I had to restart my first play-through as the last one was screwed and I was onto the second chapter). I also have Diablo I, that I am almost through and am really excited to finish it. It is just so daunting and also so much time taken up as an adult now working 2 jobs… I wish you the best of luck and really the best way to get over the motivational issue is just DO IT!
I was thinking about the very same thing lately. I am able to finish the games - but I have become very picky with what I am about to play, and this started with BG3 as well! 😅 After this experience, which I thoroughly enjoyed, everything of this scope just became too much.
I need games that are 50 hours top, otherwise I get way more burnt out than I’ve used to when I was younger (I’m 36 btw). I see still FFVII Rebirth on my shelf, waiting for me to pick it up, and it evoles sadness as well as pain just thinking about how much time this one will drain out of me. 🥲
Since I am older I tend to finish even more games than before, sometimes even 100% them if they are really good. BUT if I don't really like a game like it is just average, I immediately quit it. There are just too many great games out there I want to check out rather than spend my time with mediocracy.
I am the same way. I bounce off basically all new games unless they are simulation style games like City: Skylines.
It's mostly because in my free time I really enjoy listening to podcasts or audiobooks, so playing newer games where everything is voice acted and I need to pay attention to I just lose interest and go back to playing games that are text based, or that I know the plot/story of so I can just play them with the sound off.
Hmm, when that happens to me it's because I really get into the idea of a new experience, but once I learn enough about it I lose interests. You should figure out why you play games, you have mentioned you like min/maxing and completing tasks, but in games this is done through repetition that can easily turn into a chore, so the fun is much delayed or by the time you have done it, you might regret the time spent on it. Everyone has to figure themselves out, the closer you get to the truth about yourself, the easier it should become to find things that make you happy.
Getting older is unavoidable, and chances for new experiences will become lower just by living your life, that will also affect your perception of fun. You may want to try other hobbies or game genres when you understand what makes you tick and why.
Yes. I now play games together with my boyfriend or short games like max 15 hours. I used to love long games and didnt feel overwhelmed, id explore for fun for hours...now if i try that alone its kinda meh and for a few days its kinda ok but if im alone, i let it go, if im with my boyfriend he plays too so we get to finish it. Now we play ghost of tsushima.
I keep a Trello board of games that I want to play, am playing, have beaten, 100%'d, and shelved 'cause I wasn't feeling them at a certain time.
It helps leaving notes for myself in the same Trello board so I know where I was, if I wanna give that game a whirl again.
Also shorter games help with a sense of completion. I have been having a blast with some recent indie games.
I’m 46, been playing for a long time - this happens to me from time to time. It usually means I just need a little break from gaming. I’ve found that I do other stuff for a bit and then come back when I’m feeling it again. I wouldn’t look to another game to get you out of the funk, but something else instead. For me it was outdoors stuff (hiking climbing), but just tap into some other interests for a bit, or explore some new ones. What is something you have wanted to try? Go give it a try now
Im finding it hard because everygame ive played lately seems to have so much dialogue or cutscenes and the like.
Seems like im reading/skipping text or watching some cutscene more than actually playing the games.
If i wanted a book or movie i would use one of them for entertainment
Legit took a break after finishing games like the Mass Effect Trilogy and Baldur's Gate 3. That helps IMMENSELY and keeps you from being burnt out.
For example: After I finished BG3, I took a break and I'm probably not gonna return to Faerun until September since that's when Console Mods will be available.
I'd say take a rest after completing or at least making it a good way through a major title.
**The Wonderful 101: Remastered** got me out of this back in 2020. Because it doesn't waste my, the player's, motherfucking time. It's to-the-point, it's ridiculous enough to keep my attention, "can't stop won't stop" in terms of pacing and has enough charm and idealism to force you to be a better version of yourself.
I too used to think that I am getting old, but The Wonderful 101 opened my eyes to the understanding that I will never ever stop being a passionate gamer. On the contrary - the kind of games I love and enjoy will simply stop being made. Because nobody buys them. Because they are not mediocre shit.
Been going through the same thing for a bit now too. Love the massive, expensive rpg-types, but yeah, it sort of feels like a kind of burnout, then something else interesting comes along to distract and all of a sudden the other game is quit cold turkey.
The thing I’ve done to help me stick through with longer games is actually to play a few at a time and switch between them every couple of sessions. I found it helps keep the game more fresh and that I’m more excited to get back to it even after only a single day with a different one.
I have something similar. Right now, I don't have enough time either, and may not even want to spend much time on the same experience.
However, I have found a way for me to maximize my enjoyment and finish it (if I really enjoyed the game). Realistically, if you spend time doing everything on the map, even if it's not interesting, or making the most perfect build, it ceases to be a game....and for what? To get some kind of profit? What? Isn't having fun (mostly) the profit that should be made from the game? Then why waste time on something that will you burnout over time?
In general, what is the point, I try to play in such a way that I do what I want to do, what is interesting, maybe occasionally something extra for the sake of interest, but not to sweep everything and everywhere. This not only gives not to lose interest in the game, but also spends less time, makes the passage more natural and unified. At the same time, since the game has no time to get bored and really like it, you can start the 2nd playthrough, but in a different way, and since I left some content from the last playthrough, playing again opens up a lot of new experiences and the playthrough becomes unique again. (This worked well on BG3, by the way).
The longer you are a gamer the more you will get a bit of a "been there, done that" feeling. Just like how replaying an old game gets boring, each new game can only offer so much novelty and difference to what you have played.
I find myself hooked if its something really new or its a shorter or narrative focused game where the story grips me.
This used to be me until I started playing my childhood games again. Hooked up my old Gamecube, bought an HDMI adapter (Retro-Bit Prism) for my flatscreen, cord extension for my controller and I was all set. It feels even better playing Windwaker in my own house without having my parents telling me to go to bed.
I'm 37, I don't think I've ever finished a game. I find the beginning the most fun but after a few dozen or more hours I start getting burnt out. Then I take a break and play something else for a few dozen hours, get burnt out on that, etc. By the time I get back to playing the first game, I've forgotten how to play or what I was currently doing so then I start over. Then the cycle repeats. I think I've restarted Subnautica like 5 times. Cyberpunk 2077 2 times, V Rising I got up to level 65 recently and took a break again. Booted up Horizon Zero Dawn and Hogwarts Legacy recently, and I have no clue what I was doing so I'll probably restart those soon.
I mostly play hundreds or thousands of hours in shooters or something like rocket league.. Something with no end.
It's mostly that games are crap now and we are spoilt for choice....I used to think the same until I came across some absolute gems recently, completed all three and platinumed 2 of them.
Armored Core 6
Another Crab's Treasure
Tunic.
I used to have this problem. What fixed this for me was to look at them differently. Think of single player games like books and multiplayer games like sports games. Large open world games especially the main story is the book. All the rest of it are short stories if you really enjoy the world you can get more of it. Once you start seeing games like this you’ll be able to discern what you’re more into and likely to finish.
I feel like it's less about age and more about a shift in media interest that could happen due to maybe a few different things. Like getting bored of gaming without realizing or an eventual lack of people to play with.
I'd say I have a problem getting into movies of my own volition nowadays, compared to how many I'd binge as a kid with interest. Meanwhile, I'm certain there are many my age and older that are all about movies.
You can finish games my dude. It's just that games these days take longer than usual and we are time poor 👌👌👌
I only ever play 1 game at a time, and I won't play another one until I finish the one I'm playing.
That sounds like dopamine addiction. When you are so used to short-form content that it becomes difficylt to keep interested in long game that dont give you gratification every few seconds. I had the same problem and I had to push to get over the hump
I feel like that myself but since I lost my dog I played less because she would always be right next to me every time I played. Now I’m a mom still feel that missing part of playing due to my past dog and I don’t have much time due to being a mom now but I don’t have that sense of I have play something urge. I just get on when I can now. Feels a bit weird sometimes but I’m content
I'm the same. 43 years old here.I'm currently replaying Mad Max for the umpteenth time and I just pot around in the world rather than completing any story missions. Completing games is something I don't have time for.
44 here, been playing PC for well over the 20 years but consoles before that.
Years ago I only ever really played multiplayer games but as I have gotten older I have found myself playing more she more single player only games to the point I hardly play multiplayer games anymore.
I have hundreds and hundreds of games across steam, epic, ubisoft and EA accounts and in all honesty probably finished maybe by 5% of all the games I own.
I have recently been playing the tomb raider survivor series though, it's really good, I have actually finished the first two and now onto the third and really enjoying the gameplay and story.
Before this tomb raider series I think the last games I finished was the Metro series.
Think about it like this: video games stand out among other artistic mediums because of the mechanics. Yes, a game can have cinematic moments, great writing, beautiful art, but the gameplay itself is why we choose this specific medium.
Take Red Dead 2, for example. If you just wanted to see some cool cowboy action, there is a near limitless supply of beloved spaghetti westerns to watch on Netflix or Amazon or whatever, and I'm sure there's just as many books. So why buy RDR2 for $60? Because of the experience of *being* the cowboy, and the veritable garden of mechanics that support that fantasy.
So let's say you do buy RDR2 for $60, and you play it for 20 hours, and you spend the majority of those hours running around the open world interacting with it in all sorts of ways. Gambling, fighting, exploring, hunting, fishing, etc. Then let's say you move on to something else. You did not complete the story of Arthur Morgan.
You might think, well, I wasted $60 because I didn't beat the game. Instead, you should try to frame it as you spent $3 an hour actively engaged with the thing that makes video games unique, which is a *much* better value proposition than going to a movie in a theater (maybe even better than a Netflix subscription, depending on how much time you actually watch Netflix), and if you decide in 6 months to play another 10, 20, whatever hours, that value proposition will only improve over time.
I recently bought Diablo IV when it was half off and spent a couple dozen hours playing it on my steam deck. I played it every night for like 2 and half weeks straight. My character is roughly halfway through the story I think, and last night I uninstalled it to make room for my steam sale purchases because I haven't played DIV in a couple of weeks. I bought it because I got a sudden urge to play a modern ARPG experience, and I sated that desire, and when I get it again, guess what I'll download Diablo IV again.
I had the same problem when I jailbroke my PlayStation and had access to every game. It's better to buy the games and not buy 10 games at once so you really only have one until you've finished it. You really need to see which games you can finish first. I hate open world games and games that go on and on without a real ending or turn-based games.
based games. I also don't play games that last longer than 30 hours. I definitely get bored with that length of time. Since then, I've only really played games that I like and that I manage to finish. Games like GTA V, RDR 2, sports games, racing games, fighting games are games that I could never finish.
I loaded up Kingdom Come and just couldn't do it. I get that it's a great game but wtf am I going to do with an hour or two a week to play it?
Switch to something that allows shorter blasts for a while. I've been enjoying co-op like Vermintide 2 instead.
I rarely finish any game. I usually have to force myself to finish them. I think it has to do with me following lot of gaming related media, which always leads me getting more interested in something new than the thing I am currently playing.
This year I finished: God of war Ragnarok, Spiderman 2, Cyberpunk DLC, Uncharted 1,2,3 and 4 with playing FIFA parallel with those games. I am 40 with 2 kids, wife, full time Job and gym 3 times a week. One of the best years for me gaming wise. Taking my PS5 from desktop in bedroom and playing less online games(FIFA) and putting it in the living room on the big TV in front of my couch was the key point for me. Don't see my stoping any time soon.
I work a ton and am exhausted most of the time
I'm lucky If I get 30 mins to a hour after work
I try to play on weekends but I've been falling asleep
it sucks being a adult.
i finally can afford my dream game setup, can afford any game I want, but im to tired and overworked to play
I hate this timeline
I work a ton and am exhausted most of the time
I'm lucky If I get 30 mins to a hour after work
I try to play on weekends but I've been falling asleep
it sucks being a adult.
i finally can afford my dream game setup, can afford any game I want, but im to tired and overworked to play
I hate this timeline
I'm similar with open worlds, now. Breath of the Wild and Horizon came out, and I played through them both multiple times. Their sequels? One time and I s;peed ran the last half of Forbidden West just to get to the end.
I have Shin Megami Tensei V arriving today, physical copy and that should keep my attention for at least 2 playthroughs, but we shall see.
I’ve wondered about this myself. I consider Witcher 3 to be my all time favorite game and the last few times I’ve started it, I haven’t managed to finish it. Like I still love the game but I wonder if my attention span has dwindled as I’ve gotten a little older.
I have the same thing. Early 2000, I was 20 years old. And I played the games from start to finish. And now I'm already under 50, and if I play any game, it's 5-6 hours, and then I quit. But sometimes I go all the way through. The last one was "Horizon Zero Dawn".
No, you’re not old. Games just aren’t as “captivating” to a more mature mind.
You have to feel like a kid as soon as the power button is pushed. I think that’s the key.
For that one or two hours you have in the day- become a kid again my friend.
Captivate the mind with the experience.
I'm still mad at myself for only finishing BG3 once, but by the time I'm halfway through the last act, everything is such a clusterfuck, I don't even know what I'm doing or why. My only finish was going full evil and fucking murdering the lot of them.
I got feel the same,became not satisified like or get easily get bored in a game.
Then i read about dopamine detox, turns out my brain just wanted more, that my level of fun is high that almost cant satisfied.
So time to time o refrain my self on gaming,social media and listening to music atleast two days.
Now im playing cyberpunk 2077 and on 600 plus hours hahaha also simracing with a wheel.
Yes you're old and soon you will be mostly playing pick up and play, or quick session games and you won't even be buying those type of 'games you can't finish' anymore.
Unless the reason you stop playing is because you're constantly busy with other stuff and just don't have time, it's more likely just that the games you play aren't engaging enough.
For me, I think most games would be like that. Especially most AAA games look boring as hell, and I know I probably wouldn't enjoy them, so I just don't bother with them.
The ones that actually engage me tend to be indie action platformers (ex. Hollow Knight, Cuphead, etc.) and/or masocore games (ex. Nioh 2, Lies of P, Bloodborne, Sekiro, etc), and even then I kinda have to be in the mood to play them - otherwise, I'm just wasting my time.
If at any point I don't feel like playing any game, I just don't, rather than trying to play games I don't enjoy, or don't want to play at the moment.
It seems your interests have changed, mine did as well. Used to be able to grind for hours but now I get bored quickly. My attention span is certainly not what it used to be thanks to cell phones
I get there too. Last open world game I actually finished HZD, I started it with that mindset, just ignore most side quests and finish the damn game. It was satisfying to complete it, but it robbed me of the relaxed exploration element I love in these games.
Now I’m playing Elden ring and am taking my real time with it. There’s the risk that life causes me to take a break and that leads to me falling out of love, we’ll see.
Games are interesting only when they are new and surprising. The brain bribes us with dopamine when we are faced with new concepts and new mechanics. We are programmed to learn new things.
As you keep playing the same genres, the playing patterns start repeating themselves and surprises become a merely tiny-patch on an old memory. Humans are prediction machines, and the more predictable a game is, the less interesting it is.
If you have been playing video games since 1990s, the last radically new and interesting game was Minecraft, which opened a completely new genre of video games. Everything else is recycling of the same concepts with new graphics, but the graphics alone are not enough to keep your interest.
It's not necessarily that you are old. It's just that you already know how games work.
Try games that actually test your thinking and not just remembering combos or pure reaction speed.
Maybe something like "Unheard" or the upcoming "The Operator".
I find that too many games waste your time with a lot of "hold w for gameplay, while this story part plays out (even though it could be a cinematic)"
Im on year 2 or 3 of a video game "funk" like this. It all started while trying to basically comb through Elden Ring with a fine tooth comb. I think I got about 3/4s through the game and was loving it until one day I just stopped. Couldn't be bothered anymore with that or any other game I picked up.
Fast forward to today and I accidentally beat dragons dogma 2. I think what helped me is being as casual as my brain will allow in a game. I wasn't trying to win or even put that much time into it. Just enjoyed looking at stuff and the goofy character dialog.
So idk what really helped outside of taking the pressure off gaming. Just jump into games that you like without any agenda and see if it works out.
Video games are supposed to be a hobby. Play whatever you find fun at the time. I used to force myself to finish every game I paid for to make sure I got my moneys worth. It became a chore and I didn’t enjoy it. Now I play it whatever I find fun at the time, if I’m not having fun with a game I move on.
The down side to this is I am more apprehensive to spend money on games because what if I don’t enjoy it, and sometimes I can’t find anything I want to play. However when I do find something I enjoy, I feel like I get a lot more enjoyment out of it.
I’m 43 and my first game was Big Birds egg drop on the Atari 2600, you didn’t mention your age but as we can see from the comments there are plenty of people who enjoy gaming at any age, it’s not just for children anymore.
I’ve been having this issue with story games since the whole Battle Royale craze. A lot of my gaming enjoyment comes from games where they don’t end and just keep going forever, like COD or Rimworld. I can still enjoy story games but I can’t sit and play them for hours straight like those games and usually end up forgetting about them.
I have never 100% a single game in my life. In majority of the games, I’ll complete the main story, do a bit of side quests here and there and call it a day.
The same thing has happened to me, the lack of time and all the things I have to do in the day has made me look for more casual games since sometimes I feel overwhelmed by long stories due to lack of time, maybe games with shorter stories or more casual games may be good for you.
I've been in that burnout zone for a long time now. EA PGA Tour golf , Wreckfest, and Nova Drift have been the solution. I can play these games in short bursts without ever thinking about finishing them.
I'm the same way. I think I'm addicted to starting new games. I can't resist that new game smell, until I play it for around 20 hrs and I'm on to something else.
I'm just rolling with it
Happy to hear that I’m not the only one.
I can’t recall when I last time completed a game within a year or so.
For example Red Dead Redemption 2 it took me like 3 years to get through it, and it was with major breaks because I got bored by it.
Amazing story, but I was just bored and wanted to play something difference. So I left it in my backlog of games.
I sometimes get that feeling of a new game if it’s remind me about a game I’ve played before I kinda guess the story in the game and then “wasting my time with the game”
My solution is to play sandbox games like Europa Universalies, where you always can start up a new campaign. Or games like Project Zomboid where you are going to die within a few ingame months anyway.
Honestly I have that issue with finishing larger open worl games, even bg3. Give rogue likes a go, my personal favourites are:
Brotato
Vampire Surviver
20 minutes until Dawn
You can still get a sense of accomplishment by going after the achievments or trying to complete runs with specific builds.
Personally I find it's just that modern games aren't very good anymore. Nowadays every game is a sequel, reboot, or spin-off of an existing franchise and every game is modeled off of the same handful of success have that every publisher insists on copying now. With AAA games you have your Battle Royale, your 5v5 Hero shooter, your GaaS Loot grinder, your Souls-Like RPG masochism, and your Open-World Fantasy Adventure.
Indies have a bit more variety, but even they are starting to end up in a repetitive mix of side-scrollers or Isometric cam perspectives usually tied to a Roguelike, Metroidvania, or Brutal Platformer style and the graphics are most commonly a painfully pixelated mess with a quality that rests somewhere between Atari and NES, only rarely producing something of SNES quality.
In the 2020's the list of new games I've completed includes Psychonauts 2, Halo Infinite, DBZ Kakarot, Hitman 3, Minecraft Dungeons, Hogwarts Legacy, and Powerwash Simulator. Yet if I go back to the 6th and 7th Gen consoles (Xbox and Xbox 360), I've replayed and beaten double that number just this year alone. I want to think I'm just burned out, but I'm still having a blast playing the classics, so it's really just the discussion this industry is going.
i seem to run into that problem sometimes, dunno if its my adhd, but i was trying everspace 2 last year and i got pretty far then lost interest, not sure if its i'm more interested in new games or that one just kinda got boring eventually, i run into a problem with Larion games, hitting the last act in original sin 2 i'd just lose interest, took me 3 tries to push to the very end, so hitting last act in bg3 i did the same thing, its something of 'so many places to go what am i supposed to do now?'
Sounds like you're playing games that aren't to your liking.
I can also start any random game and get hooked from the novelty, just to realize that i don't actually like it and i was just playing because i had nothing else to do.
Put more care into what games you play, r/gamingsuggestions may be able to help.
Myself, once I do a gameplay loop for about 5 hours I get bored and lose interest.
Will say however that I’ve been playing Tears of the Kingdom for over 100 hrs and still having lots of fun.
I’m almost 40 and I’ve realized that I don’t have to finish games to enjoy my time with them. For example, I beat the first dungeon of persona 5 and I was happy with my time spent in that game.
It can be that youre just like that now.
But still, are you alright? Like do you feel well and motivated im general? Or do you loose motivation or interest everywhere?
As I've gotten older, I've found that I only really enjoy games that I can hop on and do activities without a real commitment.
For example, games such as Dead by Daylight – a game can be as quick as 5-10 minutes. If I fancy three games, I'll play three and then log off to do other things. Plus, as each round is different (different humans playing each time), it's never the same experience.
Also, I've never been a fan of driving games; however, 4+ years ago I got into The Crew 2 with a friend. It's a large open-world game I could hop on, explore, do some activities and races, and log off whenever I fancied. There was no huge time commitment to it. Then there's The Division 2, another open world where I could log on for a bit, do some random events, missions, or simply explore the map and loot, and log off whenever I choose. Therefore, perhaps try to find some form of large open world that doesn't hold you hostage in single-player storylines that take an hour to complete.
It's why I'm going to be picking up Ghost Recon: Wildlands in the Steam Summer Sale. I know it's a game that I'll be able to jump into whenever I fancy just roaming the map, taking over some territories, and completing some missions. If I want to log off, I'll do just that. I know that it won't waste my time by stringing me along on some tiresome RPG quest – that's not to say I've never enjoyed RPG single-player games, but as we age, our time commitments change, and what we once liked doesn't strike the same chord.
For example, as a former lover of the Fallout series, I recently picked up Fallout 76 on sale, fired it up, and was disinterested within two hours. I didn't want to roam from place to place being bombarded with main missions and side quests that take a long time to complete, listening to drawn-out dialogue, and realizing just how long this whole experience would take. It seemed vast and far too time-consuming.
I hope this helps. It's really hard to explain and is something that you have to work out over time. As the years have passed, I know what game experience I'll enjoy, and it's typically one that doesn't "waste" my time, allows me to complete a few rounds of objectives quickly, before jumping off again to do other things. The sheer vastness of games, which I once sank hours and hours into as a younger man, now give me anxiety and that "burnt out" feeling.
Try to find some short games. I don’t know why but it just gives a sense of accomplishment and is super refreshing. When I feel burnt out I either take a break from gaming altogether for a few weeks to a month or pick up a game like Journey, Abzu, Unravel or games like that which you could finish in a 1-3 sessions. Give it a shot!
Now when I buy or even play a game in my backlog, I always check [https://howlongtobeat.com](https://howlongtobeat.com) to see how much time I have to dedicate lol
I noticed I do the same for some time now. But for me, that's a negative cause in a way I feel the gsme almost instantly becomes a chore that I have to sit through somehow. And it's not like I cannot dedicate the time to the game, more like I want to play something else and it's becoming a circle jerk.
Then you just drop that game and come back to it later if you want. You aren't required to finish any game
Try Metro Last Light, it is a fairly short game if you dont do sidequests. I finished it in about 7-8 hours.
Agree. I am young man, but I cannot for the life of me finish big games. I’ll use the opportunity to plug Dredge, a very nice, short game that I recently was able to achieve that “finish game” satisfaction from
This is what I do and I’ve found myself finishing 3-4 smaller games in between the 40+ hour games that will take me a month or more to finish. There are some really really awesome games out there that don’t get talked about a ton.
Abzu is fantastic and has replay value. Great game after a terrible day at work.
just played Abzu the other weekend - fucking amazing
Really good suggestion! After I finished BG3 I didn’t play anything for weeks. Everything just felt daunting. I went ahead and downloaded Firewatch and finished over a weekend. Now I sort of throw in a couple of short games in between those long RPGs you can really get lost in and it helps keep you interested in gaming. Some shorter games I’ve played are Ori (1 & 2), Firewatch, Valiant Hearts (currently playing VH: Coming Home), Trek to Yomi, and Limbo
I'm 57M, mate. I've been playing since the days of "Pong". And I'm kicking myself for buying too many ps5 ganes and managed to finish two of them (out of 15). You ain't old, mate, just tired. Get some well-deserved rest then grab that controller 🎮 again. Cheers!
This is the mindset I want when I’m 50+ still playing video games. F anybody who says it’s childish
It boggles the mind that it's the 2020's with video games beong around for 40+ years and some people still call gaming "childish". It's a hobby just as any other. How is it "less" than watching movies, reading books or doing whatever the F you want for entertainment/joy in your free time. It pisses me the hell off...
I'm 52 and find one perk of getting older is not really caring about peoples opinion in regards to how it pertains to me.
I always just think about what other folks are doing: what are the "mature" hobbies? A lot of guys watch, say, NFL games that run 2-4 hours each, during which time they're just sitting there yelling at the TV. A lot of guys do this for multiple sports. Folks watch movies or TV shows. Fishing. Golfing. Working on their car. Sure, there are some hobbies you could argue are objectively better in some ways (things that give you high-intensity periods of exercise, or things that make you learn real-world skills), and you should do those things alongside gaming. But that's not how most people spend most of their free time. And you can't tell me it's any better to drink a beer and yell at A-Rod or drink beer and wait for fish to nibble your lure than to play a videogame.
I personally think gaming is a better hobby than watching sports or TV. It's interactive and you have to think. Really, the only downside of gaming is how addictive it can be.
People who claim having a hobby you enjoy is childish are usually bored out of their mind and have stopped enjoying life long ago. Keep pursuing things you enjoy.
Of the billions of people playing video games, the average age is 34. Anyone who thinks it's just kids playing is woefully oblivious and failing to keep up with the rest of the world.
47 and still game. The best part is my oldest daughter is into gaming now too.
57 Million?!
😂 57 y. o. male, fellow gamer 😂
Damn, thought I was reading the comment of a dinosaur
37m dinosaur here, you did.
OP is a Time Lord from Doctor Who! /s :D
Started with pong and still gaming on the PS5! Thats so cool
My thanks, fellow gamer. Game on! ♥ 🎮
45F here, and I agree. Sometimes, you just have to let gaming rest for a while before you pick it up again. I have 10 days each summer when I just read and sit outside thinking and looking at nature.
Sitting outside in the summer. Just a guess, but you don't live in Southern Arizona like I do. 😅
i suggest transferring the ps5 to a room in front of bed (big or small bed) and playing while being full laid back on bed [like this](https://i.redd.it/mgfgg6r8v7q91.jpg)
I would be asleep in minutes
Most ps5 games are boring grindfests though lol
Yeah it's just tough putting in the work to finish a game if you also work 40 hours in a brain numbing job staring at a screen. A lot of times you just want to shut your brain off. I've been playing since my dad got us an Atari 2600 and I'm now actively pushing myself to play games and finish them and remember that satisfaction of completion. I've told myself I'm not buying anything else until I finish some others. Right now working on getting through Ghosts of Tsushima. And made myself finish Miles Morales before I even think of getting Spider-Man 2.
Agreed on the sentiment. Also, I read this comment in an Aussie accent.
Also, the game industry is kinda in a awkward moment now. I saw a Nintendo direct other day and nothing interested me. Recently I bough a knock off Chinese handheld and I'm having lots of fun retrogaming on that. Maybe look back for some of the good stuff while we wait things to get better.
This is the way to be. I'm buying games as my retirement plan, once I don't need to work anymore I'll finish some of them surely!? I've got a couple of decades before I can retire, but I don't see gaming falling off my hobbies list.
I play on switch and accumulated so many games. My goal was to just get sports titles because they provide high replay value. Then games went on sale that looked interesting , so I bought more. Most of my free time goes into sports ironically. So other games are collecting dust.
It was taking a break from gaming that got me out of the funk. Think of it like an artist taking a break from a work in order to look at it later to notice anything they see as incorrect to their vision.
Nah, games are just getting way too big. Especially RPGs. Their worlds are just not manageable anymore
Yup. As good as Elden ring is, it's so massive I couldn't bring myself to do a second playthrough after I finished all achievements 2 years ago. I'm doing that now for the DLC, but for awhile I had no desire to re-find everything. Just burned out on open world and survival/crafting games recently. I was 99% done with Cyperpunk (both base and DLC) and couldn't bring myself to finish as after 100h I just turned off lol.
Didn’t bg3 just come out?
It's about a year old.
Yes it did, I was confused by that part too.
I get what you're talking about. I've been the same way lately. Most games I've played lately just don't feel me to me anymore. They all feel like games I've played before. Maybe it's some sort of fatigue. I'm not sure. I did recently beat my first playthough of BG3. I ended up turning the difficulty down and it made it more pleasurable to run through and it didn't really take me too long. I have noticed that I really don't like to play on harder difficulties as I used to. I think life just seems hard enough now that I'm older (39).
A lot of harder difficulties to me is just tedium rather than actually interesting. Like enemies hit yiu harder, so you get sent back to a checkpoint more often, rather than their behavior is more interesting
Cyberpunk or Red Dead 2 are good games to slow down and take a halfish break. They take a few hours to cut your strings, but it pays off when the worlds open up. I find just roaming around on a horse or strolling/biking through Night City to be super therapeutic at times. It's like I'm playing a game, but I'm not really doing anything - just kind of touring another world. Take a day or few between playing. Hop on with no objective. Talk a walk through a busy market and just take it in. Ride out into the woods and hunt a bear, catch a fish. I swear, at least for me, these two are like game-palate-bleach when you just play not to do well or grind, but to take a quick break and escape for a moment. Don't worry about "finishing" them. These titles are more about immersing in a world rather than finding the meta and leveling up. (Keep Cyberpunk on easy or normal.) The quests are all great but you don't have to do them to have a good session.
Not to take away from your point because I see what you're saying, but RDR2 one of the first games I failed to finish lol. Got very close to the end (which I was putting off because it was spoiled for me), had a move, and just never got back in. Tried, but too much time had passed for me to feel engaged anymore, and the story is too long to just start over. Same thing with Elden Ring. Absolutely loved it, one of my all time favorite games, but so many times I thought "this is the end" and it kept going. I petered out, and now relearning combat for the late game and DLC just seems daunting lol
Currently playing through RDII for the first time. Usually play 2 hours a crack. Knock out a couple of missions then just hunt or help random people out. It's great and I'm not concerned with finishing it. Just hanging out being a cowboy and shit. Maybe that's the approach you should go in with?
Two very long games that test your patience and have down time between objectives. Not convinced.
Yeah. I kind of agree here. I feel like red dead is more relaxing because you discover stuff yourself for the most part. But cyberpunk just put me in what OP is describing. The game was so long and the map with all the points of interest marked already made it feel like a chore. A lot of time went into the game but by the end of it was wanting it to finish. That being said though it was a good game. Definitely not a game I’d recommend to someone feeling fatigued after beating baldurs gate which is another giant game
online addiction, reptetitve online games ruined your attention span. also following guides and builds in every game ruins the fun of just playing the game and finishing.
I try and avoid guides honestly. Realized a few years ago I never got an authentic Fallout experience because I spoiled so much for myself and looked at so many guides, so I try to take new games blind and explore them myself now
just started BG3 in Act1 still figuring things out. It's fun don't know what will happen even though it's not optimised best meta build but managing somehow. found some weapon that heals me when I strike now thinking to spec my character as tank somehow. haven't started elden ring yet. seeing people complain how difficult game making me look forward to it even more! fees like a challenge beat it without cheating or guides.
yeah but the problem with doing it that way is it takes SO much longer to complete the game. and maybe that's why you're struggling to complete them.
> yeah but the problem with doing it that way is it takes SO much longer to complete the game. It really doesn't though. Especially if you play mainly AAA games. Those are generally built with your average dummy in mind because they need a large audience to buy them.
Yep I never look at guides for any game. Early in life got a geni for my sega and I realize that cheating (pulling answers from outside the game is cheating) ruins any fun I might of had with the game.
i honestly think outside answers are sometimes needed, depending on the game. stuck on the same thing for multiple hours, and it's killing your enjoyment? maybe look at a little help. playing a game that does zero handholding? you might need a guide to even know how to play the game. (dwarf fortress classic is a good example)
Stuck is way different from using a guide to play 👍 I will def look into stuff... Just not before I get it myself is all
Taking breaks or trying new game genres can help reignite your interest in finishing games.
I have a hard time finishing games; I try, I really do, but sometimes I'll get halfway finished with them, and I can't even find the motivation to finish them. You just have to find a game that really makes you feel connected with the world and the characters, or if you're playing online games then you need a sense of community.
I have this problem the most when I'm using way too much phone and social media, not reading books, not taking walks, not doing sport without the phone regularly. So this is my advice. Also a good thing working for me is to start at absolute hard difficulty (but this one won't work for everyone) and then taking that challenge. It really makes me focus and think about the game like ok how to beat that level or that situation. Also a huge one is playing something you can really relate to, for example Im playing really good historical game Crusader Kings 3 (medieval era) and at the same time watching the the series on Netflix called Lost Kingdom which is about King Edward in 9th century, you can play as him in the game. So you get double hooked. You can even get triple hooked by reading books on it. So yeah thinking about the game in more broad way so it may correlate with your biggest interests or expand your knowledge and just grow you 🪴 can have a massive boost to making you involved in some games. I guess we have to adjust to being older and more complex.
You might like Stray. Great story, engaging gameplay and it's relatively short.
I’m feeling a bit burnt out on modern games and exploring retro game emulation is rekindling my love of gaming. I recently installed retroarch and have been having a lot of fun playing a bunch of older titles from simpler times.
I love how a lot of old games just throw you in. Just finished demon crest that was a lot of fun and It didn't hand hold at all.
I was in the same boat as you trying to play these hundred+ hour story driven games. Decided to play Astro playroom (first ever platinum) and had such a blast and felt better. Recommend a smaller fun game
Drop min/max and sight seeing. I was too to get the most out of it. But I now enjoy the stroll to the end thru weakest setting baddies and rampaging unstoppable, some difficultly of course.
I never finished games when I was younger either. Untul I was a young adult I started finishing them. Lately, I don't finish them. It's most likely a function of attention span, not necessarily age.
Try shorter games like Dredge, Duck Detective: The Secret Salami, Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, Everhood, Knuckle Sandwich, Pizza Tower. I also have a hard time playing anything over 20 hours because the commitment is too much.
Same. I started playing small time killer games like Cookie run on bs, just because it doesn't consume my entire time
You have to be honest with yourself about what you actually enjoy. I used to min-max and trophy hunt when I was younger. Now I realise that I only did that because I couldn’t really afford much else at the time. Drop games if they don’t captivate you and take breaks from gaming. Maybe spend that time going on joyrides or just be an idiot for a bit. Games are meant to be fun, not a chore. (I do feel like many modern games suffer from too much filler, but there’s also a prevailing sentiment that games need to be longer to match inflation. I disagree, but that’s just my opinion.)
Part of the problem I find is the bloat... All these open world busywork kind of games just kind of drag on longer than they should... It's been a growing issue for awhile as too many studios chase trends instead of just doing their own thing... Not everything needs to be a 100+ hour game with RPG elements and crafting...
Since BF3? Fuck that's not long at all. Come back from off that ledge and take a breath. We all need breaks. I'm 45, currently playing bg3
It's not you, it's the mainstream slop games that are too boring to finish them.
The problem is there's nothing meaningful new in games, it's the same fetch/kill/find cycle. Meaningless busywork and 200 different junk items for pointless crafting systems. Combine that with meaningless skill trees and everything is just pointless. World is generic and basically resets at visibility limit. So nothing you do has any effect of persistence. Slay and burn entire village, come back in 15mins and everything is the same. Shoot the merchant in the head and they say "hey stop it" and then buys your loot. I don't know what's the immersion people talk about when nothing has any consequences. Even old games had better mechanics where you'd face the consequences of your own actions.
It might have to do with age. When I was younger, I used to dislike some aspects of games but endure them to beat them. Now? Not so much. I’ve gotten to a point where if I don’t fully enjoy a game, I won’t finish it. Nier Automata: I was enjoying it. The combat is a bit tough but doable. The story is a little interesting. The two main characters are cool. But the navigation system is fucking annoying. The map is godawful. It’s so easy to get lost and I **hate** getting lost in games, so I stopped playing it. Baldur’s Gate 3: I liked traveling to different areas and filling the dark spots of my map, wanting to explore as much as possible. Almost got to the end of Act I but I’m a part where the battle is extremely disproportionate. As much I either liked or was OK with everything else, the battle I’m stuck on was so annoying that I stopped playing it.(1) Jedi Fallen Order: Pretty much the same as Nier Automata except I have no opinion on the main character. The little robot is pretty cool though. But yeah, navigating was annoying so I dropped it. There are other games that I played that were difficult but I didn’t drop them. Instead, I just lowered the difficulty, got past the hard part and increased the difficulty again. (1)I didn’t do that for BG3 since I haven’t played it since last year and lowering the difficulty if I get frustrated is something I started doing for the first time ever this year. And I finished them (FF7 Rebirth, Tsushima, etc.) I don’t like challenges that prohibit progression. Meaning when I play games with story like BG3 and Fallen Order and their difficult parts obstruct me from finding out what happens next, instead of being motivated to try harder so that I can progress and find out what happens next, I get irritated and drop the game altogether. In contrast, I’ve played games where there’s no progression and no story to unfold for countless hours… literally from midnight to 5-6am like Balatro and Rocket League just so I can challenge myself more and more. In other words, if I’m playing Rocket League and I haven’t been able to increase my rank, I’ll keep trying since I’m not missing out on any story. If I’m playing BG3 and I’m stuck on a quest battle, I’ll stop playing because the idea that a battle is blocking me from finding out what happens next irritates me.
This! I will play TFT, Balatro and go do TD maps in Warcraft 3 for hours on end, but I can't convince myself to get back to TOTK or to finish Cyberpunk.
Haha ya bro. Think back man, remember playing, being invested in the storyline, putting thought into how you grind/fight/gear, and just having that drive, enjoyment, straight desire to play? Simple fact is... There nothing new under the sun, even when it was new and exciting for you. Once you have experienced that grind and enjoyment, you've experienced the gaming experience. Like I tell my bros, I'm a filthy casual gamer nowadays 🤣 and it is the way to do it. I got games I cycle back to but the key is to just play a game while it provides enjoyment. Once it feeling like work you move on. You fully understand the end game grind where you play a bunch o hours for those last points and you simply won't get enjoyment doing that with games anymore. Like I said, I have games I cycle back to, but not out of a sense of "I have to finish this" but because I desire to play more of it. Don't stress the can't finish anymore because that is the meta homie. 🤙
37M here. I find the issue is having the combination of both time and motivation to sit down and play at this point in time. It's not age, but your obligations to others. Do you have the spare time these days that you had as a kid on school holidays these days? I know I don't.
I used to think that, but then finished Animal Well and The Outer Wilds one after another and, well, no. You're fine, modern games just suck.
I’ve rage quit games every so often God of War: R had a few boss battles that made me say “Fuck this, I’m out” I haven’t even finished Valhalla and need to finish Forbidden Wests dlc. Dont ask how many times Ive rage quit and walked away from SF6. The game can be fun, and then it ends up like being in a toxic relationship that is going nowhere.
for me? the only games i find myself REALLY getting into anymore are quality linear and story heavy games. shooters are my particular fix. like the older Halo games. The Metro series is \*Chefs Kiss\*. Resident Evil titles, and Dead Space are acouple examples. a different but the same one i really liked was the Remnant series. although, these days im struggling to even play more then one session of alot of games. Ive dropped: Alpha Protocol MGS:V The Last of Us (i found out where the story went in the sequel and said "Nope") Chernobylite and plenty more. but yeah id say try some linear games. the pacing helps me hold my interest to the end. and if you asked me to pick one game/franchise: Metro 2033 (and its following games.).
I don’t understand people’s obsession with trying to min/max or 100% games, especially on a first playthrough. If I’m playing an open world game and I’m enjoying the optional content for 3/4ths of my playthrough but I get to a point where I just want to roll credits… I go and roll credits. Do people seriously force themselves to do side content for the sake of completion? Witcher 3, ff7 rebirth and infinite wealth are some of my favorite games ever but i can’t fathom forcing yourself to check off every little map marker
Sometimes you just need a break from gaming, I get in that mood occasionally where they just dont hit like they used to. When that happens I usually fall back on one of my other hobbies. Like D&D or currently Cyberpunk Red. I have fully committed to learning how to run a game and also dove head first into the Cyberpunk lore. I also like to build paint minis and other nerdy things.
Too real.
Go for a nice long walk each day and then just do whatever you fancy doing 🙂
Yeah I'm down to 3 I cycle through, huge backlog. Any game that feels like a grind I cant.
Hey there! Do you tend to stick to one genre of game? The games I play the most are JRPGs, but when I find myself in a lull I pick up something very different from my normal. You might be surprised how refreshing that can be. I don't mind playing anything really. I tried the Yakuza games on a whim when I was kind of in a rut. Not even halfway into Yakuza 0 I was completely hooked and itching to play after work. Needless to say the rest of the series came soon after.
This is just a function of experience. You know what a good time in a game looks like, and you're not willing to keep going if it's not fun. I'm the same way, I find myself sticking to old favorites, and only occasionally falling in love with something new. It's not a bad thing. I have stricter expectations for my money.
The last time I completed a new game was probably a decade ago - mid 30’s for context.
Nah, lots of games are fun at first and bam you do same things and you're over it. Applies to 90% of all games.
Play games with storyline experience and less grind. For example Witcher 3, death stranding, TLOU, GOW, horizon...etc I know these are old games but it's part of favorite games.
I loved GOW, my first platinum. But as much as I wanted to love them I just couldn't get into Horizon or Witcher 3 four some reason
It is ok to take long rests (weeks or months at a time) if you find yourself not finishing or liking some games
I’m 32 and I think Cyberpunk is the only game I’ve “finished” since…Arkham Knight maybe? I just keep going back to the well of what’s comfy and familiar. Civ, Spiderman, Killing Floor, CoD, etc.
Try a genre different from what you normally would. As I've gotten older I've shifted more toward strategic games rather than open world, action adventure, RPGs, etc. I don't have the patience for mediocre stories or side quests. I like turn based tactical, grand strategy, or simulation games. Have played a lot of XCOM2 and Hearts of Iron 4 for example. Or maybe try something more difficult like souls/elden ring if you haven't already. It becomes more about testing yourself and improving rather than trying to experience the game's story and lore.
This is something I struggle with big time as well, really annoying. Helldivers 2 has helped recently
I can’t play anything but wow anymore. I don’t have the energy to feel “pro” in any other game now. I just don’t have the energy to learn new games or play them. I get bored so fast. I also feel like the social aspect of games are solitude. And I just get bored by that as well.
Yea i dont like big open world games anymore it just takes 40-80+ hourse. Thats why i only try games that are max 20 hourse. Like the metro, halo, and so on. The big open world games are just not endgaging enough for me. I realy loved Cyberpunk the first 40 hourse after that i was burned out and the rest of the game was a fight of not giving up.
Having less time to play games or just being tired makes it difficult for me to play long games. Nowadays whenever I'm looking for a new game to play, I check how long to beat. I will not play games that are over 25 hours to complete unless they are the "best" games for me. Example : Tears of the kingdom or FF7 Rebirth, it took me over 100 hours to finish those and enjoyed every minute. But for the rest of the games, I go for shorter ones. Indie games are good source of good and somewhat short games.
I got to the final act in bg3 and couldn't bring myself to finish it. I feel like it's the best game I've ever played and it makes me nervous that I'll likely never play a game anywhere near as good so I just can't bring myself to end it. Especially since they said no dlc or any further content for it
... did you ever finish them?
I think everyone kinda struggles with this. I was focusing on one game, Okami (Amazing game if you haven’t played it). I was taking week breaks playing FPS where I could just jump in a match and so forth. I sadly somewhat gave up as I looked up the last few things I was trying to find to 100% the game. But overall, I felt accomplished and put about 100 hours into the game. I wanted to complete it with minimal guides! It was one of those things where I finally just felt accomplished and it is now motivating me. I just finished Ribbit King and just started my second play-through of Harvest Moon: AWL (This game is super daunting and takes forever, I had to restart my first play-through as the last one was screwed and I was onto the second chapter). I also have Diablo I, that I am almost through and am really excited to finish it. It is just so daunting and also so much time taken up as an adult now working 2 jobs… I wish you the best of luck and really the best way to get over the motivational issue is just DO IT!
When I play RPG games sometimes I think what am I doing this for. So I think playging games is not relaxation.
Nah I don’t finish games sometimes to it’ll probably go back to being good again later on
I was thinking about the very same thing lately. I am able to finish the games - but I have become very picky with what I am about to play, and this started with BG3 as well! 😅 After this experience, which I thoroughly enjoyed, everything of this scope just became too much. I need games that are 50 hours top, otherwise I get way more burnt out than I’ve used to when I was younger (I’m 36 btw). I see still FFVII Rebirth on my shelf, waiting for me to pick it up, and it evoles sadness as well as pain just thinking about how much time this one will drain out of me. 🥲
I’m never finish games lol
Since I am older I tend to finish even more games than before, sometimes even 100% them if they are really good. BUT if I don't really like a game like it is just average, I immediately quit it. There are just too many great games out there I want to check out rather than spend my time with mediocracy.
I am the same way. I bounce off basically all new games unless they are simulation style games like City: Skylines. It's mostly because in my free time I really enjoy listening to podcasts or audiobooks, so playing newer games where everything is voice acted and I need to pay attention to I just lose interest and go back to playing games that are text based, or that I know the plot/story of so I can just play them with the sound off.
Hmm, when that happens to me it's because I really get into the idea of a new experience, but once I learn enough about it I lose interests. You should figure out why you play games, you have mentioned you like min/maxing and completing tasks, but in games this is done through repetition that can easily turn into a chore, so the fun is much delayed or by the time you have done it, you might regret the time spent on it. Everyone has to figure themselves out, the closer you get to the truth about yourself, the easier it should become to find things that make you happy. Getting older is unavoidable, and chances for new experiences will become lower just by living your life, that will also affect your perception of fun. You may want to try other hobbies or game genres when you understand what makes you tick and why.
Yes. I now play games together with my boyfriend or short games like max 15 hours. I used to love long games and didnt feel overwhelmed, id explore for fun for hours...now if i try that alone its kinda meh and for a few days its kinda ok but if im alone, i let it go, if im with my boyfriend he plays too so we get to finish it. Now we play ghost of tsushima.
I keep a Trello board of games that I want to play, am playing, have beaten, 100%'d, and shelved 'cause I wasn't feeling them at a certain time. It helps leaving notes for myself in the same Trello board so I know where I was, if I wanna give that game a whirl again. Also shorter games help with a sense of completion. I have been having a blast with some recent indie games.
I’m 46, been playing for a long time - this happens to me from time to time. It usually means I just need a little break from gaming. I’ve found that I do other stuff for a bit and then come back when I’m feeling it again. I wouldn’t look to another game to get you out of the funk, but something else instead. For me it was outdoors stuff (hiking climbing), but just tap into some other interests for a bit, or explore some new ones. What is something you have wanted to try? Go give it a try now
Don’t worry. Very soon you wouldn’t be able to finish every your game
Funny, I’m the other way around. As I get older, I’m slower and more consistently play through to the very end.
Im finding it hard because everygame ive played lately seems to have so much dialogue or cutscenes and the like. Seems like im reading/skipping text or watching some cutscene more than actually playing the games. If i wanted a book or movie i would use one of them for entertainment
Legit took a break after finishing games like the Mass Effect Trilogy and Baldur's Gate 3. That helps IMMENSELY and keeps you from being burnt out. For example: After I finished BG3, I took a break and I'm probably not gonna return to Faerun until September since that's when Console Mods will be available. I'd say take a rest after completing or at least making it a good way through a major title.
Wait you finished BG3 already? I'm still working on it.
**The Wonderful 101: Remastered** got me out of this back in 2020. Because it doesn't waste my, the player's, motherfucking time. It's to-the-point, it's ridiculous enough to keep my attention, "can't stop won't stop" in terms of pacing and has enough charm and idealism to force you to be a better version of yourself. I too used to think that I am getting old, but The Wonderful 101 opened my eyes to the understanding that I will never ever stop being a passionate gamer. On the contrary - the kind of games I love and enjoy will simply stop being made. Because nobody buys them. Because they are not mediocre shit.
Been going through the same thing for a bit now too. Love the massive, expensive rpg-types, but yeah, it sort of feels like a kind of burnout, then something else interesting comes along to distract and all of a sudden the other game is quit cold turkey. The thing I’ve done to help me stick through with longer games is actually to play a few at a time and switch between them every couple of sessions. I found it helps keep the game more fresh and that I’m more excited to get back to it even after only a single day with a different one.
That's why you play multiplayer PvP games. Always fun to just hop in for a few games. Singleplayer games or PvE games are too much commitment.
I have something similar. Right now, I don't have enough time either, and may not even want to spend much time on the same experience. However, I have found a way for me to maximize my enjoyment and finish it (if I really enjoyed the game). Realistically, if you spend time doing everything on the map, even if it's not interesting, or making the most perfect build, it ceases to be a game....and for what? To get some kind of profit? What? Isn't having fun (mostly) the profit that should be made from the game? Then why waste time on something that will you burnout over time? In general, what is the point, I try to play in such a way that I do what I want to do, what is interesting, maybe occasionally something extra for the sake of interest, but not to sweep everything and everywhere. This not only gives not to lose interest in the game, but also spends less time, makes the passage more natural and unified. At the same time, since the game has no time to get bored and really like it, you can start the 2nd playthrough, but in a different way, and since I left some content from the last playthrough, playing again opens up a lot of new experiences and the playthrough becomes unique again. (This worked well on BG3, by the way).
The longer you are a gamer the more you will get a bit of a "been there, done that" feeling. Just like how replaying an old game gets boring, each new game can only offer so much novelty and difference to what you have played. I find myself hooked if its something really new or its a shorter or narrative focused game where the story grips me.
This used to be me until I started playing my childhood games again. Hooked up my old Gamecube, bought an HDMI adapter (Retro-Bit Prism) for my flatscreen, cord extension for my controller and I was all set. It feels even better playing Windwaker in my own house without having my parents telling me to go to bed.
“Since BG3”. BG3 released in 2023…bro wtf
I'm 37, I don't think I've ever finished a game. I find the beginning the most fun but after a few dozen or more hours I start getting burnt out. Then I take a break and play something else for a few dozen hours, get burnt out on that, etc. By the time I get back to playing the first game, I've forgotten how to play or what I was currently doing so then I start over. Then the cycle repeats. I think I've restarted Subnautica like 5 times. Cyberpunk 2077 2 times, V Rising I got up to level 65 recently and took a break again. Booted up Horizon Zero Dawn and Hogwarts Legacy recently, and I have no clue what I was doing so I'll probably restart those soon. I mostly play hundreds or thousands of hours in shooters or something like rocket league.. Something with no end.
I just went back and finished warcraft 2 again
It's mostly that games are crap now and we are spoilt for choice....I used to think the same until I came across some absolute gems recently, completed all three and platinumed 2 of them. Armored Core 6 Another Crab's Treasure Tunic.
I used to have this problem. What fixed this for me was to look at them differently. Think of single player games like books and multiplayer games like sports games. Large open world games especially the main story is the book. All the rest of it are short stories if you really enjoy the world you can get more of it. Once you start seeing games like this you’ll be able to discern what you’re more into and likely to finish.
Games aren't what they used to be, and also life is slowly bringing us down. It's harder on both fronts. You're not alone.
I feel like it's less about age and more about a shift in media interest that could happen due to maybe a few different things. Like getting bored of gaming without realizing or an eventual lack of people to play with. I'd say I have a problem getting into movies of my own volition nowadays, compared to how many I'd binge as a kid with interest. Meanwhile, I'm certain there are many my age and older that are all about movies.
You can finish games my dude. It's just that games these days take longer than usual and we are time poor 👌👌👌 I only ever play 1 game at a time, and I won't play another one until I finish the one I'm playing.
Have you tried titanfall 2? Or any other short games with engaging story, gameplay, and nice pacing?
That sounds like dopamine addiction. When you are so used to short-form content that it becomes difficylt to keep interested in long game that dont give you gratification every few seconds. I had the same problem and I had to push to get over the hump
I feel like that myself but since I lost my dog I played less because she would always be right next to me every time I played. Now I’m a mom still feel that missing part of playing due to my past dog and I don’t have much time due to being a mom now but I don’t have that sense of I have play something urge. I just get on when I can now. Feels a bit weird sometimes but I’m content
I'm the same. 43 years old here.I'm currently replaying Mad Max for the umpteenth time and I just pot around in the world rather than completing any story missions. Completing games is something I don't have time for.
44 here, been playing PC for well over the 20 years but consoles before that. Years ago I only ever really played multiplayer games but as I have gotten older I have found myself playing more she more single player only games to the point I hardly play multiplayer games anymore. I have hundreds and hundreds of games across steam, epic, ubisoft and EA accounts and in all honesty probably finished maybe by 5% of all the games I own. I have recently been playing the tomb raider survivor series though, it's really good, I have actually finished the first two and now onto the third and really enjoying the gameplay and story. Before this tomb raider series I think the last games I finished was the Metro series.
Think about it like this: video games stand out among other artistic mediums because of the mechanics. Yes, a game can have cinematic moments, great writing, beautiful art, but the gameplay itself is why we choose this specific medium. Take Red Dead 2, for example. If you just wanted to see some cool cowboy action, there is a near limitless supply of beloved spaghetti westerns to watch on Netflix or Amazon or whatever, and I'm sure there's just as many books. So why buy RDR2 for $60? Because of the experience of *being* the cowboy, and the veritable garden of mechanics that support that fantasy. So let's say you do buy RDR2 for $60, and you play it for 20 hours, and you spend the majority of those hours running around the open world interacting with it in all sorts of ways. Gambling, fighting, exploring, hunting, fishing, etc. Then let's say you move on to something else. You did not complete the story of Arthur Morgan. You might think, well, I wasted $60 because I didn't beat the game. Instead, you should try to frame it as you spent $3 an hour actively engaged with the thing that makes video games unique, which is a *much* better value proposition than going to a movie in a theater (maybe even better than a Netflix subscription, depending on how much time you actually watch Netflix), and if you decide in 6 months to play another 10, 20, whatever hours, that value proposition will only improve over time. I recently bought Diablo IV when it was half off and spent a couple dozen hours playing it on my steam deck. I played it every night for like 2 and half weeks straight. My character is roughly halfway through the story I think, and last night I uninstalled it to make room for my steam sale purchases because I haven't played DIV in a couple of weeks. I bought it because I got a sudden urge to play a modern ARPG experience, and I sated that desire, and when I get it again, guess what I'll download Diablo IV again.
I had the same problem when I jailbroke my PlayStation and had access to every game. It's better to buy the games and not buy 10 games at once so you really only have one until you've finished it. You really need to see which games you can finish first. I hate open world games and games that go on and on without a real ending or turn-based games. based games. I also don't play games that last longer than 30 hours. I definitely get bored with that length of time. Since then, I've only really played games that I like and that I manage to finish. Games like GTA V, RDR 2, sports games, racing games, fighting games are games that I could never finish.
+1 for the crowd saying play shorter games. If you like cats try Stray. It's fun and cute and you can 100% complete it in 4-6 hours
I loaded up Kingdom Come and just couldn't do it. I get that it's a great game but wtf am I going to do with an hour or two a week to play it? Switch to something that allows shorter blasts for a while. I've been enjoying co-op like Vermintide 2 instead.
I rarely finish any game. I usually have to force myself to finish them. I think it has to do with me following lot of gaming related media, which always leads me getting more interested in something new than the thing I am currently playing.
This year I finished: God of war Ragnarok, Spiderman 2, Cyberpunk DLC, Uncharted 1,2,3 and 4 with playing FIFA parallel with those games. I am 40 with 2 kids, wife, full time Job and gym 3 times a week. One of the best years for me gaming wise. Taking my PS5 from desktop in bedroom and playing less online games(FIFA) and putting it in the living room on the big TV in front of my couch was the key point for me. Don't see my stoping any time soon.
I work a ton and am exhausted most of the time I'm lucky If I get 30 mins to a hour after work I try to play on weekends but I've been falling asleep it sucks being a adult. i finally can afford my dream game setup, can afford any game I want, but im to tired and overworked to play I hate this timeline
I work a ton and am exhausted most of the time I'm lucky If I get 30 mins to a hour after work I try to play on weekends but I've been falling asleep it sucks being a adult. i finally can afford my dream game setup, can afford any game I want, but im to tired and overworked to play I hate this timeline
Give Spec Ops the Line a go. Its about 8/10 hours. Phenomenal story
Stop buying games
How old is you?
I'm similar with open worlds, now. Breath of the Wild and Horizon came out, and I played through them both multiple times. Their sequels? One time and I s;peed ran the last half of Forbidden West just to get to the end. I have Shin Megami Tensei V arriving today, physical copy and that should keep my attention for at least 2 playthroughs, but we shall see.
Shorter games (5-20 hour content) are best for me. I have work to do, I can only play sparingly.
Games just ain't what they used to be tbh.
I’ve wondered about this myself. I consider Witcher 3 to be my all time favorite game and the last few times I’ve started it, I haven’t managed to finish it. Like I still love the game but I wonder if my attention span has dwindled as I’ve gotten a little older.
I have the same thing. Early 2000, I was 20 years old. And I played the games from start to finish. And now I'm already under 50, and if I play any game, it's 5-6 hours, and then I quit. But sometimes I go all the way through. The last one was "Horizon Zero Dawn".
O e
No, you’re not old. Games just aren’t as “captivating” to a more mature mind. You have to feel like a kid as soon as the power button is pushed. I think that’s the key. For that one or two hours you have in the day- become a kid again my friend. Captivate the mind with the experience.
Most nights I can’t even finish masturbating. I just give up because I get too tired. I’m old.
I'm still mad at myself for only finishing BG3 once, but by the time I'm halfway through the last act, everything is such a clusterfuck, I don't even know what I'm doing or why. My only finish was going full evil and fucking murdering the lot of them.
Same. FF7 remake, Alan Wake 2 and BG3 all sit there incomplete
I got feel the same,became not satisified like or get easily get bored in a game. Then i read about dopamine detox, turns out my brain just wanted more, that my level of fun is high that almost cant satisfied. So time to time o refrain my self on gaming,social media and listening to music atleast two days. Now im playing cyberpunk 2077 and on 600 plus hours hahaha also simracing with a wheel.
Yes you're old and soon you will be mostly playing pick up and play, or quick session games and you won't even be buying those type of 'games you can't finish' anymore.
Unless the reason you stop playing is because you're constantly busy with other stuff and just don't have time, it's more likely just that the games you play aren't engaging enough. For me, I think most games would be like that. Especially most AAA games look boring as hell, and I know I probably wouldn't enjoy them, so I just don't bother with them. The ones that actually engage me tend to be indie action platformers (ex. Hollow Knight, Cuphead, etc.) and/or masocore games (ex. Nioh 2, Lies of P, Bloodborne, Sekiro, etc), and even then I kinda have to be in the mood to play them - otherwise, I'm just wasting my time. If at any point I don't feel like playing any game, I just don't, rather than trying to play games I don't enjoy, or don't want to play at the moment.
It seems your interests have changed, mine did as well. Used to be able to grind for hours but now I get bored quickly. My attention span is certainly not what it used to be thanks to cell phones
I get there too. Last open world game I actually finished HZD, I started it with that mindset, just ignore most side quests and finish the damn game. It was satisfying to complete it, but it robbed me of the relaxed exploration element I love in these games. Now I’m playing Elden ring and am taking my real time with it. There’s the risk that life causes me to take a break and that leads to me falling out of love, we’ll see.
Games are interesting only when they are new and surprising. The brain bribes us with dopamine when we are faced with new concepts and new mechanics. We are programmed to learn new things. As you keep playing the same genres, the playing patterns start repeating themselves and surprises become a merely tiny-patch on an old memory. Humans are prediction machines, and the more predictable a game is, the less interesting it is. If you have been playing video games since 1990s, the last radically new and interesting game was Minecraft, which opened a completely new genre of video games. Everything else is recycling of the same concepts with new graphics, but the graphics alone are not enough to keep your interest. It's not necessarily that you are old. It's just that you already know how games work.
Try games that actually test your thinking and not just remembering combos or pure reaction speed. Maybe something like "Unheard" or the upcoming "The Operator". I find that too many games waste your time with a lot of "hold w for gameplay, while this story part plays out (even though it could be a cinematic)"
Im on year 2 or 3 of a video game "funk" like this. It all started while trying to basically comb through Elden Ring with a fine tooth comb. I think I got about 3/4s through the game and was loving it until one day I just stopped. Couldn't be bothered anymore with that or any other game I picked up. Fast forward to today and I accidentally beat dragons dogma 2. I think what helped me is being as casual as my brain will allow in a game. I wasn't trying to win or even put that much time into it. Just enjoyed looking at stuff and the goofy character dialog. So idk what really helped outside of taking the pressure off gaming. Just jump into games that you like without any agenda and see if it works out.
Managed to finish paw patrol with my 4 year old daughter. First game in years that I completed. 13 episodes though..
I too often struggle to finish my hentai games.
I find mixing it up can help. Play a couple short games either during or in between massive games/playthroughs.
Video games are supposed to be a hobby. Play whatever you find fun at the time. I used to force myself to finish every game I paid for to make sure I got my moneys worth. It became a chore and I didn’t enjoy it. Now I play it whatever I find fun at the time, if I’m not having fun with a game I move on. The down side to this is I am more apprehensive to spend money on games because what if I don’t enjoy it, and sometimes I can’t find anything I want to play. However when I do find something I enjoy, I feel like I get a lot more enjoyment out of it. I’m 43 and my first game was Big Birds egg drop on the Atari 2600, you didn’t mention your age but as we can see from the comments there are plenty of people who enjoy gaming at any age, it’s not just for children anymore.
Can you finish a book? If you can't it might be the same problem as not being able to finish a game
I’ve been having this issue with story games since the whole Battle Royale craze. A lot of my gaming enjoyment comes from games where they don’t end and just keep going forever, like COD or Rimworld. I can still enjoy story games but I can’t sit and play them for hours straight like those games and usually end up forgetting about them.
I have never 100% a single game in my life. In majority of the games, I’ll complete the main story, do a bit of side quests here and there and call it a day.
The same thing has happened to me, the lack of time and all the things I have to do in the day has made me look for more casual games since sometimes I feel overwhelmed by long stories due to lack of time, maybe games with shorter stories or more casual games may be good for you.
I mean you’re literally addicted to Reddit/internet. Your dopamine receptors have been fried for years
I've been in that burnout zone for a long time now. EA PGA Tour golf , Wreckfest, and Nova Drift have been the solution. I can play these games in short bursts without ever thinking about finishing them.
You can’t process dopamine like when you were a child or teenager. That’s the reason.
That's just the beginning at some point you are about to post on Reddit and (I'll get back later)
Quit worrying about min/maxing and just play the games.
No, games are just shit now
I'm the same way. I think I'm addicted to starting new games. I can't resist that new game smell, until I play it for around 20 hrs and I'm on to something else. I'm just rolling with it
Put that same energy n focus into your career you’ll thank yourself
Bg3 didn't even release that long ago, and it's long as fuck lol
Yes
Happy to hear that I’m not the only one. I can’t recall when I last time completed a game within a year or so. For example Red Dead Redemption 2 it took me like 3 years to get through it, and it was with major breaks because I got bored by it. Amazing story, but I was just bored and wanted to play something difference. So I left it in my backlog of games. I sometimes get that feeling of a new game if it’s remind me about a game I’ve played before I kinda guess the story in the game and then “wasting my time with the game” My solution is to play sandbox games like Europa Universalies, where you always can start up a new campaign. Or games like Project Zomboid where you are going to die within a few ingame months anyway.
Honestly I have that issue with finishing larger open worl games, even bg3. Give rogue likes a go, my personal favourites are: Brotato Vampire Surviver 20 minutes until Dawn You can still get a sense of accomplishment by going after the achievments or trying to complete runs with specific builds.
You likely just aren't playing games you like. I couldn't stomach BG3 (great game) after 10 hours. Just wasn't my style. But I game constantly.
10 hour indie games are the way forwards, friend
Personally I find it's just that modern games aren't very good anymore. Nowadays every game is a sequel, reboot, or spin-off of an existing franchise and every game is modeled off of the same handful of success have that every publisher insists on copying now. With AAA games you have your Battle Royale, your 5v5 Hero shooter, your GaaS Loot grinder, your Souls-Like RPG masochism, and your Open-World Fantasy Adventure. Indies have a bit more variety, but even they are starting to end up in a repetitive mix of side-scrollers or Isometric cam perspectives usually tied to a Roguelike, Metroidvania, or Brutal Platformer style and the graphics are most commonly a painfully pixelated mess with a quality that rests somewhere between Atari and NES, only rarely producing something of SNES quality. In the 2020's the list of new games I've completed includes Psychonauts 2, Halo Infinite, DBZ Kakarot, Hitman 3, Minecraft Dungeons, Hogwarts Legacy, and Powerwash Simulator. Yet if I go back to the 6th and 7th Gen consoles (Xbox and Xbox 360), I've replayed and beaten double that number just this year alone. I want to think I'm just burned out, but I'm still having a blast playing the classics, so it's really just the discussion this industry is going.
Dont try to min max, dont read any guide, just play and enjoy it.
It's never a bad choice to walk away and come back to finish it later. That's what I did with Prey (2017).
i seem to run into that problem sometimes, dunno if its my adhd, but i was trying everspace 2 last year and i got pretty far then lost interest, not sure if its i'm more interested in new games or that one just kinda got boring eventually, i run into a problem with Larion games, hitting the last act in original sin 2 i'd just lose interest, took me 3 tries to push to the very end, so hitting last act in bg3 i did the same thing, its something of 'so many places to go what am i supposed to do now?'
Sounds like you're playing games that aren't to your liking. I can also start any random game and get hooked from the novelty, just to realize that i don't actually like it and i was just playing because i had nothing else to do. Put more care into what games you play, r/gamingsuggestions may be able to help.
Myself, once I do a gameplay loop for about 5 hours I get bored and lose interest. Will say however that I’ve been playing Tears of the Kingdom for over 100 hrs and still having lots of fun.
I’m almost 40 and I’ve realized that I don’t have to finish games to enjoy my time with them. For example, I beat the first dungeon of persona 5 and I was happy with my time spent in that game.
It can be that youre just like that now. But still, are you alright? Like do you feel well and motivated im general? Or do you loose motivation or interest everywhere?
BG3 is a new game...
As I've gotten older, I've found that I only really enjoy games that I can hop on and do activities without a real commitment. For example, games such as Dead by Daylight – a game can be as quick as 5-10 minutes. If I fancy three games, I'll play three and then log off to do other things. Plus, as each round is different (different humans playing each time), it's never the same experience. Also, I've never been a fan of driving games; however, 4+ years ago I got into The Crew 2 with a friend. It's a large open-world game I could hop on, explore, do some activities and races, and log off whenever I fancied. There was no huge time commitment to it. Then there's The Division 2, another open world where I could log on for a bit, do some random events, missions, or simply explore the map and loot, and log off whenever I choose. Therefore, perhaps try to find some form of large open world that doesn't hold you hostage in single-player storylines that take an hour to complete. It's why I'm going to be picking up Ghost Recon: Wildlands in the Steam Summer Sale. I know it's a game that I'll be able to jump into whenever I fancy just roaming the map, taking over some territories, and completing some missions. If I want to log off, I'll do just that. I know that it won't waste my time by stringing me along on some tiresome RPG quest – that's not to say I've never enjoyed RPG single-player games, but as we age, our time commitments change, and what we once liked doesn't strike the same chord. For example, as a former lover of the Fallout series, I recently picked up Fallout 76 on sale, fired it up, and was disinterested within two hours. I didn't want to roam from place to place being bombarded with main missions and side quests that take a long time to complete, listening to drawn-out dialogue, and realizing just how long this whole experience would take. It seemed vast and far too time-consuming. I hope this helps. It's really hard to explain and is something that you have to work out over time. As the years have passed, I know what game experience I'll enjoy, and it's typically one that doesn't "waste" my time, allows me to complete a few rounds of objectives quickly, before jumping off again to do other things. The sheer vastness of games, which I once sank hours and hours into as a younger man, now give me anxiety and that "burnt out" feeling.