How much of a chance do you give games these days?

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I feel that availability has become a core issue for me.

When I was a kid, getting new games to play was a BIG DEAL because it required for either the planets to align so my dad would actually buy them or for my sister and I to both bring home enough good grades to justify rentals, so we played everything we managed to get our hands on as much as possible, even if the games kinda sucked or we didn't understand them (and this was a very real thing at a time when most Genesis releases were exclusively in English).

Nowadays, though, I feel like the gaming environment itself has rewired my brain to adopt a "reviewer" mindset: play something for an hour or two, see if it wows me --and most games aren't front loaded like that, so the vast majority don't--, move on to the next thing. Rinse & repeat.

I don't like this, but games have never been this easy to get and flashy recommendations just keep on coming, so committing seems almost impossible unless I come across something I REALLY want to play through.

What about you? Do you play things to the end or organize your collection on bite-sized chunks you may or may not go back to?

 

[PepThePerson]

I think there's just too many games to play nowadays, I would never have time to finish every single one. I play a game for an hour, then I either drop it or keep on playing. When I wanna drop it earlier I know I don't really like the game for one reason or another.

Lately I've tried Balatro, and while the game is short and great fun I think it's better as a "watch someone on YouTube play it" kinda game than actually playing it.

 

[TheMinuMaster]

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always picked games based on the cover art, no matter the genre or anything else. And honestly, I still kind of do that today, although sometimes I go more by the game’s name than the cover itself.

For example, the other day I was looking for something random to play on the PSP and came across Way of the Samurai. The cover was simple, nothing eye-catching, and I didn’t even remember ever hearing about it (even though it’s relatively well-known). In the end, it turned out to be a really fun game to play.

Also, I always finish the games I start, whether I liked them or not, with the exception of Donald Land on the NES. I absolutely hate that game.

 

[shadowcat]

I mostly play RPGs, and I think after about 4 hours or so if there isn't a character that really stands out to me, the setup doesn't really get me excited or the plot feels weak, I'll move on to the next one. I used to push through, wanting to see how things end, but after being taken on enough mediocre-to-bad, 30 hour rides just for the conclusion to be more of the same to better feel out what is going to be for me or not.

 

[VampireLord1024VampireLord1024's icon]

I try to give games a fair chance to see if I like them or not, even if it's just playing them for a few minutes.

 

[skramz]

zero. i just know it's all slop..

 

[csanjuro]

1 hour and 30 minutes, if I don't like by that time, then the game sucks

 

[Advil Lavs]

I've bought expensive games and not played them and I've played cheap or free games every day until I beat them. So, I can't answer you either

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

With just looking at screenshots is enough for me to tell if its worth giving it a chance (and this is a reason I add a lot of screenshots in my reviews). If its a VN, I just look at the tags in VNDB.

The more marketing a game gets, the less inclined I am to play it.

But, if I stumble upon it (since I like to look for lesser known games), its quite likely I will play it (if it passes the interesting screenshots phase).

 

[Bakuma1997]

While i am a total Nostalgia slave regarding gaming, i still fish for either giveaway games or whatever my YT Shorts suggest me to play, that said if it fails to call my attention for the first sections or so i delete it

 

[nathman]

I have my eye more on niche projects, especially now that I have a Steam Deck and I discovered that Itch.io is a thing. The big games coming out these days by the established companies don't really do much for me.