No matter what era you grew up in or when you first picked up a controller, it’s hard not to think of that period as gaming’s “Golden Age”. It’s a tale as old as time itself and those thoughts transcend gaming. Now we can discuss the good ole days with thousands of people online and feel even more validated than your dad did when he was telling you about the 90’s Bulls your entire childhood. There’s no doubt that many things just feel worse now and in an industry that is a constant news barrage of layoffs, price increases, and cases of corporate greed, we all start looking for ways to reconnect with our “Golden Age”. Well I’m here to tell you that we’re all a bunch of old men yelling at clouds.
Groening, M. Old Man Yells At Cloud [Digital Image]. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701252/mediaviewer/rm2933195264/?ref_=tt_ov_i
I recently caught myself in a rut with the hopeless feeling that I have nothing interesting to play. Dude, with Steam family share, I literally have access to ONE THOUSAND VIDEO GAMES. After countless nights of scrolling up and down my steam library and staring at a PS5 in my living room that only powers on for the latest Sony release, I did what any man would do. I hopped on Facebook marketplace and found a guy selling an original PS2 and a massive games library 4 suburbs over.
Not having a CRT in my Seattle apartment caused some hiccups. I needed an HDMI upscaler, that way the 26 year old console would be able to work on a 4K TV. After that was solved, I realized the port had some damage and I wasn’t getting any sound. That led to the purchasing of an optical audio cable. After all of these additional purchases and even disassembling the console to clean the optical laser, I was ready to game like it was 2002!
Firing up the PS2, hopping into Devil May Cry 3, and playing on a TV that is way too big for how long PS2 controller wires are, was truly an experience that is only matched when you step back into your childhood home. Except this time I recreated it, big and better, 2,000 miles away. After the tutorial and first boss fight it all really sunk in. I’ve stopped playing the kind of games that I loved as a kid.
Games today bloated with microtransactions and battle passes are not inherently worse than what you were playing growing up, and they’re not the only games being made right now. These games pull you in with billion dollar budgets because they teamed up with your favorite IP and you really want to pay $19 to be Samurai Batman. Now, I have been leaning into the latest games in my once favorite genres and it’s entirely changed my outlook on modern games.
I recently played through Saros, a roguelite, bullet-hell shooter that your brain thinks you probably played something similar back on the Xbox 360. But with modern shooting mechanics, jaw dropping art direction, and some of the best sound design I’ve ever heard, there’s not a chance something similar could have been made then. It’s also been years since I picked up a racing game, when it used to be all I would ever play. I grabbed Forza Horizon 6, and I feel like it could be one of the best ones to grace the genre. There are a lot of shitty things happening that can be pointed to the corporatization of the games industry, at the same time, studios like Sony Santa Monica, Rockstar, and Naughty Dog have been delivering stories that deserve Oscars.
While it can be easy to want to go back to the way things were, try to pick up a game that shows you how far we’ve come since then. Maybe it is a franchise that just remade your favorite classic title, or maybe a genre you haven’t dove into since you were in your basement. Don’t treat nostalgia like a locked trophy case of your favorite games, use it like a map to find your next one.
-Evan Kuhn
Leave a comment