Comment by bluescrn | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bluescrn | Hacker News Reader

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No, there'll just be fewer big-budget games. Streaming is always going to be a sub-par experience (latency and video compression). And the mess that AI made of the hardware market has likely killed off (or at least indefinitely postponed) the next generation of games consoles

But we've got 4-5 decades of games to enjoy.

Part of the reason that the games industry is struggling is that there's been no real generational leaps for a long time. Gaming used to be driven by those technological leaps, but these days we just get incremental improvements. 10-15yr old games are just as entertaining as brand new releases and often don't look too dated.

Also, ever more people are getting into retro gaming, enjoying the classics from the 80s and 90s, from well before microtransactions and hyper-competitive online multiplayer.

Nevermind the generational leaps, there has been a lack of creativity and a flood of low quality titles that make it harder and harder to find the few good games among them.

I've had better luck finding great games I didn't know about from the 1990s than from the past twenty years.

It seems to me that the indie games scene has shown quite a lot of creativity.

But how do you discover the good ones?

Top ten lists written by indie gaming bloggers for each year/genre are a good place to start, honestly.

If you like 2d platforming exploration types, try Hollowknight, Celeste, VVVVVV, Ori, Animal Well. Each one is fantastic.

Where do you find trustworthy top tens?

So far, only Rusted Moss and Silksong were worth my time among the platformers I tried, which included the original Hollow Knight (platforming is too easy), Celeste (too easy A-sides, unfun B-sides) and Animal Well (too easy base game, too cryptic post game).

I usually just read a handful and get some aggregate opinion, I've never found someone whose tastes match mine exactly.

I'll have to give Rusted Moss a try. Silksong is kicking my ass right now.

Don't expect too much of Rusted Moss if Silksong is kicking your ass. Silksong is the easier game. I like Rusted Moss because movement reminds me of the Umihara Kawase series, but it's not for everyone.

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