I can’t count the number of video game titles that I have on my Steam Wishlist. Well, I can, and the number is 42. These are 42 games I will probably never buy. Wait, let me correct myself again, twice now in the space of four sentences, but hey, who is counting? So, out of the 42 video games adorning my wishlist, I am probably going to buy three or four more titles in the span of five years. So, why is that? Are new games just bad? Or am I just getting old? Whatever it is, I am certainly not alone! A study in 2023 by market researcher Newzoo showed that most people (approximately 60%) of the people playing video games across platforms like Steam, Epic Game Store (yuck!) and others, play titles six years old or older. Let us find out why!

The most obvious culprit pulling players back to older titles is nostalgia. That good old “back in my day” feeling that will have zoomers running for the door is quite something, isn’t it? Not to put too fine a point on it, but back in my day video games had soul! They were intelligent, not filled to the brim with microtransactions, button-mashing gameplay or cringe-worthy stories. Take one of my favourite shooters, for example: Rainbow Six 3 Ravenshield. The Magic of that FPS is just something no modern shooter can come close to. It has an engaging story, challenging gameplay, and a planning phase where you can spend hours crafting the perfect door breach just to watch your squad get wiped by a single sniper you forgot to account for. Good times.

But even if nosebleeds aren’t your idea of entertainment, older RPG games also have few, if any, modern equals. Take The Witcher series, for example. Those were something, alright. I still visit that universe in my head from time to time, mostly without realising it, just because of how beautiful the stories were and how lovingly crafted the gameplay is. They just don’t make them like they used to. Sure, Raven Shield and S.W.A.T 4 are too old and dated for me to play on my super-duper-middle-class RTX3060, but you will never catch me playing Black Ops VIIXXI, or whichever-th installment is out now. So, I will buy Ready or Not to fill the gap, which took a small studio years to develop because of its niche demand, or I will stick to Insurgency Sandstorm, where the operators don’t wear pink and shoot bubbles. 

Older IPs are just better!

XCOM Enemy Within and XCOM 2 are some of my most favourite games ever made. I have over 1,300 hours in the latter and I won’t even tell you how many in the former. I haven’t played a newer game that is as engaging as XCOM 2, and its amazing expansion: War of the Chosen. I am midway through a modded campaign, using the award-winning, user created mod (or modification) called Long War of the Chosen, and I have no intention of buying another turn-based tactical shooter, unless XCOM 3 is revealed. Why? Because other games just don’t come close. Not Dark Descent, not Rogue Trader, and certainly not Phantom Doctrine. Sure Phantom Doctrine is an older game, but it is newer than XCOM 2. I didn’t buy it then, and I won’t buy it now. You might say, “well what about Tactical Breach Wizards?!” And to you, fine person of equally refined taste, I say, “well met!” I am sure there is lots of fun to be had playing with Gandalf’s cousins in tactical gear, but that is just not for me. Long War of the Chosen gave me such a high that nothing else will do. I haven’t played Kill The Justice League for the same reason. Arkham Knight was where superhero games peaked for me, and I don’t intend to play a half-baked title after that bittersweet farewell to my childhood hero, Batman. 

So, yes. Older IPs are just better. Fight me. But this isn’t just my opinion. Many people feel the same way, hence the flood of reboots and sequels, not all of which live up to their old glory. 

Have you ever done something that left your hands shaking, your mind racing and your vocal cords sour from shouting “woohoo”? No? Well then you haven’t played DCS World and gotten into a knife-fight with an F-15 while piloting a glorified bucket of bolts, aka the Mig-19, and come out on top. It is as complicated and as difficult as it sounds, but the thrill of playing a flight sim in VR is like no other. And yes, DCS is being constantly updated, but the game itself is very old. I first got into it as a teenager when the title was called Modern Air Combat and featured a handful of jets. Now, it has one of the largest and most faithfully created arsenal of warplanes in any game. DCS is the closest you will get to actually flying and fighting in a warplane. And boy, is it a thrill! Modern games just don’t have the same kick. On Steam, I have played it for over 500 hours and, as I am writing this, I am fantasising jumping back into the Mirage F-1 and having a go at hunting some F-4 Phantoms. Good times, here I come!

The thrill a video game gives me is essential to me playing it again and again and again. S.T.A.L.K.E.R is another example. I am definitely going to buy S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 because of how much I enjoyed playing Call of Pripyet. And while the Metro series is great and well received, I don’t think I will ever buy another Metro game after I finish Exodus. Yes, I still haven’t finished it. I am forcing myself to get through it one chapter at a time. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great game, a masterpiece, I am told, but it just can’t hook me. Something about the atmosphere of S.T.A.L.K.E.R, how it made me feel like a faceless, nameless grunt out in the wilderness trying to solve a mystery, the dangers, the sidequests, the stories of NPCs encountered along the way was just so thrilling that Exodus feels like a chore. 

The same goes for Dead Space. I will never buy Callisto Protocol because in a world where I have played the original Dead Space 1, not the crummy sequels, I just can’t enjoy any other horror game. Just like I will never play Total War: Pharoah after having played Total War: Rome 2, a much older, but much more engaging video game, especially with the absolutely amazing Divide et Impera mod.

Well, I intend to buy a bunch more modules for DCS, namely the new Afghanistan and Iraq maps, along with maybe the F-104 module when it comes out. Most of my gaming purchases last year have been DCS modules. I am definitely going to buy Ready or Not, to scratch that S.W.A.T 4 itch, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 because of how much I enjoyed its predecessor decades ago. I will also buy the Dead Space remake, because why not! As for new games, I will hold out for Witcher 4, XCOM 3 and pick up Baldur’s Gate to keep me happy till then. As far as my gaming life goes, I am content. I play what I like, when I like. My games take me far away from the constraints of real life. I get to be a fighter pilot, a mercenary for hire in an irradiated wasteland, a monster hunting mutant, or a commander leading Earth’s last defense against an alien invasion. These old games are just full of life, still enjoyable and most importantly, fun!