I, like many gamers, grew up playing Pokémon Red and Nintendo 64 and was obsessed with Nintendo products. I graduated to a PS2 and PS3 and became super into Metal Gear Solid and Call of Duty and Fallout. Also spent a ton of time with the Guitar Hero series. I loved the escape gaming brought me and it genuinely helped me relax.
Fast forward a few years and I hadn’t really played a video game between the years of like 2011-2017. College, moving cross country and busyness of life kept me from gaming. Finally in 2017, I bought a Switch and Breath of the Wild and felt the same magical feeling I remember when I first started playing Ocarina of Time, or the first time I booted up Metroid Prime, or Metal Gear Solid 4. I started to get into online gaming and made a lot of friends. I played my Switch frequently for a few years.
During the beginning of COVID lockdowns, I turned more to reading than gaming and my Switch gathered lots of dust. I ultimately ended up buying an Xbox Series S when it was announced because I’d never owned an Xbox system and Game Pass really intrigued me. I went through a phase of being very into Destiny 2, Halo, Gears of War, Forza Horizon…a bunch of games I had never played before.
Then, a divorce, a new job change, another cross country move brought new levels of stress to my life. I lacked an attention span strong enough to focus on a video game. FPS’s seemed boring, online games couldn’t keep my attention long enough to get through a match, and eventually I’d just leave a game on the pause menu while I messed around mindlessly on my phone. Gaming wasn’t even a way for me to decompress anymore, it seemed more like a chore I was procrastinating—which sucks.
I’ve fallen deeper into this lately, as more life changes have come along. I work a stressful job with long hours. I’m now a stepparent to two young boys. The little free time I have I spend walking the dog, reading, and trying to just let my mind settle and decompress. Let alone, if I try to turn the Xbox on or have the Switch on my lap, it turns into a whole event where the kids want to sit and watch and participate and ask tons of questions (which is fine, but sometimes I just want to do something by myself for me!)
I miss the time of my youth where gaming was a relief and a release for me. I miss how I felt when I first got a Switch and felt so excited and so nostalgic and reinvigorated and looked forward to playing a game! Now…I feel like I can’t even consider myself a gamer.
So. That’s a long winded way to ask if anyone else has gone through similar ruts, or fallen away from gaming, and if so, what games helped you get that spark back? What games brought you back to that nostalgic feeling you had when you first got into gaming? What games help you decompress after a long day? What games have you recently become obsessed with in such a way that you look forward to playing them and are always thinking about them?
I want to get back into gaming. I want to feel the magic again.
I do two basic things when I get on a rut. I replay a favorite RPG with mods and a very specific roleplaying theme. For example I played fallout 4, console commanded myself a million caps, high charisma, and liw intelligence. I played through as a rich idiot. The other thing I do is find a game way outside my normal style and see if I can figure out the appeal that it has to other people.
FPS’s seemed boring, online games couldn’t keep my attention long enough to get through a match, and eventually I’d just leave a game on the pause menu while I messed around mindlessly on my phone.
My partner does this.
One, you might have ADHD. I can’t say, but you could look into it.
Secondly, you need to have some time to let your brain rest. When you bounce between tasks like that, you’re never actually not doing something. People think of doomscrolling as taking a break, but really you’re replacing your intended task with another task and there isn’t a time where you do no task.
Definitely need to figure out if it is ADHD, depression, or a combination…
On your second point: I also need to work on this. I find myself constantly “doing something”. I’m listening to music while typing this; when I walk the dog, I’m listening to an audiobook or podcast. Same when I’m doing dishes or other chores. I rarely have “chill time” - or give myself that.
I want to get back into gaming. I want to feel the magic again.
this amuses me because it sounds like something a drug addict would say. you have that initial magic and then over time you’re not using to feel the magic but just not to feel sick
my advice, OP? stop playing video games if you’re not getting enjoyment out of it. it’s your brain trying to tell you something. do something else with your time and go back to gaming in the future and it will be fun again.
When I got into my gaming rut I took some time off and got into Homelabbing. Used to scroll through my extensive steam library and nothing caught my interest so I needed something new.
Learned about different NAS Os’s, Docker, Linux and seeing what I could get out of some low-powered hardware and what I loved most was learning new things.
Started with a Raspberry Pi when they weren’t stupid expensive and moved onto a cheap Intel Nuc to my home made, small form factor NAS running Unraid and a 2nd cheap Thin Client running Ubuntu Server.
I focussed on doing more with my computer hardware and for a long while, didn’t feel the necessity to game much, then one day I fired up Forza Horizon 4 and had a good, enjoyable 5 hour session on it.
Now I’m back into re-playing Horizon Zero Dawn, I plan to move onto Forbidden West after and tearing around the UK and Mexico in Forza Horizon 4/5.
See if you can find another hobby or something that can enhance your knowledge on something you’ve never tried before for a while, one day you ,ignite just fire up a game after having a rest and get that spark back.
When I saw your post the first thing that came to mind was Breath of the Wild. It’s the game that got me back into gaming. I’ve recently been playing Tears of the Kingdom and it has been a ton of fun with the new building abilities that were added. I’d highly recommend giving that a shot.
For games with that sense of wonder but on a smaller scale that are more chill, I’d recommend something like Omno, which is on sale for super cheap right now. It’s a short game with a great soundtrack that’s all about exploring and solving some puzzles. Journey would be another good one to try.
I also liked the suggestions here about buying the Steam Deck. Sometimes a new piece of hardware can really ignite the spark. Taking a break and trying a different hobby is also a good idea. I’d suggest Lego building. I found making sets for some of my other interests like Star Wars and others can be really fun and relaxing. It’s nice to do something with your hands and turn off your brain for a bit. I’d even listen to audiobooks while I built.
Many people are saying to pursue other hobbies, and that the magic will come back on its own.
I think they have great advice, but it doesn’t answer your question.
I have 3 suggestions: 1 hardware and 2 games, all of which are outside of your previous experience with games.
1: Get a steam deck. This device on it’s own brought much of the childhood magic back into gaming, and i can’t describe how it feels in text. Just get one.
2: Buy Wildfrost, which is currently my Best In Class pick for UI design and a tight gameplay loop
Bonus: It pairs really well with the steam deck
3: Get Factorio. I bought this back when it was $20, and it has more playtime than any other game i have. The mods available make the game fresh and new, and the base game is deeper than 99% of other games out there. This is the game that gave me the same feeling like BoTW, and as long as you find the gameplay fun it will be a permanent Favorites contender.
Oh boy. Try Space Exploration. It’s like Factorio^2.
But to be clear its not just pure pain and suffering with stupid complexity (look up Pyanodons if you want that), SE is actually incredibly well designed as an expansion that isn’t just for masochists. Your first rocket is maybe 30% quicker to launch than in the base game… but launching your first rocket is kinda like building your first inserter: now the game really starts.
Had this happen to me during college. For a long time I didn’t play anything but league of legends and when I finally got sick of it, I stopped playing altogether. Then during my internship I decided to pirate two games I saw mentioned on reddit that were similar to Crusader Kings: Kenshi and Rimworld.
Proceeded to sink hours and hours into Kenshi, then tried Rimworld and it didn’t click. Tried again, didn’t click. Then the third time I had to stop myself from playing because I had played through the end of my workday, back home and hadn’t had slept or worked on my thesis at all. After a long time playing those pirated copies I got the dosh together to buy them off of steam and Rimworld is a game I play every day. A little in the morning while I have my coffee, and a little at night if I have nothing else to do. I have over 3.5k hours on it.
The thing that made Rimworld different was that it is a story generator. There are other games that are better at survival, base defense, and basebuilding than Rimworld, but story generation is peerless imo. i mean I still remember how that base that I lost so much sleep with ended, I remember the name of the cowboy drifter who became the leader, the junkie crafter who lost his head, and his pyro girlfriend who put the final nail in the coffin for all the other colonists.
If you want to try something different, maybe take a peek at Rimworld.
For me after some time away from PC gaming, getting a steam deck was one thing that got me back into it. The other thing though was definitely selecting relatively short games. I played a lot of open-ended games that I could never finish like rimworld or crusader kings, it was nice to get back into games with a beginning middle and end. And in the same vein it means I’ve been playing stuff that I was interested in playing back in the 2010s but didn’t really have the time/money/hardware for
Contrary opinion - it’s OK to give up hobbies you don’t enjoy any more.
Gaming was an important part of your life at one point. You remember it fondly because currently you are lacking something in your life, so you’re thinking - I used to enjoy gaming so I should enjoy it again.
Doesn’t work like that - people go through phases. Find what you enjoy now. Yes, maybe it’s gaming again. Maybe its something else - hiking, fixing motorcycles, partying … who knows. Experiment with activities until you find something that will make you burn again!
For me, I just kind of faded away from gaming, focusing on life and other hobbies.
I finally saw that god of war and horizon zero dawn were ported to steam, played the fuck out of them both, and jumped on spider-man as it got ported as well.
From there I ended up getting a PS5 to play the sequels of those three and I haven’t looked back. It has been SO fun to get back into it
The Star Wars Jedi game was also another game that I had a blast with as I got back into it. Played the first on pc and the second on ps. Excellent games without question
PlayStation has just been fucking killing it in the story driven gameplay the last few years especially
I’ve been playing Destiny nearly 100% of my gaming time for the last like 9 years. I finally decided to try other games again after a particular slow and uninteresting season. I decided to go with Mass Effect Trilogy. I loved it so much after I beat it I immediately started a new character of the opposite gender. After finishing that run I’ve moved on to Andromeda.
As a huge fan of space and scifi. I’m looking forward to Starfield. Mass Effect gave me that magic and I’m super excited to see all these worlds I’ve been missing out on.
I bought a steam deck. Its the best thing if you don’t have lots of time as you can pause and turn it off and pick up where you left off later. Obviously that won’t work for online games great for project zomboid though. YMMV
Feeling the same, even tho my life hasn’t been nearly as stressful as yours. Games, especially new single player games with thousands of hours of content just aren’t fun for me anymore, even tho I loved Skyrim, Fallout, Dragon Age and Witcher. But I still find a lot of fun playing games with friends.
Especially DayZ. It’s like, really just taking a long walk with friends in the forest, because that’s what the game is lol. Strolling arounds in Cherno, sitting together at the campfire and talking about our days, sometimes meeting with strangers and sharing that experience (or getting into a stressful firefight 😅). These are really the best experiences I had with gaming to this day.
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I do two basic things when I get on a rut. I replay a favorite RPG with mods and a very specific roleplaying theme. For example I played fallout 4, console commanded myself a million caps, high charisma, and liw intelligence. I played through as a rich idiot. The other thing I do is find a game way outside my normal style and see if I can figure out the appeal that it has to other people.
My partner does this.
One, you might have ADHD. I can’t say, but you could look into it.
Secondly, you need to have some time to let your brain rest. When you bounce between tasks like that, you’re never actually not doing something. People think of doomscrolling as taking a break, but really you’re replacing your intended task with another task and there isn’t a time where you do no task.
Definitely need to figure out if it is ADHD, depression, or a combination…
On your second point: I also need to work on this. I find myself constantly “doing something”. I’m listening to music while typing this; when I walk the dog, I’m listening to an audiobook or podcast. Same when I’m doing dishes or other chores. I rarely have “chill time” - or give myself that.
this amuses me because it sounds like something a drug addict would say. you have that initial magic and then over time you’re not using to feel the magic but just not to feel sick
my advice, OP? stop playing video games if you’re not getting enjoyment out of it. it’s your brain trying to tell you something. do something else with your time and go back to gaming in the future and it will be fun again.
@tikitaki @Evolone have you ever played Subnautica?
When I got into my gaming rut I took some time off and got into Homelabbing. Used to scroll through my extensive steam library and nothing caught my interest so I needed something new.
Learned about different NAS Os’s, Docker, Linux and seeing what I could get out of some low-powered hardware and what I loved most was learning new things.
Started with a Raspberry Pi when they weren’t stupid expensive and moved onto a cheap Intel Nuc to my home made, small form factor NAS running Unraid and a 2nd cheap Thin Client running Ubuntu Server.
I focussed on doing more with my computer hardware and for a long while, didn’t feel the necessity to game much, then one day I fired up Forza Horizon 4 and had a good, enjoyable 5 hour session on it.
Now I’m back into re-playing Horizon Zero Dawn, I plan to move onto Forbidden West after and tearing around the UK and Mexico in Forza Horizon 4/5.
See if you can find another hobby or something that can enhance your knowledge on something you’ve never tried before for a while, one day you ,ignite just fire up a game after having a rest and get that spark back.
When I saw your post the first thing that came to mind was Breath of the Wild. It’s the game that got me back into gaming. I’ve recently been playing Tears of the Kingdom and it has been a ton of fun with the new building abilities that were added. I’d highly recommend giving that a shot.
For games with that sense of wonder but on a smaller scale that are more chill, I’d recommend something like Omno, which is on sale for super cheap right now. It’s a short game with a great soundtrack that’s all about exploring and solving some puzzles. Journey would be another good one to try.
I also liked the suggestions here about buying the Steam Deck. Sometimes a new piece of hardware can really ignite the spark. Taking a break and trying a different hobby is also a good idea. I’d suggest Lego building. I found making sets for some of my other interests like Star Wars and others can be really fun and relaxing. It’s nice to do something with your hands and turn off your brain for a bit. I’d even listen to audiobooks while I built.
Many people are saying to pursue other hobbies, and that the magic will come back on its own.
I think they have great advice, but it doesn’t answer your question.
I have 3 suggestions: 1 hardware and 2 games, all of which are outside of your previous experience with games.
1: Get a steam deck. This device on it’s own brought much of the childhood magic back into gaming, and i can’t describe how it feels in text. Just get one.
2: Buy Wildfrost, which is currently my Best In Class pick for UI design and a tight gameplay loop
Bonus: It pairs really well with the steam deck
3: Get Factorio. I bought this back when it was $20, and it has more playtime than any other game i have. The mods available make the game fresh and new, and the base game is deeper than 99% of other games out there. This is the game that gave me the same feeling like BoTW, and as long as you find the gameplay fun it will be a permanent Favorites contender.
Wait, Factorio has mods?
Christ, and I thought Rimworld was a giant timesink for me.
Oh boy. Try Space Exploration. It’s like Factorio^2.
But to be clear its not just pure pain and suffering with stupid complexity (look up Pyanodons if you want that), SE is actually incredibly well designed as an expansion that isn’t just for masochists. Your first rocket is maybe 30% quicker to launch than in the base game… but launching your first rocket is kinda like building your first inserter: now the game really starts.
Had this happen to me during college. For a long time I didn’t play anything but league of legends and when I finally got sick of it, I stopped playing altogether. Then during my internship I decided to pirate two games I saw mentioned on reddit that were similar to Crusader Kings: Kenshi and Rimworld.
Proceeded to sink hours and hours into Kenshi, then tried Rimworld and it didn’t click. Tried again, didn’t click. Then the third time I had to stop myself from playing because I had played through the end of my workday, back home and hadn’t had slept or worked on my thesis at all. After a long time playing those pirated copies I got the dosh together to buy them off of steam and Rimworld is a game I play every day. A little in the morning while I have my coffee, and a little at night if I have nothing else to do. I have over 3.5k hours on it.
The thing that made Rimworld different was that it is a story generator. There are other games that are better at survival, base defense, and basebuilding than Rimworld, but story generation is peerless imo. i mean I still remember how that base that I lost so much sleep with ended, I remember the name of the cowboy drifter who became the leader, the junkie crafter who lost his head, and his pyro girlfriend who put the final nail in the coffin for all the other colonists.
If you want to try something different, maybe take a peek at Rimworld.
Super Mario Odyssey if you haven’t already played it.
Really reignited that spark.
Also if you enjoyed BotW, Tears of the Kingdom is a fantastic sequel.
For me after some time away from PC gaming, getting a steam deck was one thing that got me back into it. The other thing though was definitely selecting relatively short games. I played a lot of open-ended games that I could never finish like rimworld or crusader kings, it was nice to get back into games with a beginning middle and end. And in the same vein it means I’ve been playing stuff that I was interested in playing back in the 2010s but didn’t really have the time/money/hardware for
Taking breaks and work on hobby’s and stop playing online games for good. I have a pretty bad anger problem so online games where just suffering.
Contrary opinion - it’s OK to give up hobbies you don’t enjoy any more.
Gaming was an important part of your life at one point. You remember it fondly because currently you are lacking something in your life, so you’re thinking - I used to enjoy gaming so I should enjoy it again.
Doesn’t work like that - people go through phases. Find what you enjoy now. Yes, maybe it’s gaming again. Maybe its something else - hiking, fixing motorcycles, partying … who knows. Experiment with activities until you find something that will make you burn again!
I agree with this, it’s ok to find something new. Maybe you’ll come back to gaming after a while.
For me, I just kind of faded away from gaming, focusing on life and other hobbies.
I finally saw that god of war and horizon zero dawn were ported to steam, played the fuck out of them both, and jumped on spider-man as it got ported as well.
From there I ended up getting a PS5 to play the sequels of those three and I haven’t looked back. It has been SO fun to get back into it
The Star Wars Jedi game was also another game that I had a blast with as I got back into it. Played the first on pc and the second on ps. Excellent games without question
PlayStation has just been fucking killing it in the story driven gameplay the last few years especially
I’ve been playing Destiny nearly 100% of my gaming time for the last like 9 years. I finally decided to try other games again after a particular slow and uninteresting season. I decided to go with Mass Effect Trilogy. I loved it so much after I beat it I immediately started a new character of the opposite gender. After finishing that run I’ve moved on to Andromeda.
As a huge fan of space and scifi. I’m looking forward to Starfield. Mass Effect gave me that magic and I’m super excited to see all these worlds I’ve been missing out on.
I bought a steam deck. Its the best thing if you don’t have lots of time as you can pause and turn it off and pick up where you left off later. Obviously that won’t work for online games great for project zomboid though. YMMV
Yeah, definitely the best way to get back that GBA/NDS feeling.
Feeling the same, even tho my life hasn’t been nearly as stressful as yours. Games, especially new single player games with thousands of hours of content just aren’t fun for me anymore, even tho I loved Skyrim, Fallout, Dragon Age and Witcher. But I still find a lot of fun playing games with friends.
Especially DayZ. It’s like, really just taking a long walk with friends in the forest, because that’s what the game is lol. Strolling arounds in Cherno, sitting together at the campfire and talking about our days, sometimes meeting with strangers and sharing that experience (or getting into a stressful firefight 😅). These are really the best experiences I had with gaming to this day.
Just downloaded DayZ on Game Pass! I’m going to check it out based on your experience you shared. Thank you!