There's no wrong or right way to enjoy games, and so many ways to find enjoyment in those games. Some people love the novelty, or the stories, graphics, music...

Based on the favorites you've mentioned, I feel like you really enjoy specific mechanics or the physical experience/practice of the game. Back in the day, I could spend hours running through Diablo 2, and that was entirely based on button mashing and running. Something about its pacing, interface, and the match of its challenge with my coordination just hit exactly right - difficult enough to be rewarding, easy enough that repeatedly dying didn't frustrate me, and always another fight just seconds away. I played that for years.

Now that game launchers track my time, it's really obvious that I like certain games for their mechanics - mostly Skyrim & Fallout - other games for sandbox/crafting - Valheim, Rimworld, X4 - hundreds of hours in each, even though I'll try other games, at least long enough to finish their stories, once. Sometimes just because I paid for it & feel obligated to get to the end. It's OK to have favorites.

I ended playing Deus Ex for the 10th time last week and I realized there's not many big budget titles that I like that shipped past 2017. The attention to detail, system complexity, and writing quality is just not there anymore. Its all slop. The last one that I can even remember with any fondness...is Arkane's Prey. Well that's not true, I dig Metaphor ReFantazio's (sic) art style. But I've played JRPGs.

I think the AAAs are cooked, folks. But Indies? Have you heard of Mouthwashing? Empires of the Undergrowth? Satisfactory? Those are my timesinks and what sticks in my mind the longest.

That sounds wonderful to me, as long as you have fun with your favorite games and the other content. You save a lot of money and, more importantly, time.

It's ok dude. What do you look for in games, is there a common theme?

I'm the same, I actually look for cinematic games with clever, interesting stories. Idgaf about multiplayer or any of that shit, I want to be a director in my own movie.

Bioshock, half life 2, LA Noire, and so on.

I don't think there's anything wrong with it. The genres I like keep getting new games, but if most games now were precision platformers or MMORPGs, I'd read more lol.

Just try to hold back the good ol days mentality, try new stuff if it catches your interest, and let yourself enjoy your 10000th replay of your favorites? You aren't against new things entirely, after all. You just don't make yourself play games you don't like. Somewhere out there is an indie developer with similar taste, also frustrated they can't find a game they want to play, and I hope you find them and add a new game to your list.

Which games? Try mods and especially randomizers for them

https://randomizers.debigare.com/

I’m the same way. I just want to live in those stories until I’ve played them and replayed them so much that the feeling goes away. Currently: cyberpunk.

This just means you're figuring out what you like, and refusing to force yourself to enjoy trash.

Remember, 90% of anything is shit, and of that 10%, not all of it is going to appeal to your tastes.

On top of that, AAA gaming is a fucking wasteland right now. Publishers have squeezed all the life out of the medium in search of ongoing profit bonanzas. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a AAA game, unless we count Cyberpunk which had the benefit of being self published, so I don't really think that counts.

Oh, my bad, Elden Ring would definitely count as AAA. That was awesome (still need to finish it, and the DLC). But let's be real, Elden Ring is great because it's so different from the vast majority of the open world games out there.

Anyway, I mostly spend my time on mid-shelf, indie and self-published stuff, and even then the number of games I like is pretty small. My main go tos are Darktide, Warframe, Insurgency, Chivalry 2, The Finals (I guess that's kind of mainstream?), Stellaris, and Total War Warhammer. I've also recently enjoyed VA-11-Hall-A, Slay The Princess, Shadows of Doubt, and Space Marine 2. Those were all pretty great.

I like that a lot of games get more long term support now. That's really cool. It's fun to be able to keep coming back to a game I like and finding new stuff.

But yeah, you don't owe it to anyone to enjoy everything, and you owe it to yourself to not waste your time on things you don't enjoy.

@mohab Eh. I like what I like, which is relatively narrow, and the major industry quit catering to me 30 years ago. Luckily indies picked up the torch that AAA threw away.

You see a new game as an investment. Nothing wrong with that. There's different genres to games and once you've explored them it can be hard to put up with something you feel you've already played and that one of your favorites did better. You're probably at the point where you'd have more fun playing with friends / exploring an mmo. Stay curious and be bold.