Every day the game markets are bombarded by hundreds of new games. Cute mobile puzzles, flashy indies and spectacular triple-A titles flood markets while players around the world constantly try to figure out which of these are worth their while. However, if you’re constantly looking for something new to play I suggest not to be sceptical towards the oldies (but goodies). And here are some reasons why.
1. It’s easy to find quality
Most of us pick our next game having in mind a variety of factors – favourite genre, game developer reputation, review scores etc. Most of the new titles are too fresh to be judged fairly. You should keep in mind that even game critics are human beings and their judgement can easily be influenced by the hype surrounding the new title.
However, some old games even today are regarded with huge respect. Chances are you haven’t played them all. I would be surprised if you did. Most of these games withstood the test of time, influenced infinity of new ones and helped to shape the game industry into what it is today. There are tons of these award-winning game lists on the internet so finding a shiny gem you’ve missed is super easy.
2. Old games are cheaper!
This is pretty much self-explanatory. It’s a known fact that game prices change over time and declines as time goes on. Most of the older games nowadays cost half the amount of money they did at their launch. For example, critically acclaimed Bioshock Infinite at launch had a 40 euro price tag. As time went by the game got cheaper and now you can grab this masterpiece for less than 10 euros. Not a bad deal for one of the best action FPS games of the decade, don’t you think?
However, there are some minor exceptions. A great example of this is Grand Theft Auto V which also got cheaper with time, but the price decline was extremely slow due to the popularity of the game.
3. Old rig is fine
With time technical requirements for hardware increased as games became more ambitious. To play all new games on ultra settings you need to invest a crazy amount of money to your gaming rig and most of us gamers would love to spend that money elsewhere (games!). That is one of the reasons to why we’ve seen a growth in console sales during the past few years.
However, if you like to play using a mouse and a keyboard, consoles are not a valid option. But old games are! If you have semi-old hardware chances are that most of the old games will still be playable on the highest video settings. And contrary to a popular belief some of the old games even nowadays look spectacular.
4. It feels different
‘Old games were a lot more difficult’. You’ve probably seen or heard this sentence at least a few times before. It’s only partially true. Very old games were different because players were different at the time. There were fewer games back in the day so game developers usually made their games a bit more difficult to keep players busy for longer. Also, most of the older games had shorter tutorials and encouraged to explore game mechanics.
Another reason why old games feel different is the amount of content. Back in a day patching a game wasn’t an option and DLCs wasn’t that popular so the game had to be released as intended. Nowadays developers usually release a base game and then polish and expand it by various new patches.
5. It’s necessary to be well rounded
In addition to all the reasons mentioned above, older games are worth playing if you wish to understand games in their most general sense. Throughout the years there has only been a few revolutionary games which changed our understanding about gaming. Most of the new products today borrow ideas, gameplay mechanics, and even the art style from their predecessors. Your first playthrough of a new game you’ve just bought might be way more interesting if you possess the knowledge regarding their roots.
And you just might spot that cleverly hidden easter egg or a reference that the developers hid in plain sight.
