Though my familiarity with video games goes back to the mid-1980s, it was not until the late 2000s that I began to think of myself as a regular “player.” I personally mark that changeover to the moment when I was first introduced to expansive, narrative-driven, choice-heavy games via Fable. Before this, I played primarily platfomers and fighting games, and mixed things up with the occasional RPG (FFVII, various Zelda titles), point-and-click, FPS, or racing game. I didn’t always play the “new hotness,” I played what I knew best and tended to not stray far outside my comfort zone. Even with a basic understanding of RPGs under my belt, playing Fable really opened my eyes to the notion that games didn’t have to be about playing from beginning stage to final boss – they could also be moral and immersive experiences. I have never thought that way about games before; Fable drove me to seek out these new (to me) new gaming experiences.

When we first started Virtual Bastion (then United We Game), I was deep into my own personal exploration of non-comfort zone gaming. I dove into complicated and intimating RPGS like The Last Story and Xenoblade Chronicles. I spent hours exploring grand worlds that relished in chaos in the likes of Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, and Batman: Arkham City. I hacked and slashed my way through the underworld as Bayonetta, chuckled through Portal’s wonderful puzzles, and took a breather in Endless Ocean. Having maintained a belief that I could never get into first-person games unless they were the original Doom games, I found unexpected bliss in BioShock and Borderlands 2. I eventually fell head over heels for the broken landscapes of Fallout; I found that I couldn’t quit Mass Effect or Dragon Age. The point is I sought out, purchased, and played a lot of games circa 2013. To a degree, maybe I was making up for lost time.

Is that to say that one of the biggest changes in my gaming life over the past decade is I don’t play a lot of games now? Well, I’d almost say that I play fewer new games on a regular basis now than I did back then, but that’s not entirely true. Instead, my attention has shifted. I buy fewer new games now – maybe I’ll go for one or two new titles a year, if that – but, thanks to Game Pass, I try more new games than I ever have before. I know game subscription services tend to be a little polarizing, but Game Pass, much more so than Steam, has presented me with a veritable buffet of titles large and small to sample. If I find something I really like, I can buy it. If not, then it remains simply a “Game Pass” title in my library (unless I choose to delete it). Game Pass has also provides me with opportunities to try games that I missed out on or that flew under my radar. For me, Game Pass works as intended, and I’m happy to pay for it over shelling out cash for new games all the time.

The other major change I’ve experienced, and my cohorts on the site have reflected this, is that I don’t have a keen interesting in diving into the big title(s) that’s capturing everyone’s attention. There are, of course, exceptions (ahem, Palworld), but in recent years, I’ve garnered much more gaming joy from revisiting titles that *I think* I know well and love. I emphasis that because while there was definitely a time when gaming was about playing a game once and then moving on, never to look back. With the onset of my foray into narrative games with choices to make came a desire to occasionally revisit some games to make different choices. I love being surprised by cutscenes that I’ve never seen or a plotline I’ve never experienced in what I will admit as overly-familiar games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Fallout. That element of discovery – and I’m still discovering – is what makes gaming special to me today.

It may be because 2013-2023 in gaming was so turbulent that I seek solace in familiar games today. Or maybe, I’m just more keen on being delighted by the sheer creativity that exists in game-dom. As time ebbs and flows, so to do our varied interests the games we love to play, or at least, think we do. I know that something new in gaming will always be around the corner. Will I sneak a peek, or just sit tight with gaming’s comfort food? I like knowing “the next big thing” in gaming along with everyone else, but I take solace in playing titles that make me happy. Change doesn’t necessarily have to evoke discomfort, sometime it brings the comfort you had been seeking all along.

Lede image taken by author during PS4 gameplay of Fallout 76 (© Bethesda Softworks.)