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December 13, 2025 - The fading excitement of new games
2025 has been a weirdly turbulent, yet lackluster year for games for me. I don't know if it's just that the vibes have been excruciatingly tense lately, but it felt difficult to be passionate about the gaming landscape. Nintendo is my main source of passion and it's pretty clear that this company has been on a controversial streak all year. I hate to call myself a fanboy, but it has felt like yet another company acting overconfident and sacrificing the goodwill of their customers, including me.
Almost all of their new releases have always had one thing that didn't sit right with me, whether it's the egregious pricing, questionable DLC, and constant game design scrutiny, it's hard to be excited about anything. I mean, I'm part of the problem because I've been gravitating towards the negative Nintendo videos lately, so of course I'd be absorbing this negative sentiment too. I've never felt more plugged into the discourse and it's honestly making me miserable. I know TOO much about what everyone's thinking and how much I can't afford my favorite hobby right now.
The ONLY Switch 2 game I actively wanted was Kirby Air Riders, and even then I got the game as an early Christmas gift in November, so I still haven't bit the bullet on $70 games. After having a blast with some local friends, I was at least willing to support Sakurai's approach to game design in the modern era. However, as much as I adored the attention to detail and dynamic gameplay, I was surprised with how quickly the excitement faded. Back in the day, when I got a brand new game, I would be obsessed with playing it for at least 2 weeks straight. But with Air Riders, I think I had maybe a 5-day playing streak?
I think back to when I had much less games and decision fatigue. I wanted nothing more than to have access to more games, but I took for granted the focus I had to experience and appreciate each game I had. Now as an adult, if I wanted to, I could easily go on a shopping spree and get a good chunk of games...that I'll continue to put off playing. That's the paradox right there. I can buy more games but I can't buy more time. Adulthood has this annoying thing called responsibilities that I need to maintain which just didn't exist as a kid.
Right now, my mind is split between like 5 different games I wanna progress in, and sometimes it does feel so overwhelming that I end up defaulting to the games I'm familiar with, which is usually Pokémon or some addicting competitive game; despite wanting to experience new games, or finishing up the tail end of another, or taking the time to complete a game I love. I have so many options now, but why do I never feel satisfied? And why am I letting other people's opinions affect how I view gaming? It just feels like everyone's tired and projecting that onto each other. I sometimes miss when my gaming bubble was more isolated, but at the same time, do I really want that again? Probably not.