“Hours to dollars” is not the end all be all of a good game. I have like 25 hours on the Outer Wilds and is one of my favorite games of all time. I also have hundreds of hours in Skyrim, and it’s also one of my favorite games of all time
I find hours to dollars to be more useful for cheaper indie games or games on sale, where I feel more comfortable taking a chance on the $5 game knowing I’ll only “need” to spend 5 hours playing to justify the purchase to myself. I also don’t really feel bad about not finishing games once I hit the golden ratio of hours to dollars.
AAA is $70 now…
For the same rehashed experiences 9ver and over again (mostly). There some good exceptions to that though, like Death Stranding and TotK
Tears is good, but feels pretty iterative with the same sorts of champions, start, general story arc, and map. It’s a decent game, but I wouldn’t really call it groundbreaking compared to some of Zelda’s historic releases. I’ve played a ton of it and like it, though I do wish that the archipelagos and underground didn’t feel so…empty…
No big cities in the sky or underground, where it was a slam dunk to add the avians or shark race to sprawling overwold or underworld metropolises, perhaps long lost. The assassin’s guild still plays a bit role when they could have laid the foundation for gannon’s army, having repurposed some of the robots from the last game.
Even though Zant is dead, I would have liked to see a return to twighlight in the underground. :3
There are a few exceptions like Elden Ring, and Witcher 3, but my library playtime is dominated by games I paid very little for. Factorio, Stardew, KSP1, etc. Currently playing Hollow Knight and having a blast (when I’m not being demolished by a boss).
You can add a couple hundred more hours if the games have a healthy modding community.
I haven’t really even dipped my toes into modding even at the numbers I’ve hit, though all the games I’ve sunk the most into have healthy modding communities.
Maybe it’s just that the modding aspect keeps the community strong which makes it easier to find videos, stramers, shared experiences, and to get help etc.
My Favourite Game of All Time is a mod, weirdly enough. Sonic Robo Blast 2, which is a mod of a source port of Doom.
I don’t think I go a week without checking out the recent releases page to see what new mods dropped for the game. Just recently, a mod released which turns the game into an RPG heavily inspired by Phantasy Star Online (in particular, Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity)… the game’s a gift that keeps on giving, I swear
If you like Hollow Knight, check out the Ori games if you haven’t already. They’re on sale on Steam right now for super cheap. I didn’t enjoy them as much as Hollow Knight, but they’re a lot of fun in my opinion. Very satisfying gameplay.
Yes, Ori was a great series! Though I started with the second and had a hard time going back to the first with how great the second one looks.
I actually made the same comment almost verbatim (for the first sentence at least) about a week ago to someone else who enjoyed Hollow Knight.
40 hours for a 60€ game is pretty good if you enjoyed those hours.
Maybe I’m old school and in my late 30s, but I like linear games, they have good stories and aren’t too long. But it helps that I’m a patient gamer, so I don’t buy AAA titles at ridiculous prices.
For example, I bought Mafia Definitive Edition when it came out (one of the rare times I’ve done that, but it wasn’t $70) and I thought it was well worth the money, even if the story is a bit shorter than modern standards.
I’m all about quality over quatity. Give me a good story every day, don’t force me to do side quests that have nothing to do with the main story (I’m looking at you, Assassin’s Creed).
