Is 2015 onwards the new Golden Age of video games?

[Sliske]

- Witcher 3
- Bloodbourne
- Dark Souls 3
- Life is Strange 1 and 2
- Rocket League
- Overwatch
- WoW: Legion
- WoW: Classic
- Doom
- Borderlands 3
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- XCOM 2
- The Last of Us 2
- Resident Evil 7
- Resident Evil 2
- Resident Evil 3
- Devil May Cry 5
- Spyro: Reignited
- Breath of the Wild
- Horizon: Zero Dawn
- God of War
- Cuphead
- Nier: Automata
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Assassin's Creed: Origins and Odyssey
- Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
- Fortnite
- Metro: Exodus

and thats just scratching the surface. I've probably forgotten some major ones here and i know i've excluded many huge ones that i simply haven't played, like the final fantasy game, metal gear solid ones and so on.

People often talk about the 90s or the 2000s as the golden age of video games, but fuck, i think 2015 onwards has crushed that shit big time. When the games released aren't themselves genre defining and mind blowing like the Witcher 3 or Bloodbourne, they're just straight up better versions of the old games they're trying to revitalise or recreate, like God of War or Resident Evil 2.

2015 onwards truly is the golden age of video gaming imo. Keep in mind next year we're getting a shit ton of awesome games too, i mean, Cyberpunk 2077 is right around the corner.

[Devilyaki]

See you missed monster hunter world ..

[Segus1992]

If you didn't include any remasters or remakes you'd have a point, but remakes or remasters happening at all is proof that at least those games aren't testament to it being a golden age.

[Rendark]

There are a lot of good games now a days but there's also a lot of bad ones. Out of that list i only really like 6 of them.

[Othraerir]

the only game i've played in that list is wow

[Sliske]

Why the hell would remasters of 90s games mean it's a golden age? Lol.

An age in which the new games made are often genre defining and instant smash hits, that also has the ability to take every one of the best games of the previous decades and remake them with massive graphical improvements, quality of life improvements and bringing them to new platforms to boot.

This doesn't sound like a golden age to you? If that isn't, what is?

[Tech614]

Not a "golden age" just more of a return to norm after the terrible 360/PS3 gen where we saw a lot of devs struggle to adapt to HD development.

The tide really started to turn around 2011 anyways, not 2015. Since 2011 the "worst" gaming year was probably 2014 and that kind of always happens with the weird dead periods of cross gen while they wait on adoption to new hardware(2021 will likely be similar). Even then 2014 still had DKCTF and Bayonetta 2 which where both incredible.

Putting WoW Classic and the Spyro/Crash remasters on your lists gets 9 weirds out of 10 though. Lets not pretend they where actual remakes like RE2. And besides that there are a hell of a lot better games to list then fucking Classic, Spyro and Crash remasters which are flawed games mostly benefiting off nostalgia.

[Puupi]

WoW is the only game I have played from that list, lol.

[Korru]

No, 1998 was the golden year of video games. Right now it feels like the dark age.

[StillMcfuu]

An overall Goldenage, maybe...

What I think is doing remarkably well;
4x and Strategy
Sim Racing
ARPGs
PS4 First Party
Nintendo First Party

The only thing that consistently disappoints anymore are Sports games. NBA and NFL has been trash for years, no sign of changing because of how the studios are just vying to see who can abuse Microtransactions. Fifa vs PES feels muted with no improvement. MLB Show is the only baseball game go think about. It all feels stagnant and the big 2 Madden and NBA2k series are going more and more in a hook a few whales direction vs actually being good games anymore.

[Tech614]

An overall Goldenage, maybe...

What I think is doing remarkably well;
4x and Strategy
Sim Racing
ARPGs
PS4 First Party
Nintendo First Party

The only thing that consistently disappoints anymore are Sports games. NBA and NFL has been trash for years, no sign of changing because of how the studios are just vying to see who can abuse Microtransactions. Fifa vs PES feels muted with no improvement. MLB Show is the only baseball game go think about. It all feels stagnant and the big 2 Madden and NBA2k series are going more and more in a hook a few whales direction vs actually being good games anymore.

Sports games are bad games but they have almost always been. They're fun to play when you enjoy the sport itself, but have always been low effort cash grabs. And I say that as someone that buys madden every year during superbowl week when it's $15 on PSN. I definitely get $15 worth of entertainment out of it each year but can't even fathom the people that pay $60 on these let alone $100+ for different editions or mtx.

[letssee]

i believe the golden age ended with the end of 2010, after that, games changed forever

[Tech614]

i believe the golden age ended with the end of 2010, after that, games changed forever

2006-2009 is probably the worst period in modern gaming history from a quality standpoint but dude says it was a golden age lol. Half of the games worth a shit that came out in that period where PS2 games ffs, because early HD games sucked donky dick.

[Guyviroth]

In my opinion? No. Helllll no. Nowadays it feels like most games are a blatant cash grab of P2W/microtransactions that the game is heavily balanced around. Maybe that's only in the multiplayer market, I'm not too sure. Along with this, basically ports, re-releases and remakes of older games. Nothing feels new or fresh anymore, at least in terms of AAA games.

For me, the Golden Age of gaming was between 1990 - 2004:

-- Console wars between the SNES and the Genesis, creating a huge market and having real good games represent each console from Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong to Sonic, Streets of Rage, Toejam and Earl and so many other great games.
-- The creation of the N64 and the Saturn, bringing with them great games still acclaimed to this very day. N64 had Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Snap, Super Mario 64, Perfect Dark, Super Smash Bros., and Golden Eye. Saturn had Virtua Fighter, Guardian Heroes, Panzer Dragoon, Nights into Dreams, Virtua Cop, and Shining Force 3.
-- The release of the PS1 which then proceeded to shit all over pretty much everything, especially the Saturn. The birthday of amazing franchises like Resident Evil, Crash Bandicoot, home ports of the Marvel vs Capcom series, Tenchu: Stealth Assassin, Tekken, Metal Gear Solid, and, of course, Final Fantasy 7.
-- The release of the Dreamcast, while tanked in sales and ended a company's console career, still had good games like Marvel Vs Capcom 2, Sonic Adventure, Legacy of Kain, Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Resident Evil Code Veronica, and so many more.
-- The Gamecube which gave us Smash Bros. Melee, Resident Evil Remake, Resident Evil 4, Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, Viewtiful Joe, Super Mario Sunshine, and so many more.

Now every gaming generation has its share of shit games, but it was far outweighed by the many good games and games that are not necessarily bad but never gained much positive response from the world at large.

[StillMcfuu]

Sports games are bad games but they have almost always been. They're fun to play when you enjoy the sport itself, but have always been low effort cash grabs. And I say that as someone that buys madden every year during superbowl week when it's $15 on PSN. I definitely get $15 worth of entertainment out of it each year but can't even fathom the people that pay $60 on these let alone $100+ for different editions or mtx.

I cant really say I agree, sports games have been constantly updating and attempting new things since the early 90s. When we hit the late 00s and we lost NFL2k and MVP baseball, things really started to stagnate. Madden has been the same buggy mess this entire generation, and NBA2k has only innovated ways to fleece its customer base. Sports games have been the same for years, only more numbers added to the end of the title.

[Tech614]

I cant really say I agree, sports games have been constantly updating and attempting new things since the early 90s. When we hit the late 00s and we lost NFL2k and MVP baseball, things really started to stagnate. Madden has been the same buggy mess this entire generation, and NBA2k has only innovated ways to fleece its customer base. Sports games have been the same for years, only more numbers added to the end of the title.

Like I said, sports games have always been low effort cash grabs on 8 month dev cycles to fit a yearly release schedule. The only thing that changed is that you do do more with 8 months back then, then you can now. Also I can't help but laugh at you saying madden is a buggy mess this gen as if that is new. Madden has literally always been a buggy mess, I have played the series since the 90s.

[Will]

No.

/10chars

[Val the Moofia Boss]

There have been a lot of good games over the past five years but I wouldn't call it a golden age just yet.

• Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns

• Yakuza 0

• Overwatch (before it stagnated)

• The Banner Saga 2

• World of Warcraft: Legion

• Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood

• Trails of Cold Steel 3

Compare that to 1995/96 - 2000/01

• Suikoden

• Super Mario RPG

• Super Mario 64

• Donkey Kong Country 3

• Sakura Taisen

• Star Fox 64

• Final Fantasy VII

• Bushido Blade

• Suikoden II

• Xenogears

• Final Fantasy VIII

• Starcraft

• Jade Cocoon

• Legend of Dragoon

• Final Fantasy IX

• Shenmue

• Final Fantasy X

Off of the top of my head. That's a ton of classics!

[Khahirr]

The only people that would see 2015 and later as a video gaming golden age are people that were too young to experience late 90s to early 2000s video games when they were current. Almost everything put out in the last 7 years has been a derivative microtransaction riddled shamelessly political pandering mess. I remember 2012-2013 being one of the worst years for video games ever and I feel like the industry never recovered. I haven't bought a game that wasn't a remaster since 2017, and before that I was mostly buying expansions / sequels for existing IPs or old games on sale since at least 2015 if not earlier.

Maybe I'm just getting too old. Most people I know have stopped buying games regularly. I just can't think of any breakout games or game genres since 2012 that didn't exist before that time in some form.

For me:
Late 90s - 2007: Golden Age
2007 - 2012: Slow decline
2012 - Present: Cash grabs / "muh graphics" / politics galore

[Val the Moofia Boss]

1995/96 - 2000/01 was the golden age of high quality, high production value video games. You got the whole thing on the disc, no patches required, no DLC you needed to purchase for "the complete experience". Nowadays, you can hardly find AAA RPGs that are actually worth their salt.