I’ve always been a fan of only playing current video games. Graphics are one of my biggest considerations for a game because I see better graphics as a sign of progression in games generally. If the graphics aren’t cutting edge gaming graphics, I’m just not interested. This even carries over to games I have played in the past. I’ll file away the memories, uninstall, and move on to a more modern game. It’s not an absolute rule though. There are exceptions, and they have been increasing.

A recent YouTube comment telling me I was ’12 years late’ to a game got me thinking about this. More and more lately, I have been trying older games that I either didn’t know about or wasn’t interested in playing when they released. By older, we’re talking in the range of 10 years or more. I definitely have started to widen the range of what an ‘old’ game is, and whether I find it acceptable to try. Dead Space was the catalyst for me. Not the remake, but the original, making it the perfect example.

I got Dead Space for free in 2014 when they were promoting EA’s new Origin app. (And they needed to promote it because that app was truly awful.) I really didn’t care, so I just clicked to collect it and moved on to Battlefield 3 or whatever other EA titles I was playing at the time. Dead Space originally launched in 2008, and was just not modern enough for me to even consider playing at just 6 years old.

Fast forward to 2018 when I was looking for a ‘scary’ game to during Halloween streams. Being short on cash, I looked through my backlog. There was Dead Space, just sitting there and gathering dust. Over the years, many people had recommended it to me, so I decided to give it a try. Best decision ever. I loved it so much that I bought Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3 as soon as they went on sale. These games all released prior to 2013 and hold up incredibly well in large part due to story, but the graphics are still really good despite its age. I would strongly recommend any of these games today.

This was a watershed moment for me. My unwillingness to try older games started to wane from here as I played each successive Dead Space. That prompted another significant moment that turned the tide for my reluctance to play ‘old games’. I found the Zombie Army games. Sniper Elite Nazi Zombie Army and Sniper Elite Nazi Zombie Army II were both released by 2013. They are still the best in the four game series hands down. Which is saying a lot since Zombie Army 4 released just a couple of years ago. Again, solid story, and impressive graphics given the time period. Admittedly the graphics were updated for the version I played, Zombie Army Trilogy which re-released the games together in 2015. Still the core gameplay remains. Even if those remains are zombified.

Just last Halloween I played Doom 3, a 2012 release. It cemented the early 2010s era as one that was truly significant for video gaming. Despite its admittedly somewhat dated looking graphics, it managed to jump scare me more than any other game in recent memory. Dead Island, which is the game that prompted the comment I mentioned earlier, was released back in 2011. I’m playing through it now on my stream and it looks absolutely beautiful. An incredible early open world type game that I would not have believed could exist in 2011.

While these are all pretty dark titles that I have mentioned so far, there are games outside this horror genre that can still be enjoyed today. Planetside 2 has maintained a healthy community since its 2012 release. The graphics definitely show their age more than some of the previous games I mentioned, but the core gameplay continues to evolve and is still fun to play over a decade later.

The lesson here is that just because a game is old, doesn’t mean it isn’t worth looking at. There will be gamers who aren’t yet born today that I would still recommend take a look at any of these games I’ve mentioned. Even better news is that all these titles can be snagged for ~$5 USD when they’re on sale, and they go on sale about every other month. Zombie Army, Dead Space 3, and Planetside have the additional benefit of being co-op friendly.

Demand more from game developers today that put out plain, cheese pizza games. With all the technology and advances made to this point, there’s no reason developers can’t put a little pepperoni on their games. Grab one of these older games for yourself, or to play with friends, and see what quality (multiplayer) games should be like. If it was possible 10 years ago, its possible today.