As a counterpoint to this, I don't get much enjoyment out of games anymore.
You mentioned Dark Souls. A friend suggested I try out Sekiro, a new game by the same studio. There's a mandatory element of stealth, which is a genre I've never found terribly attractive. You die, you learn/memorize a little more, repeat. At then end of it you successfully accomplish something, like defeating a boss. But what did it mean? Were you skilled enough to run through it on your first try? (Probably not.) Is there replay value? Again, probably not - once you've learned the movement and attack patterns there's only so much variation that can happen. So you might've spent quite awhile memorizing something which doesn't improve your experience in the same game, much less other games.
Other factors that have turned me off: heavy randomness, in-app purchases, generic fetch missions.
I find myself more drawn to the rare unicorn that has a good story, or really is revolutionary in terms of gameplay. I can also appreciate online games to some extent - you gain extreme mastery in something, but it's a skill that you need to use in fresh, changing conditions. If you improve far enough, you might start playing against the best players, requiring you to predict multiple moves ahead like chess. In most games, this is impossible for AIs to reach.
You mentioned Dark Souls. A friend suggested I try out Sekiro, a new game by the same studio. There's a mandatory element of stealth, which is a genre I've never found terribly attractive. You die, you learn/memorize a little more, repeat. At then end of it you successfully accomplish something, like defeating a boss. But what did it mean? Were you skilled enough to run through it on your first try? (Probably not.) Is there replay value? Again, probably not - once you've learned the movement and attack patterns there's only so much variation that can happen. So you might've spent quite awhile memorizing something which doesn't improve your experience in the same game, much less other games.
Other factors that have turned me off: heavy randomness, in-app purchases, generic fetch missions.
I find myself more drawn to the rare unicorn that has a good story, or really is revolutionary in terms of gameplay. I can also appreciate online games to some extent - you gain extreme mastery in something, but it's a skill that you need to use in fresh, changing conditions. If you improve far enough, you might start playing against the best players, requiring you to predict multiple moves ahead like chess. In most games, this is impossible for AIs to reach.