‘PS5 games have become too serious with no sense of fun’-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

The Last of Us Part 2 – has Sony lost its sense of fun? (Sony Interactive Entertainment)

A reader is frustrated by the last two generations of PlayStation games and feels they’ve lost their charm, in favour of dour characters and stories.

It’s difficult to express myself with this topic in a way that won’t tread on gamers’ toes, but I think besides Nintendo, video games largely haven’t been fun and properly accessible since the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 days of the seventh generation. Video games today are not only larger, more complex, and more technically impressive than ever before, but they’re also far tamer, refusing to show intestinal fortitude, and are just downright safe.

Since the PlayStation 4/Xbox One arrived on the scene, the amount of story-lead action games boasting top-tier production values has gone down. Surprises like Max Payne 3 and Spec-Ops: The Line are rarities now, and I’m convinced many of those types of games that still exist would be weighed down by needlessly long red health bars for generic enemies, or some other modern gaming irritant that’ll make it even more convincing to keep playing the PlayStation 3 instead.

I’m likely a minority here, but I don’t find the popular assortment of mainstream games today to be welcoming. Either we’re meant to be playing huge open world games that look pretty; Soulslikes that prioritise perseverance above all else, including good characterisation and story; or we’ve got live service multiplayer.

Or there’s deep, emotionally driven games like Ghost Of Tsushima, with all its talk of honour and Mongols, that despite looking beautiful and being gratifying to play is overly serious – much like The Last Of Us Part 2, Days Gone, Detroit: Become Human, the modern God Of War games, and Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West.

There’s no sparkling protagonists or cool, quirky mascots anymore, for the most part. Nor characters that welcome players with their wit or their playfulness. No more Nathan Drake, no more Jak and Daxter, and no more Sly – meaning there’s not a lot of personality left in PlayStation’s exclusive library.

Modern PlayStation strives towards realism and emotional characterisation, but it seems with the PlayStation 4/5 triple-A games we’re not meant to have a laugh or be subjected to flamboyant and interesting personalities, just leaden characters that drone on and on like Ellie and Aloy.

It’s as if modern PlayStation games have sucked out a lot of the charm they used to have, replacing it with loads of talking and ineffective ways to make us care about what’s going on. Spider-Man games seem to be the exception, but they’re Marvel products and we want our Spider-Man to spout nonchalant quips and wisecracks.

Thankfully, the forthcoming Astro Bot looks fun as heck, and I am so pleased that this plucky platformer has some spark and old school fun at its core. Vibrancy and playfulness is what PlayStation needs now more than ever, because otherwise the essence of PlayStation won’t feel delightful and characterful, it’ll feel all miserable and moody like The Last of Us Part 2, Days Gone, a teenager, or adult life in general.

Variety is what PlayStation knows best, but in the past couple of generations the emphasis on fun seems to have been twisted up and mangled. Original characters that are relatable and likable is what PlayStation needs, not only for fun-loving gamers like me, but for the children and families who want games to be easy going and pleasant.

I do feel PlayStation has grown up alongside gamers from the 90s and I think that’s evident when you look back through the generations, but I still think the triple-A pool needs to widen. Though of course they’re only focusing on the most popular types of games to make money, which is an understandable if safe tactic.

I know this incoherent rant is a bit messy, but my point is video games just aren’t as expressive or as exciting as they used to be, most likely due to how much our culture has changed and how overwhelming capitalism is becoming.

By reader James Davie

Astro Bot is fun, Kratos is not (Sony Interactive Entertainment)

The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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