What a great article. Zelda will never again be what this guy is looking for; there is simply too much pressure now for AAA games to be cinematic, cater to all

What a great article. Zelda will never again be what this guy is looking for; there is simply too much pressure now for AAA games to be cinematic, cater to all audiences and easily expose all of their (extremely expensive) content to the player on demand - people want to get what they paid for. The kind of experience he's looking for is now a niche corner of gaming: roguelikes offer random world generation, truly punishing death, and the need to really explore and figure things out (because it's a little different every time). The biggest problem that a game has to deal with nowadays is how to treat failure. How do you offer risk/reward, and punish the player in a way that they keep coming back? As a game player, I've discovered that the best thing you can do nowadays is try every game you can get your hands on, especially the enormous world of indie games out there. I've had to work through the natural instinct to stick to the prettiest, biggest-budget games and start trawling the indiest of the indie on Steam. You can find a better experience with a small game that made design decisions that resonate with you rather than a AAA, zillion-dollar-budget blockbuster that needs to cater to everyone, so seek out games that are opinionated. I can't tell you how many times I've been so pleasantly surprised by a $10-$15 deal and sunk hours and hours into it... maybe it's about as many times as I've gotten bored with another AAA chore simulator.