Truly novel games are VERY VERY rare.
I stopped playing video games after Doom. All the FPS were repetitive to me. Not that Doom was the best – but it was the “break out” game that popularized it. Quake soon followed. Castle Wolfenstein 3D which was also a FPS was more of a nerdy niche, but the gaming community was smaller then. Usually if you knew Castle Wolfenstein 3D you were also making MODs on your PC with Amiga envy, learning trackers, writing in L337, forming “hax0r” clans on BBS’, or starting flame wars on Usenet (if you were lucky enough to have an internet connection, otherwise it was BBS’ ) , or using Virus Creation Lab to create your own and spread viruses to your friends at middle school.
Then Minecraft came alone. THAT was something new. to me. Got totally involved in that. [insert long story].
So for me, that was something like 15-16 years of not much in the way of games.
I’ve seen a few more that have been new in different ways. Pokemon Go, while it may have been a media flash, *was* something very new on the scene. Not that other games haven’t tried big maps – and the same company based it on another game they did using a real-world map and geocaching has been around for YEARS. But the combination of everything that made it spread like wildfire WAS something very new.
===
But you’re talking about gamers. Yeah, you’ll probably keep having a harder and harder time finding something satisfying.
Part of it is that ‘your era’ kinda passed. You can get new eras by changing your goals. [I’ve been through probably 7-8 eras in my life so far, maybe more].
I fight nostalgia whenever I can. My rule is: If I’m starting sound like an old man complaining about the good ol’ days, then I need to look around and find something new get my attention.
===
[responsivevoice_button voice="US English Male"]