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I have yet to get the demo, but I'm planning on it (terrible download speed)
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But, I'll join the crotchety-old-man club with you and complain about modern games too. Actually I'll go further: the problem that nags at me in modern AAA games is that they're hyper-focussed about always making sure the player has a short-term goal in hand. Usually with an obvious way to accomplish it. They polish that aspect so much that you can roll through the game just sort of reacting to whatever task is in front of you, and you're never much engaged in making plans or thinking about the overall shape and progress of the game. And the "local" focus means the developers may not have been thinking much about such things either, which doesn't help.
When you pop out the other side of the final cutscene, it's probably been a fun rollercoaster ride but perhaps not the most memorable experience.
I had been thinking about this recently when I saw a video of someone playing through a portion of Dead Space. It reminded me that I had liked that game a lot, and the individual bits of it were great -- visuals, sound design, combat. But it didn't really stick with me. I'd guess that's because in Dead Space you're a gofer shuttled quickly from setpiece to setpiece, with not much feeling of agency and not much sense of some structure or narrative building through to the conclusion.
Dead Space would have been a truly great game if it could have managed to at least give you the illusion of really exploring that huge horrible ship and figuring out what to do. I'd hope it's possible to provide that sort of experience and still have enough occasional guidance to keep players from quitting in frustration.
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