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Decline 2010 vs 2020

Lhynn

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Its a rather crude comparison video, and 2010 was not a very good year, but it only highlights just how bad things are now. He does mention that there is simply no comparison between 2010 and stuff that came between 1996 and 2006, it being his favorite 10 year period.
 

Lemming42

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Not sure what the value is in him comparing a list of all releases (bar handheld exclusives) from 2010 with a list of a few selections from 2020. It's also pretty funny that 90% of the video is him saying "didn't play that but people say it's good".

Most of the 2010 release list is filled with shit, same as every other year. Very quickly looking over a full list of 2010 games, here are the ones that I'd personally consider to be actually worthwhile (not counting expansions):
Metro 2033
Alpha Protocol
Singularity
Victoria 2
Fallout: New Vegas
Mount & Blade: Warband
Civilization V

While this is my 2020 list (again, not counting expansions):
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord
Desperados 3
Gears Tactics
Black Mesa (you could argue that this isn't really a 2020 release, but fuck it)
XCOM: Chimera Squad (being a little generous here since this was pretty barebones)

2010 is the stronger year so far, but 2020 isn't a hell of a lot worse (for someone with my tastes, at least), especially considering we've got some potentially good games arriving in the next few months.
 

Roguey

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2020's not even over yet, what a presumptuous video. All the killer apps are typically released in the holiday season.
 

Lhynn

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Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord
Desperados 3
Gears Tactics - Shit
Black Mesa (you could argue that this isn't really a 2020 release, but fuck it) - Rerelease
XCOM: Chimera Squad (being a little generous here since this was pretty barebones) - Shit
Leaving you with M&B 2 and desperados 3.
Though things become much better once you look at the indie side of things.
 

Lemming42

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Black Mesa isn't a re-release, it was finished this year. I guess the Early Access model makes it hard to really pin an exact release year to a game, but it'd definitely be wrong to call Black Mesa a 2012 release given how different the 2020 build is.

One advantage 2020 has over 2010 is that niche genres are coming back. Gears Tactics and Chimera Squad might not be the best games ever but I liked them both. There weren't really any turn-based tactics games being developed 10 years ago, now it's viable to make them again. There's been a lot this year already that I haven't gotten around to playing yet, like Troubleshooter, and there's some more scheduled to release in a few weeks. I'd rather have a few average games in a genre I enjoy than a glut of triple-A games in genres I don't give a shit about.
 

Falksi

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I didn't even watch the vid, but I brofisted the OP because I like that it champions the past whilst ridiculing the now.
 
Joined
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Codex Year of the Donut
Remember 2010? When gay marriage was still illegal? Before there were trannies everywhere and kids were being injected with hormones while society celebrated it?
Good times.

oh wait, this is about video games?
probably helps to remember that there was a global pandemic that caused massive delays in the industry
 

Ash

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2010 was total shit, a tiny handful of games aside. 2020 and recent years are also total shit tiny handful aside. Indies seem more on point lately though, among the hordes of shovelware of course.
 

JarlFrank

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Meh. 2010 wasn't that great either. I guess it gave us New Vegas which was good. But I can't recall any other great games from that year off the top of my head, meanwhile I can name a couple for years like 2004, 2001, 1999, 1998, 1993. 2010 doesn't come up with anything other than New Vegas though.

Meanwhile the indie scene is a lot more lively than it was 10 years ago. Back then we were happy when Jeff Vogel released a new game, or when an indie platformer turned out to be actually good. Now we have a dozen RPGs and strategy games of varying quality made by a single gopnik in his basement somewhere in Russia, and they're ten times more interesting than anything the mainstream can deliver.

Sure, AAA games have gotten worse and worse. Microtransactions, terrible DRM like Denuvo, mass market appeal, gacha lootbox mechanics, yada yada.

But the last decade has also brought us the Kickstarter indie revolution as well as easier access to self-publishing than ever before, with Steam opening the gates for literally anyone to release their games on the platform (leading to a deluge of crap but also hidden gems).

If we compare the latter half of the 2010s to the latter half of the 2000s, the 2010s win. Around 2005/2006 the decline had set in completely, most games were multiplatform console shit, long-running companies like Bethesda and Bioware turned into shit and massively streamlined what used to be great RPG series, shooters were dominated by popamole mechanics, everything was shit.

2015 however saw the release of Age of Decadence and from there it only kept inclining. ATOM, Underrail, Disco Elysium, Serpent in the Staglands, even Diablo Clone fans got their fix with Grim Dawn and Path of Exile.
We also saw a resurgence of classic FPS after almost a decade of popamoles. Dusk, Amid Evil, Ion Fury, Wrath, Hedon, Project Warlock. The boomer shooter is BACK, baby!
Strategy games are also looking quite fine. The recent Shadow Empire looks really interesting, the Age of Fear series is a series of tactical RPGs which keep getting new entries, we received a Fantasy General 2 that's actually pretty decent, Field of Glory 2 was pretty great, etc.

If you look past the mainstream AAA shit, things are much better than a decade ago.
 

Mark Richard

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The ongoing convid disaster has decimated the entertainment industry. Comparing 2010 and 2020 is like walking into the ruins of the Pompeii amphitheatre after the volcano erupted and then claiming the gladiatorial matches have been awful lately. No shit, Cornelius. Yes 2020 is worse than 2010, but even then, only marginally!

As I've said before, I don't believe in the perpetual decline. Gaming overall is getting better, not worse. In the late 2000s I was on the verge of leaving this hobby behind altogether, but the crowdfunded indi renaissance has revitalized my interest and provided gifts I'd never thought possible. I would confidently match up any other year from 2015-19 with 2010.
 

JarlFrank

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
The ongoing convid disaster has decimated the entertainment industry. Comparing 2010 and 2020 is like walking into the ruins of the Pompeii amphitheatre after the volcano erupted and then claiming the gladiatorial matches have been awful lately. No shit, Cornelius. Yes 2020 is worse than 2010, but even then, only marginally!

Is it really worse though? Only if you look at mainstream AAA stuff. And the year isn't even over yet.

I gotta look at a list to confirm whether the titles that come to my mind were actually released in 2020 and not one or two years earlier, but... :M

It's not like 2010 was some kind of golden age. Sure, 2000 was better in every aspect. But 2010 was towards the end of the decline years of the late 00s. If you are an oldschool PC gamer who loves classic CRPGs, classic FPS, classic RTS etc, the late 00s was the worst time ever. Everything got consolized, even relatively decent games like Dragon Age Origins were multiplatform and made some concessions to the consoles. Almost everything was popamole in 2010 and some genres were thought dead entirely, like the classic RPG and the RTS. And pretty much every shooter at the time featured regenerating health and popamole mechanics.

This isn't a criticism of one specific year, more like an era of gaming, and if we compare the late 00s era to the late 10s era, the late 10s achieve a clear victory. (I also prefer comparing eras to individual years because as I get older, time passes more quickly, and I can't remember whether a game is from 2018, 2019, or 2020, especially since I tend to wait for a sale instead of buying at release, and put games on my Steam wishlist long before release, so I often don't even realize when the release was :M )

Oh yeah one great 2020 release that comes to my mind is Troubleshooter. It had been out in Early Access before 2020, but the official 1.0 release was this year, and it's pure incline.
 

Nathir

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I was still young back in 2010 :negative:
 

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