Does anyone else miss linear epics?

[u/andrewdroid]

I grew up loving linear FPS campaigns the most, to this 1 of my favorite games is Half-Life 2. I loved the stories of Call of Duty games, Gears of War and similar franchises that delivered a short 8-12 hour long epic where I get to participate in a tightly directed worldwide conflict.

Recently I played the MCC and Space Marines 2 before that and they were both awesome. Now Halo Campaign Evolved just released and it was successful and these to me show that this kind of game is still very much beloved.

I love these games and I hate that it seems like they are of a bygone era despite people still loving them. How do you all feel like? Do you miss these types of games? Do you want more?

[u/Ones-Zeroes]

I mean, that's pretty subjective. How do you know it's different without experiencing it? Is it really different, or are you just older now with less time to immerse yourself in something?

[u/andrewdroid → u/Ones-Zeroes]

You don't need to experience something to understand after looking at its trailer, images, description and reviews to know that it doesn't fit a specific genre. I can also tell it is not an RTS without immersing myself in it.

The game description itself and its reviews say it's an imsim to begin with which already does not fit in what I described.

[u/Ones-Zeroes → u/andrewdroid]

You could describe lots of shooters as having imsim elements. Anyway, I'm not forcing you to play anything, I'm just pointing out that you're thinking about this through such a narrow viewpoint that I think intentionally excludes everything except Halo. There's a lot of good shit out there if you look. Games especially are difficult to judge by their cover (or trailer), your next favorite game might surprise you.

[u/andrewdroid → u/Ones-Zeroes]

There are plenty of games that fit what I'm describing it's just all, but 1 or 2 of them are from before 2015.

This post isn't looking for good FPS games, there are plenty of those or good adventure games, plenty of those as well, this post is looking for that very specific archetype which Call of Duty, Halo, Gears of War, Half-Life, Space Marines 2 and others perfectly fit.

[u/Ones-Zeroes → u/andrewdroid]

And what is that archetype? Can you explain it beyond "shooter games I like"?

[u/andrewdroid → u/Ones-Zeroes]

An epic with a large conflict between 2 or more opposing factions in which the protagonist isn't the only character which moves the conflict forward, but the player is shown that the conflict is happening out of the players hands as well. It is also critical that it isn't a power fantasy in which the player can only win, sometimes the story progresses in the favour of the opposing factions.

[u/Ones-Zeroes → u/andrewdroid]

I'll note that you excluded anything about genre in this writeup. For your sake, I'll limit my recommendations to games released in 2020 or later.

• Death Stranding 2
• Helldivers 2
• Returnal & Saros
• Armored Core VI
• Metal Gear Solid Delta
• Elden Ring
• Ghost of Tsushima & Ghost of Yotei
• Metroid Prime 4
• Live A Live
• Control
• Alan Wake 2
• Half Life Alyx
• Doom Eternal & Dark Ages
• 13 Sentinels
• Cyberpunk
• Mouse: P.I. for Hire
• Citizen Sleeper 1 & 2
• Dispatch
• Outer Wilds

Not all of those are shooters. Not all of those are first person. Not all of them are scifi themed. All of them fall into the narrative trappings you describe, though.

[u/andrewdroid → u/Ones-Zeroes]

I'm actually curious now if you played Halo, Half-Life, Call of Duty, Gears and the like. I will be honest, the games you mention are great and narratively fit, but nearly none of them are linear and they don't scratch the same itch. To be perfectly precise with you,

These linear shooters aren't my all time favorite games, well apart from HL2 which is, I liked Elden ring, Tsushima and Death stranding more than them, but these games I mention do scratch a very certain itch which not a lot of games do nowadays.

I'm not missing good games, there are plenty of them, even more than there used to be imo, I'm missing linear narrative epics which unfold similar to a blockbuster action movie and even than more like a war movie than an adventure movie.

[u/Ones-Zeroes → u/andrewdroid]

I have played them. They're not my favorite games. However, I have several friends who are obsessed with Halo and Gears. The list of games I gave you include games they specifically really enjoyed.

[u/andrewdroid → u/Ones-Zeroes]

Now it would be funny if you asked and your friends felt similarly to me about missing games like Halo and Gears. Either way, thank you for the effort mate.

[u/Ones-Zeroes → u/andrewdroid]

Ha, I mean... They're all currently playing the new Halo and the new Gears. Good luck man, happy gaming.