Yep, all the good mechanics which were all new back then have been copied and refined over the years by many many games. The total revolutionary feeling of half-life in story presentation and AI is now standard stuff. So when you play it after playing all the refinements, the original mechanics feel outdated. Plus a lot of the action movie tropes half-life used for inspiration and humor are now also a thing of the past. Games are as much a product of their time as tv and movies.

I can also add the 2D zeldas to this list. I tried Link's Awakening on gameboy and tried to get into link to the past on the Switch. It just doesn't click with me after 3D Zelda. I would have loved them before playing OOT, I'm sure of it.

Mechanically HL still holds up today. Just like original Doom games and Quake and the game engines built after them. There are still games are still heavily inspired and influenced by it (take Valorant for example). While I agree there are stuff that age badly like Goldeneye and games of that era. Due to the horrible control scheme and the way it was designed on console and with one thumb stick to aim/move. This doesn't as it still feels fun and fresh to play and well is a blast to play. Just like others classic games from past generations; take the 2D Mario games and Zelda for example.

So yeah I don't agree, that its all nostalgia and a product of its time. Sure its a little dated (coming from '98) game, doesn't make it less of a superb game. There are still people who play/replay it today if you check on Steam. For me its a timeless classic.

OT Bully (Xbox) played on the Xbox 360. Been waiting it for it to release on the store then bought on Xbox Live several years ago. Didn't get around to play the original on PS3/Xbox though I was glad I did. Brilliant game, something really different from Rockstar and super fun to play.