Tl;DR in bold.

Clair Obscur entering the territory of games I play post platinum got me wondering why we feel the need to play new titles when replaying old games can still be fun, especially given enough time.

I have close to 50 games that are 10 out of 10's for me. I could easily spend all my time in Sekiro, Elden Ring, The Witcher 3, the Divinity OS games, Dirt 4 or Dirt Rally, Xcom 2 which are all very repayable.  I could probably spend two years gaming and have fun, not spend a penny but I feel this overwhelming need to buy something new, despite having good games in my backlog that I just need to dust off. In my backlog alone I have about six months of gaming that is technically new cause I haven't played them yet, they remain there just waiting cause I don't feel the mood for them. Regardless, I'll look through my installed games and even after seeing contenders I know I'll enjoy like but haven't tried yet like Spiderman 2 or Baldurs Gate 3 I think "You know what'd be a good right now, a new game" so I buy one and it is indeed more sticky than something from my backlog simply cause it is new to me (could be on sale, vould be a 6/10 compared to masterpieces like Baldurs gate 3) but not only that, I have the best in genre titles owned, the only problem is that I have beaten them so why go for something new if it's going to be inferior to a game I own in the genre.

I don't know what the simple answer to this question is, can anyone explain this behaviour? It's not just exclusive to games, you could buy your favourite meal every day for dinner but instead you buy something different every day, maybe every week will be vaguely different for food. You could listen to only the music you like which is likely tens of thousands of songs but there is a need for new stuff. It's gotta be new and fresh even if it's throw away and you know it won't stand yhe test of time like a war ballad from the 70's. 

I could play Vampire Survivors right but instead I waste my time and money chasing new games that are like VS only to be disappointed or find a game that is decent but it's just to Vampir Survivors... but Vampire Survivors is right there to play. This is very strange behaviour on our part, if you think about it...

The human brain has one single purpose: to learn. It can't do that when you do just the same old stuff over and over again. It demands for you to feed it new stuff constantly.

At least that's what some anthropologist once told me. =P

I have been playing StarCraft since 1998. ~ 27 years.

I am probably not the best person to answer this question.

You need to split this into "different games" and "newly released games".

Playing "different games" is normal, even if they aren't as good (you can't know that in advance anyway). Playing the latest game that just released is usually just buying into the marketing hype.

If you were to just play the top 1% of games since 1970s, you'd probably only just be getting to the SNES now...

I sometimes buy games I don't even play. Mostly because I want to support the developer or series.

I suppose that makes some sense but it doesn't explain why I don't eat cheeseburgers every meal or games that are easy like Walking sims or like I mentioned in the OT, Vampire Survivors cause that's not a challenging genre, the point os to be fun without challenge.

This might sound strange but I don't feel like I want to replay most newer games (I'll come to exceptions in the end).

But I do not have a problem with replaying older games. And for me there is a pretty defined border for when I started to feel that most games lack replay value and that is around 2001. I think the oldest game I feel like I could pick up and replay is Morrowind.

Games before this from 8-bit and 16-bit console era I have no problems with picking up and playing again. Same with PC 1st person games like for example Doom, Doom 2, Duke 3D, Quake, Unreal etc.

I just feel there is too much bloat and in most cases too much focus on "storytelling" and not enough on actual gameplay in newer games. But I do still enjoy a lot of newer games. But one play through is enough.  

The exception to this is for me games like Stellaris, Civilization (even modern incarnations), X-Com Enemy Unknown/Within they have endless replayability. But this is in part because no play trough is exactly like the previous. And of course online games also have replayability.

EDIT:// I also see the irony in me calling for example Stellaris (2016) and X-COM EU/EW (2012) "new" games in this thread :P 

I just like spending money.

Most good games have a high replay value.  If you like playing that game, then play it again.

There is a concept in economics called diminishing marginal utility.  If you consume something an extra time, you don't get the same amount of enjoyment out of it.  The second slice of pizza is not as tasty as the first slice, even though the two slices are identical.

Many games work this way, especially if it is a story/adventure type game.  After you've experienced the story or adventure once, then it won't be as fun the second time.  On the other hand, skill based games have a higher replay value, because the fun is in building your skills rather than going through a story.  If you play Smash Bros, then it can keep being fun each time if you feel yourself getting better at the game.  Plenty of games have a mix of these two elements.  You might enjoy the story or adventure once, and that aspect becomes less enjoyable, but at the same time if you are building your skills, then the game has you hooked and you want to keep playing.

The human mind likes routine as much as experiencing new things. Actually routine becomes more desired with age.

Hence long running series have so much success, yearly sequels, DLC, GAAS.

Yet I assume you also keep buying new hardware and new games. Variety is the spice of life, routine is the anchor.


Plus "normalization" is a big part of the human mind, anything new becomes old. All planets in NMS are unique yet after a while they all start looking the same or rather, familiar, expected. A new game starts with a lot of 'surprises', the frequency of which diminishes over time, replaced by familiarity.

Learning the 'language' of a new game is fun, even if the game is far less fun than the greats. Learning is rewarding, releasing dopamine. "When we experience pleasant surprises or learn something new, dopamine is released" Hence we seek out new experiences.

Same for movies. I have thousands of great movies, but still watch new crap. I did recently start to re-read Terry Pratchett. After 30+ years my memories have sufficiently degraded to enjoy it close to new again. Plus I read it with a different perspective now.