I've had a very poor few weeks, crashed very heavily from disaster after disaster, I won't get into details but I haven't been able to play more than 5 minutes of a game the last two weeks and techniques to get out of a gaming rut are probably pointless for me right now becaude this is not just confined to gaming burnout and mine won't work anyway but I could really do with being able to play games right now so I was wondering if anyone could share their go to plans to get out of a rut? Doesn't have to be of use to get into something massive like Baldurs Gate 3 which I tried to get going but it's to gargantuan a task, unfortunately the most simple of games, Soulstone Survivors and Keepers toll which are Vampire Survivors like games won't even stick. I'm hoping for something a little more complex and engaging than Tetris though. 

My go to strats are playing something simple with no story like tetris or sekiro that has muscle memory ingrained into me so eventually I'll get used to playing the game and want to actually play it, then I can move onto something new. Playing a masterpiece I know the ins and outs of like the back of my hand so I'm just following a path I've done many times before and finding a cosy game like a life sim or art style type game. (Sword of the sea and Coral Island are now installed but no luck) There are a few others but these are generally what works for me and are having no success currently. 

I've heard power washing simulator is an evergreen game that fills voids in between releases for people, gonna try that but can anyone add their own strategies to solve this problem?

Please and thank you. I might have made this thread before but I can not find anything to resurface. 

Disconnect all gaming devices, box them up, put them away so you can't even see them anymore and stop thinking about it entirely. Do that for as long as it takes for you to start having the itch again. When you do, when that itch does come back (and it will; you are a gamer; it's in your DNA), you'll likely fall head-over-heels in love with gaming and go on a binge to end all binges.

I just constantly switch games, so I don't get bored and burned out by them. I do regularly come back to them if I like them, though.

In my experience—and I know this is advice you explicitly stated as not wanting to hear—the most effective strategy to get me out of gaming over-saturation has been to simply game less. From late-2022 all the way through until early-2025, I used to game 12hr/wk (specifically on Saturdays). My passion for gaming was sky high during 2023 but came slowly crashing down throughout 2024. Once 2025 hit, I was too exhausted to play anything. So, I took some time away from gaming (mid-April all the way until the launch of NS2) and…yeah…the results have been very good. What was once a slog of several 8/10 games has turned into every game being a near masterpiece. MKWorld, DragXDrive, DKBananza… I have fallen in love with all three of these games!

If you’re not looking to step away from gaming, however, then it might be worth contemplating on the “why” behind your recent disinterest. Tackling an issue by its root cause is always an effective strategy, though may take a long time to figure out. Also, simple games with no story? Have you considered looking into Nintendo? That’s the main draw for me with Nintendo games. They aren’t too heavy.

Being married and having a kid ensures I'll never get burnt out now lol but back in my teenage days, whenever I felt like I was, I would go back to an older nostalgic game. Whether it was Donkey Kong Country, Crash Bandicoot, Emperor's New Groove (don't laugh) Warcraft 3, Unreal Tournament, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, etc. they would reinvigorate my love for gaming!

Subconsciously your mind may be craving another creative outlet. Have you been thinking about a project or hobby that you've been putting off?

Only thing I want right now if for someone to ask me for help so I can feel a bit useful and distract myself in my current situation but as for hobbies no there is nothing I'm avoiding, I play the guitar and it's the same story, just can't into it. Can't concentrate at all, have no motivation and just completely and utterly flattened on energy all the while having the inverse in my mind with a sense of deep, restless anxiety so yeah, pretty much a hellish experience and easy to see why I can't do anything. Shits super fucked when you can't enjoy music. 

Thanks for the replies folks, appreciated. Unfortunately I need a quick fix to this.

The last time I had one was in 2004. A friend got me hooked on RPGs. I wasn't an RPG guy before that. Ever since then I am one but I have also explored other genres. How I got into shmups and mecha games, and more. Exploring genres and series, normally, I didn't think I would be into them. 2 years ago got into Gears of War and now a big fan of it. It helped that I already loved VanQuish and Binary Domain. Explore. Give something you didn't like originally another shot with a new mindset. Try new series and genres outside the comfort zone.

you can always just tell yourself that you aren’t burned out and eventually you’ll start to believe it. That’s worked very effectively for me lol and might be the quickest solution I can think of. You could also try playing MKWorld and realize how much of a masterpiece it is.