Did you know that more than 12,000 games were released in 2023? In truth, the vast majority of those titles will have faded into obscurity as quickly as they arrived. And the reason for that is the standards that a modern game must meet are extremely high. Those games that were deemed merely âgoodâ in 2023 might have been revolutionary a couple of decades ago, but not today. After all, we may well be living in the golden age of gaming, a period when titles really have to cut the mustard to make it through.
While all games have their own qualities, when you take a closer look, you often find that there is a broad overlap between many of the titles that get released. They all tend to possess the same staple ingredients. So, what are they? Letâs take a look.
A Legitimate Soundtrack
Video game developers recruit some of the most talented musicians in the world to provide the score for their video games. And those soundtracks arenât just there for decoration. They add depth to the game, allowing players to feel closer to the moment they’re virtually experiencing.
Thereâs a knack for creating a great video game soundtrack. It has to be engaging enough to elevate the scene, but subtle enough to prevent the player from becoming distracted. Big-budget games spend huge sums of money hiring musicians to score their titles, but even comparatively low-budget video games take the time to ensure their soundtrack and effects are on point.
A Narrative
Look back at the earliest video games and youâll find plenty of competitive challenges but not so much in the way of storylines. Thereâs no narrative to games such as Pong, and even in scenarios where there’s technically a storyline, such as with Space Invaders, it tends to be pretty basic â and not all that evident within the gameplay, either. Fast forward to the modern world, and youâll find engaging storylines present in games of all genres. Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Last Of Us both had movie-worthy narratives. Even slot games youâll find on online platforms follow a storyline, such as the spaceship-themed Dr Toonz, which features a UFO-riding scientist interacting with colorful extra-terrestrial characters. More than just simply being about gameplay, modern games create engaging worlds that enhance the playing experience.
Immersive Graphics
Game developers try to make the gap between the real world and the virtual game world theyâve created as small as possible. Itâs like watching a movie; if you could tell you were watching a movie, you wouldnât enjoy it anywhere near as much. Video game developers ensure the graphics are of a standard that allows the player to be sucked into the game. And though that might sound easy, itâs really not.
Fluid Gameplay
A game could look good, sound good, and have an engaging storyline, but if the technical aspects of the game were not up to standard, then it wouldnât be very enjoyable. Itâs remarkable, given how big video game universes are, that there are so few glitches and errors. In the early days of the industry, games would routinely crash at random points, resulting in a lot of lost progress. Games today canât get away with such a frustrating mistake, and developers go to great lengths to ensure that it doesnât happen. And that means gaming is a much more enjoyable experience than it used to be.
The Right Level of Difficulty
Everyone wants to do well when they play a game, but they donât want to do too well, at least not when they first start playing. As with all things, winning at a game is only satisfying if thereâs a degree of difficulty and challenge. Most games come with multiple difficulty settings, too, so that gamers can enjoy the title on multiple levels. You might finally complete the game on medium difficulty, but youâll have to take things to another level if youâre going to win on hard mode.
Max Martin
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