How One Game Made Me a Gamer Again

Source: Dev.to

The Problem

Lately, games have started to feel less like an escape and more like a chore. Every new release seems to come with a trade‑off: battle passes, cosmetic shops, seasonal content, daily logins. The message feels clear—spend more money and time, and you’ll have more fun. Microtransactions are “optional,” of course, just like breathing.

I began to wonder if the problem was me. Maybe I’ve lost the patience to really get into games, or adulthood hollowed out that part of my brain. I’d watch reviews where someone confidently stamped an “8/10” on a game, boot it up myself, and immediately feel like I’d already played it. Same mechanics, different coat of paint. Or worse, a game that felt unfinished unless I paid to fill in the gaps.

A Surprising Discovery: Dispatch

Then, almost by accident, I played Dispatch. For those who don’t know it, you’re in charge of a superhero group, managing crises and sending heroes out to fight crime. There are no endless progression systems, no dangling carrots—just a focused idea executed well. I finished it in one sitting and immediately wanted to replay it to see the other outcomes. That hadn’t happened to me in years. (I still haven’t finished The Sims 2, which I started around 2007.)

That experience made me pause. Maybe I wasn’t burnt out on games themselves, but on the kinds of games I’d been choosing.

Changing My Approach

Instead of relying on reviews and scores, I went back to how I picked games in the past. I started watching trailers and forming my own opinion about whether a game actually looked fun to me—ignoring “content‑rich” claims or “worth the grind” arguments. I was looking for pure enjoyment.

That’s how I landed on High on Life.

The High on Life Session

On my first playthrough I went for four uninterrupted hours. That might not sound impressive, but for me it was huge: four hours without checking the time, without feeling guilty, without that nagging sense that I should be doing something more “productive.” When I finally stopped playing, I didn’t feel like I’d wasted my time.

Reflections

Now I’m left with a burning question: Is it just me, or have many modern games become either soul‑sucking pits that require massive time and dedication just to master one move, or carefully engineered money machines designed to drip‑feed dopamine? Games that don’t respect your time unless you also hand over your wallet?

Great games are still out there; I’ve just been looking in the wrong places.

What game(s) have you been playing lately that was an absolute blast?