You’re not accepting more expensive entertainment either. You’re pirating it. None of these games were made with less effort; they’re typically just made by fewer people. Adding more people to the project doesn’t make the game any better, or else Ubisoft games would be the greatest games ever made. I think I see why you’ve got this perspective that’s completely divorced from reality. Yes, most games have microtransactions if you completely disregard most games. I’d encourage you to give some of those games you’re ignoring a try.

I’d say check out Case of the Golden Idol on a deep sale to test the waters. Lorelei is definitely hard mode if you’re not sure if this is something you’d want, but we found that having two people to approach solving the puzzles helped a lot.

My wife loves Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, and she’s been way into Hello Kitty: Island Adventure lately. It seems to split the difference between those things and add some of its own spice on top.

That depends on what you’re looking for. From this year alone, there’s Split Fiction, Avowed, and Knights in Tight Spaces, and I haven’t finished Blue Prince yet, but it’s pretty cool so far. What is it about indie titles, however you define that term, that doesn’t interest you? Because at this point, it’s most video games (AAA games take a long, long time to make these days), and that would go a long way toward explaining how you feel most good games have microtransactions, if you’re willing to ignore most good games.

Is DLC a problem if a game had been “finished” for years and then they go back and make one for an old game? It’s been known to happen. I don’t see it as a problem, because it’s arbitrary. In many ways, a DLC can be reactionary for what a game needs after they’ve had time to observe the completed thing. It also depends on your definition of indie, since there’s as wide of a range in production value among games called “indie” as there is among “AAA”. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II probably cost one tenth what the next Grand Theft Auto cost to make, and a game like Indika or Clair Obscur could fool plenty of people into thinking they were made by enormous teams.

But like I said, even if I filtered for games without any sort of DLC, there’s still tons to play.

If you like puzzle games, you might try a game that’s not technically multiplayer but that the two of you can work on solving together, which is what my wife and I do. Good candidates for that are Case/Rise of the Golden Idol, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, and we’re currently playing Blue Prince.

I think you’re having trouble finding the good stuff in the first place then. We’re flooded with more great games than ever. And microtransactions are one thing, but something like a DLC expansion isn’t pressuring you to buy it if you like the base game. Even still, if you had a problem with the existence of any DLC for a game whatsoever, there’s still tons to play.

Playing through those old games now, I feel like they could use some kind of dodge move to get an escape from guaranteed damage, so if the movement does that, I’ll be happy. But those games are also littered with level designs that make you take the long way around due to a single ledge being too high, so hopefully it alleviates that problem a bit too. The Destiny personal vehicle seems like a departure from Catch a Ride, but maybe those already weren’t in 3 for all I know, and being able to spawn it out of nowhere probably is an improvement.

If you think the only way to find fantastic games without microtransactions is to pirate, then you’re missing tons of great games.

This one’s on Steam.

They can’t lay people off, so they just put them in a room with no work to do until they get so bored that they quit. It’s the same thing but different.

Live service, sure, since that’s the entire point of live service, but we’re spoiled for choice of fantastic games across different scopes and scales that don’t have any microtransactions at all.

The new normal for what?

As an alternate perspective, early access isn’t some sad, new state of gaming. Done right, it’s a way to hone in on perfecting a systems-driven game that probably doesn’t really have an end. It’s been used to great effect in roguelikes, Kerbal Space Program, and Baldur’s Gate 3. If anything, the problem with the program now is that there are so many finished games to choose from that it’s a harder sell to try out an early access game.

Right, but that extra launcher causes problems, so I tend to avoid games that still have it. It’s why I still haven’t played A Way Out but played Split Fiction.

FF7 remake is cool for a lot of reasons, but we’ve got countless reasons to support the idea that turn-based combat isn’t the barrier to playing those old games.

They sold 1 million copies in a couple of days on top of a Game Pass deal, and their team is leaner than most. They’re surely financially successful.

League is too.