10 Confusing Trends The Gaming Industry Is Convinced You Like
2. Needlessly Bloated Runtimes
The perfect runtime of a video game is something that changes from person to person. Some players love a shorter experience that tells a succinct story, while others are all about long adventures that span well into the triple digits. Thankfully, there are plenty of games to whack on for either of these options. At least, there used to be, but if you're looking for compact new Triple-A releases, your options are starting to thin.
It's become common for modern games to overstay their welcome as they drag out over longer runtimes. On paper, longer average runtimes sound like a good thing, as you can get more bang for your buck. However, it's not so great in practice, as a bloated game that drags on for more time than it needs to can be a nightmare for pacing.
2024 saw a perfect example of this through Bloober Team's (still very excellent) Silent Hill 2 Remake, a game with an average runtime of about 16 hours. That's not even lengthy by modern standards, but the original only lasted about 8 hours and you can feel it in the remake's plodding, slow pace.