8 Worst Things About Being A Gamer In 2016

The last ten years have seen an enormous change in the games industry. Not only have the budgets of mainstream "triple A" titles ballooned enormously, but indie developers are getting a ton more focus, and now have the tools to release games so impressive-looking, they rival that of the larger studios.

But not every change has been a good one. In fact, being a video games fan now means navigating a staggeringly huge landscape of content, whether that's deciding the right system for you (each of which have multiple variants) or simply choosing what it is you want to play (good luck separating the wheat from the chaff).

Then there's the fact that enjoying video games is a more expensive endeavour than ever, whether that's purchasing an upgraded console with the latest accessories or dropping money within a game in order to grab all of the available content.

Indeed, many of the industry's changes this year have been truly maddening, and here are the eight worst things about being a video games fan in 2016.

Every gamer knows what it's like to have too much of a good thing.

Chances are, if you've got a PC or laptop and a Stream account, you've got a massive swathe of games you haven't played (many of which were probably nabbed up during a Humble Bundle or Steam sale). Even then, consoles can have flash sales too, and many games that are a couple years old drop in price so much that they demand an impulsive purchase.

The problem is, there's only so much time in the day, and only so much that can feasibly be played. The number of unique, interesting games being made in 2016 is staggering.

How can you be expected to play everything that's great? It's impossible. Keeping on top of what's hot in the gaming world is a thankless task. By the time you've played through a masterpiece like Shovel Knight - enjoying all the secrets it has to offer - two more brilliant indie titles have dropped. And there's the more expensive mainstream titles...

Choice is good, yes, but my god is there a frustrating amount of it!