What is a normal video game?

In my mind a normal video game has the following characteristics:

• You can buy it and get a full experience.
• It lasts 15-30h (30-60h if it's an rpg).
• It's expensive if you buy it new and it has a lot of work put into it, but not an unfathomable amount.
• You can put it down once you're finished and move on to something else.

They basically don't make normal video games anymore. "Normal video games" only existed for about 15 years and died in 2014. People act like indie games replaced them, but I think that kind of misses what's special about indie games. They're definitely not replaced by the big budget time devourers that most people play. And there's still some games that seem like normal games but are really just like, bait to get you to love a franchise and then make real money off of other things. It's a mess!

The purpose of this essay is to figure out what is valuable about a normal video game, and why none of these will replace normal video games in my heart. And to start, I'll go over the kind of things that normal video games are not.

Horrific monstrosities

Most hours playing videogames these days go to free to play titles, which are well documented problems. They eat up as much time as possible through smoothed out game design, and try to loop players into spending money. While good design that would have been in a normal videogame 20 years ago can exist in this kind of game, essentially funded by gambling, there's a limit to the possibilities of what can happen in the space. I feel like it's flattening what people expect of games into a smaller number of categories.

The other type of monstrosity are macro-budget AAA titles with features like large open worlds and excessive production values. Some of these are like f2p titles in that they try to play smoothly and absorb as many hours as possible, think Assassins Creed. Others are these awkward attempts to make prestige Hollywood content interactive, like The Last of Us. All of these are so expensive that the possibilities shrink to just a few action game styles, and each element takes so time to produce that there's less room for experimentation.

Some of these titles feel like they are "worth" the amount of human effort that goes into them, though I can see arguments otherwise. I'm fond of Cyberpunk 2077 and Death Stranding. But I usually end up ignoring most of this space; they don't make normal video games there anymore.

Indie games

The indie game market is lucrative and can result in exciting games. If a few people can make a game by themselves, the result is a game that has the following characteristics:

• Can be sold cheaper, and make a lot of money for a few people
• Made faster, and can jump on newer trends
• Can take more creative risks
• May showcase a unique point of view

Sometimes an indie game will balloon into something resembling a normal video game, especially as technology evolves. But generally in that case you're ending up with something that focuses on one specific part of what makes a full "normal video game", like story or a specific type of combat. Less budget, less you can put into a game.

As normal video games die out, there's this idea in the air that indie games can come in and take over that space. I see this failing more often than not though, as usually the more an indie title tries to expand to normal video game size the more they over stretch themselves. Example: Demonschool is a small scale puzzle rpg that ballooned itself into a full Persona style game and it kinda sucks! It can be very easy to lose what makes indie games work by going that big.

Indie games are also under the same competitive pressures as monstrosity games to take up more and more time. If you want to, you can treat a rougelike or a friendslop game as a kind of forever game, and more and more titles seem are designing themselves around that. There's an audience that seems to want even $10 games to offer hundreds of hours of content, and that's not healthy in the long run.

But! I still love indie games! Even if the scene is getting progressively more lame.

Side note: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not an indie game. It's just a rare example of a modern normal video game.

Lifestyle franchises

The only place where we regularly see something like a normal video game is in long running series like Yakuza/Like a Dragon , Resident Evil , or Dragon Quest. Nintendo also has a unique holistic approach to their consoles that includes releasing some normal video games.

A lot of these can be very good, but they're also limited by the economic model they need to fit in. The point is almost less the games themselves but the ecosystem of fandom they're a part of. They're looking to consume your life just like the monstrosities that make up most of the game industry, they just do so by offering products that look kind of like a normal video game.

I'm not against franchises in general, and get why turning franchises into a media mix that people can obsess over makes money. But we're at a point where such a focus on franchises and elements outside the game can create incentives to make games the same way every time. I feel this intention to keep reliving older ideas is behind a trend where, instead of making a new normal videogame, publishers just keep remaking things.

I want to play normal video games

I know this is partly because I grew up when games were these kind of things, and that consumption habits have changed and left me behind. I'm an old man yelling at cloud. But I just want normal games goddamnit. Here's why:

• Due to budget and labor constraints, indie games must have "clean" designs where everything supports the basic reasons you're here (think Slay the Spire). A normal videogame relaxes that requirement, so designs get "dirt" that can be as interesting as the core of a game.
  • This is in contrast with macro-budget games, where the dirt is itself monetized and stirred together with the core, into a slop you can wade through.
• Because of the smaller scale, it's easier to justify new ideas in gameplay and presentation. I'm not saying all games from my youth were boldly original, but even the clones would have to do something to make themselves stand out.
• A normal videogame doesn't have elements that are meant to draw you back every day. You can put it and down and pick it up whenever. It's finished, and you can be finished with it. I feel this helps me enjoy the games more when I play them.
• You can live a fuller gaming life while "mastering" games, instead of just playing one or two or getting stuck in a franchise.

While they're rare and precious, here's a few normal video games from recent years. I know some of them are like six years old but whatever. It makes my point that I have to reach back so far.

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was previously mentioned. It's a great game, but I do think a level of the praise was because people were enjoying playing a normal video game again.
• The new Grasshopper Manufacture game, Romeo is a Dead Man , is a franchise title in a lot of ways but I don't think it wants to take over your life. It also is the game that made me think about normal video games, because despite the presentation it's very much a normal video game.
• Evil West is not very good but I happily played through the whole thing because it's a normal video game.
• Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a sadly overlooked normal game from Capcom. I know that every game that tries to mix strategy gaming and action is doomed but this is my favorite spin at the concept, and the vibes are great.
• Capcom is releasing PRAGMATA this year and while it has some elements that make me 🤨 like how it's been teased for years I think at its core it's gonna be a normal videogame.
• Hi-Fi Rush is a normal videogame. No idea why it was launched at $30.
• They made a normal video game for VR once and it's Half-Life: Alyx.
• Konami is trying to make Silent Hill into a lifestyle franchise but I think Silent Hill f is a very normal video game at its core.
• Platinum Games' reputation is largely because they released a bunch of normal games after everyone else stopped making them. I like a lot of 'em, but mostly because it's nice to play a normal game even if it's only okay. Astral Chain is a great example of a normal video game. I guess Platinum doesn't really exist anymore cause everyone cool left but I think they're part of this story.

In the end, I guess "normal video game" is a vibe. It doesn't demand your attention, except by being good. There's nothing life changing about this kind of thing, they're games that know they're just a piece of art you can buy and enjoy. There's a fleeting nature to a normal video game, and I think that's something I want. To me, they feel like a gift from another dimension where things aren't as turbulent and cool things are just allowed to exist.