Why do people watch movies when books exist? They're different mediums for delivering a story.

I saw this thread and assumed you were talking about actual walking simulators like Firewatch or Gone Home, ones that don't really have any gameplay mechanics besides walking and interacting with objects. But from your comments you seem to be taking issue with games like God of War, The Last of Us and The Witcher which makes me think you're a little misguided as to what those games really are. Those games have a story but that's not the sole reason they're popular. They're all groundbreaking titles in their own right from a technical perspective, they just happen to have good stories because that makes them resonate with players even more.

It's like how a movie with a bunch great fight scenes and no story isn't going to resonate with audiences in the same way as a movie with great fight scenes and a story to tie it all together. It's an important part of the immersive experience for a lot of people.

The older I get the less I care about endless gameplay loops and carrot on a stick mechanics. A good story keeps me invested and caring about what happens on the screen. Games like God of War, Last of us, Witcher are gold standards when it comes to this. They are not movies on rails, they are engaging and interactive experiences like you can't find anywhere else and for this I will always love these types of games more than any other medium.

Edit: OP literally mentioned these games as examples lower down in the thread.

"Why do people have preferences?"

This is the weirdest comments section I've ever seen. Stories are why I play every single one of my favourite games. I just finished Control and it's absolutely phenomenal. Yes it plays and looks great, but the story and lore is why it's so good.

an interactive medium offers unique avenues for storytelling not available to something more static like a film or a novel.

think things like environmental storytelling or branching narratives.

For me personally, video games are interactive stories. I love movies and TV shows, and being able to have some level of control over the action is an amazing experience for me!

I'm also not competitive and don't care so much about scores, rankings, or online multiplayer vs. games. Just give me an intriguing plot and let me be the protagonist in it. I'll play that game for hours on end.

I don't like games that are essentially movies with a few interactive scenes between clips, though. It has to be really interesting if I'm going to sit through a game like that. I'm here to play, not to watch. The only series that's been interesting enough for me to deal with hundreds of cutscenes dispersed every few minutes throughout is the Metal Gear Solid series.

I realize I don't speak for the whole gaming community, but this is my personal view.

On PC - Steam alone, 12000 games were released in 2023.

OP, your statement is vague and generic. Please show the math.

In a game, you're the protagonist. In a movie, someone else is. Two different experiences.

Because all you name below are AAA games where everyone wants to flex their budget. It's like asking "why do big budget movies focus so often on explosions and action, instead of stories? What happened to things like Shawshank Redemption?"

As soon as you step away from big AAA games that lean heavily on cinematic influence, you get much more gameplay-focused content. I could name a million of them.

But it's a spectrum, not an on/off switch. There's a huge array of different types of games with different combinations of action, cinematics, dialog, quick-time events, racing, flying, rhythm-matching, puzzles, and on and on and on

Tell us what you're actually looking for and we could give suggestions :)

Don't tell us what you don't want. Tell us what interests you

Even if a game technically has great gameplay, it can start to feel pointless if the story is trash.

These days, as in...Now?

Today?

This is the era of boomer shooters...

We haven't had a new stand alone Uncharted game for...7 years.

Involvement. Because no matter how perfect the gameplay is, if you use your brain occaisonally, you should ask yourself WHY? Why am i doing it.

If you play since the 80‘s, you hit, flew, drove, shot, build and puzzled almost everything.

Stories consist of motivations. Otherwise there is nothing of consequence going on. But cheer up. There are many more people like you, Stanley. Push the button. Keep pushing it.

Movies aren't interactive.

Almost everything in this world stresses me out.

I want to feel involved in something while going at my own pace. Video games give me to power to finally be in control. That's why I like them so much. Movies force you along.

I can go at my own pace with a game. I pause the story and the rest of the world is still there to interact with.

I would argue that all games have a story. Some have a scripted narrative--which, in the medium of video games, gives the player their own immersive role in the story--while other games give you the tools to create your own story as you play. You face conflicts and use your abilities and the resources around you to overcome them, ideally resulting in a satisfying progression throughout your playtime.

Both are cool for different reasons.

I wasn't aware of this, what games are you referring to?

There's lots of kinds of games.

You want chess? There's chess. Like, no other game has better software than chess. Lichess is maybe the cleanest goddamn game experience that anyone's ever written in code. There's no bullshit whatsoever. You can just run it and play chess, with the computer or with a human. It's just a game.

The best Go game I can point you to is KGS and it's not as good as Lichess. Which is sad, because Go is awesome.

You want to play a run-around-and-whack-stuff-with-a-sword game? Yeah, buy yourself a Nintendo and play the latest Zelda game. They're good at that. Especially if you have a strong stomach and don't get all pukey when your guy goes flying in the air.

Or you want to play a Dungeons & Dragons game with factions and fights and gnolls and hot drow ladies? Yeah, you go install Steam and play Baldur's Gate 3. It's okay if you didn't play Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. Nobody else did either.

For visual novels with no input besides the occasional choice, I personally like to enjoy the music and story without having to worry about skill issues or in some cases, it being hard to get past a certain section that prevents me from progressing. And a couple things most visual novels have that movies don't would be the ability to go at your own pace and choices that alter the dialogue and the overall ending.

Though, that's just my take on it from my perspective from someone who likes both no-input visual novel games and normal games.

I'd like to see more games with replay value. We need a new PC FPS

I wanted something retro cyberpunk RPG recently and installed VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action, only to discover that there is no action and barely no game. It's just endless nexting through a narrative that smells of teenage bedsheets.

Apparently it's massively popular.

I don't get it at all. For me it's like reading wet fanfic while double tapping the space bar and perform the most tedious implementation of what can barely be considered a puzzle or memory game.

Edit: don't get me wrong. I enjoy slow narrative driven indie games with barely any interactive parts, as long the narrative is interesting and the interaction is still barely as opposed to virtually none.

Don't worry OP. My observation of people who eventually stopped playing those games and instead just watch the story on YouTube validates your experience. Some games are worth less than their let's plays.