Will the generation growing up on modern games have any nostalgic aesthetic?

Nostalgia happens because you remember the good and forget the bad. People remember Mario 3 but forget Mario is Missing.

In 20 years, people will say, “Remember when they made good games like Baldur’s Gate 3 rather than the trash that is Baldur’s Cash Grab?” Kids today will wax poetic about how the 2020s was the last good decade for gaming.

The truth is, there will always be good and bad games.

Nostalgia is a funny thing. People are nostalgic for the 80s. And MySpace. And bad movies.

So I'm sure young people in twenty years will find things about any modern thing to be nostalgic for, even in a sea of mediocrity.

The best games of this generation will have nostalgia. No one really has nostalgia for the mountains of shovel ware that came out in the 90s and 00s but it still existed.

One interesting thing is that a lot of games these days are “live service” and so they won’t be able to experience them the same ways in 20 years where I can basically play any of my favorite childhood games as I experienced them as a kid

We are nostalgic of the best games or the things we played most. Nobody remembers all the shit shovelware that was as ubiquitous as today's cashgrabs.

In 20 years people will remember BG3, Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild, Outer Wilds, Hollow Knight... And even if they remember Overwatch or Destiny 2, they'll remember the good parts and the aesthetics, not the storefronts and lootboxes.

Not everything was awesome when we were young. We just remember the best things.

The voxel aesthetic of Minecraft and some indie games will probably be a source of nostalgia in the future.

That, and whatever Roblox is.

I'm almost certain Risk of Rain will be nostalgized heavily.

The 90s and 00s had plenty of terrible cash-grab video games as well. Tons of cheaply made licensed movie games or basic platformers that could be finished in 30 minutes while costing 40 bucks. For every game like Deus Ex, you had 10 games like Antz Racing. For every Mario 64 you had a Bubsy 3d.

People will remember games like Elden Ring, BG3, Zelda TOTK and Mario Wonder from the 2020s, while quickly forgetting the cashgrabs.

It's a lovely day in the village, and you are a horrible goose.

Everyone finds things to be nostalgic about, even if they didn't like the things at the time.

Stardew Valley will probably be the game that looms largest in my kid’s nostalgia. They have both played the life out of that thing. Other things that come to mind: Minecraft, phasmaphobia, fnaf, Skyrim, duck game, BOTW, and Nidhogg 2.

There is no guiding aesthetic driven by the technology, just whatever is available and cool.

Re: loot boxes, there is no denying that fortnight is(was?) a huge deal in this gen of kids. I’m sure at least some kids are going to have fond memories of getting v bucks for their birthday.

Yes - because the future of gaming is probably VR spaces so games on a 2D screen will become nostalgic to an extent.

The nostalgia may be loading up a space with a virtual pc and playing an old game on a mouse and keyboard or controller.

VR headsets aren't yet there but but when they're light weight and high definition enough, it may make more sense to play a game on a virtual screen which can be 40 inches or room scale, than your desktop. If I could see my hands and the mouse and keyboard I'd probably already be doing it. It already works with virtual desktop and controller based games.

There are plenty of cool/fun games out there that have a cool aesthetic. Hi-Fi Rush, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, any of the Borderlands games (even the new ones), the new Spider-Man games are ultra polished high-budget AAA blockbuster titles that I'm almost positive will make people nostalgic for in the future.

nostalgia isn't about a game nostalgia is about the experiences you had with it while you were younger

Man I'm fucking old.

My dude, video games started in the 60s. People have been saying the same thing ever since. This phenomena is more about the nature of nostalgia more than it is about any specific subject.

Yup, people will be nostalgic for LMFAO's Party Rock music video, JJ Abrams' Star Trek, and autotuned music. Just like I'm nostalgic for MTV's Daria and Star Trek DS9.

We are spoiled with good games if you know where to look. We had less possibilities back then. So yeah, they will be nostalgic of the great games coming out recently !

In my experience nostalgia is about the memories around the item as much as the item itself.

When I think about the SNES I think about playing it with my older brother more than specific games.

But also the same with games. I remember mario fondly not because the graphics were great but my brother helping me with tricky levels and showing me tricks to get past bits.

There's some good recent games that stand out entirely on their own that are not Cawadoody trash or gacha trash or liiiiiiiiiiiiiive services trash.

It's a golden age for indy titles.

I mean, I'm pretty sure some will be nostalgic for Undertale/Deltarune. And maybe Disco Elysium.