I always loved retro-style games, long before I learned that they’re considered retro. I’m not sure what makes them so fun but they completely dominate my gaming nowadays.
Naturally, I became curious about the games that had inspired my favorite titles. I tried many of them, and eventually came to a conclusion: most of the time, retro games are nothing but a historical curiosity.
Ultima 4 has fairly unique concept but falls flat with its roleplaying feeling forced, its bland gameplay and its setting with no originality whatsoever.
Compare this to Moonring. Gameplay rivals many modern roguelikes (the classic definition, so Brogue, not Isaac), great setting that sucks you in immediately, and so so many mysteries.
Ambermoon pretends to be an open world RPG but is actually a linear RPG-lite with combat feeling more like a puzzle (and a wrong solution punishes you by 15 mins of you and your opponents missing each other every turn).
That’s not to say that retro games aren’t important - the modern indies are standing on the shoulders of giants. Yet I can’t say that retro games worth the trouble of getting into them, compared to the polished modern indie titles.
I think nostalgia does a lot for those of us who were there. I don’t like some of the modern indies that build on the old games but I will admit they have some serious quality of life improvements.
Fast forwards, save states, extra details you’d normally find in a manual are in-game. Also, the controls are great. When I revisit some old games, I forget that we were really figuring out the best ways to use a controller and it was often very awkward.
The happy middle ground for me are when there are excellent ports of older titles like what M2 has done for a lot of games. Elevating the retro titles to modern platforms and adding enjoyable ergonomics.