[wing-_-nuts]

I'm just trying to imagine what I would tell a younger cousin who was still in highschool. I'm not sure I could recommend they get into pc gaming the way things are now, and that makes me sad.

[ahartmetz]

I would say there's a ton of great games made >= 5 years ago, almost all still available, and cheap :)

[jopsen]

The games from 15-25 years ago are also great, especially the ones still available those are the good games.

CS 1.5, OpenTTD, AoE2, the likes..

Fancier graphics doesn't make games better. Gameplay, stories and jokes do.

[Sohcahtoa82]

Fancy graphics won't make a bad game good, but they'll make a great game into a cinematic masterpiece.

Examples: Cyberpunk 2077 (Once all the bugs were worked out, I recognize it was dogshit on release), Baldur's Gate 3, Expedition 33. Would they be great games even with 15-year old graphical fidelity? Sure. But the stunning graphics definitely elevates the experience, especially in the case of Cyberpunk 2077. When you have the hardware to run everything maxed out, it's damn nearly photographic. It made me truly feel immersed in the game world in a way no other game has achieved, and I've played lots of VR games.

[ahartmetz]

Also, fancy 2D graphics were possible decades ago. Only fancy 3D graphics have serious requirements for today's hardware.