JediMimeTricks

I disagree about Starfield’s gunplay looking bad – it actually looks fun to me, though not groundbreaking or anything. But I think guns are so prevalent in games because of the basic nature of the interaction. It’s far easier to code “press trigger -> fire projectile” than it is to code a complex and nuanced conversation system. It’s a simple way to interact with a virtual world. Not to mention the fact that first-person shooter is an entire genre in and of itself, built on the idea of “shooting” as the primary mechanic. There are only so many ways you can use buttons to interact with a game.

I agree that guns can be relied on far too often in games, but it’s not that difficult to research and find games without guns in them. Usually indie/small studio titles though, I’ll give you that.

1313 getting cancelled is one of the biggest disappointments in gaming in recent memory.

When I saw the OP’s question, my immediate thougt was Outer Wilds and Disco Elysium. Nice to see both represented at the top!