We have review embargos (hey just don't preorder bro), paid for reviews, blatant lies or mis representation in ads. Demos are few and far in-between. It's hard to want to pay for more than 60 these days given the constant anti consumer practices that happen in the gaming industry. Why would I pay you more when you clearly don't respect your customers (most publishers)

I'm at the point where I don't buy a game until it is on sale and has a ton of reviews. I have such a huge backlog, it doesn't bother me to not play the latest thing.

[–] Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz 1 points 4 weeks ago

I do the same, follow my patient gamer philosophy.

Until that time I can play guitar and likely have more fun repeatedly failing to learn a new rift. It’s sad that sucking at a guitar is more fun than most modern games.

[–] Ashtear@lemm.ee 1 points 4 weeks ago

I don't think there's ever been more game demos than there are right now, even going back to the PC shareware era. I can't even keep up with all of them on Next Fest these days, much less play any significant number of them.

Also, if your desired game is on GOG, they have a friendly return policy. That hasn't been a thing since the compact disc era started, so it's nice to have again.

We still have options.