The issue these days isn't so much time nor money but rather the difficulty in standing out from the pack when so much of game mechanics has already been discovered. Each breakthrough in technology has been followed by iconic "first of it's era" games, eg:
- Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot and others with their demonstration of how to translate a platformer to a 3D world
- Tomb Raider with it's "even the scenery can be explored"
- Shenmue with it's 3D open world and concept of fully immersing the player in the role
- Half-Life, System Shock and others with their emphasis on story and setting
But these ideas have been well explored and so games like Alien Isolation, which is a great game, aren't held in such high esteem.
The solution to that is to look outside of the traditional gaming paradigm. Look at indie games and see what they're creating -- there's some really great indie titles out there. Look at games that utilise new technology like VR (ok, technically VR has been around since the 90s but it's only really becoming mainstream now) and you'll see some stand out titles there too.
If you're only looking at games like Deus Ex then it could be easy to miss all the other stuff going on.
- Tomb Raider with it's "even the scenery can be explored"
- Shenmue with it's 3D open world and concept of fully immersing the player in the role
- Half-Life, System Shock and others with their emphasis on story and setting
But these ideas have been well explored and so games like Alien Isolation, which is a great game, aren't held in such high esteem.
The solution to that is to look outside of the traditional gaming paradigm. Look at indie games and see what they're creating -- there's some really great indie titles out there. Look at games that utilise new technology like VR (ok, technically VR has been around since the 90s but it's only really becoming mainstream now) and you'll see some stand out titles there too.
If you're only looking at games like Deus Ex then it could be easy to miss all the other stuff going on.