I hear this opinion expressed a lot by people that don't play many video games anymore, and I don't agree with it either. There are a ton of modern games with really compelling narratives.
Along with the ones you mentioned, there's been Wolfenstein: The New Order, BioShock, Uncharted, Alan Wake, Heavy Rain, Red Dead Redemption, Catherine, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Enslaved, Fallout: New Vegas, Life is Strange, Mass Effect, Tomb Raider, Spec Ops: The Line, Dishonored and many more just in the last five years, all with excellent stories in a variety of genres. There have even been some recent adventure games that can hold their own against the best of the golden age, like Broken Sword 5 and Tesla Effect.
I think a lot of this perception comes from how the most popular video games present themselves: as mindless diversions. Think Call of Duty, League of Legends, Candy Crush, and so on. They can still be fun, but the story components are afterthoughts, hopelessly generic, or entirely non-existent. If you aren't participating in the market and seeking out new experiences, you don't know what's really out there.
I do miss classic adventure games, and a lot of what Al talks about does ring true to me. They were the AAA games of their era, and yet Sierra and Lucas and Revolution never put out a generic or cash-in game. Even though these games were heavily sequelized (far beyond modern standards), they retained a unique voice. It would be amazing to see a modern publisher crank out games as often as Sierra did while matching their level of quality and innovation.
Along with the ones you mentioned, there's been Wolfenstein: The New Order, BioShock, Uncharted, Alan Wake, Heavy Rain, Red Dead Redemption, Catherine, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Enslaved, Fallout: New Vegas, Life is Strange, Mass Effect, Tomb Raider, Spec Ops: The Line, Dishonored and many more just in the last five years, all with excellent stories in a variety of genres. There have even been some recent adventure games that can hold their own against the best of the golden age, like Broken Sword 5 and Tesla Effect.
I think a lot of this perception comes from how the most popular video games present themselves: as mindless diversions. Think Call of Duty, League of Legends, Candy Crush, and so on. They can still be fun, but the story components are afterthoughts, hopelessly generic, or entirely non-existent. If you aren't participating in the market and seeking out new experiences, you don't know what's really out there.
I do miss classic adventure games, and a lot of what Al talks about does ring true to me. They were the AAA games of their era, and yet Sierra and Lucas and Revolution never put out a generic or cash-in game. Even though these games were heavily sequelized (far beyond modern standards), they retained a unique voice. It would be amazing to see a modern publisher crank out games as often as Sierra did while matching their level of quality and innovation.