Do you ever feel listless after beating a game?

I've been noticing as I get older that if I beat a game that I've been looking forward to I feel almost apathetic afterwards. Even if there is another game that I've wanted to play. Maybe I'm phasing out of games (it's only been 30+ years) or it's a symptom of my increasing depression and/or treatment for such.

The part I'm somewhat alerted by is that I have games that I really wanted to play but I can't seem to find the energy/mood to start them. I pre-ordered GOW Ragnarok as I absolutely adored the first one but I haven't started it.

Anyone else feel this way?

This sounds like depression. I get this on-and-off, and I don't even have to have finished a game. Do something different for a bit, maybe go for a walk in nature. Get more sleep and drink more water. When you feel the time is right, boot it up - don't wait for your brain to say "Now is the absolute correct moment because I am hyped". If you're being treatd for depression, hype will be a fleeting and infrequent thing.

Sounds like you might be burned out on playing video games. Try finding another hobby for a while and put the controller down. Eventually, you'll miss it and be a lot more happy when playing some great games. I know that's hard this year because a lot of awesome games are coming out, but try. And if you need to get away from it all and get rid of some stress, try fishing, or bowling.

I wouldn't say I get listless in my life in general after beating a 'big' for me game, but I can definitely lose interest in video games for a little bit, or at least large scale video games (I almost never get fully bored of pick up and play quick arcade titles.) Part of it is that the end of games are often intense in a number of ways and rolling from that into the beginning of a game, which is often mellow by comparison, can feel like a let down, part of it is that the first couple hours of a big game while you are going through tutorials and learning the controls is often boring, and part of it is just release.

It's like with anything else. When you push through a big project at work it can be hard to fully focus for a couple days while you process and your adrenaline goes down, or when you finish watching a TV show it can be tough to be fully interested in other stuff for a bit. I think it's natural for at least some people.

If, however, this is affecting your overall enthusiasm for everything in your life and not just games I think you should consider talking to a therapist (which is a good idea for everyone!) You may be using games to 'self-medicate' from deeper issues and that's something worth exploring.

I love video games but at the end of the day it's just a hobby and they shouldn't be the focus of your life, or something that has a massive effect on your overall mood.

I wouldn't say that I feel "listless", no. But over the past few years I've noticed that when I finish a game, especially one of significant (20+ hours) length, I do feel some selection anxiety over what to play next if I try to start something within the next several days afterwards. It's usually best for me to do something else for a bit before really trying to get into another game.

If you really want to just keep playing games after finishing something big and important to you, then dabble in some old favorites or play something where you don't need to attach yourself to a playthrough. A roguelite you've finished, a multiplayer game you play casually, something you can finish in less than five hours. But really the best thing is to find something else to do in your free time for a week or so - read a book, watch a movie every night, get way into a TV show, do a puzzle, listen to some music. It's good to step away from games occasionally. I never do for long, usually a few days or a week at most, but trying to play something immediately after finishing a bad game has become bad for me.

Yeah, I kinda get it. It takes me a long time to get through games these days, and my backlog is so extensive, I often have trouble deciding what to play next.

I felt this a little bit after TotK. I got sucked into the hype cycle for this one and at some point I realized that it was just a video game. I mean, it was good. But just a video game. Not a life changing event.

It depends, sometimes I get that way when I have been really invested in a game and the void it left when it was done was similar to being engrossed in a really good film that ended and you find yourself 'coming back' to reality in some way. But my enthusiasm to play games comes in waves and sometimes I have an urge to play a game but no game really tickles my fancy and I am slowly realizing that those moments it's an old tool I have that isn't actually an urge to play a game but an urge to disconnect and be distracted. So I have over the years been working on not escaping to video games but rather only play when I am excited to play. The result is me playing a little less but enjoying my time with games a little more. And when a game ends I am thankful for the time I had with it but I am not throwing myself into the next game right away unless it's one I have been waiting for a long time.

I often get this, and in part I think I subconsciously deal with it be mostly not finishing games. I will get very close to the end and then lose steam, watch the ending on youtube and move on. I think there is an inherent avoidance of that emptiness that accomplishment can create.

I don't know if listless is the right word for me but I definitely struggle to jump into another big game after having just beaten a game if it's 50 hours +. I will usually put a shorter indie game in between, maybe take a week off to boot, and larger games will have a 1-2 month gap.

I just beat Octopath Traveller 2 weeks ago and it'll probably be another month before I get around to playing Jedi Survivor

I just finshed the single player parts of Tom Clancy's The Division 2 - meh, it was fine. I was in a major gaming slump for teh past

I'm in the mood to just take my backlog and hammer out a few of the games on single player side.; however, I fully expect that because I will be playing them years out-of-date that the accomplishment will be muted. Most of the games in my backlog are PS3 and PS4. I have tried very hard not to buy anything on PS5 that I don't play immediately.

Could be a lot of things. I LOVED GOW 2018, but Ragnarok was a slog to get through (I know you haven't played it). I LOVED Spider-Man & Miles Morales, but I'm about an hour into Spider-Man 2 and it's almost like I have a visceral reaction to not want to play it.

There are games where I feel apathetic finishing, but this usually is based on the game. Usually it's because the back end of the game is listless and I just want to finish at that point. They say companies focus more on the front end, because a majority of gamers never finish games anyways. Also, endings are difficult to write.

Here are some recent games I was excited to finish: Alan Wake 2, Sea of Stars, Killer Frequency, Thirsty Suitors

Here are some recent games that I was just kind of meh about finishing, but did because I was close to the end: Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Octopath Traveler 2, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (loved Fallen Order)

Now, that's not to say that your premise of "growing out of games" is incorrect. I do not want you to feel like I am discrediting your feelings. They are valid and real. Maybe your tastes have changed. Maybe what you've been playing has changed. Maybe it's the length of the game. I find that lately I prefer games that are about 10 hours or less (with the occasional game that stretches to 20 hours).

I've had the last week off work and, when it comes to picking what games to spend the extra time with, I've avoided anything big. I've crossed four games off my list. One of them is replaying Half-Life and two of them are some visual novels that I just mashed through dialogue with.

Anything larger I've just bounced off. I couldn't be bothered to get back into Lies of P. I'll just have to settle with the fact I'll never be good enough to really get on with it and I bounced hard off Wind Waker. That era of Zelda genuinely feels like a slog.