Quoting: ArehandoroHowever, contrary to OP, I've tried to stop buying games when on sale, but most importantly, I've reduced greatly the amount of games I have in my wish lists.

I haven't done anything with the wistlist, it doesn't all that many anyway, but I ended up doing the same. Not buying "maybe it's interesting" on sale, but instead buying the few games I bought when I wanted to try them out. Both happened to be at full price when I did. But I played both quite a lot, so they didn't just sit in the library without even getting installed.

Admittedly I don't have a silly large library like probably some do (I've heard about thousands of games), but I still have more than I'll be able to play through. Therefore I've made the choice to only buy games that I truly want to play - now. And with so few Linux games available on GOG (shteam can FOAD), it's pretty easy to be restrictive. The main interest these days comes from indies and kickstarters tbh.

What a little great post. Lots of things in it..
Funny that I agree with a lot of what you wrote, despite myself doing almost the opposite, meaning I got lots of games in 2021.

Quoting: denyasisI must admit I've had some conflicting thoughts and opinions while doing it and I'd love to hear how I'm not a true Linux gamer or something😋

Yeah... while we're at it, I'd love to hear what the heck is a "true" Linux gamer anyway.

Quoting: denyasis- 2021 might have been a "bad" year for games. I don't think, without looking here, I could tell you one upcoming release, let alone one that's really exciting to me. I think part of that is our niche slot in gaming as linuxers, part is the early access model. There were a lot of interesting and cool games released... But must haves???

I think the root of the problem is that some of us (-ehem- "us grandpas" -ehem-) have a very different idea of what we call a "finished" game. Most "good" "AAA" games released in 2021 will become actually good games by the same month in 2022.

People are paying full price for an underwhelming experience, meanwhile you come year(s) later, paying half the price for the finished product.

Quoting: denyasis- I'm hurting or not supporting the devs!

They're all gonna be just fine. How about great community projects that do it mostly for free, like Beyond All Reason, 0 A.D., OpenRA and company...

Quoting: denyasis-I'm not a real gamer! Probably. I know of people who get super excited for the latest and greatest. The buzz. The hype. The rig upgrades!

At this point I don't think anybody in the industry can explain what a "real gamer" is. Probably nobody can tell what a "gamer" is.

Yeah, I don't think we are missing anything. It reminds me a lot of the music market: my best music recommendations I've gotten from a buddy, never from what's hot in the night clubs or in the radio.
In the same way, I've gotten a few good game recommendations by reading some of the comments on this site (thank you, people) and none whatsoever from "the industry". To this day, I think Steam still hasn't figured me out despite my obvious playtime history in my library. Still keeps recommending me garbage.

For 2021 i came to a conclusion. I don't remember the exact timing of it, but at some point during the year I saw the game control on sale for a reasonable price. I am in love with the SCP universe, and the aesthetic of the game was stunning, so i bought it then and there. it plays great on proton, so i had a blast with it. Then, a week or so later, epic gave it away for free on the store.
Well dang, can't return it now since i've played it.
A bit later I found loop hero, amazing game, played it for a week or so. Boom. Epic games made it free.
PC building simulator? Oh. It's free on Epic.
Frostpunk? Free on Epic. Pine, Free on Epic.
Don't feed the Monkeys? Free on Amazon.
I bought an XBOX series S, and oh hey, Gamepass includes about 20 games I have spent hundreds on over the past few years, some of them even still full price brand new elsewhere.
I've stopped buying games the past half of the year, because I know if I just wait a month, it'll be free somewhere.
I don't have the time to play all the games I now have for free, so I'm just not buying anything anymore.