Not all games from the past hold up today, there was a lot of poor gameplay and unoriginal games from back in the day too. For example, the 80s had tons of shoot-em-ups, the early 90s had a deluge of 2D platformers, etc...
What was different back then was the costs involved in developing a commercial game. As the appetite for high-end graphics has increased, so too has the cost of producing games, which has led to fewer risks being taken by big game publishers. Thankfully the indie game scene is stronger than ever, and has proven to be a good outlet for game developers when experimenting with new ideas.
What was different back then was the costs involved in developing a commercial game. As the appetite for high-end graphics has increased, so too has the cost of producing games, which has led to fewer risks being taken by big game publishers. Thankfully the indie game scene is stronger than ever, and has proven to be a good outlet for game developers when experimenting with new ideas.