No More - Boring Gameplay Mechanics That Ruin Great Video Games

Key Takeaway: Most gamers quit mid-playthrough for one of three reasons: the mechanics don't click, the game loses momentum, or life interrupts and they never find their way back.

When it comes to games with stories, I’m a completionist. I’m a story completionist rather than a gaming completionist; once in a long while, I’ll aim for 100% completion in a particularly great game, but mostly I’m content to do the main content and a selection of the side quest-y stuff.

The Table of Contents

Why I Don’t Finish Games Like I Used To

But I almost always finish the main campaign of the games I start. Or at least I used to. Over the past few years, I’ve found myself giving up on games halfway through more and more often, a trend that seems even more common as of 2026.

High Expectations, Low Engagement

As I’ve gotten older and face more demands on my time, especially with how busy life can be in 2026. I’m more likely to put down a game that’s sort of fun but a big-time commitment. Take, for example, Ni no  Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, a PS3 game I picked up several years ago.

I was pretty excited about it at the time, because I’m a big fan of Studio Ghibli, the renowned anime production company that contributed the art for the game, and I really liked the PSP game Jeanne D’Arc, a turn-based strategy game by Level 5, the developer of Ni no Kuni.

But about 15-20 hours into NNK, I just wasn’t hooked. I’d gotten past the tutorial-ish sections of the game and into the substance of the RPG gameplay and story, but neither was really drawing me in. After a few more hours of play, I finally decided to quit.

When Mechanics and Story Aren’t Enough

The Studio Ghibli art was great, but what I’d always really liked about their movies was the weird characters and storytelling, and that was mostly absent here since they didn’t do NNK’s story. And while Level 5’s Pokémon-like battle mechanics were good and the game’s world was beautiful, it just felt like I was slogging through a whole lot of RPG grinding without much of a reward for it.

Letting Go and Moving On

So I put down the game for a couple of months and then included it in a recent profitable purge of games I had no intention of playing ever again; something I find myself doing more frequently in the era of digital libraries and subscription services.

That round of sales netted me enough to pick up a new release (at the time, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe). I also sold my copy of GTA V, which I abandoned about 25 hours in after realizing I was trying hard but failing to consistently enjoy the game for several reasons.

Quitting Early vs. Quitting Midway

Before NNK, the last two games I gave up on were Marvel’s Midnight Suns and Slay the Spire. Each only lasted 2-3 hours before I was pretty confident I wouldn’t enjoy them, largely because of the mechanics. Midnight Suns’ card-based tactics system was an interesting experiment, but in practice, the gameplay loop didn’t hold my interest, and the story elements weren’t enticing enough to justify the effort. Slay the Spire’s roguelike deck-building was highly praised, but I found it repetitive after a few runs and never felt the urge to push through.

Similarly, neither game stood out enough for me to want to continue. Looking back from 2026, it's interesting how some of these experimental mechanics have continued to evolve, with card-battler and deck-building elements now a regular fixture in many modern titles.

The Three Ways I Quit Games

1. Early exit (2-3 hours in) — mechanics or story don't click
2. Mid-game dropout (25% to 50% in) — the game doesn't come together
3. Accidental abandonment — a break turns permanent

Those are two of the three main ways that I quit games. Either I realize early on that I really don’t like its mechanics or story or something, or I like it well enough to get about a quarter or a third of the way in before realizing that it’s not coming together into a worthwhile experience for me.

Taking a Break That Turns Permanent

The third way is more accidental. Sometimes I’ll be most of the way through a game, and I’ll hit a period where I either don’t have time to play for at least a couple of weeks or I start to burn out from the hours it takes, so I take a voluntary break. After that, especially if it’s a long game or one with mechanics that take a while to pick back up on, it’s really hard to restart.

Games I Eventually Returned To

Sometimes I do get back into it. I completed both Final Fantasy XII and Persona 5 Royal (both 100+ hour games in my playthroughs) after breaks of over a year. But others, I haven’t gotten to yet, and don’t know if I ever will, like Okami.

Great Games I Haven’t Finished Yet

Okami is a great game; I put in 35-40 hours (it’s hard to remember now, since it’s been several years), but for one reason or another, I took a break and haven’t gotten back into it. With new releases and constant updates in 2026, it's easier than ever for unfinished games to slip further down the backlog.

This is largely because the game’s battle system and quest system aren’t super simple, and I’m deep enough in the game that I’d need to remember them to continue effectively. But inertia also plays a role.

Picking it back up now would be getting back into the game without the benefit of remembering the experience of everything that got me to the point in the game that I’m at, so it would feel weirdly disconnected. I probably will complete Okami, because it’s such a game, but I don’t know when I’ll get around to it.

Restarting vs. Picking Back Up

Paper Mario: The Origami King for Nintendo Switch is another game I started and enjoyed, but got distracted from and haven’t touched in a long while. I was only maybe 8-10 hours into Origami King, so when I restart it, I’ll probably start from the beginning (to refresh myself on the mechanics and storyline) rather than pick up only a few hours in without the benefit of the intro and tutorials. But knowing I’ll be replaying several hours of a game is somewhat discouraging, which is why I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Everyone Has Their Own Breaking Point

Those are the main reasons I quit on a game partway through. How about you? Are there reasons you quit games that I’ve left out? Which games have you started and discarded almost immediately? Which have you tried to like but gave up on for a long time? And which ones have you been pulled away from for a long time and just haven’t (or have) managed to return to yet?