Yup, the golden era of AAA games has been over since after the 360/PS3 days arguably.
Now it’s all corporatized and basically trying to nickel-and-dime users - which apparently a large amount of users are perfectly okay with (more or less) due to devs still pushing out battle/season passes, $20+ MTX skins, and lootboxes.
I don't think all AAA games would go that route. A bunch of them definitely would but some of the publishers that have a passion for games and not just cranking out the same shit year after year would definitely not go that route.
Raging barbarians replaced with literal demons. XCom unit replaced with BFG squads. I could see that working. There's a mod I play for Civ 5 which adds a barbarian civ which - when they defeat things - turns units and cities into MORE barbs. It's fucking brutal and turns the game into a 'last man standing' rather than anyone being able to win. I love it!
DOOM: Battle for Earth. A 4X strategy/survival game. Basically you try to save Earth with limited resources or prolong it's death. Kinda like They Are Billions.
I'm thinking all the other civs are demons. The trick is the player/slayer can only destroy thier cities, not capture them. So the only cities you can actually have are player made. The rest you rip and tear through.
You can still play real video games through emulators tho, there are tons of hidden gems in every console! I've been finding joy again by playing those