There's no worse feeling than missing out on the big game all your pals are playing, and it's only gonna get worse with how many amazing games are coming in 2024

GamesThere’s no worse feeling than missing out on the big game all your pals are playing, and it’s only gonna get worse with how many amazing games are coming in 2024When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Pocketpair)

Palworld early access

I open my eyes in the morning and check my phone. Hundreds of Discord notifications. It happened again. A late-night decision to try out a new game, one which took place while I was soundly asleep—I need my eight hours or I will wither and die—and now I have the daunting task of trying to play catch-up.

(Image credit: Sega)

Okay, I’m beinga little dramatic,but I’ve been a victim of FOMO on more than one occasion in the last few months. There have been a lot of really cool multiplayer games that have hit PC lately: Lethal Company, Party Animals, Palworld, Helldivers 2, Tekken 8, I could go on! They’re games that are best played in a Discord call with your friends, sometimes with the addition of a few beers and webcams switched on to really enhance the experience.

The problem is, if your primary Discord servers are anything like mine, things move fast. I’ve disappeared from voice chat for a few hours only to come back and discover that everyone has impulsively decided that we all absolutely must play some random party game that’s on sale for a couple of dollars. Sometimes I am that impulsive decider! But when your finger isn’t always on the pulse of what’s hot and what’s not in the server, that’s when the FOMO sets in and you’re watching the ship sail away while standing on the shore.

Last one’s the rotten egg

Bless them, they tried to walk me through how the whole thing worked. But it’s never quite the same being hastily caught up as it is getting to know a game’s quirks and spooks together. I was aimless as everyone else confidently dispersed to meet quota, repeatedly dying for my own lack of knowledge and—while they’d never admit it—hindering them. Of course they had their fun with me, sending me into death traps here and there, but when it came down to actually trying I was really feeling that playtime gap.

(Image credit: Zeekerss)

Lethal Company

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I don’t blame ‘em for being so hot on the button. When there are so many fantastic games coming out—even inthe wake of mass layoffsand an increasingly volatile industry—you gotta jump in and get your hours before the next thing demands your attention. I’m too dang slow with these things, pussyfooting around committing my time and money to things despite my self-awareness around my severe FOMO.

I’ll still always be a little annoyed with myself for missing the boat on some of the prime contenders. But hey, there’s always the next one. Nightingale, anybody?

PRODUCTSPalworldLethal Company

PRODUCTS

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Last one’s the rotten egg#

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Last one’s the rotten egg

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