Probably an odd question as it pertains to myself specifically, but I thought maybe others here have had similar experiences and can tell me.
When I was a kid I used to really get immersed into the games I played; I'd feel as though I was actually, feeling the very walls around me in dungeon crawlers, getting tense in fights and such, but nowadays I don't really get that sense any more. I'm in my mid-30's and now I'm thankfully able to afford any game I wish, I thankfully can choose how long I spend gaming, yet I just can't get immersed, I just can't get pulled in anymore.
My buddy told me about the Witcher 3 and told me it's great and immersive like only the oldest games ever were, and yet when I played it....I got kind of bored, and lost interest somewhat fast. One possibility is that maybe with modern proliferation of game knowledge, we can simply google for anything we want rather than let the game help us find what we need, pulling us out for that much of the game, another possibility is that we recognize mechanics and animations for what they are, and we try and memorize enemy combat animations, and our own iframes and such, even if instinctively.
I honestly can't remember the last game I played where I got immersed into the game and just felt the world rather than just see it.
For me it was that I shifted my focus to other things. I used to spend wayyyy to much time gaming to the detriment of every other aspect of my life. I made a conscious effort to change, but when I come back to game now I just cannot get to that zen level of involvement where you can lose hours or even days to it. It's sad really because being able to get lost in a game would be just the medicine I need these days, especially with stress from work.
Try pirating Tetris Effect. It is the easiest game to enter "zen mode" with and you can do it for half an hour. Tetris was always super immersive for a puzzle game, but they really leaned into it with this one.
That "zen mode" is called a state of flow, and you can pretty much do that with anything. Cooking, playing tennis, jogging, you name it.
Thanks, I'll take a look