Exactly. Several limits were loosened or removed entirely. The SNES was the first console with actual pixel transparency, the PSX, despite being weaker than the Saturn and the N64, was the king of the 90s. The jump in graphical and sound quality was always night and day from the Atari era all the way to the PS3/360 era (sound probably peaked in the PS2 era, with DVD quality)

Even on the PC, the jump from 3 years' worth of advances was astonishing. Just compare the original Doom, 1993, with Quake, 1996

And here's Quake 3, 1999

the goal is to get dopamine, move on when you stop getting dopamine

Is that the goal? I want more from my games than just poking my brain. I sometimes play games that challenge my reactions, sometimes ones that challenge my thinking. Superhot and Braid provided interesting time-related puzzles. Portal had some good lateral thinking puzzles.

I'm not exactly playing educational games, but when I played Assassin's Creed games, the historical bits I found interesting were things I could learn more about outside the game. When I played Hearts of Iron 4, it was global politics around the time of WWII. Uboat and other sub games taught me a bit about submarine tactics in WWII. Oxygen not included taught me things I didn't know about thermodynamics and materials, even if it is extremely simplified. Age of Empires and Total War were gateways to learn about medieval styles of warfare.

Even Sea of Thieves, which involves incredibly simplified sailing was what prompted me to learn about how square-masted sailing ships actually worked.

And, of course, all the flight simulators I've played over the years has taught me a lot about how to actually fly planes.

To me, if all you're getting from a game is a bit of dopamine hits, you're really missing out. It's like watching the same movie over and over, or reading the same book over and over.