Born in 1992, I felt this way as well. I literally spent months playing Crash Bandicoot when I was 9-13 years old.
When I finally got a computer, I realized I don't like the aesthetic of the newer games at all, and so got into programming without ever finishing a single game on the computer.
There's no such thing as the aesthetic of newer games. Sure, there's a bunch of blockbusters which share a similar aesthetic, but there are (and were) plenty of different games.
The best sellers of 2001 (the year of Halo) were The Sims and Rollercoaster Tycoon; not exactly dark and violent games.
When I finally got a computer, I realized I don't like the aesthetic of the newer games at all, and so got into programming without ever finishing a single game on the computer.