This is the reason I almost can't enjoy any single player, story-driven game or puzzle game. These days I only play multiplayer, online games because even if we're all playing the same game, every experience and interaction is something new. People are unpredictable and they keep things interesting.
The one type of single player game I do play are either city building games or 4X games. The freedom for creativity and randomness, respectively, makes every game new.
I actually don't watch many movies or much television for that reason. I still find books enjoyable, though. I think there's something different about needing to visualize everything yourself that still allows for creativity.
I find the same with TV/movies vs books and I don't really watch many TV shows or movies for that reason, but I find games different because they're interactive: because I have an impact on the story (at least in the story games I tend to play), so the outcome is so much more personal and impactfull than a movie can be.
I do think you're on to something in that having to visualise everything yourself when reading books does get me more invested, probably because I can better project onto the characters than if they're just given to me on a screen.
I recently played an interactive visual novel (think choose your own adventure only digital) and.. wow, it was not as I expected. By the time shit went down, I was already so invested in the characters that by the time shit hit the fan, I actually legitimately cared about what happened in a way that no movie or show ever has and only a few books and games have.
How do you feel about the highly interactive "all of your choices will impact the story" games, where few people will experience exactly the same thing you did? For example, Detroit: Become Human or Until Dawn, where any or all of the main characters can die without the story ending (quite early on in some cases too; but they can also survive), or the Life Is Strange games?
The one type of single player game I do play are either city building games or 4X games. The freedom for creativity and randomness, respectively, makes every game new.