Alright, strap in, this is going to be a long one. I have only read the OP, not bothered to read all the replies so far. I will pick out bits of it with quotes and reply to that, offering my perspective.
I'm becoming increasingly convinced that trying to date or meet the kind of woman I really want is a futile effort and that it's unrealistic to think that I'll ever achieve my goals as far as my love life.
Right off the bat it might be worth following this intuition, trying too hard might be a larger part of the problem than most would think.
Firstly, I've only ever been able to meet women from apps. I've used apps since I was 18 and to this day it's the only way I know how to meet women
Apps appear to offer advantages in terms of dating, but it's an illusion. If it's romance you seek, which I assume you are, this is an unlikely place to find it. You'll know too little from profiles and chats, it's physical dates where you'll soak up most of the information about who they are. Dates, which is your window to get to know them face to face, take a lot of time, but that's given that there's a match first and then a conversation leading to one, taking even more time. What I'm getting at here is that it's extremely inefficient for what you seek compared to any sort of mingling with multiple women present, where you can talk to several briefly for a short while to see if you vibe so to speak.
Apps are a complete dead end yet I'm forced to rely on them.
Ask yourself who is forcing you, seriously. It's you, nobody else. You have a choice even if you refuse to recognize it. You are fully responsible for this and fully capable of choosing otherwise, but you choose not to and then lie to yourself saying you're "forced to".
Before anyone says "just meet girls in real life, bro", let me explain why that option isn't viable either. To this very day, I have never gotten with any girl that I've initially met irl. It hasn't happened like that at all. I have no experiences of pulling the cute girl from class when I was in college, or hooking up with a woman from a party, or being introduced to a girl via social circle and eventually dating her. I have none of those fundamental experiences with meeting women irl that normal guys are supposed to have.
That is one intricate excuse. You haven't done it before or it hasn't happened, thus you can't start now? Are you "forced" to let your past define your future? There's nothing you can do now to change? If you're determined not to change, then what's the point of even asking for help? Seems you already have your excuses sorted out and is simply just unwilling to leave your comfort zone, how is anything we say going to change that? Change will only come when you take responsibility for your choices and choose differently going forward.
Historically, whenever I've come across a woman irl that I found attractive, I've suppressed my attraction since I always know that nothing will come of trying to pursue her.
I call this shooting yourself down before she does it. You don't know sh!t before you've explored it, even if you are right most of the time there's no certainty until you've tried. This is how a closed mind operates, you make your conclusions up in your mind instead of seeing how it concludes in real life and assume it to be real.
I have absolutely no way of meeting women naturally in real life.
You do, but you deny yourself that option to the point you truly believe you have no way. It is self-deception though, lies you tell yourself to avoid what you find uncomfortable.
I can't do cold approach since it's not compatible with my nature as an introvert, and I'm scared to death of being labelled as a creep for trying it.
The first half of that sentence is the lie you tell yourself to avoid facing the second part of that sentence. You avoid fear, this is fairly natural actually, but this type of fear is exactly what's holding you back.
I also want to bring some perspective to the term "cold approach". Typically it's seen as walking up to a woman and starting a conversation with underlying romantic and/or sexual intentions. Not that there's even anything wrong with those intentions, but they don't need to be present and personally I prefer starting neutrally. Are you a creep for walking over to a woman simply to talk? No, it's normal behavior in a lot of common settings. I think it's common to perceive "cold approach" as going over to that woman you don't know, trying to charm your way into either her heart or her pants. There's pressure in that, a goal and not attaining that goal is defined as failure.
I think that's the wrong perspective, it's at least a completely useless way of seeing it. A cold approach to me is just walking over to a slightly interesting woman to strike up a conversation, that's all. There's something wrong with her if she thinks that's immediately creepy in and of itself, you're just talking. It doesn't need to go anywhere, you go in to see where it goes and then decide based on that. You're not just there to try to get her, you're there to see if you even want her because you can't possibly know that without at least a little bit of interaction.
Also, introversion isn't a hindrance to 1 to 1 conversations. If you can't even do that then you're not just an introvert, you're a social recluse.
There's nothing suggesting that I'm even capable of doing that since I've made it to 27 without it ever happening.
I've seen guys make it decades further into their life having the same experience and the same mindset, fortifying their broken belief system for every year that passes. I'm convinced some of these guys just never make it out of their own web of lies and die having lived up to only a fraction of their potential. How many more years will it take before you start doubting the path you're on? When will you start asking yourself the critical questions and really dig down to find the truth beyond all your excuses? When will your desires in life surpass your fears?
I know these questions scared me a lot more than "maybe looking like a creep" about 10 years ago when I set out to enlighten myself and found this forum amongst other resources. I'd almost do anything to prevent finding myself on my deathbed later in life with a billion regrets for every time I chose to not give something a chance because I thought "I knew" how it would play out. I fvcking don't and more times than not I was surprised to find I was wrong about what I thought I knew. Socrates had a point when he said "all I know is that I know nothing".
But like I said, even in the unlikely event that I meet a girl irl I'm never capable of turning that opportunity into anything.
Certainly not with that attitude.
In short I don't think there's anything I can do besides make peace with my situation, keep fruitlessly swiping away on apps, and hoping and praying I luck out.
I think you're right, you should just give up. Don't even bother swiping on the apps, just delete them and find your happiness doing something else entirely. You don't need women, so far this endeavor is just dragging you down anyways, so what's the point? It is kinda stupid to keep doing something that just fills you with hopelessness, right? Who in their right mind would continue torturing themselves like that? You have your solution, give up to find peace. I'm not even joking, I urge you to do this.
fate is railroading me into being perpetually unsatisfied
Wait, didn't you just recognize you have a choice? Give up, find peace. Why are you blaming fate? You're the one choosing to continue doing sh!t that perpetually leads to dissatisfaction. Who's holding a gun to your head forcing you to continue? So far it seems it's just yourself.
never being able to meet and date the kind of women I actually want
I'm going to give it to you straight, you might never find that woman even if you do change your mindset. However, if you stay on your current path you wouldn't give her a chance even if she was right in front of you, because you'd fail to recognize the opportunity before it slips away. That's why I'm criticizing what I'm criticizing about you and yet also unironically tell you to just make peace with the idea that the opportunity might just never arise.
