(Saw this question asked on another popular link aggregation website and it got me thinking)
If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would you choose? This might be because you want to do it all again, or because you don’t think you got enough out of it the first time. It could be experiencing the game exactly as you were back then, or experiencing a game with what you know now.
For me, it’s Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past, experienced exactly as I was back in 1991.
Nothing comes close to how jaw-droppingly amazed I was by that opening sequence. The epic orchestral score, the cinematic rainstorm, creeping around in the dark… it was a generational leap above anything I’d played on 8-bit computers and consoles, and even the Megadrive. I’d love to play it again without thirty plus years of Nintendo/Zelda knowledge, or without knowing about the dark world.
The Outer Wilds.
A game you can only play once and that one time is magical.
Played about 2 hours of it and uninstalled. It was incredibly boring. Why do you think it was magical?
Same story for me. I’ve heard it’s incredible so I guess I’ll have to try again sometime though. The start was just incredibly dull
It’s definitely a slow start. The way it’s designed to allow discovery but not lead you too much makes the moments where points of data click and connect really powerful.
It’s hard to talk too much about it without potentially spoiling the enjoyment one might take from it.
But it’s not for everyone. But if it is for you, it’s really really something.
I came in to type just this. One of the best games ever made!
Half life or Half life 2.
I find Half-Life and Portal are some of the best games ever made regarding world building, story telling and general addictiveness.
I keep coming back because I’ve never found any other game like those.
I don’t how old you are, but the first one was the first very big implementation of scripted scenes. To see something happening in an FPS as in a movie was mind-blowing.
The second one is just absurdly well designed. And the visuals are imbued of this Eastern European architecture and vibe that right now, walking the streets of Warsaw, I am gladly breathing in.
I’m old enough to have been stunned by games like Cybernoid and Exolon (oooh, so many colours and sprites and explosions), Elite (damn, actual 3D wireframe spaceships!), Driller (wow, actual solid 3D at 0.5 frames per second!), Wolfenstein (actually playable 3D, with sprites), Doom (this changes everything), Quake (full 3D, nothing can improve on this), all the Half-Life franchise (you can also have a story to go with the shooting? who knew?), Portal, Portal 2 and The Talos Principle (puzzle games can have riveting stories) and finally Skyrim (damn, this thing is huuuge!). So yeah, I’m old. :-)
Seconded.
Half life Alyx is top of them all for me! Highly recommend
I strongly doubt it can be a defining game as the other 2 were and are. Plus, for me, there is attrition in the need to use a non-polished control system.
Nah it’s hella polished! It’s hard to explain but being inside the universe like that is a one of a kind experience. Give it a shot, I swear it’s different!
published VR only, and - from Valve of all companies: Windows only!! F*ck them for that :(
There are mods out there! And honestly as much as it sucks to be an exclusive title like that, it honestly slaps for the same reason. The universe has so much potential to be told through the vr perspective, its absolutely incredible. Don’t bash till ya tried it! I’m telling ya, it’s a one of a kind experience
VR is not for me. The technology can’t replace good storytelling, and HL2 sucked at that compared to HL1, sadly. It was still okay-ish but nowhere near as stellar as HL1. Also, VR is locked to expensive hardware with most drivers limited to the bloatware shitty windows. No thanks.
Windwaker.
Don’t think its considered retro yet, but I wish I could forget every second of it I played. The complete emotional Rollercoaster I went through playing that game was incredible.
One of the few games where I really felt like I was the “super important protagonist” and the world really depended on me.
It’s 20 years old… if Windwaker isn’t considered retro now, then Atari 2600 games weren’t considered retro in 1997 :)
Oh shit
Hah. You’re old.
I mean I am too but…you.
Probably my favorite Zelda and the most underrated game in the series imho
World of Warcraft. Starting out in an MMO for the first time is magical. No worries about the endgame, just the desire to explore and learn.
I responded to another comment here about it. WoW and other MMOs would be my choice – but to make it any fun you’d have to rewind the whole world. Not only get rid of wowhead, wowwiki, raider.io etc., but get people to forget they ever existed, forget how to do data mining so effectively. Also get rid of streaming and video sharing services so that you had the chance of discovering things on your own. You wouldn’t be the first, but you wouldn’t know that.
Yeah, the internet ruined online gaming.
Outer Wilds. You can’t even really replay it, not like you can other games. But boy, I will never forget the unbridled joy of unraveling its mysteries - and ironically, would love to so I can do it all over again.
Well. In a sense you’re replaying it all the time ;)
I’m gonna break the rules and name more than one.
Super Metroid
Link to the Past I beat it with my mom as a kid. I’d love to go back and just be a kid who loves his mom playing that game again.
Ocarina of Time My mom and I snuck and opened the Christmas present every evening after my dad went to bed. We were at the forest temple when I actually opened it for Christmas and pretended to be surprised.
Wind Waker I was so disappointed over the cartoon graphics I almost didn’t play it. Once the game won me over I fell in love with everything about it.
Twilight Princess My first Zelda as an adult living on my own. I bought it on GameCube and played it with my ex. We had no cable, no internet, no phone. It was the only entertainment we had (video games) and it was an experience that made us closer.
Symphony of the Night I just fucking love that game.
World of Warcraft I want to go back and play with my son. We did arenas and we were an unstoppable team. Some of the best nights of my life were spent side by side playing WotLK and Cata.
I could go on but someone is standing here bugging me now. Take care folks.
Symphony of the Night is $2.99 on play store and istore. Using the native touchscreen controls gives you a hotkey for your spells, you only have to “cast” them once to unlock them.
I’m amazed Secret of Mana, and Chrono Trigger weren’t on your list.
Oh I’m sure they would be if I had ever played them.
I’ll give them a go.
That’s a fun memory with your mom. With parents like that, how did you grow up to be an angry seal?
Oh, they weren’t all sunshine and rainbows.
My parents were a nightmare haha.
Disco Elysium
The sheer joy of realising it’s not “just another” RPG, slowly pulling the curtain on how intricate the worldbuilding is, discovering the main character and in turn reflecting on yourself. It’s become a small addiction to watch first time streamers and let’s players for me, to vicariously relive that process.
Another candidate might be Ultima 7, the interactivity and how “real” it felt in the 90s was mindblowing for kid me.
Diablo 2 of course. It’s the best game ever made. I still play it for a month or two every year.
Recently bought the remastered version, still holds up for me, played for a good while.
I don’t think it works on the remake but I’ve been playing the Median XL Sigma mod. It’s very good and they’re still updating it.
The Last of Us.
It’s very linear and short to the point most of that sense of wonder goes away immediately after you finish it once.
Also being a horror game, the more you play the less scary it is.
The big moments hit really hard the first time around, but then that’s kinda it. Still love it though.
You might like Days Gone as well.
Not retro, but Celeste hands down. That game is an emotional roadtrip of a platformer. My favorite indie game out there.
Me, to my wife, after three months of playing Celeste: “I think she might be gay”
Game totally wooshed me
Outer Wilds. It’s the best game I have played, and it can’t really be played a second time.
I played Outer Wilds immediately after I played Disco Elysium. Both would be incredible to experience fresh again.
Oh yes, Disco Elysium is up there as well.
Chrono Trigger. Hands down the greatest JRPG I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing.
I was shocked I had to scroll down so far to find this. I’m right there with you my friend!
Final Fantasy VII
I went straight on from super Nintendo to this. You can imagine he level of amazement I got.
I picked it up blind after getting carried away in the magazine hype and excitement. I’d not played any FF games before that… man, that was quite an experience!
I remember beating this game on a school night at like 11:00 pm when I was supposed to be sleeping and then just staring at the ending credits absolutely stunned. What a great game.
Maybe Stardew Valley? I found that very enjoyable.
Knowing how to min max on your 5th farm does kind of take out the charm, but it was a very fun to always start a new farm on a new map.
Portal. I thought it was just a puzzle game. I love twists in movies and this one really caught me off guard.
